When I was a young girl my family lived in a small town in southern Utah. My Dad was the football coach. 
There is nothing quite like football in a small town. My elementary school was across the street from the High School so after school I would walk to the football field or my Dad's office where I spent most afternoons eating Vitamin C tablets and watching football. I learned early on the rules of the game. Some of my favorite things are that fall feeling of crispness in the air, the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of helmets crashing. Most of the town revolved around Friday night football games. The cheerleaders would decorate the homes of the whole team (including ours). The town was full of blue and gold. If it was an away game my Mom would load up us kids and all the equipment in our double cab truck and we would follow the bus to the game. Sometimes we would ride on the bus. We were in heaven. To us it was like having a bunch of older brothers. If the game was at home then we would arrive at the football field early and climb up the stairs (for some reason those stairs are something I have great memories of) and we would scream our guts out for the next few hours. Sometimes my brothers would even lead the team through the cheerleaders paper signs and out on to the field. 
After the game my Dad and his staff would come to our house for food and post game meetings. If they won (which was most of the time (: ) we would stay up. IF they lost then we all went straight to bed. I have always been grateful that my Dad had a job that he could involve his family IN. When I was older we moved to Northern Utah. My older sister, Kristin taught me to take stats and I became and official stat girl. When my family moved to Provo so my Dad could coach at BYU I was the stat girl for my high school. football (and the gospel of course) is the common thread that keeps my family tied together as we have all moved on in different directions. Now during football season my Dad sends out picks to the family. We compete not for money but for the prize trophy, a BYU football helmet. That goes to the regular season winner. If you win the bowl game picks then you get a cane that my Dad made to look like a football field. Even the kids are involved. Cameron waits anxiously every week for the picks to come and then gets the little girls to do their picks. Last year my six year old nephew won the picks. SO...when I say that football season is my favorite time of year and you might see me shed a tear or two during the season maybe this post will help you understand why. When I was on my mission football season was the hardest time for me. One time I saw some boys practicing and I had to pull over. I just started crying . My companion thought I had gone completely mad. Football is in my blood. It is as much a part of me as any other child hood memory could be.
There is nothing quite like football in a small town. My elementary school was across the street from the High School so after school I would walk to the football field or my Dad's office where I spent most afternoons eating Vitamin C tablets and watching football. I learned early on the rules of the game. Some of my favorite things are that fall feeling of crispness in the air, the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of helmets crashing. Most of the town revolved around Friday night football games. The cheerleaders would decorate the homes of the whole team (including ours). The town was full of blue and gold. If it was an away game my Mom would load up us kids and all the equipment in our double cab truck and we would follow the bus to the game. Sometimes we would ride on the bus. We were in heaven. To us it was like having a bunch of older brothers. If the game was at home then we would arrive at the football field early and climb up the stairs (for some reason those stairs are something I have great memories of) and we would scream our guts out for the next few hours. Sometimes my brothers would even lead the team through the cheerleaders paper signs and out on to the field. After the game my Dad and his staff would come to our house for food and post game meetings. If they won (which was most of the time (: ) we would stay up. IF they lost then we all went straight to bed. I have always been grateful that my Dad had a job that he could involve his family IN. When I was older we moved to Northern Utah. My older sister, Kristin taught me to take stats and I became and official stat girl. When my family moved to Provo so my Dad could coach at BYU I was the stat girl for my high school. football (and the gospel of course) is the common thread that keeps my family tied together as we have all moved on in different directions. Now during football season my Dad sends out picks to the family. We compete not for money but for the prize trophy, a BYU football helmet. That goes to the regular season winner. If you win the bowl game picks then you get a cane that my Dad made to look like a football field. Even the kids are involved. Cameron waits anxiously every week for the picks to come and then gets the little girls to do their picks. Last year my six year old nephew won the picks. SO...when I say that football season is my favorite time of year and you might see me shed a tear or two during the season maybe this post will help you understand why. When I was on my mission football season was the hardest time for me. One time I saw some boys practicing and I had to pull over. I just started crying . My companion thought I had gone completely mad. Football is in my blood. It is as much a part of me as any other child hood memory could be. 
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