OLE! ole, ole, ole...

...REAL!  SALT LAKE!!

To get an adequate idea of what my first professional soccer experience was like please sing the title of this post with a slightly hispanic accent at the top of your lungs.  

Wasn't that fun?!

Well I thought so anyway.  

I'm way late in posting these pictures because I'm a total procrastinator.  A couple of weeks ago Erik took me to my first Real Salt Lake game.  He is a HUGE soccer fan and has been talking about this game for weeks.  One day we were sitting in my kitchen and I was babbling about some kind of nonsense having very serious discussion when all of the sudden he got silent.  So of course I said, "What's wrong?  What are you thinking about?"  And he responds, "Soccer."  And let me tell you, Erik is normally a very above average listener for a boy so that shows just how much he LOVES soccer.

Now I've never been a soccer lover...in fact for most of my life I thought it was super boring to watch. I'm more of a baseball girl (and no snickering please...I am well aware that many people think baseball is super boring...but I assure you, it's not).  But I'm always way into trying new things and decided that if Erik loves soccer I can learn to love it too.  To get me in the spirit of things he even surprised me with a sweet RSL scarf.  Apparently scarves are a tradition in soccer and you're supposed to hold them up whenever your team scores, so I fit right in at Rio Tinto.  

And after going to the game I'll admit...I think Erik has converted me to soccer.  It was sooooo fun!!!  I kind of dig the atmosphere at a soccer game.  The supporters groups are awesome -- chanting and singing the whole time. One of the groups practically had an entire marching band with them.   And to make it even better  RSL beat Columbus Crew 4-1 in the quarterfinal round of the CONCACAF Champions league (I still don't totally understand the whole tournament process but apparently this win was a very good thing...and they beat Saprissa last night 2-0..woot, woot).  

I definitely foresee more soccer in my future.  In fact Erik and I are hitting up Rio Tinto on the 26th for the regular season home opener against the LA Galaxy.  I might have a slight ulterior motive for this one -- the very dreamy David Beckham happens to play for the Galaxy.  I'm hoping he'll have to take his shirt off for some reason...did I just say that? Yes...yes I did.  I also think Kyle Beckerman is kind of dreamy in a sort of Bob Marley meets Captain Jack Sparrow meets fabulous soccer player kind of way.  

But anywho...enough of my rambling about ultra attractive soccer plaers.  Here is a video and some pics from our night of fun.

Erik is super serious about this whole soccer thing.  

The view from our seats.

Smoke coming from the sweet supporters section.  

I made Erik take a bunch of pictures with me even though he HATES it.  Aren't we adorable?

(p.s. On a completely unrelated note...I'm starting to think this whole blogging thing is a really good idea.  Erik and I were supposed to meet for dinner last night at Jimmy John's but he called and suggested we go to Chick-fil-A instead.  He had totally just read this post.  I told him that from now on I'll be posting about really expensive gifts and such.  Ladies, I'm telling you.  Get on this bandwagon now.  Apparently I'm not the only one this has unintentionally worked for.)