From the moment the girls were born, Jake’s goal has been to take Samantha and Amelia to a Utes game as soon as possible. They’ve watched a couple of games with Daddy this season…and by “watched,” I mean, run around, eat snacks and snuggle with Daddy every so often while constantly asking him to explain what happened to the football and all the guys shoving each other to the ground.

Amelia huddled up in her Utes Snuggie!

This year, the perfect opportunity to go to a game was an afternoon game scheduled at USC. The girls napped well on the car ride up…

Can’t say I would ever want to drive through South LA again, but even though the area surrounding USC was sketchy, to say the least, once we got on campus, it was a family atmosphere and Ute fans were everywhere.

Tailgating Samantha and Amelia style.

The girls were a little bit ill at ease with all the music and noise outside the stadium, not to mention having to go to the potty in the porter potties (YOU WANT ME TO GO WHERE?!)

The USC fans we encountered were all classy and offered to take pictures for us. So many people commented on the little Utes and then laughed when we told them we were having another girl!

We packed lots of snacks and some wireless headphones Jake bought for the girls, which we figured would help block out some of the noise and keep them occupied playing games on the phones for a quarter or two. As it turned out, the girls were completely uninterested and had a blast squirming all over the seats, watching the Trojan mascot on a huge stallion ride around the stadium whenever USC scored (which, unfortunately, was a lot this game!), and trying out stadium food. I am definitely offended they chowed down on stadium hot dogs faster than I’ve ever seen them eat my home cooking.

Go Utes!

Ryan and Lucero met us at the game with their little cuties, Kennedy and Sebastian.

Kennedy was so sweet with the girls and shared her peanuts with them, which kept them occupied shelling peanuts for at least two quarters. Kennedy is a hero forevermore in the girls’ eyes for giving them their first taste of cotton candy!

Where have you been all my life?!

Samantha and Amelia stuffed their faces! The nice Ute fan in front of us took pictures for us and was very understanding with the girls since she has young kids and a twin sister herself. She texted her twin a picture of our squirmy twins with the caption, “Remember these days? Poor mom!”

I wasn’t sure how long the girls would last at the game and was prepared to take off well before half time, but between watching the band, walking around the stadium, playing with Kennedy and Sebastian, and eating snacks, they completely impressed me by lasting until seven minutes were left in the 4th quarter! They probably could have stayed until the end, but wanted to beat traffic out of there and get home before meltdowns ensued.

I was probably ready to go before the girls… even though I brought a seat cushion with me, Jake totally owes me for four painful quarters of sitting on uncomfortable benches. Baby Girl and I were not happy!

Even though the Utes lost (a fact Jake still can’t talk about due to such high hopes for the season), we had a great first game with the girls. It was one of those things that was fun to say we did once, but probably don’t want to do again for a very long time. Jake had unrealistic expectations for how much of the game he would actually be able to watch while helping wrangle the girls, so it may be a while until we are all at a game as a family again, especially with Baby Girl here for next season!

As much fun as being at a Utes game in person is, when pregnancy and littles are involved, give me our couch at home and Snuggies any day.

Lots of love,