When I Look at the Stars: My Adventures at the Switchfoot Concert

Tuesday night, one of my dreams was fulfilled. I got to see my favorite band in concert! I've loved Switchfoot for a long time, but they never come to Utah. Unfortunately, they were touring with Blue October, so they weren't the main band and didn't play nearly as long as I would've liked. Of course, I could have listened to them for hours. They were so fantastic live!

By the way, I actually didn't take any of these pictures. My friend Nikki, whom Neil and I met at the Relient K concert a couple months back, took them. I forgot my camera! *smacks forehead* Anyway, good things Nikki was there. :)

That's Jerome - who was playing keyboard, tambourine, and guitar at one point - Drew on the bass, Chad back there on the drums, and Jon Foreman as lead singer. Jon's brother Tim is in the band too, but he's too far to the right to see him.

Me and Nikki. And Neil, doing a thumbs-up. Without meaning to, the three of us and our other friend Jon all wore blue!

This is the lead singer, Jon Foreman. He is so awesome with the crowd! I swear he has ADHD or something, because he doesn't stay on the stage. He was running all over the place, and climbing up on banisters and things like that. The BEST thing was, he ran right through our group! We all got to touch him! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever! By the way, he's really short. :)

Just a cool shot of everyone getting into the music.

Group shot! Jon, me, Neilybob, Nikki, her sister Amber, and Amber's boyfriend, Tyler. The concert was at the Saltair, and after Switchfoot performed, we all went outside to a beautiful sunset overlooking the lake. And then, Jon Foreman and the drummer, Chad, came and said hi to everyone! There were high-fives all around, and they were so, so nice and personable. Seriously, they were the coolest guys ever! Basically, it was one of the best nights of my life. :)

Green River Trip!

After me and Neil's week long stay at Tyann's house and kung fu camp, we headed out for our annual camping/fishing trip at the Green River. And I mean right after. We got home from Cedar City Sunday evening, and left Monday morning for the river! It was a little insane, and I probably wouldn't want to plan two trips in a row like that again. I was pretty exhausted, and I tweaked my wrist a little at kung fu camp (which ROCKED, by the way. Kung fu camp, not messing up my wrist) which made it difficult to cast. It did leave me with lots of time to take pictures of the beautiful area, though.

I was pretty impressed with my little camera. It was doing really well with close-up shots. I really like this picture. A lot.

My dad had hooked this fish, and he came right up to my feet, like he was posing for the picture or something. Good fishy! Also, doesn't the water look awesome? The lighting was perfect, and the water in that river is incredibly clear.

Neil casting, and Mom and Dad in the background tying another fly on. Right across the river from here, we saw a mama deer and her TWO babies! They were so cute, but too far away to get a good picture. :(

Dad holding one of the few fish we caught. I think this is actually the same one who swam up to me.

My cousin Katie's little boy Teancum. We invited our family that lives in Vernal to come and visit us at the campsite, and we had SO much fun with them. Teancum was the life of the party, let me tell you. He is adorable!

Our traditional camp meal: sishkebabs. Which, incidentally, is the weirdest word ever. Anyway, the food was really yummy.

Some of the fam. Katie is over there on the left, then Teancum, my Uncle Melvin, Aunt Jerris, cousin Tagan, and cousin Britney. We had a ridiculous amount of fun that night!

And lastly, a picture that I feel belongs in a fishing magazine. For some reason, I just think it's really cool.

Okay, now that I'm done praising myself, I'll finish with this. If any of you ever get the chance to go to the Green River/Flaming Gorge area, do it. I'm a firm believer that there is not another place on Earth quite like it!

Stop Child Abuse!

Okay, folks. This is serious. Look at the pictures below and tell me you don't want to do something about it:


Did I get ya? Okay, I know, I probably shouldn't joke around about child abuse, but these pictures are just too priceless. No, they are not posters for Bikers Against Child Abuse, they are pictures of my nieces with their movie make-up on. They had to fight a dragon. By the way, you should feel privileged that I'm posting these. Exclusive behind-the-scenes production photos, people. For a preview of the movie they are in that my brother is making, Warriors of Destiny, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN4IEpgbiNY

Okay, now on to chronicle the week Neilyboy and I spent in Cedar City with the very entertaining Pangan family.

This may give you a glimpse of how crazy these kids can be. I love Rachel's loopy expression, and Ali's crazed, maybe evil, one. We were stuck in a traffic jam coming back from St. George and we were bored. What can I say.

Ronny = water baby. What more needs to be said?

Whoa! A picture with all four of them smiling and looking more or less at the camera!? Someone alert the press! Apparently, you just need to stick them all in water to make them cooperate. This was taken at a really cool water park in St. George. I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Ronny's life.

Rachel courteously standing so Ronny can get a jet of water up his nose. What a good big sister. :)

Let this be a warning to you. Ronny eats everything. If you want to eat something in peace, you have to lock yourself in the bathroom - and he'll probably still find you. This is him "sharing" Neil's Gogurt.

Ali and Ronny playing in a clothes basket. One of my favorite pictures ever for some reason.

Rachel on her big-kid bike. She's decided she's no longer a "girly-girl" and requested a blue bike. I think it's pretty awesome, myself.

Ronny, after his mother played with his hair when he was defenselessly drinking his bottle.

The very handsome Jarrett-boy. This kid is surprisingly good at posing. Of course, you may remember that from this post.


How many people can you get on Tyann's couch? Quite a few, apparently. I really don't know what was on Neily's computer that was so fascinating, but it must have been good.

Jarrett boxing. And that kid CAN box, too. He loves hitting stuff.

Ahh, parting shot. Isn't this pretty much the funniest picture you've ever seen? Cracks me up everytime.

Anyway, a very huge thanks to the Pangans for letting us come and visit. Couldn't have asked for a better time!

Balloons and Fireworks . . .

. . . or, my really late Fourth of July post. Sorry about that, July has just been a really insane month. Pretty sad when it takes me until the NEXT holiday to post about the previous one. Oh well. How about I just say Happy July, and keep my bases covered? :)

Okay, enough babbling. Onto the pictures.

Quite honestly, I don't remember if it was actually on the 4th that we went to see the hot air balloons. They're cool, regardless.

Bree and her friend Christopher admiring the Smoky the Bear balloon.


Carson was . . . less than amused. Seriously, he made this face the whole morning, and I have lots of pictures to prove it. Funny little guy. :)


He was a little more entertained by the fireworks. We went to a parking lot to watch the Stadium of Fire ones, which were pretty lame, by the way.

Bree and Uncle Neil. I don't know what happened to the background on this picture, but it's kinda cool. And Bree and Neil are cute, as always.

Another really cute Bree and Uncle Neil picture. Why Bree was wearing shades at ten o'clock at night, I will never know. I've stopped trying to figure that kid out. :)


I tried really hard to get a picture of the fireworks with the full moon, but they just weren't close enough to make it very dramatic. It was a good idea, anyway.

This is a picture of the fireworks we did at the Kreis' house on the 3rd. Bree LOVED them. She laughed every time we set one off, but it was late and she fell asleep before we were done.
It was cute.

Here's the obligitory kids-with-the-flag picture. Cute, huh? Check out Carson trying to keep his feet off the grass.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic 4th, and are having an awesome 24th. I, for one, am certainly proud to live in this country, and am grateful for the freedom to light explosives in our front yards. :)