Worth the Wait

Well, I'm back from my first duck hunt, and boy was it successful!  The Auburn Tigers are the 2010 BCS National Champions!!!  I'm still in shock I think...and honestly, I'm just now getting my vision back after being blinded by the Ducks atrocious neon 'highlighter' looking shoes! ha  This trip was the first time I didn't travel with a purse and the first time I didn't check my luggage.  I was afraid they would lose my game day outfit! haha

It was a miracle the Deckers were even there to take it all in.  We were one of the last flights out of B'ham on Sunday afternoon.  Our dear friends, the Henigs, were stuck there and never made it...we're still torn up about it.  What are the odds that AU would play for the National Championship at the same time we have a winter storm in the state of AL? 

I'm not sure I really know how to describe the atmosphere in Glendale...I don't think there's a single word that would do it justice. I'd say the percentage of AU ppl to Oregon ppl was about 70/30.....it was literally orange everywhere...couldn't have been any prettier.  We did AU cheers on all the flights and restaurants, and every airport we went to (and boy did we go to a lot of them) was covered with AU fans.  We loved getting our 'lanyards' for our tickets that we were oh so worried about getting before we got out there.   

It was crazy to us how many people we saw that we knew.  Albertville represented big-time out there and we saw lots of our college friends...so neat!  I have lots of battle wounds...my voice is slowly coming back, the blisters on my hand from my shakers are still killing me, and my legs are beginning to gain back feeling.  My mom said she has abrasions on her face from where I hit her so many times with my shaker, but I think she's fibbing!  :)  

Of all things to happen, my phone died before I even made it into the stadium.  Sister's didn't have much battery left either, so we couldn't do any FB status updates nor could we text anyone.  We compiled a list of all the updates we would have written, if our phones would not have been out of commission:

• Shut the Duck Up
• A guy from Oregon just said, "You people have inspired me to wear collared shirts on game days".
• All I Do is Win, Win, Win!!!!!
• An Oregon woman said, "Why do you guys all have on boots?"  The AU woman's response, "Um..because they're cute and trendy!"
• ALL IN
• Sister said "If you see someone fall over the railing of the stadium, tell them I went down in a blaze of glory!"  (I'm still laughing at this one)

This is by far, my longest blog post to date.  I took so many pictures and wanted to share all of them with you...especially for the ppl who weren't able to make the journey to the desert.

The Birmingham airport showed their support for the Tigers!!

Sister was ready to head west on her duck hunt!

We loved running into the Henigs!  Meghan, wish y'all could have made it...stupid airplanes and their 'de-icers'!!  Next time we go to the Nat'l Championship, we're all leaving a week ahead of time!

Right before take off from B'ham to Chicago

Our Super Shuttle picked us up in Phoenix and we headed off to our hotel in Goodyear

We LOVED seeing this sign in our hotel lobby!

It's GAMEDAY!  War Eagle!

Dad and I posed with our van that took us to Glendale..and yes, I brought my car flag!

We wanted everyone to know that we were traveling with the Tigers!

Our "golden" tickets!  



We LOVED our lanyards!

Best billboard ever!  Under Armour did a great job showing AU support!

61 joined us at 'YardHouse' for some tailgating!

The best coozies ever!!  Thanks, 61!!

So excited to see the Sloans!

This might be our best Decker family picture ever....we were ALL IN!

AK and Claire

AU endzone...our seats ended up being great!  My camera makes it look like we had terrible seats, but we didn't...we had the perfect view!

Right before I took this picture, I think I had a small aneurysm....I screamed so loud when the team ran out, I thought my head was going to explode.  They played our tunnel video with "All I Do Is Win" and the stadium went BANANAS!!

We loved the 'claws'!

We won, we won, we won!!!  Everyone around us was crying...it was one of the greatest experiences I've had in my life thus far. 

We laid our heads down around 1:45 in the morning after the game..what time did our car pick us up to head to the airport? 5:15!  You sure didn't hear us complain though!   We left Phoenix, stopped in Vegas, St. Louis, and then B'ham.  Look what we saw in St. Louis...lots of snow and ice!

If I would have been on TV at the game, this is what I would have done....#1!!!!!

I started crying when I saw this as we arrived in Birmingham

I'm still on cloud nine right now from our big "W".  If all my orange clothes weren't dirty, I would have worn all orange and blue to work today!  It truly was the trip of a lifetime.  I'll never be able to express to my parents how much it meant to me to be there.  The Auburn Tigers are the Crystal.  Clear.  Champions!!!!!!