Chicago!! continued

The main reason for our trip to Chicago was to catch the U vs ND game in South Bend, Indiana.  We met up with Doug & Jami (and Doug's parents) for the day, and we had a total blast hanging out at Notre Dame!  The people there were incredible, everyone was so welcoming and friendly.  They were expecting to lose the game, and they were still sooo nice to us.  It was so fun.  And since we were expecting it to be freezing cold, I crocheted a few U scarves.  So, of course, it was unseasonably warm.  Oh, and rainy.  I didn't have time to make four...sorry Dougie!  (Please pretend that I'm wearing my hat.  We had to wake up around 5:00 to drive there, so I braided my hair to wear under a hat.  Then it was so warm I didn't think to put it on before we left the car.)

 The campus was so beautiful!  It was too bad we couldn't have been there two weeks earlier, the trees would have been so amazing!

Me, Jami & Jerri.  We didn't stay for the traditional follow-the-band-thing that they do.  I'm sure it was very cool.

 Mike and Doug on the other side of the stadium.  We opted out of the expensive U tailgating that we had been planning on, and instead ate at Chipotle and spent the money we saved (by not tailgating) at the bookstore.  I love the pants and shirt I got!

Our seats were on the 11th row!  It was amazing, and if the U had even come close to scoring a touchdown, we would have been RIGHT there.  Saddest game ever.  The Notre Dame fans were expecting to lose, and they totally beat the pants off us!  (See?  Much better with the hat!)

We both looked like U fans until it started raining.  With all my blue rain jacket and bright yellow banana pants on, I looked like a Notre Dame usher.  Much better than being wet though!

 This was my attempt at a self-portrait, but instead got a nice shot of the back of Gonzo's head.  Gonzo and Jim (right behind me) were our best friends by the time the game was over.  They were hilarious, and so much fun to sit behind!  Gonzo shared his delicious, warm nachos with us, and Jim gave us his card and told us to facebook him.  They even invited us to tailgate with them after the game!  They probably felt really bad for us after the beating the U took from a team that wasn't very good.  :)  We would have gone too, but we still had to drive two hours to our hotel.  :(

Someone saw us trying to take our own picture, so he offered to do it for us.  The Notre Dame fans were seriously so nice.  At least the ones we were by.  We heard some fun stories from people on the plane about sitting in a war zone between U and ND fans.  Our seats were awesome!  Only two things could have made it better...no rain, and a win.  But not necessarily in that order.

 You can see the Utah area up at the top.  The rain was on and off, but mostly on.

Look!  The U almost scored a touchdown!

The Notre Dame marching band is HUGE and AMAZING!  At the end of the game they come out again (like they do at the beginning) and play.  It was so cool!  Mike got some video of them coming out on the field before the game started.  Not the we cheered for them, but Notre Dame does football right.  We had so much fun!!