Tyler's Homecoming

It felt like we had to wait forever for Tyler to be able to speak in our ward for his homecoming! He got home on the 17th of July and didn't get to speak until August 9th! He wasn't too happy about it and neither were we. But the wait was well worth it. It is crazy to me how much missionaries grow during their missions and Tyler was no exception. He did very well. He didn't even have to prepare very much for it and he gave an awesome talk! At home it was a different story! We had help from many people as we were getting ready for the homecoming dinner. We borrowed tables and chairs, shade tents, and had many people bring salads and desserts. It is a lot of work but always so much fun to be able to see everyone! And so many people came! During sacrament the poor boys had to do the blessing 3 times because they kept running out! And so many people had to sit out in the hall!

So many people came and supported Tyler on this special day for him. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends! Thanks everyone and good job Ty! I am so proud of you!

Kenny!

Not only have I been waiting 2 whole years to see Tyler... I have also been waiting 2 whole years to see Kenny again. He usually comes every summer but he skipped last summer for who knows why. I knew that it was going to be a great night but I had no idea what was in store! We got a late start so we missed Lady Antebellum. I am pretty sad about that. I wish that Miranda Lambert would have went first because I actually thought that she sucked. And we definitely didn't miss Sugarland because they no showed us! I don't really get why singers/groups think that they can do that. It has now happened twice to us. Gay. Oh well. The first thing that we had to do when we got there was go and buy our Kenny shirts. I recently got this idea that I need a t-shirt from every concert that I go to. Kind of an expensive idea but the t-shirts are always super cool so I really do need one.

Here are Jamie and I posing in our new twinner Kenny shirts.

Here are the backs... Funny thing that we both realized while taking this picture is that we both were smiling as if it really mattered. Ha. We sure got a kick out of that.

Here we all are anxiously awaiting for Kenny to come out!

We were starting to get a little antsy waiting for Kenny when someone got this brilliant idea to throw a beachball out into the crowd. Everyone would hit it back and forth and while this may not sound like it would be that fun... for some reason it really was! We loved it. It was always the best when it would get hit really hard into some unexpecting person's face. We laughed everytime!

Then it started to go flat... So Dave grabbed it with his long arms so that I could blow it back up and the fun continued. It ended up turning into a game of "keep away" from the security because this one lady kept taking them and deflating them. But since the radio station was giving them away we had an endless supply.

One of my favorite things about going to concerts, especially outside, is that they seem to bring out all of the attractive available men in Northern Utah. Mr. Beer Gut was very entertaining. He walked around as if he were the sole reason that everyone was there that night. Then as soon as he walked away he got into a dead serious fight with some guy. The crowd was loving it. We were not bored at all waiting for the show to start. Alyssa mentioned that she was definitely in love with him.

And the moment we had been waiting two years for... Mr. Kenny Chesney!

I love him very much! I would have been perfectly content standing and singing along with Kenny for hours on end. Until....

Ahhhh!!!

We got our hands stamped! I never in a million years thought that I would be able to sneak up close to Kenny. But we did! Oh my gosh! I still can't believe it! We were actually trying get this security guard to call over this other guy giving out passes. The guy wouldn't come over but... the security guard just stamped our hands! I feel bad that everyone didn't follow us but it was a do or die situation!

As soon as we got down there we ran into Alyssa's love or AKA Mr. Beer Gut! I was so happy that we were able to get a picture with him!

I could not even believe how close that we were too him! We didn't exactly know what we were going to do because the security guards up at the front kept asking us to show them our tickets to be able to get closer. We kept getting in trouble for loitering and so I was about to suggest that we go sit back down. Well not Lynsie! She was going to get up to the front! She just snuck right past a security guard and got right up to the front. So once she did it we figured that we could do it too. So we hopped some chairs and got up there! We did get separated from Lyns though. Now we were front row of the whole concert but on the very far right. We were in 7th Heaven!

Of course we had to take a picture of ourselves being this close to Kenny because we thought that this was as close as we were going to get...

Until some guy just spread apart the gate and we took full advantage and slipped right through! Can you believe how close Kenny is? I didn't think it was possible but Kenny looks even better up close!

The stage is right behind us. We were literally feet away! Oh I wish I could go back! I had just accepted my life as being a back row concert goer. This was definitely a dream come true!

This is Jamie and I with the man who made it all possible. The security guard that stamped our hand. We definitely love him and are very thankful that we happened to talk to him.

I know that I always say this but this was the best concert ever! I loved seeing Kenny up close! It was a moment that I never thought would happen. I can't wait for next year when I can see him again. (I do have to say that I hope he decides to change it back to Usana though because just FYI, Rio Tinto sucks for a concert.) Only 365 days to go!

King George... Kind of!

So I know I probably say this a lot about a lot of different singers but I love, love, love King George, aka George Strait. He hasn't performed here for 11 years so I figured that he would never be back. But he came! Yay! I have been waiting for this moment forever! When I heard that he was coming on the 17th I was not too happy because we knew that Ty was supposed to be coming home around that time. So I waited until Ty told us that he was coming home on the 18th. Perfect! So I bought the tickets. Then... a little over a week ago we got a call from Tyler's mission president and he told us that for some reason (I can't remember why) they had to send Tyler, and the other missionaries that were traveling with him, home a day early. So now I had George Strait tickets for the night that Tyler was coming home. Great! I decided to go and leave early. I just had to try and see him!

The concert was at Usana and we had general admission tickets so that we could sit on the grass. So we had to go early so that we could get a good spot.

I think that I say this everytime that I go to Usana but this had to be the hottest time I have ever had to sit out and save a seat. Obviously we were very hot and tired. Ha ha.

But then we remembered that we were going to see George in just a couple of hours and perked right up!

Julianne Hough was the first person to perform. She did really great. And I also think that she is darling.
Jamie and I are loving the fun concert and being on the grass in the semi-shade. It was really hot out on the asphalt.
Here is Blake Shelton. I heard on the radio that someone said he looked like he was going camping. I thought he looked cute. And he was fun. I forgot how many songs he has that I love.
We are all loving being at the concert. Usana is always such a fun summer activity.

Sadly, this is all that I got to see of George Strait at the concert. I was watching Tyler's flight on the internet and I had decided to leave Usana when there was a half an hour til landing. So I had to pack up and leave while Blake Shelton was still performing before George had even thought about coming out. I was pretty sad as I was leaving. But it would be worth it to see Tyler getting off the airplane. Ha. Maybe he'll decide that Utah was so much fun and come again soon! If not I guess that I'll be traveling to see him!

Fearless!

Taylor Swift was amazing! It felt like we had been waiting forever to see her and she did not disappoint! She was so dang cute and did amazing! I had heard that she was not good live and so I wasn't expecting her to sound all that great. But she did awesome! She was very entertaining to watch!

We had to make t-shirts to show Taylor how much we loved her! Steph, my mom, and I worked really hard to make sure that everyone had a real cute t-shirt.

We had to decorate Pearl so that everyone driving down the road would know how much we love taylor! Unfortunately we got caught in a random hail storm about 5 minutes after we left and it washed most of our had work off of the windows.

We practiced out concert skills the whole way to the concert!

When we got to the Delta Center we learned that Kellie Pickler was sick and wasn't going to perform for us. We were all really heartbroken. I love Kellie and was excited for her. But Gloriana did a pretty good job getting us pumped for Taylor. Morgan especially liked them.

Here we are waiting for Taylor to come out. We're really excited!

I loved every second of the concert! But one of the best parts...

All the sudden we look right below us and this is what we see... What is going on? Remember this is literally right below us.

Ahh! Taylor is standing at the portal right directly below singing one of our favorite songs, Hey Stephen! I could not believe that she was within probably 6 feet of us! And she hugged practically every single person on the way down to the floor. It was adorable. Usually singers do something fun like this to start the concert but she was very creative and did it randomly in the middle of the concert. It was great!

This was the look on Bailley and Morgan's faces the whole time. It was fun watching them.

Apparently the girls were pretty into the song Should've said no.

Here's the whole group! We loved every second of it!

Concerts always drain us! Everyone in this picture is so exhausted except for Bailley. I guess she wasn't even tired at all!

We all woke right up though when we were this close to Taylor! I'm pretty sure that Alyssa almost got ran over by the bus while we were chasing after it. BreAnn got a thumbs up from Taylor and Lynsie got one of the Taylor guitar picks that they threw out the window. It was so worth standing there and getting yelled at by the security officer for standing in the wrong spot on the sidewalk.

Taylor was so great! I had a blast. Thanks for all the great memories everyone! I can't wait for our next concert!