Utah State Basketball Game

This past Saturday, our family (well, part of our family) had the fun opportunity to go to a Utah State College Men's basketball at Key Arena in Seattle.  They played Seattle U.

A friend in our ward and fellow Aggie Alumni contacted us a few weeks ago to ask if we, along with another Aggie Alumni family, wanted to go in on some tickets at the group rate.  We were thrilled.  Ben and I love basketball and to see our Alma Mater play without traveling all the way to Utah was a treat.  We were excited to be going with the other Aggie fans/friends in our ward- with all the the BYU fans here, us Aggie people really have to stick together.

Ben and I ordered some new "Game Day" USU shirts for the occasion. 

We decided to leave the twins at home with a babysitter- we knew they wouldn't enjoy the game and it would be a late night.  Those poor girls- they have never been to a major sporting event with us.  We've never taken them to a Mariner's game or anything like unto it.  We took our two big kids to big sporting events before they were even a year old.  But with more kids now, and with two little ones of the same age, certain outings would be no fun for any of us.  This was the girls' first time with a babysitter all by themselves in a few years- the first time they can remember.  I was worried that they would be sad that we were all leaving and they had to stay home, but we talked up how cool it was that they got a babysitter all to themselves.  And they did great- the babysitter said there was no crying, they ate well and went to bed like champs.  And to top it off- they slept until almost 8:00 a.m. the next morning (which for an Andros child is basically a miracle).  And they were so excited to tell all of us about their fun night the next morning.

After picking up the babysitter and getting her and the twins situated, our first stop in our night of fun was to eat.

Ben and I wanted Subway.  We thought the kids would want McDonald's or something, but they were thrilled to eat at Subway with us.

After a yummy meal, we started our journey into down town Seattle.  I was positive that the kids would fall asleep on our way home AFTER the game.

But half way to Seattle I turned around and saw this...

Both kids dead asleep at 6:30 p.m.  (Can you see why our kids go to bed so early?) 

Mitch was even drooling.

Within a few blocks of our destination, both kids woke up and were as perky and happy as can be.  We found parking with little trouble and in close proximity to the arena.

Key Arena was all lit up.  Very pretty.

We found our seats right away- they were amazing seats!!  Everyone in our group had originally bought the cheapest tickets we could, knowing they would still be great seats.  A few days before the game, Key Arena called our friend (who had placed the order) and told him that there had been a mistake.  The seats that we had bought were actually going to be used for the TV crew to televise the game, so we were no longer going to be able to sit there.  To make it up to us, they offered to let us all move up to seats that were 3 times more expensive, for free of charge.  Did we score or what?

We were fortunate to be sitting right by the tunnel where the Aggies came out of their locker room.  They kids lined up early to get to slap hands with the players.

Soon, we had half of our group over there.  The players were so awesome and slapped all of their hands.

My patriotic kids during the National Anthem.

Chloe was so excited to have 2 friends there that evening- they had a blast being rowdy and chanting and yelling- lots of yelling. 

Mitch and his buddy Jacob.  This was the best shot I could get of the two of them.  And yes, I asked them both to look at me 15 times...

Mitch had a fun time, but that poor boy could only focus on food for most of the evening.  We came straight from Subway to the game and all of us were stuffed (or so I thought).  As soon as we sat down, Mitch wanted some soda, or some candy, or popcorn, or, or, or....  And it didn't help that there were snack vendors walking around selling drinks and treats right in front of his face.  It was pure torture for him.  (And torture for us to keep shooting down his pleads for a snack- over and over and over). 

Ben used our panoramic setting on my phone to get a shot of our whole group.  There was about 25 of us.  (Don't mind the blurry, double headed shots of some people, or my lazy eye- the panoramic shot requires everyone to be still for the whole picture).

It was an awesome game.  Utah State has always had a phenomenal record in Men's basketball.  They have the 4th highest winning percentage in the nation (behind Duke, Kansas and Gonzaga).  We loved going to the home games when we lived in Logan and I really miss them to this day.  We love watching the Aggies playoff games on TV right before March Madness, and always cheer for them in the NCAA tourney when they make it (which is often).

They have recently lost 3 of their starters to injury and had lost their 4 previous games before this game.  But they turned up the heat this night and blew the Seattle U Redhawks away.  The final score was 68-46, Utah State.

With just 8 minutes left in the game, the Redhawks do a thing called "Ice cream and cake" where all the kids in the audience are invited onto the floor to dance during a timeout.  Here is the shot of all of the kids who came down.

Chloe went down with her 2 friends (they are the only blue shirts in this shot).  Chloe almost chickened out last minute and with some force and convincing, I got her to stay.  She does NOT like to dance or perform in front of large audiences (or even small audiences).  And let's be honest- this was a BIG audience.

Our Aggie loving family!  We had such a great time.

The twins have Aggie shirts at home too and as all of us were changing into our Aggie gear before the game, Leah ran into her room and quickly changed into her Aggie shirt too- not to be left out.

A quick shot outside of Key Arena before leaving.

The Space Needle looked amazing!

Instead of spending lots of money on expensive snacks a the game, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home.  Ice cream is waaaaay better than cotton candy, anyway.

Until next time Aggies.  We had a great time.

"Utah State, Hey!  Aggies all the way!  Go Aggies!  Go Aggies!  Hey, hey hey!"