Beach Geezers...I Mean Boys!

June 30 - Every summer, there is a car show near our home and as part of it, they do a concert. It is always an oldies band. The first year we moved here, it was 3 Dog Night and last year it was America. This year, it was the BEACH BOYS! I was so excited! However, as it got closer, it looked like we probably wouldn't be able to go. Logan had tball and we had some other things going on. We bought my dad some tickets for his birthday because he is one of the biggest Beach Boy fans of all time, and Darren's parents bought tickets, too. They ended up with an extra pair, so at the last minute, we went to the concert and it was SO GREAT! We had to go a little late and I was so bummed when we were trying to get in that they were singing "Surfing Safari" and we missed it! The Beach Boys have SO many good songs and I have so many good memories of the Beach Boys growing up. The only thing I really remember listening to when I was little is the Beach Boys and Elvis! And...for being so OLD (the 2 original Beach Boy members that still tour are 69 and 70 years old!!!) they were great! We had so much fun!!!
Darren and IThe parents - We all went together and had lots of fun! There was some Beach Boys mega fan that was sitting close to us. She was about 18 and dancing the entire time and SO excited about the show. Darren's dad went down and danced with her and I think it freaked her out! After the concert, she asked for a picture with him and the people in front of us were asking each other who he was because I think they thought he must be famous. It was pretty funny!
The Beach Boys
My favorite part of the whole concert was watching my dad! He was SO happy and having so much fun. I tried to get a good picture of him, but this was the best I did. I loved seeing him so excited about something! It was a great night!!!

U2

May 24 - WAY back when, I think even before Logan was born, Darren and I sat down and made a bucket list of things we would really like to do...someday...when we weren't on a dental student budget! For example, Darren wants to see the World Cup someday and I really wanted to see Oprah...(not going to happen :( ) and go back to Europe. On my list, I included a couple of concerts that I thought would be great to see. One was Michael Jackson (also not going to happen...) and the other was U2. I am not the biggest U2 fan, but some of my very favorite songs are theirs and I knew they would put on a great show! So, when we heard they were coming to Utah, I HAD to have tickets. We even paid extra to get them on the pre-sale because I didn't want them to sell out before I had a chance to buy them! We bought the tickets LAST Feb (2010) and the concert was supposed to be last June, but Bono injured his back and they had to reschedule the tour. I was SO bummed and worried they would reschedule on a day we couldn't go, but it all worked out. It seemed a little crazy to me that I had to wait for this concert longer than I am pregnant and wait to have a baby. If you count from the time we bought tickets, it was about 15 months!!! But, the concert FINALLY happened and it was SOOOO worth the wait! BEST...CONCERT....EVER!!!


Darren and I waiting for the concert to begin! The stage was AWESOME! It looked like a giant spider or something and the screen was unreal! They also had some crazy camera that took pictures of everyone in the audience and if you go to their webpage, you can tag yourself. It is crazy! Even though I am sitting so far away, you can totally see me checking my phone. The opening act was The Fray. They were really great and I enjoyed them more than I thought, but they were NOTHING compared to U2!


We were so glad our friends, the Lifferth's could go with us! We were able to meet up with them at PF Changs before the show, which just made the night even better. There are few things in life that can make me happier than lettuce wraps and walnut shrimp and good friends! We had a great time chatting and always have fun with them. We really miss them now that they live far away and we don't see each other as much as we used to. Robb asked us if we should go buy earplugs before the concert. We thought he must be an old man or something and teased him a little, but we probably should have listened to him! It was LOUD! Fortunately, Robb fashioned his own ear plugs out of napkins and he and Darren wore them for most of the concert, much to my and Carlie's dismay! We thought people around us would be making fun of us, but instead we noticed after awhile that many people were copying them. Haha!
This stage was incredible!
A night time viewThis was my favorite part of the stage - This screen all of sudden started separating and came all the way down to the stage. It was all stretched out, but you could still see the images on it. It was so amazing! And Bono... Holy Crap! How old is that guy and he sounded so great! He sang like crazy all night and I don't think his voice even cracked once. I was in awe! The highlight for me was "With or Without You" but the whole show was WAY better than even I expected! So glad that we went and if they ever come again, I will defiantly be there! And... I get to cross an item off my bucket list! Hooray!

KENNY!!!

Sorry for the flood of a million posts, but I am REALLY trying to catch up before our baby arrives! Not that anyone wants to read about all our summer activities, but I don't want to leave stuff out for my own "family journal" purposes.

On July 23, Darren and I went to the Kenny Chesney concert! I was really excited about it! I got the tickets WAY back in April for my birthday and Darren bought them in February, so it was a long wait for the big night! We aren't really concert goers, but this one was so fun! Just before we left to go down there, I found out that Sugarland wasn't going to be playing and I was SO bummed! I was almost as excited to see them as I was to see Kenny. It was a LONG concert! It started at 5:00 and went to 11:30. We got there about a 1/2 hour late and it was SO hot! I didn't know if I was going to survive. I must have looked miserable sitting in the heat and being 7 months prego because the guy just down from us handed me a fan and said, "you look like you could use this." The first act was Lady Antebellum and they were really good. I only recognized a few of their songs, but I really liked them.
Me and Darren dying in the sun! Once we had shade, it was great, but the first hour or two was kinda rough! Next act was Miranda Lambert and I wasn't a real big fan of hers. She was Ok though and I knew some of her songs, too.

Then it was time for the big show - KENNY!!!

We had pretty good seats - We were not on the floor, but on the 3rd row of the stadium up close to the stage. We were right on the aisle where people could get down to the floor though and that was quite entertaining! The things people wear to concerts! SERIOUSLY! And all the alcohol they drink - It was a little crazy! I saw some 60 year old-ish woman whose shirt was held closed by one little hook and eye. GROSS! I think I also saw some people doing the nasty in their clothes... It was an interesting crowd!

Here is Kenny! He is an awesome entertainer and put on quite a good show! He sings SO many good songs! We had a great time.

Here we are enjoying Kenny!

When Kenny came back out for his encore, he wore a Utes hat. I guess I can forgive him for that. His encore was REALLY long since he did an extended set since SugarLand didn't play and it was a lot of fun songs, including my all time favorite song "Without You" by U2.

Yep...all these pictures look the same, but they are the only ones I got of us! Here we are ready to head home after about 6 hours of concert! It was such a fun night! Gotta love date nights when you can get them! Thanks babe for the fun bday present, even if I did have to wait a couple months to enjoy it! It was worth it!

Soccer, Mickey Mouse and .... CARRIE!!!

This next post is from November, so its a little outdated. I have been busy with some Christmas projects that have completely overtaken my life!!! I am SOOO happy they are finished but between that and Christmas parties and Christmas shopping, it has kept me from my usual "obsessive blogging", but I'm hoping to catch up by Christmas.... We'll see....That never seems to happen!

Anyway - In November, we went to a few really fun events. First, was the Real Salt Lake playoff game on November 1st. For any of you who don't know, Darren is a HUGE soccer fan! He has been very excited for Real to finish their new stadium - He has been following its progress online for MONTHS! He also went to the first game there. After going to a game there, he kept talking about how cool it was and was so excited for another chance to see a game there - especially a PLAYOFF game! It was Real's first time in the playoffs and the game was so much fun! Rylee was having a rough day (it was the same day as her pictures...) so we left her with my parents. Logan had a great time with just Mom and Dad. We went with all of Darren's brothers and his dad and my niece and nephew, Parker and Madi. It was so much fun - and to make it even better, they won 1-0! And yes...the game was November 1st in Utah and we are wearing short sleeves!!! Crazy!Logan and Daddy ready to go into the stadiumLogan hanging out with his cousins Parker and Madi

Logan loved flying his rally rag around!Logan was pretty tired - The game was the day after Halloween and I think he was recovering from a sugar high!One of Vanessa's roommates gave Logan this HUGE gummy spider! It was a great treat to keep Logan happy. He wasn't as into the game as we hoped he would be, but he had a good time and this spider kept him occupied for awhile.Mmmm...Yummy!!!GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!! Everyone went crazy when Real scored - It was pretty close to the end of the game!

A couple weeks later, we went back to Salt Lake to see Disney on Ice!!! I had bought the tickets in September and it was pretty hard to wait for it to come around. When we got there, Logan was so excited! It was at the EnergySolutions area and he saw a picture of Darrin Williams and said, "Its Darrin Williams! Is this where the Jazz play?" He was so excited to see the Jazz, I think he might have been a little disappointed it was something else...until Mickey appeared and then he was so into it! We had really good seats and LOVED the show - It was so cute! It was 100 years of Disney and featured little parts of all the best Disney stories - They had Nemo, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio and a few others and a segment of just Princesses!!! Yeah - and of course, Mickey and Minnie and all the rest!Logan and Rylee anxiously waiting for the show to start.

The best part is seeing them react when the characters come out for the first time - It makes it so worth going!Ry was pretty serious...Logan was so excited he couldn't stay in his seat!

Logan and Dad

Me and my Princess! We LOVED seeing all the Princesses and Rylee loved waving and blowing them kisses!Logan clapping for the show. He was pretty into it...The Nemo segment was one of our favorite parts! Logan loved the Bruce the shark, although he was a little afraid of it!Toy Story was another of our favorites! It was so cute and Logan was SO excited to see Buzz and Woody!This part was supposed to be like the Small World ride at Disneyland and was so cute!I think this is a hug, not a headlock, but you can never be sure with these two...The grand finale! Ry waving goodbye to all the characters. She was much more into the show than I expected. She had an obsession with Donald Duck. Anytime he left, she would say "Donal? Donal go?" and do her little what hands and shrug her shoulders. I have no idea why she was so excited about him...Since Logan didn't get to see a Jazz game, we let him take pictures with these statues of Stockton and Malone - He thought they were pretty awesome!

Once Disney on Ice was over, we were in a big rush to get to our next event! Real had moved into the second round of the playoffs, and had home field advantage, which no one thought would happen, so of course, we had to attend! Our friends, Jesse and Christina, were able to get us some tickets, and so we went to another game, even though it was a crazy day AND I had to teach the lesson in Relief Society early the next morning! Luckily, (or unluckily...) our Disney on Ice tickets were for the matinee, so we were able to do both. It was a night game and pretty cold, so we took the kids to Darren's mom and dad's. It was a lot of driving back and forth and we got home SOOO late, but it was a lot of fun!Our seats were pretty close right behind the goal and the crowd was crazy! Real played so great, but ended up losing 1-0! They had 3 shots bounce off the posts, so it was frustrating to watch but we had fun! We were so bundled up because it was FREEZING! We took a picture, but I think it got deleted before I got it off the camera....I was so sad!

A few days later, I made the trek to Salt Lake again....this time to see CARRIE UNDERWOOD!!! I bought these tickets in July and have been counting down since! It was the BEST concert and so much fun! I drove down with my good friend, Carlie, and we met our friend, Jenn at Chili's a little before the concert. I want to write Chili's a hate mail after this - We were there an hour and a half before the concert and were told it was only a 20 minute wait. It took an HOUR to get our table, and they were really slow! Then, they told us we had to move our car in their parking lot or it would be impounded!!! We were right across the street from the concert, but we had to move our car all the way around the corner and pay $10 to park - I was so mad! We were a half hour late and missed most of the opening band - Little Big Town! They were really good from what I heard, but nothing compared to Carrie!Carlie, me and Jenn - These are the 2 couples Darren and I hung out with in college all the time after we got married. We have never done anything as just girls, but it was so fun! We will have to do it again soon girls!My best friend from High School, Melissa, was also at the concert and ended up sitting just a few rows in front of us so we were able to chat for a little bit before Carrie came out. It brought back happy memories of another concert I went to with her - Tim and Faith! We had AWESOME tickets for that one and it was so fun! My camera pretty much sucks in the dark and doesn't zoom very well, but you get the idea - Here is Carrie coming out for the first time!This girl can sing!!! The concert was so fun and she sang so many good songs! She was the BEST live singer and sounded awesome the whole time. She also talked to the crowd and seemed so nice and so real. She pulled some 14 year old girl out of the audience to sing American Girl with her and it was so cute! This picture is awful - I should have stolen one of Jenn's blog! I loved when she came back out as an encore and sang "Before He Cheats"! It was SO fun! I loved Carrie and had a great time with Jenn and Carlie - It was a great girls' night out!

MARTINA!!!

Last weekend, my sisters and my mom and I had a really fun Girl's Weekend! It was a great break for me! For my mom's birthday in June, we bought tickets for all of us to go to the Martina concert. I am not the biggest Martina McBride fan, but I like her music and thought it sounded like a lot of fun. My mom decided that she wanted to make it a whole weekend and got us a hotel room and everything. It was so great! Darren was so good to stay home and watch the kids and didn't complain at all - Thanks honey! I actually had never left Rylee overnight before, so I thought that might be a little hard for me, but since she is 16 months old, I was fine (I think it was a little overdue!) and knowing she was with Darren made it much easier!
I left our house at 3:30 Friday and met my mom and sisters. Megan, my sister's friend, and Laura, Dean's girlfriend, also came with us and met us in Salt Lake. We were a little stressed to get out the door on time - We ran into a few problems - Vanessa didn't know the time or address of the concert (minor details...) and my mom couldn't find the key to the car. We found the info on the internet for the concert and my dad came home with a spare key and we were on our way. Poor Laura and Megan had to deal with so much changing around of plans and craziness! We finally all met up at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Salt Lake. We had a fun dinner and then headed to the concert at USANA. Laura, Megan, Heather, me, Vanessa and my mom in front going into the concert. We must have looked pretty cute because the radio station stopped us and offered us some upgrade tickets, but they only had 2 so we gave them to the people in front of us who we didn't want to watch cuddle the whole time. We should have given them to the chainsmokers next to us instead...
We were pretty late for the concert, but only missed the first act, which none of us knew anyway. We saw Jack Ingram, who was OK - I knew one or two of his songs - and then Martina came on. I didn't know too many of Martina's new songs, so I didn't know how much I would like it, but she sang a lot of her old stuff and the concert was AWESOME!!! Martina has an incredible voice and she was a great entertainer. I loved it! My favorite part of the whole concert was when they came back out for the encore and sang a Journey song and then "Hit Me With Your Best Shot!" It was sweet!
After the concert, Megan went home and we headed to the hotel. My mom, Vanessa and me went to the grocery store to grab some snacks and a DVD, and Heather and Laura went to check us in. When we came out of the store, my mom could not find her key and the Suburban was locked!!! The key was not in the ignition and we couldn't see it in the car, but they had since closed the store. We luckily saw an employee who let Vanessa back in the store and we found the key at the check out! Close call! We got back to the hotel and there was no DVD player so that was a bummer! We just stayed up having snacks, chatting and watching TV. I think Laura might have had a little more of us than she wanted to! Hopefully, she still likes us!
Saturday morning, we were very lazy but finally went to breakfast at Mimi's and then went shopping at the mall for the rest of the day.
Breakfast at Mimi's - Laura, Me, Heather, Vanessa and my mom
It was a lot of shopping, but I found a few good things! Once again, I think Laura was a little overwhelmed, but she was a good sport to hang out with us and I think we all had fun! I ended up getting back home around 9:30 that night, so it was 29 hours of fun for me.
Thanks Mom, Heather and Vanessa and Laura for such a fun time! And thanks D for watching the kiddies! I think we need to make it a tradition!