George and Laura

It's always exciting at the Copeland household when Florida plays LSU--who would have thought that we would have such an avid Louisiana girl as a daughter-in-law?! But, we still love her!

Of course, we had to stop at Sonic before Craig and Cassie went on to the game. Sonic is Craig and Cassie's other favorite place besides Sonny's. Here Craig is helping Riley do the Gator chomp!

At least little Riley is being raised right--see how cute he is in his little Florida outfit?!

And Riley definitely loves his Tiger mommy!

Grandpa and Grandma take Riley back home because the game would be a little lengthey for such a little guy. It won't be too long before he'll be right in there cheering, though!

Taylor, our oldest grandson, was in town, too, so he went to the game with Jeff and Amy. We tended their three kids, too. It was an interesting afternoon and evening with four little ones until 2:00 a.m. when everyone got home--but we all survived--except for the Gators! What a sad game--happy for Cassie, sad for the rest of us. Craig said Cassie was a great sport, however. She only clapped politely when LSU did well, which was most of the game!

Some pictures that make me laugh . . . Isaac loves to ride his bike, but to our dismay, we looked out and he was riding down the street with a dad-burn pumpkin bucket on his head! We couldn't believe it--but he said, "It has holes in it!" However, most of the time it was turned and he was riding blindly! Luckily, he didn't run into anything!

Riley entertaining himself in his carseat by playing (and sucking) on his toes! Wow! To be so limber!

Riley trying on a darling gator costume that Amy had for Garrett when he was little. Amy thought it was a great idea--Cassie, not so much!

Maybe it was because Lola forgot Riley was inside and wanted to play with the gator like it was a stuffed animal. Riley couldn't figure out what was going on as his head was pulled this way and that!

Yes, he's really in there--sweating like crazy!

So then Lola had to try it on.

"Thank goodness," Riley says. He just wants to play with his toys. No more costumes.

But Cassie puts him in one more--"Yes, he likes it, he likes it!"

We hated to see Craig, Cassie, and little Riley have to come and go so quickly. I took them to the airport early Tuesday morning. We loved having them visit. Please come again real soon!

With all of our sons, sons-in-law, and grandsons being football fanatics, many of them decided it would be fun to get together the weekend of the BYU-FSU game this weekend in Florida. George and I couldn't have been happier! Except for the outcome of the game, the weekend couldn't have been greater!

The first order of the day--pick up everyone from the airport:

John coming in from Las Vegas--he had a conference there--but flew from Shanghai to Las Vegas before coming here.

Bracken and Parker had flown by themselves clear from Shanghai! They look pretty spry after about 20 hours on planes and in airports, right?!

Kevin with Taylor, Connor, and Kade who flew in from Salt Lake City. Here they are in their rental Hummer.

Kent from the State of Washington--we really missed Ethan!

Cameron and Jaxon from Dallas.

And, of course, Jeff, Garrett, and Isaac from one mile from our home in Florida!

When some of the earlier ones came in, Amy and I drove them to Longhorns to eat. There was plenty of talking and catching up to do! Even though we were told that since we had such a large party, it would be quite a wait--we said, "No problem!" We were enjoying the visiting--and the kids had all their electronic games to keep them busy, too!

Right along side being football fanatics, I would say golf is just about par (hah!) with being a favorite sport, so the next day, the brothers, John, and the older grandkids got to play TPC Sawgrass--an experience of a lifetime, they told me!

Definitely the hardest hole at Sawgrass is the 17th which is actually an island. Here is Connor getting ready to t-off . . .

he lines it up . . .

and it goes in the hole!

In fact, the caddy who went with their group said it was the first time in working there (7 years) that a foursome went under par as a group. Cameron, Kevin, Taylor pared and Connor birdied (-1 as a group).

Taylor did so well, too! He was on the State Championship Golf Team for Lone Peak his junior year.

Taylor

Kevin--showing his sons he still has what it takes to be a great golfer!

Cameron - he was on the high school golf team in Gainesville

Actually, I think I put these in reverse order as to the holes, but you get the idea. Plus, I don't have any pictures of the other foursome which consisted of Kent, John, Bracken, and Parker. I wish you could, also, see how they did!

Even with playing all morning, after they ate a late lunch, they came back to our home and then some of them played again here at Magnolia Point. Do you see what I mean about loving golf?

Since the day was still young for all these guys, we then headed over to Adventure Landing in St. Augustine at about 7:30 p.m. More fun and games were a-waiting!

Kent and Kevin had to have a little shooting contest--I couldn't take it from the front because they were both so intense, I knew they wouldn't want anything to interfere with the rivalry!

Another contest going on was between husband and wife--on the water guns. Pretty calm at first, until . . .

Jeff wins!

No way--"We've got to play again," says Amy.

This time, notice the change in their expressions. This means business!

But, alas, Jeff wins again! I didn't take the next victory dance--but there was a great deal of celebrating going on with Jeff! Congrats, Jeff!

Lola had Grandpa take her everywhere. She wanted to try everything out! Here they are trying the dance machine.

Do you think maybe she thought this was a slippery slide?

But, definitely, the cars were her favorite!

Garrett and Isaac loved the simulator, but Lola just didn't get it! There was no time for lying down when there were so many things to do!

Not even pizza could pull the kids away--mostly the adults ate it!

Oh, yes, and Lola. She'll eat anytime, anyplace--and she's still a tiny little thing!

Jaxon had noticed a pirate flag as one of the prizes--it was only 500 points! Hah! But, once he decided that was what he wanted, his daddy did his best to help him achieve his goal! (I never did ask Cameron how much the pirate flag really did cost him--but at this point, it really didn't matter.)

After all their tokens were used up, Jaxon was still 50 points short--so bless his heart, Kade shared 50 of his points with Jaxon so he could get that pirate flag.

Garrett was pretty happy with his dart set, too.

I didn't get pictures of the miniature golfing because I was inside when they were golfing, but the culmination of the whole evening came about at the race track. I think this was the favorite event of the night for both participants and spectators alike!

Kade in the yellow car, Connor in the red car behind him.

Parker

Parker and Connor

Cameron and Jaxon

Jeff and Garrett

It was a beautiful evening, just the right temperature, and with everyone having such a great time, we hated to leave, but the adults, anyway, were pretty exhausted after a very eventful day. The kids were actually pretty tired, too, and no one put up any complaints!

The next day, we travelled three hours to Tallahassee for the big game. Come to think about it--I was the only girl along on this, so I felt pretty privileged! We found someone's car who had stickers with "FSU" and "Warpath" on it, so we took the picture to show who we were playing.

I will tell you, this was one of the hottest days of the year to be going to a football game. I knew we would roast at the game, but that didn't dampen the guys' enthusiasm at all!

A B.Y.U. dad and son (Cameron and Jaxon) going to the game alongside an F.S.U. dad and his son.

There was just so much to see for a little guy who had never been to a college football game before! Grandpa George made sure to hang on to Isaac's hand so he didn't lose us!

We passed all the tailgating parties. The fans were all very nice and no one was rude as we were walking through. George and I were pretty impressed with that. If we had been in our Gator attire, I don't think it would have been that way! (Hah! Too much rivalry going on between them!)

Grandpa George and Isaac passed the B.Y.U equipment truck.

One of the best parts of going to a B.Y.U. game is seeing friends you haven't seen in a long time--some times, it has been years!

The Smiths--we haven't seen them for 16 years! Les and George did both their Masters and Doctoral programs together, and they were originally going to do the Dairy Queen with us.

The Sotos--they were in dental school with Kent and Natalie. They now live in Orlando.

Matt and his son, Lincoln, (who was just a little guy when we last saw him). He was, also, in dental school with Kent. They now live in North Carolina, but will be moving to a new practice now that he is done with his time in the Navy.

We saw many others who I wish I had taken their pictures, but suffice it to say, we had a great time seeing so many old friends. But, on to the game . . .

We sat just across the aisle from the F.S.U. fans Again, very nice fans with no one getting obnoxious.

The fly-over of a rescue plane.

Since we were few in number--actually more than I anticipated for this far away from Utah--we really cheered when the B.Y.U. players entered.

A really cool part is when the Seminole comes in riding his horse with a fiery torch. He then rides to the middle . . .

and throws the spear right into the FSU insignia on the field and rides off. It was really cool to see!

Isaac didn't like the loud noise and wouldn't take his hands off his ears at first, but soon he was enjoying the game just like everyone else.

Did I say how hot it was? In case you can't tell, look at their little red faces!

Garrett borrowed his dad's hat. Do you see that smile now on Isaac's face! He was the youngest one there, survived the whole game, and was no problem at all!

Let's just say the game didn't turn out at all like we wanted it to end, but it was still a fun experience to be with so many of our boys and grandsons. The B.Y.U. truck is ready to take all the equipment on its long ride back to Utah.

After eating dinner at our favorite Sonny's (We missed you Craig and Cassie!), we said, "Good-bye" to Kevin and his kids and John and his kids because they were flying out of Tallahassee. Where did the time go so quickly--it seemed we were just saying "Hello."