The Making of a Fan

My nephew Cooper is, by virtue of birth, a Gamecock fan. His mom is a USC grad and has made him that way. :) But last summer we were visiting and Blake had on his Clemson shirt. It wasn't too long until we got word that Cooper wanted a Tiger shirt like Blake had. I happened to find a tshirt and hoodie that were his size so I bought them. We surprised him and Colsen with these shirts and their response was priceless! There were screams and Wow's all around. Their mom wasn't so happy about this situation but I couldn't help but smile. Cooper says he will play football at Clemson if Blake will come watch him. I'm secretly hoping this does come true...I'd love to see him take the field as a Clemson Tiger...but until then we have this sweet memory.

~Tara

Backstage

Bryan and I recently went with our brother and sister in law to see The Marshall Tucker Band in Charlotte. Bryan's brother is friends with Doug Gray who's the lead singer. We went backstage and met him before the concert. It was a fun thing to get to be backstage. Here's a few pics...

Doug was super nice and took time for a photo.

Hopefully we'll get the chance to go again. It was a fun night and we were spontaneous (cause we never are) and stayed the night at the Hilton without any plans to do so. No clothes, no personal items, etc. The kids were all taken care of by grandparents and responsible cousins. And we all survived.

~Tara

Driving

Almost 2 weeks ago, Blake decided to try for his driver's permit. He studied a little and then we went on a Wednesday early release day.
He passed!! I wished I'd snapped a picture of his smiling face as he came out of the testing room because he was so proud, but Maddie and I were happy and cheering for him and looking ridiculous in the DMV. People in there laughed...

Here's Blake at the license counter and Maddie watching him sign his name.

He's done pretty good driving, I've only been scared once and we're all still here to tell about it. 

The first day he drove to school I looked over and couldn't help but imagine seeing him in the driver's seat in his booster seat!! I knew the day would come that he would drive but I didn't know it would come so fast.

~Tara