best time of the year!

I absolutely love November!!!  Can you guess why?

No.  It is not because I get to start layering on all of my cute winter clothes...

No.  It is definitely not because the snow is starting to fall...

No.  It's not just because of Thanksgiving, although I do love that too!

Yes!  It is because my favorite sports overlap for just a very small, little minute.

That's right....Football isn't quite over and basketball is just starting up.  BYU football has their last game on December 3rd.  Football has three games left.  BYU basketball played their blue and white game on October 26th and has since played their two exhibition games.  Basketball has 7 games before and one on December 3rd.  I love being busy with sports!

Football:  Nothing beats walking to LaVell Edwards Stadium from south of campus.  I did it for years, so out of pure love for tradition, I still park down there and walk with the crowds of fellow cougar fans to the stadium.  I love getting to games early and I hate being there late.  I love dodging people as I giddily walk through the stadium.  I love the smell of cougar tails and delicious cinnamon roasted almonds.  I love walking to the southeast corner and down through portal P, up the sidelines a little, to my seat.  I have watched the game from about this spot for three years now.  I tried watching it from the old folks side earlier this season - could not do it!  Plus, I think we play better when the boys can hear me screaming.  I love pictures with Cosmo.  I love memories of pulling his tail!  I love layering on the clothes so I can watch the game through snow and rain. I love when I can get a smile, a wave, or both from my favorite boys on the field.  I love watching football and I love when we win. I love football because I have my same seat, every game.  Such a luxury!

Basketball:  I love basketball because I have to fight for my same seat, every game.  My love for BYU basketball runs deep because of the all of the time I put into it!  Days and nights spent in a freezing tent outside of the Marriott Center.  Camping out for games started with Eric Glem, Brady Fish, and their crew.  Aubrey saw their tent out one night, our sophomore year, five years ago!, and we had to get a tent up right behind them.  Ever since, camping has given me anxiety attacks, that are only worth it once our spot in the front of the line has been secured and I find my seat down at the front.  I love the way camping brings fans together.  I have met some of my favorite people via Camp Cougar.  I love dance parties outside tents the night before a game.  I love the beep as they scan your sportspass and you walk into the Marriott.  I hate the running as I try to still beat people from getting to my seat.  I love relaxing, sitting on the bench, realizing I now have two hours until the game starts.  I love trying to awkwardly lay across the bench to get a nap in.  I LOVE when I hear "Cougar fans, it's time!"  I love sing/yelling "oh oh oh oh oh" and jumping until our boys come out.  I love every picture I get with Cosmo.  I love that I saw all four years of Jimmer.  I love watching basketball.

I got to experience these amazing sports in a way that many have not.  I would, and still do it, over and over again.  I do hope though, that camping settles down for basketball though and that being in line a few hours early will secure my spot - camping out is extremely hard to do with a real job.

Being at LaVell Edwards stadium and the Marriott Center is almost like being home for me.

And for these reasons, I wish November went on forever.