how could it be any better than this? : Our fun weekend

I didn't know how this weekend was going to turn out because there were so many unknowns going into it. But God gave us a super gift in the way He made it work out. Laney & Bodie were invited to spend the weekend celebrating cousin Tara's 4th birthday in Austin, so Brian & I were able to spend the entire weekend with our two big girls. We drove up to The Woodlands for the KSBJ 30th anniversary concert. We listen to KSBJ most of the time we're in the car so we know a lot of the songs they play. We especially love Switchfoot, so we were excited to get to see them live.

When we got there, the lawn was completely packed. We found a spot for our quilt about 20 feet from the back fence. We couldn't see the bands. We couldn't even see the stage. But we could hear the music. The concert started at 5pm with the opening bands, For King and Country, Chris August, and Family Force Five. We knew our favorites would be much later that night. So we just started rolling around and wrestling on our quilt.

I looked up and a man knelt down next to me with a microphone. He said he was Sterling from KSBJ and asked our names. Then he asked us where we were sitting. I didn't catch on to what was going on, but Brian said "we're sitting in the very back of the lawn!" Then Sterling said "how would you like to move up to the KSBJ luxury box seats?" We couldn't believe this was happening to us! It felt surreal as we folded up our quilt and took our kids ALL the way through the lawn to the front of the concert. The girls had no idea what was going on. In fact, I think they were pretty disappointed we had to leave the lawn. :)

P.S. We are on the radio right now!!! If you listen to KSBJ, when you hear their recap of the concert, listen for when you hear a DJ say "how would you like luxury box seats?" Then you will my voice and Brian's voice saying "Thank you so much KSBJ, We love you KSBJ, etc etc." It's weird but fun to hear our voices on the radio every day now!!!

Here we are in our luxury box seats. We had a waiter that came by and offered us a menu. We saw several people walk by that made us feel like we were definitely out of our league. But we were so excited!!!

From these seats we got to see Francesca Batestelli. She was so beautiful and I loved hearing her talk about her life and how God had showed her His love. Her husband is her drummer. She was wonderful! Then there was a surprise guest - Amy Grant! She started with "Baby, Baby" then "Sing Your praise to the Lord." The girls had a hard time understanding that she was one of my favorite singers when I was about their age! Tatum just asked me today how old Amy Grant is if she was one of my favorites when I was little. I told her that is a very good question.

We were so excited when Switchfoot came out. We loved hearing "Your Love is a Song," "Mess of Me" and "Dark Horses." The girls caught on pretty quick - they were singing at the top of their lungs and having such a great time. They sang a lot of their oldies too. Then during "Restless," the lead singer started walking out in the audience right toward us! Then he stopped right in front of our section. He sang the whole song right there. We could've reached out and touched him! So here's our buddy John Foreman...

After Switchfoot, there was another surprise guest - Steven Curtis Chapman! He sang "Divin' In" and "Cinderella" then he said he was going to try a new song on us (all 16,000 of us) that he had never tried before in front of people. He butchered it! Then he broke a string on his guitar! But he was so funny. We love him!
Then there was an awesome preacher, Jeff Bethke, who gave a great message about how church is supposed to be the huddle, not the game. Then Mercy Me came out to finish the night. When the concert was finally over a little after 11pm, both girls were out cold. Brian & I were still in awe of how God had blessed us! We loved every minute of it!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate our big girls' birthdays. We also got to stay at a beautiful resort in The Woodlands, play in the water park, collect shells from the pond there and eat some great food. It was such a memorable weekend.

A few more photos from recently... Avery's Leonardo Ninja Turtle that she wanted so bad for her birthday. Now she has all four turtles. She doesn't really play with them, she just uses them as decorations on her dresser. She thinks they are cute.

Avery and Tatum both learned to ride without training wheels over this past winter. They have spent many fun afternoons riding their bikes on the greenbelt behind our house. Avery's old bike had a chain and a pedal that were always falling off. So we were excited for her to have her own new bike!