I Lost My Car

The title of this post might be more accurate if I said: "My Car was Viciously Stolen From Me" but that seemed too long. Either way you say it though: the fact remains - my car is no longer in my possession. It was the weirdest thing in the world. I woke up that morning doing really great! I was really on top of things - I remembered some random things I wanted to take to work, I was up early enough to take the trash out to the curb, and I was all set to be ON TIME FOR WORK. I walked outside and didn't see my car. I walked further outside to see if I had just parked it in a new place... Nope... Then I called my mom... I think I said something like "Mom I can't find my car..." as if I had just misplaced it or something. Then I called the tow-company that patrols my complex, my mom, the police, my mom, my insurance company, then my mom, and then my mom again, and again, and again.

FAQs: (by insurance and people curious in my story):

• What happened to your car? It's gone.
• When did you last see it? 11:30 p.m. on 9/29
• When did you notice it was gone? 7:15 a.m. on 9/30
• Where was it(was it in the ghetto)? It was in the exact some place I have parked it for the last 6 months that I have lived here. 
• Does your complex have cameras? Nope - and no gate either. 
• Did you lock your car? I always lock my car. Always. But I can't remember specifically locking it that night. Hopefully habit took over.
• Did you have anything inside it? My Garmin. My mace. My jumper cables. My Reba McIntire tape. 
• Did you have the keys with you? Yes. All keys I have for that car are in my possession. Dirty rotten scumbags apparently know how to hot-wire a car.

The thing I tried to do right away was look for the blessings in this situation. This is something I think I learned to do the last time I thought I couldn't cope with something hard (my transmission going out a month a go, loosing the keys to someone else's car and my own work keys - if nothing else Houston has taught me to be resilient). I've keeping a mental list, but even though it's been less then a week since the incident the list is already fading from my mind, so I'm recording it here with you now.

BLESSINGS OF HAVING YOUR CAR STOLEN

• Insurance. I can't say this one enough. I'm not all done dealing with them yet, but so far I've been soooooo impressed with Geico. I called them they took all my information - and had a rental that they are paying for already for me to go by the time I got off the phone. I can't get over what an amazing blessing insurance is! I'm soo glad I got it - even though right before my car was stolen I was thinking how maybe I overpaid and maybe I need to adjust my coverage -- never again folks - it's just soooo worth it.
• NOT HAVING MY IDENTITY STOLEN. I've been running after work and one week before my car was stolen I had my social security card AND birth certificate all hidden in my car at a park because I was going to get my passport on my lunch break. I thankfully had all those things removed on the night it was gone. My identity is still in tact! 
• Not having my license stolen! When I go to that park to run - I always hide my license, phone, and wallet in three different places so in case my car is broken into I'll still have at least one part of my life still - smart right?? BUT because the place I had my license is sooo sneaky I had been leaving it in there. Then last week sometime I said to myself (or more likely the Spirit whispered to me)- I should put that back in my wallet and I did! So my license is till with me.
• Answered Prayers/LOVE! I had been thinking this week that I would like to more fully understand the love God has for me. I'd been feeling a little far from Heavenly Father and I prayed for that very thing. Little did I know that that outpouring of love would come because of my car getting stolen. But honestly everyone's kindness and love made what should have been an awful no good horrible terrible day one of the best days I've had in a long time. EVERYBODY WAS SO NICE. Everyone in my family called/texted/prayed and cared about me that day (except Todd of course). It was amazing. I felt soooo blessed to be surrounded by sooo many wonderful people.  I felt soo loved and so taken care of. It was just such a great out-pouring of love that after the initial shock and after I'd done everything I could have done - I was actually feeling really good. I mean there's only so much you can do. The thing happened and then it's over and then you have to move forward. I just got to move forward surrounded by the best people in the world. 
• "I still have my legs!" The day my car was stolen, I was talking to my dad. I wanted to go for a quick run and that's what I said to my dad as I was getting off the phone - I may not have my car, but I can still get around! I'm really glad that I got my car stolen -- while I wasn't anywhere near it -- so that I can continue to be safe and have all my body parts!

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as blessing go, but I wanted to get the major ones down! Since it is Sunday I also wanted to say that I feel that lots of these blessings are related to the tithing. I studied a talk in Institute about a year ago that talked about the compensatory blessings of obedience to different laws. The idea is that you may not be blessed in the way you think (i.e. more money you think you need), but in the ways that the Lord sees fit (i.e. you are able to mange the money you already have).  I feel very blessed in ways that I didn't expect and I feel that the Lord's hand is in those blessings! 

Flash Back Friday Prom

I love my new ward! I loved my time at BYU, but let me tell life outside the bubble has it's perks and one of them is YSA wards that are filled with young professionals instead of students! I have lots of thoughts on why it's better, but I'll save that for another post. One of the downers of this ward though is that there is this idea that dances are for younger YSA wards... but some of us LOVE TO DANCE!!!! So this needed to change. After a lot of "floating" (common Kelli technique: keep talking about an idea casually like it's going to happen until voilà: it's reality!), we finally got the okay to DANCE.

I should also say that I wasn't much involved in the planning of this event. I supported the original idea: flash back Friday prom and created the Facebook event - but after that I checked out of the planning! I was there for every planning meeting mind you - and I did help put up the decorations - but let's be real my sweet roommate had things covered! She didn't even need me!

Anyway --- on the day of the dance I was back on board and super excited! I last minute sent out a "creative" invite to get myself a Prom Date with the help my sweet co-workers at the end of my work day!

Prom?!

He said yes!

I then spent the rest of the afternoon after work getting ready for this prom! So much so that I didn't even eat dinner! How's a girl supposed to dance the night away with out sustenance?! HOW I ASK YOU?! Thankfully my Prom Date was okay with a quick stop at Little Ceasar's! I needed something quality to get me through the big night!

The actual dance consisted of lots of Latin Music - a few country songs - a few pop songs - and plenty of line dances - which is my favorite!!! I love a good line dance! Anytime. Anywhere. No jokes!

You may wonder - Kelli how did you dance to all that Latin music? ...you are a very backwoods American with little Latin persuasion in your life...

JOKES ON Y'ALL! 

I've been learning to dance Latin - which is me meeting some of my life goals (see a modified #14)! And let me tell - Latin dancing is my passion!

The dance was supposed to go to about 11:00 -- in true Latin fashion - it went longer and I was dying of tiredness. Apparently 2 slices of Lil Sleazer's isn't enough to get you through the whole night! But there was a photo booth and a "lounge" for those of us that couldn't last the whole evening!

The Lounge Life

When the dance FINALLY ENDED, we cleaned up real quick and I took the opportunity to take pictures with my dance planning friends! They sure are sweet and I'm lucky I get to hang out with them even when we aren't planning a dance! 

Another Great Brother

50 days before BYU Football (who are thus far undefeated by the way!) BYU started a promotion where they dropped off one box in each of the 50 states. Each box had a bunch of cool BYU stuff in it, but most of the fun was finding the box!!  When BYU came to Texas they dropped not one but 3 boxes - yet somehow they missed Houston -- HOUSTON the fourth largest city in America!! Anyway.. enough BYU fans complained that on Kick-Off Eve BYU stopped by H-Town!! 

I had to drop someone off at the airport, so I was thinking that of course I had no chance to get the box, but traffic was surprisingly not that bad, so on my way back into the city I decided to wait downtown for the Facebook post that would tell me where I needed to be! 

I parked and waited, then I drove around and waited, and then I waited some more. FINALLY THE POST CAME UP. .... 

The flippin' box was at NASA! 

Do y'all know where NASA IS?!? 

Point A: Downtown --> Point B: NASA

I'm torn between wanting Houston to have the pride of having NASA and outrage that BYU would consider something soooooo far away a part of Houston!

My family knew that I had been trying for the box and were appropriately empathetic when I didn't get it! What I didn't know was that I have another amazing brother looking out for me! About a week after my tragic disappointment I received this package:

MY VERY OWN BYU BOX! 

Sweet Ty sent me a package - which if you knew Ty is pretty shocking - not the thoughtful gift and looking out for me part - that's pretty standard Ty -- just the gettin' it together so fast and sending it within a week of my disappointment! What a champ ya know?!

Sweetest brothers a girl could ask for!!

I can't believe I have been blessed with soooooo many thoughtful and kind people in my life. I know for a fact that these brothers of mine (not to mention sisters, brother-in-laws, and parents) are in my life for a very specific reason! I'm so blessed by each of them! How did I get soo lucky?! 

Share Goodness Sunday

Sweet Todd has been gone serving his mission for over a year! Today I was thinking of two moments from the year we were at BYU together that prove he was simply the best!

#1: When I Needed a Blessing. I had been feeling pretty poorly and I was going to have my brothers give me a blessing for my sickness, but by the time they had it together enough to come help their poor ailing sister I was feeling better, but I still needed a blessing for other reasons. Ty made Todd give the blessing (for experience because the boy had just been ordained an Elder and he was about to leave on his mission) and he was so nervous. He didn't even know what to say really, but he gave me a blessing anyway. I can't remember what was said in the blessing, but I do know that I loved him for trying so hard and being able to give me that blessing! It was so sweet of both of my brothers! 

#2: When He Found Me Crying on Campus. I was headed to class from the Tanner Building to the Wilk after an incredibly stressful day of working on getting my future together and Todd was headed home to the dorms. It was a freak accident that we saw each other or rather that he saw me: I had been walking with my hair in front of my face and my head down because I was crying out my stress - Toddy pulled me off to the side of the sidewalk and broadened his shoulders to try and make a psuedo-wall so no one would see his poor sister crying and then he said some encouraging things and gave me a pat on the shoulder and maybe a side-hug? He felt so uncomfortable, but he wanted to make sure I was okay. Sweet Todd. I almost started crying again thinking about how great he was! 

I've been blessed with the best brothers! I'm so glad that Todd decided to take all the sweetness and faith and go to Africa to serve a mission to change the lives of the people that he meets there. It's not everyone that decides to go and it's not everyone that sticks it out when it's hard, but sweet Todd is doing his best to do just that and I'm so proud! 

Summer Days Driftin' Away!

I officially went home to Wyoming to see my Grandma and Grandpa as the Grand Marshals of the Cowley's Day parade! The bonus of this trip was seeing all my babies!! I've already put these pictures all over Facebook, but because they are THAT. CUTE. I'm posting them again!

These sweet babies look like they are parade ready. Which they were for the most part, but they were not ready to be robbed of their candy by some older children who kept running in front of them and taking it. So I had to step in and grab the candy first. YES, I stole from children, but then I gave it back to other children. So.. it's not as awful as it sounds? Right?

These girls had to resort to sneakier methods of getting their candy. We would often see sweet Camilla take off down the street following the trail of candy! It was so funny to see her in her own world collecting tootsie rolls (supervised of course) all up and down the gutter!

The whole crew!

Pig Tails!

The Grand Marshals Themselves:

My sweet grandparents did such a great job as the grand marshals! It was so fun to see them honored in this way. The Cowley's Day parade has always been a part of my life - every summer we'd go up to their house and sit on the curb as the best parade I've ever been to (speaking strictly in candy output) passed on by! To have my family members as part of this and recognized at the program, in the program and throughout the day was so fun! These people are quality! 

Picture with some local Celebs!!

After the parade and the program (pioneer themed speeches/talks and choir music baby), there is a lunch and kids races at the park that is just kitty-corner to the Lewis estate! My sweet Camilla was in a foul mood, but we wanted to see Aubrey and Brynny race, so we stayed.  Dawn eventually had to take Baby Henry home, so I stayed with foul-tempered Camilla. (Side story: someone asked me if Camilla and Brynn were mine. My immediate response: horror and "OH NO! Not at all!") As we waited for the races to start, I let all my sweet niecey's run pieces of pine needles through my hair and over my nails, playing beauty parlor. Our quick game of beauty parlor turned Camilla's attitude right around and she was suddenly willing to race! It was so sweet! All the babies in the race Camilla was in won a dime: She's so proud!

Winner winner!

After our sloppy joe lunch, I EXPERIENCED SUMMER for the first time all summer!  We played badminton and kubb. It was amazing. I love being outside. I love playing games. I love my family. I love babies. I love heat that doesn't oppress you! I love yard games! I just love love loved this day. See how fun it was:

the boys.

A Carefree Camilla! My favorite picture from my trip!

Great moms: Both of them!

It's a keeper!

Another great picture!

More to come...

My Bosom Friend Got Married

Sweet Stacey is one of my best friends (not my only best friend obviously, but certainly the quickest to reach that status!) - and ONE month ago she married the love of her life!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky enough to have a weekend free from work and a little extra cash, so I could show up and see the joyous day in person! What a blessing!

It was the quickest weekend in Utah ever, but a good quick weekend none the less.

Sweet Ty was the hero of the weekend - he picked me up from the airport, gave me his car for a night and a day, and let me stay in his house for an evening. Seriously - Ty saved my life and I am the luckiest sister in the world! We started my Utah weekend off well with Ty and my's place - Cafe Rio. Don't tell my Texan friends but Cafe Rio trumps Chipotle: allday, erryday. They are missing out in the South!

I showed up at the temple bright and early because I was the lucky gal assigned to be head baby-sitter - at least that's what I thought, but it turned out sweet Stacey had planned ahead and had her oldest niece and a few of her friends there ready to handle the babes. All I did was manage the masses - especially the crying ones when things got rough for the older gals!

After my gig as head baby-sitter finished up, I became a fangirl of the bride and groom! The meant following them around - telling Stacey she looked like a bridal beauty - giving them my water - taking pictures with them - telling Stacey she had a bridal glow - offering my support in general. Also another fun gig. I loved getting to see my bosom friend with her man and them being so happy and so natural and so right. They are just the perfect two for each other. I loved being their fangirl - and I will continue to be one I'm sure!

Pictures of me and the other bridal friends/fangirls: (two of which are my own former roommates - wedding reunions are the best reunions!)

After the luncheon - which the sweetest, kindest Stacey totally had our backs at and didn't make us make a speech on the spot about how perfect Brett and Stacey were for each other (I could have said many things about that topic, but not without prior notice and not in front of Stacey's family and especially not in front of Brett's family... thanks Stacey you're the best!) - I headed back to Provo city to pick up my brother. While we were there we did Provo things like getting ice cream from the Creamery.

It was nice to be back in Provo, because it helped me realize again that I like being not in Provo. Texas is a good home for now, and I'm glad I got the chance to leave Provo City to try out a new home for awhile! 

The reception was so great. It was in the backyard of this wonderful little place. It was so cozy with the trees and the tables and the bride and groom waiting to greet everyone. Stacey hired one of her roomies to sing songs of love in the background with her guitar and it added the perfect touch. It was one of those receptions that was just pleasant and perfect. The weather was perfect - the music was perfect - Stacey and Brett were so comfortable and kind - and you could just tell that people felt right at home. I loved it!! Stacey is a wedding reception planning extradinaire. She's a pro. Seriously. The reception was AMAZING!

See how happy they looked:

I also want to include this series of photos because I think it's the only proof I have that we were all together, despite how awful I look. I can probably add these to an album of pictures (albeit a small album ;) ) with the title "Proof that I'm Not Photogenic."

 

 

The stunning bride and groom tower over and look 10x better than me, which is how it's supposed to be, but..... still.  

I'd gladly take more awful photos with the bride and groom if it meant I got to witness this joyous event again. I'll admit that I did shed a few tears - which was an interesting thing for me. Usually sweet Stacey is the one crying about changes and life being different, but that day it was definitely me. It always gets me at reception time how my friendship with the bride is suddenly going to be different. A good different for sure, but still different, which leads me to tears. Which this go around was a little embarrassing because the moment struck in front of my brother and some of my friends... but it was nice to know I care so much!  But if I had to loose my best friend to anyone - Brett's the best guy out there for the job!!! 

Realizations

Realization #1: So.. I just did a mini-Facebook stalk of myself (I'm waiting for traffic to die down a bit before I go shopping), and I realized that most of the pictures of me recently posted are me eating food. Which really shouldn't be a surprise because eating out is one of my very favorite things to do in the whole world. BUT I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't take so many pictures of it?

Food. Food. Food.

Realization #2: If eating is my favorite thing to do in the world, maybe I should get better hobbies.  Quick Google search and I'm already a whole step ahead to discovering my new hobby: http://discoverahobby.com/

Realization #3: Remember in this post where we laughed together about my flash-induced lazy eye? Turns out I was lying to myself! I'VE GOT A LAZY EYE ALL THE TIME. Upon seeing the picture below, one of my very first thoughts was I need to start parting my hair on the other side so that it doesn't accentuate the lazy-eye syndrome that is my face!! Does anyone out there even think that will help?!? What's a girl with a lazy eye to do?

Realization #4: Sometimes things you look forward to are even better than you imagined! Like going to a food truck downtown with my co-workers and having the most wonderful time in the world! It started raining just as we were leaving work, so I prayed a quick pray that it would stop. PRAYER ANSWERED. Then we followed our GPS to the address the Waffle Bus's twitter indicated and BOOM-BA-DA-BING - we arrived to the location to find not just ONE food truck BUT SEVERAL food trucks! I seriously was freaking out! It was like a food truck utopia. As we were approaching the Food Truck Utopia a man called out to us: "Try the lobster rolls if you go to (dirty-named food truck)!" It was a food truck community! People coming together sharing tips on where to eat - so sweet! We ordered our food - I followed my southern appetite to the chicken and waffles, while my friend instead got the Vietnamese-fusion chicken tacos.  We drove back to work jamming to a few of our current favorites including "Turn Down For What" you should all give the clean version a listen - it's a pretty good car-dancing song. Then ate our food together - it was actually delicious until I got to a weird part of the chicken - y'all know how I am about chickens - but the brightness of the rest of the day definitely out-weighed the weird chicken parts! It was seriously one of the best lunch breaks I've ever had! 

The Aquarium

I went to an aquarium in downtown Houston, 

and I left with a picture of me and a tiger.  

I'm a little bit frightened that the crazy part of this picture isn't the fact 

that The Downtown Aquarium feels it appropriate to include tigers in their fish exhibit

 but rather me--I AM THE CRAZY PART. 

Despite the whole lot of cray-cray oozing from above photo, I super enjoyed the Aquariam. 

• I touched a few sting-rays: 
• they are some smart and scary creatures. They'd flap their 'wings' at us if they thought we had food. And they'd come close and I'd touch them and scream a little. I just kept thinking about the Steve Irwin, and so I was a little hesitant. But I conquered that fear and touched those nasty slimy things. It may have been a first and last!
• Road the ferris wheel - which was a significantly more pleasant experience than the Park County Fair - much less rickety. 
• Observed some fish. Good times!
• And checked one more thing off my Houston Bucket List!

Throwback Thursday - 1 Year Later!

One Year Ago

My Family looked like this:

My mom was still rocking the Stay at Home Mom title. My dad had JUST left IME. Toni and Sage only had two beautiful daughters. Dawn and Bryan only had Camilla with an un-named baby on the way. Bryan still worked at Goldman Sach's.  Ty was a lowly Junior at BYU. Todd still lived in America. And I had no real future.

Today: 

My Family looks like this:

CONGRATS TY!!! I'M A VERY PROUD SISTER!!! YOU'RE SO SMART!!! AND HANDSOME!

My mom is the newest and BEST Support Specialist for the Powell area Institute. Pops has not only rocked Granite Engineering - he's now on his way to REAL ESTATE MOGAL. #baller  Toni is now the pregnant sister and un-named baby boy is coming REAL soon! Ty's a graduate and has a JOB!

 Dawn and Bryan dropped out of the Goldman life and living as college students in Pittsburgh - and Henry is a human being.   

Todd is sharing the Gospel in Africa! 

And I have a career and a life in Houston.

Another person who was a huge part of my graduation day/life:

Last year Sweet Stacey was hugging me and wasn't officially dating anyone - yet!

This year:

Sweet Stacey is graduating and has her arms around the man of her dreams (who only has eyes for her) and is going to marry him in less than 2 months!

It's amazing the difference a year makes!

Anecdotes From A Pleasant Week

• A client at work made me a mixed tape that he put together himself. He told me I was his favorite lady, and he laughed at all my jokes! NICE!
• As I was listening to the mix tape on the way home from work - it was mostly Johnny Cash - I had two windows down and I was loving my life. As I pulled up to a stop light, with my windows down, a man in the lane next to mine was shouting at me. I finally figured out that it was me he was talking to and I turned down my music - "I grew up in Dubois - where are you from?" - startled I shouted back "Powell!" One of best reasons to register my car in Powell once more - the chance to keep having these wonderful encounters! 
• As I was pulling up to another stoplight on another day - I started to un-peel an orange - it's a long light. But... it just happens I stopped right next to a homeless man - with my windows down and the music up. AWKWARD. I turned down my music and then after 10 seconds I looked over apologetically to the homeless man (H.M.) - 
• K: "I -" 
• H.M."You don't have to give me anything. Don't feel bad."
• K "I have an orange. Would you like an orange?"
• H.M. "Sure if you want to give it to me."
• K hands H.M. orange.
• H.M. "I'll eat it right now." (begins to unpeel it)
• Silence
• H.M. "Do you know Spanish?"
• K Um... trying to figure out if I look like I know Spanish for some reason.. "No, I don't."
• H.M. "I'm know f-ing Spanish" (he didn't censor)
• I raised my eyebrows in surprise - but his face was down so he couldn't tell.
• H.M. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to say (pause - trying to figure out how to apologize for cussing without saying it again) that word."
• He then went on to tell me about how on the streets you have to learn Spanish and that he's pretty fluent - until the light turned green. Then mid-sentence, as the light-turned green - he held up his hand and said "Bye."
• I was at another stoplight (I only have a 20 minute commute - even though it sounds like I'm ALWAYS driving) on another day and saw across the way a Wyoming-ite from county 10 or 16 - my eyes are going bad, don't judge! I hardly EVER see any cars not from Texas and yet that is second siting of a Wyomin'-ite! Love it!
• At salsa dance class this week, I moved from super beginner to regular beginner because I finally reached FLOW status! I really felt the dance - instead of just doing the steps. My favorite dance partner told me I finally got it because I added a little bounce to my step - which was true because I finally found the beat! YEAH!!!!!!! Now I just have to find places to dance that aren't totally sleazy.
• At Wal-Mart yesterday, I was walking in and a middle-aged man from behind me says - you have something on you and he points downish. I looked at my bag which was on the backside of my leg and didn't see anything. He kept pointing and then was like - someone else is going to have to get it off for you. My roommate looked at booty and saw a sticker from her car on my skirt and pulled it off. I was left feeling really weird that a man would be telling there was something down there. Was it weird or kind that he mentioned it?

The most unfortunate teeth and other adventures...

I have the most unfortunate teeth or I'm really bad at applying lip-gloss...

When I was younger, I thought it was just because I had braces, 

but as time goes on - it still keep happening. 

The lip-gloss invariably ends up on teeth. It's a curse, 

but I don't let it stop me.

 In fact.. I embrace the white-trash nature of my predicament:

5 points for TP, 15 Points for the actual toilet.

The above pics were taken as we were headed out the door for Wings and Latin Dancing.

Wings were fantastic - Latin Dancing left a lot to be desired.

First time eating wings!

 Mostly because I was way out of my element,

and my hips weren't lying - I'm as white as they come. 

But I have a strong desire to get good at dancing - it's always been my dream, 

so I'm going to keep trying.

On Saturday I had to work, and next Saturday I will also work again and the Saturday after that I will also work. I can't wait for the summer when weekend work slows considerably. For now, I remind myself that I'm doing fun things (and getting overtime!) like going to the zoo, learning new skills, like how to paddle in a Dragon Boat competition, and providing the best Easter Egg Hunt our clients have ever had with beeping easter eggs for our kids that are blind and visually impaired.

Shout out to Toddy-boy who I think of every time I go to a zoo!

Florida Georgia Line - Rodeo Houston Part 2

THE CONCERT!

The actual Rodeo ends at around 8:30 and then quickly set up for the concert, which for many is the main draw - or maybe not the main draw, but a way to differentiate between nights at the Rodeo. When people say things like what night are you going? It's usually in reference to who will be performing the night you are at the Rodeo. The Rodeo gets a lot of country bands - Blake Shelton, Reba McIntire -- but also some other genres - Usher, Maroon 5. I went on Florida George Line night!

Hauling the Stage Out After the Rodeo Finished

Very Effective Ford Advertisement - Who wouldn't want the fancy nice truck?

Florida Georgia Line (FGL) has two guys that are the main vocals - although one of the guys (the more hickish of the two) is definitely the lead vocals in that while the other is just kind of a mix of lead and not lead. They came out in jeans (TIGHTER THAN JEGGINGS - it looked so uncomfortable), shirts with the sleeves cut-off, and cowboy boots. The looked the part of backwoods hick all the way down to the hair. 

As the show was starting they set off a bunch of fireworks INSIDE the Stadium! It was so fun and awesome! This was happening as our singers were driven to the center stage in the back of one of the Ford Trucks. 

Fireworks of Anticipation

The concert itself was pretty great. They were very energetic and very good at walking off the stage to go mingle with the fans that are pretty far away from them because of the way the Stadium is set up.  They were also good at getting us all excited about the next song. Lots of Where's my Houston Ladies?! - I screamed with the best of them! 

When the sang one of their hits "Shine On" they asked everyone to get their lighters out. I assumed this would be like they do it in Utah - turn the flashlight app on their smart phone and wave it in the air. While this was what most of the people did I surprised at the fact that people actually had lighters on them - Like real ones!  (It was so strange to me to think about people still smoking - I mean we've established lung cancer is a thing right? I understand people my parents age smoking, but anyone my age?! Seriously - do you ever read the news?!)  The lighter/cellphone glow during shine on was just too pretty, so I took some pictures for you:

Now about the concert. Although these guys are played on country radio - their live performances are much different. The newspaper report on their concert called their genre "hillbilly rap-rock." In high school tennis, we would made up a similar genre we called it Crap - which stands for country-rap. These guys had it down. They had all the head-banging of the Rock genre with the hand gestures of the rap genre all this while still clinging to their country-roots. It was so funny.  In my mind I could see these guys in their garage in high school taking themselves very seriously talking about making it big then being here today with not much changing as far as performance style goes. They definitely seemed to be living their dreams in real life. 

Guitars!!!!!!!