Houston

We enjoyed March Madness at our house!  We began our celebrations with the Basketball Fairy bringing all of us new Duke shirts before the last Duke vs. UNC game.  Then we had our 3rd annual March Madness Family Home Evening, the day after selection Sunday.  We enjoyed watching all of the games and cheering for Duke.  Dallin had a lot of fun picking out his bracket this year.  He apparently really liked our trips to San Diego and Houston because those teams made it far in his bracket.  He, of course, picked Duke to go really far and we found out Duke is a word he can read.  Every time we showed him Duke he yelled out "Duke", Duke was able to make it to the Final Four but Dallin decided that Temple would win it all.

We love our traditions during March.  We were especially excited when they announced that Duke was is the South region.  We got tickets to Houston right away and were so excited when they won the games so we could see them play again.  We have missed going to Cameron to see Duke play.  Dallin told us a lot throughout March that he would like to go to Duke.  It was so much fun to go and see the guys that were Freshman our 1st year at Law School.  We loved being able to see them play again in person.

These pictures are from the Sweet Sixteen game against Purdue.  We all wore the shirts from the basketball fairy.  It was so fun to go to the stadium and watch the games.  Baylor vs St. Mary's was the first game, it was fun to watch and Dallin ended up cheering for Baylor because the stadium was packed with Baylor fans.  He loved cheering when everyone around us cheered.  I was a little bummed the Duke game was last because after the first game ended Dallin was ready to go back to the hotel (his favorite thing to do on vacation).  Dallin survived and let us watch the game.  Dallin did pretty well and he helped cheer for Duke.  After sitting on the edge of our seats a few times, Duke was able to pull a win.  We were so excited to watch them head to the Elite Eight.

They didn't have games on Saturday so we headed to the beach.  Dallin was so excited to go to the beach again.  While we were grocery shopping during the week, Dallin really wanted chocolate donuts so I told him that we could take some on our picnic at the beach.  I bought the donuts and everyday he asked if could have our picnic at the beach.  He made sure we packed them and couldn't wait for the picnic. We had so much fun having a picnic at the beach.  We went to a really nice park at the beach and they had picnic tables which was nice because we didn't have sand flying in our food.  

After lunch we, I mean Doug and Dallin, played in the water.  Dallin had so much fun, he loved running and falling down in the waves.  It was fun to watch him and his Dad play in the ocean.  Dallin was so excited and he wasn't afraid of the waves at all.  They played in the sand and played with the frisbee but Dallin mostly wanted to play in the water.  We finally left when Dallin turned blue from staying in the water to long.  It was so much fun to spend the day at the beach.

After dinner that night we went to visit Doug's family that lives in Houston.  It was nice to visit with family and Dallin loved playing with cousins.  He often asks when he can go back and play with his cousins.

Our final stop in Houston was the Elite Eight game Duke vs Baylor.  The stadium was packed with Baylor fans but you could see some Duke blue stops throughout the stadium.  Somehow Dallin fell asleep shortly after the game started and so he only saw the last minute of the game.  I still can't believe that Dallin was able to sleep through my cheering, Doug's cheering and the rest of the stadium, it was loud at the game.  The game was close and Baylor played well but Duke was able to pull out a win and shot great in the second half.  It was fun being a part of them moving on to the Final Four.

It was exciting to see them cut down the net and see them make it that far; all the guys that we had watched in Cameron each year.  Dallin enjoyed his popcorn while we enjoyed watching the celebration on the court.

It was a great weekend and a great March Madness.

We were so EXCITED to see DUKE win it all on Monday night.  We let Dallin stay up late to watch Duke's final game.  He was so excited and it was so cute watching him copy Doug's cheers.  We Love Duke and it was wonderful to see them win it all.  It made us miss being in NC a little, especially since we couldn't be at Cameron to welcome them home.  I told Doug we'll have to go and visit soon so we can see the new banner at Cameron.