10 lessons learned from the keane concert (pseudo-thankful thursday)

10 lessons learned from attending the keane concert on july 23rd, 2010 in las vegas, nevada:





1. the house of blues is an AWESOME venue--the entire place holds 1800 people, so you can get up close & personal without having a restraining order issued against you.


(not that i would know what having a restraining order issued against you means. allegedly.)

{l to r: stacey, tiburon, mindi, ahhhhhnold, rbc, neal, megan, & jody}

2. going with your favorite people makes for a better time--especially when you are accompanied by a professional body builder!







3. keane still gives me cold chills when they take the stage.







4. as well as put on one HELLUVA show for a band who some may classify as "adult contemporary". (shame on you that do!)







5. posing for photos with those you love never gets tiring. (something that never gets old as well? seeing the actual photo after wards and saying "i hate that picture of me! why can't i take a decent snapshot?)







6. when people see that you ARE the party, mothers & their daughters will switch their balcony seats in actual chairs in order to mosh in the pit with you.







7. eventually the concert has to end. even when you pray as hard as you can that it won't.

then you are somewhat choked up by the beauty of it all......







8. the ACTUAL song that really, truly, and genuinely DOES choke you up is bedshaped. it is the closest thing i've ever come to an actual spiritual experience at a concert. (and i've seen my share of concerts!)

(yes, i know that most of you don't watch any videos posted. but you really should see the beauty of this song in concert. trust me. i'm an actual expert.)







9. meeting new bff's (your internet girlfriend and her husband, your lovahhh's lover) is always enhanced by the majesty that IS las vegas.







10. no matter how many times you see this sight, it never ceases to amaze you.







p.s. i'm bending the rules this week and categorizing this in the "thankful thursday" slot.

unconventional? you betcha--it's what i strive for.






{thank you to my internet lovvvvahh for letting me swipe all these great photos.}

i wanna make a mess....i wanna blow off stress.....

(yes, i know that my cheeks look like marlon brando in the godfather. yikes!)

we've loved 311 ever since jared & jody told us that we should. and we've never looked back....

i fell in love long ago with THIS love song. and i'm thinking that you've even rocked out to THIS one or THIS one.. but what you might not know is that their concert is one of the most raucous, entertaining, and engaging shows one could see.





going with these two was the best part of the night--if you don't count the "cops" take-down over the railing and zip-tie behind-the-back handcuffing of our friend in the picture above.

it was pretty intense. and the best part was that we were able to observe, like a bad car crash, from our protected "old person" spot roughly 5 feet away. (membership DOES have it's privileges.)




we had some of the best seats we've ever had at usana--front & center, on the railing, overlooking the mosh-pit and GA from about 5 feet up. it was a rubber-necking DREAM. and we took full advantage.




we loved the band and how much they interacted with the crowd and switched it up.





however, it was, at times, hard to concentrate on them as we were too busy trying to narc out the girl and her boyfriend who were the instigators of three of the most major fights we've ever witnessed.

that's when we KNEW we were officially old people. we just couldn't resist the urge to report "the truth" to the authorities....:)






it also helped the situation that the boys played one of my favorite songs. (hims is pretty hot.)

thank you, lagoon....

.......for making a childhood dream/fantasy of mine come true.

as a young girl/teenager, every time we went to lagoon (translation: white-trash disneyland) i used to beg, BEG for my mom to have our family's picture taken at the pioneer photo gallery--

you got to dress up in costumes from the old west and take reproduction photos.


sadly, my mom always said "no."


happily, this past vacation, my "dad" (translation: russ) said "YES!!!"

our bff's, jody, jared, & family were there to share in the joy that i felt had been missing in my life for all of these years:




when we decided to go for it, we told the woman in charge that we wanted the MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF DEBAUCHERY in the photo.

we listed the aspects absolutely vital to this photo:

1. guns and ammo.

2. money.

3. illegal moonshine straight from the still.

4. gambling.

5. loose women.


i think we were able to capture all of the above elements nicely-----




going:





Going:





GONE:







and one last closeup for the grandparents on the mission: ( my parents have NEVER been more proud!)






i can say now, honestly, that i feel complete.



i am already planning on us doing THIS for our next photographic experience at lagoon:





**the only thing missing in these photos was kaitlyn--

she was unable to attend the photo shoot due to excessive water weenie usage:

if you wanna go and take a ride wit me

meet the newest member of our family.


acquiring this car has been no easy feat-- we started researching the car classifieds around march. i estimate we made over 50 inquiry calls, test drove over 25 cars, spent $100 (twice!) at bountiful mazda for "used car inspections",and made one trip to las vegas as well as one to salt lake city.

after all of that? still no car.

funny, but when your budget is basically the equivalent of lindsay lohan's last month's bar tab?

yeah.....you're options are gonna narrow.



be patient, we told ourselves. the right car will come along. we are in NO hurry. we are willing to wait.


somebody who was not so hot on waiting?

so it was a christmas miracle when this one dropped into our laps. and we decided to "make the relationship work".


we couldn't be happier:

**for the record we would like to apologize to kaitlyn for not following the incredible example that p diddy set in purchasing THIS car for his son, justin's 16th birthday last year:


as well as state for the record that we saved $356,600.oo

stuff on my cat

i have enjoyed wasting time for quite a while on stuff on my cat--


how can you not love these?







i especially love the ones of stuff piled up on them while they are taking a kitty nap:





i've been contemplating sending some of my finest work to the website.....but i don't want them to reject my felines. i don't think i could handle the emotional aftermath & extensive psychological scarring i would suffer if they didn't make it.

they just worked too hard:

thankful thursday--red, white, & blue edition

so many things to be grateful for this week--celebrating the 4th of july means just a little bit more to me as i get older. enough so that, for example, when hearing the national anthem i might just tear up a bit. theoretically speaking, of course. (allegedly.)

ahhhh--it sucks to get old! (or maybe it rules, depending on whether it makes me a little more grateful for my country.....)




things i am thankful for this week:



**a beautiful, cool night spent celebrating the U S of A up at grandpa & grandma's cabin in pine valley:



**the sweet, gentle, equestrian soul who likes to poke his nose over the wall and let the kids pet him:








**fake tattoos--allowing us to make irrational, impulsive decisions with body art since 1963:





**the hot 9th grade boy who embraced a lower back tat:






**two little playmates who enjoy each other's company:





but, for the record? pierce (or peawce, if you speak mia) was NOT playing with mia. merely BABYSITTING her.

he was there strictly in a supervisory capacitory:)




**the all-girls team who smoked the all-boys team for name that tune TOTAL. WORLD. DOMINATION.





**sparklers & torches that bring out our inner-patriot:






**moapa tribal enterprises. where else could you buy a radical, semi-illegal (okay, mostly) firework that has 10 shots, an image of a pistol, AND shoots flaming balls??

**and, finally, for the fact that said semi-illlegal (OKAY. MOSTLY.) firework brings out the inner 14-year old in my man:

she's got skillz

my gosh, i'm beginning to think that mia has a natural-born talent for the performing arts--what's not to love about putting on a show in a tutu and panties? (you really must watch the last 6 seconds--poor little girl....;)




if you are morally opposed to animal cruelty/abuse/misuse, then the next clip is not for you.

however, if you enjoy watching a poor cat resign itself to every little whim & fancy of a 5 year old? then this bad boy is RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY:




the little lady does love a video camera trained on her--and so do we!

splish splash.

you've been at a funeral and funeral luncheon for hours. it's 1 million degrees outside. you've finally busted loose & are ready for some action. there is a fountain right in front of you as you exit the building. there is not a soul to be seen.

what's a couple of kids to do?


(**note to reader: we might have been tipped off after the fact that it is against the rules/regulations/law/code to enter above fountain. allegedly.

we would like to state, for the record, that we were unaware of any such rule/regulation/law/code.

we would also like to state, for the record, that if somebody is to be punished or arrested or interrogated under a harsh light, it should be the 3 year old and the 18 month old who do the time. since they did the crime.)



really, there is no option but to hike up your dress & frolic in the waves:





once you see your older sister getting in on this action, there is probably nothing on this earth that could stop you from following suit. partially dressed or not:



nothing could possibly feel better on a hot july afternoon:




except, of course, getting rid of some of those pesky & cumbersome clothes:




the result? pure JOY:




finally, it's time for what you've waited ever so long for: to get NAKEY:



the whole wonderful experience is then capped off by nude shoulder riding: