JOURNEY

Last Thursday morning I received a text message from Peter Blue, a friend from high school who now owns his own show production company in Vegas. Peter is currently on tour with Journey, who is on their first tour with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda. The story of how they found him is a very interesting one and can be seen in a CBS Sunday Morning news interview here. Peter asked if Marty and I want to go to the concert that night in Nashville. He hooked us up with a backstage tour and VIP passes. We had an AMAZING time and have posted some of the video clips here.

[Video for RSS readers]


On Friday afternoon Nick, Daniel and I decided to drive to Birmingham, AL for the concert on Saturday night since they had not been able to go on Thursday. Daniel has been a long time Journey fanatic and was just a little bit excited to be there. We listened to the entire Journey catalog for the 3 hour drive down. Once there we watched sound check, toured backstage, went inside the tour buses, hung out at backstage catering tent during set change, had seats right in the front, and of course screamed our heads off. We got home at almost 3:00am, but would do it again if we had the chance!

[Video for RSS readers]


More pictures of our weekend available here.

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to school we go!

This past weekend we took P on our second annual "back to school date." This is a little tradition we started last year with her where we take a night and make it all about her and getting her ready for school. We get the school supply list, get a sitter for Mason, (to which this year she replied--YES!), and hit the town. And then we take her to eat at any restaurant of her choice. So far we are two for two with OG. I'm not gonna complain! My girl knows good eatin'!

This year's list included but not limited to:

• 24ct. #2 Pencils – Wooden unsharpened, Made in the USA
• 1 Pack 24ct. CRAYOLA Crayons
• 6 (1 per color) Folders – Heavy vinyl, 2 pockets, 3 brads/prongs (Red, Green, Blue,
Yellow, Orange, Purple)
• 2 Writing Tablets – ROSELLE 3rd Grade Primary Tablet, 3 tablets x 40 sheets per
tablet, D’Nealian 1⁄4” ruling on both sides, broken midline, red baseline, 1⁄4” skip line,
81⁄2x11” (Portrait)
• 2 MEAD Composition books for journal writing – hard cover, wide ruled (100
sheets/ea.)
• FISKAR 5” Blunt Scissors
• 6ct. Glue sticks – ELMER’S clear (.77 oz)
• 1 Clipboard with flat top clasp
• 1 Plastic White Vinyl 3 Ring Binder - 1” with 2 pockets - (clear view to slip paper on
outside of cover)
• 1 PAPERMATE Pink Pearl Eraser – medium
• 1 Pack 24ct. Wedge Cap pencil tip Erasers
• 2 Tissue Boxes – KLEENEX (120 ct.)
• 1 Pencil box (vinyl with zipper)
• 4ct. SANFORD EXPO 2 Dry Erase Markers – broad tip, black
• 1 Pack CRAYOLA Markers – washable, 10 count, classic colors
• 1 Pack CRAYOLA colored pencils, 12 count
• 1 Set Water color paints
• 1 Yellow Highlighter
• 4 Red ink pens for correcting papers in class

Lookout Target and Walmart...here we come! Can I just say, we opted to do this deal on tax free weekend. Totally will never do that again! My word were there a lot of people out there in tax free land! As you can see a pretty extensive list, but we knocked it out for the exception of a 10 pack of washable markers. I am convinced that these are not on the market. There are 8 count washable markers, 12 count washable markers, and then a regular 10 count of markers that are apparently not washable. We opted for the 8 pack. We did have a bit of a meltdown when we had to purchase folders in specific colors, and she could not get the pinks one with the dogs on them, but we recovered.

All in all it was a success and a fun time for Ryan and me to get to spend some one on one time with just her. She really is a pleasure and a lot of fun to be with. She and I had a little photo op before we left the house. So for your viewing pleasure (or not so much)...

Down With Skinny Lips!

Man! I could just kiss this little dude's lips like there is no tomorrow! This pic was captured on a family ice cream run last week. Needless to say, somebody was lovin' life!




M

Dare You To Move

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a part of a creative planning meeting to help plan for an upcoming series at our church. The series is going to be incredible, as the vision for the future of our church will be shared. I am excited about some of the big changes planned for the coming days. The following video was used to announce the series this morning. I laughed so hard at Nathaniel that my stomach hurt! Micah and Crutch, as well as the whole team, did a great job on it.

Seems as thought most churches operate with their goal being to not lose the people they already have, instead of trying to reach the people that haven't been reached. We are so thankful to be part of a church that is willing to take chances and make changes. As the song says, "Greater things are yet to come, Greater things are still to be done in this city".


Dare You To Move Promo from FBCSmyrna on Vimeo.


Go to this page to see all of the videos uncut. HILARIOUS!

To help, or not to help

Mommy: Peyton, my phone is ringing. Will you bring it to me?

Peyton: (Ignores mommy.)

Mommy: Peyton, my phone?

Peyton: (Still ignoring mommy as mommy misses the phone call.)

Mommy: Peyton, I thought you were going to bring me my phone. I thought you were going to be my helper today.

Peyton: Oh, I'm not starting that until after lunch.


Okay, good to know.

what do you do when you can't go to the beach?

why, you bring the beach to you of course.

We have had several of our friends who have taken trips to the beach in recent weeks. Well, P decides this morning that she is going to the beach. I'm like okay, knock yourself out. After a few of her trips in and out of the house, I look out the window, and this is what I see...





Gotta love some six year old imagination! I couldn't stop laughing as I was taking the pics through the window. This girl is a one-of-a-kind!

Summertime, where the livin' is...

EASY?! Pretty sure whoever wrote the lyrics to that little number was not a stay at home Mom. I'm just sayin'.

I do love the summertime though. There is just something very nostalgic about this time of year--sleeping in, the aroma of fresh cut grass, catching lighting bugs, the smell of burgers on the grill, the sound of the ice cream truck in your neighborhood, and of course, we can't forget the mosquitos. Life is good in the summer!

The summer is trudging on, and we are finding ourselves approximately one month from school starting again. Yikes, time flies! We have had a fun and busy summer. We have filled our days with trips to the park, splash pad, zoo, library, water park, chick-fil-a, the movies, the Y, and of course an occasional Wal-Mart and Target thrown in for good measure!

P got to spend a week with Gran Gran and Papa and her cousins, which she loved every second of. And I'm not gonna lie, only having one kid at home seemed like a breeze.

We celebrated the birthday of the good ol' U.S. of A with some friends at their parents hanger out in the country. What a beautiful place they have and such a peaceful setting. We ate, hung out, flew kites, set off a few fireworks, and had a great time!

I have included a couple of pics of our summer fun for your viewing pleasure.