Sugar Bowl 2011

Since it has been a month now I guess I will finally post about our trip to New Orleans. Andy has always told me that if Arkansas made it to a BCS Bowl game we were going!! So, as soon as we found out we got the Sugar Bowl we started making plans. Since it was a 10 hour drive to New Orleans and the game was on a Tuesday we were just going to do a quick trip and didn't really want to take Kenley to NOLA or pay full price to take her to the game. So my wonderful grandparents volunteered to take care of their great-grand babies while we all went to NOLA. Kenley stayed with Granny & Papa and my Granny Piker kept my sisters 2 kiddos. (We are so blessed to have grandparents that not only were always there for us but now there for our children. Thank you Lord!) All of the hotels were taking a minimum reservation of 3 nights so we headed to NOLA on Sunday morning. As soon as we got in town we dropped of our stuff at the hotel and walked down to Margaritaville for the Bobby Petrino Live show. The line was SO long to get in and we waited outside in the cold for about 2 hours. When we finally got to the front of the line they said the restaurant was full- figures! So after waiting a little while longer and talking to the hostess they decided to try to find some room for us so we got inside.

After standing in the entry way for a while watching the show they told us they finally had a table for us..........ON THE BALCONY!

It was SO cold out there. We were literally shaking while trying to eat. So we ate our food as fast as we could and headed inside to see the end of the show. We even got down stairs in time to shake hands with Petrino as he was leaving. Unfortunately NONE of our pictures of him turned out.

Even though it was freezing we had a great time. As we were headed back to our hotel we decided to warm up by stopping at Cafe du Monde for some hot chocolate and beignets.

All of the employees at Cafe du Monde were wearing these funny hats; I told my dad I wanted one so he asked them and they actually sold them, lol, so he got us some. Here we are modeling them. Right after we took this picture we stood up and led the hog call. There were actually people taking pictures of us.

While on the subject of the hog call I have to add that I have NEVER called the Hogs as much as we did on this trip. You could not walk a block down a street without someone starting the hog call. It was unreal!

Here are some random pictures we took of the city as we were walking around the next couple days.

Me and my precious friend Ashley. (We were so excited that her and Regina were able to go with us. Love you guys!)

Andy and I in front of Harrod's

Random street performer spinning on his head in the middle of the street. (strange city!!!)

Hog fans EVERYWHERE



Crazy man painted himself silver and was acting like a robot on the street. It was actually pretty neat!

Ash and I waiting to eat dinner at the Bourbon Street Grill

This was a bouncer on Bourbon St. We thought he was too funny and asked to have our picture taken with him. He was super nice!

My sister even got him to call the hogs with her.

We also went to the pep rally in the french quarter- it was so crazy packed you could not move in there. They said that Arkansas had more fans at their pep rally than any other team in the history of the Sugar Bowl. Way to go Hog Fans!!



On our way into the game we stopped for some photos in front of Tusk

Andy and I

Me and my sissy

Piker Girls! My cousin Kim and her husband Zac came down for the game too so we got to hang out with them on Tuesday.

Andy and I in front of the super dome.

Mom and Dad

They had some sort of pep rally going on outside of the super dome as we were trying to make our way in. Look at all of that RED

This was the line going into the game



We had AMAZING seats for the game. We were on the 50 yard line, row 14. It was so exciting.

Andy and I in our seats

College Game Day

Ash and I

Razorback Pre-Game

Here comes the team


Felix Jones was sitting a couple rows in front of us


Even though we lost the game we had a really great time. The atmosphere in the Super Dome was so exciting. But by the time we woke up Wednesday morning we were SO ready to be home. This trip was the longest we have ever been away from Kenley and I could no wait to see her. When we headed out on Wednesday morning I had a sore throat and my arms were really sore. I kept thinking my arms were probably sore from all the hog calls and cheering. After we stopped for gas in Memphis I fell asleep for the 2 hours on into Little Rock. When we finally got to my grandparents house and I got to hold my baby again I wasn't feeling well at all. I told Andy I needed him to drive the rest of the way home because I wasn't feeling well. I sat in the backseat with Kenley and watched a movie with her but the 2 hours to Fort Smith from LR I was going down hill fast. By the time we got home I checked my temp and it was 102! The next morning I went to the doctor and found out I had the flu- actually the Swine Flu- YUK! While I was at the doctor I started texting with mom and ash and they were both at the doctor with the same thing. Later Dad, Zac and Regina all had it too. So 6 out of 10 that went on the trip with us came home sick. No fun! But STILL.......We had a great trip and we still Love our HOGS!!! Wooooo Pig Soooie!!!