Brandon Flowers

I am a big fan of the musical group The Killers. Brandon Flowers is the lead singer and this year he put out a solo album and went on tour. I decided we needed to go so I bought some tickets. Quinn likes them, but isn't the fan that I am. We met up with the Oswald's and their friends the Waite's and went to dinner first.

The concert was at the Depot, which is a smaller venue. I was pretty excited about that because when Quinn and I usually go to a concert we are near the back row of whatever arena we are at. We had heard the concert was only about an hour and we also were under the impression that there wasn't an opening act. We were there by 8:00 (when it was suppose to start) and waited til 8:30 for it to begin.


Here we are waiting for it to start. Aren't we cute? I was so excited.


Katrina Waite, McKinley Oswald and Brian Waite. I think they were excited too, but not as excited as I was.

Poor Andrea had no where to sit. That is a long time to stand when you are 7 months pregnant.

At 8:30 the show finally started, but it did not start with Brandon Flowers. We hadn't heard anything about anyone opening so it was a nice surprise when the opening act was Fran Healy who happens to be the lead singer for a band named Travis. Turns out that Travis is one of Quinn's favorite bands. It is always fun to hear stories behind the songs you already know and listen to.

Around 9:30 or so Brandon Flowers came out and did not disappoint. The show was very good. I sang along to all the songs and had a blast. Despite wanting to rush the stage I did not. I stayed where I was and enjoyed the show.


The best pic I could get.


This is a BIT blurry.


Another blurry pic.

I am so glad I bought the tickets and we went. Live concerts are a lot of fun and when it is a band/artist that you really like they are the best!

Halloween

WHO YA GONNA CALL?!?


Miles has been going through the classic monsters for Halloween for the past 4 years and he wanted to finish it off this year by being a ghost. Carter wanted to be a ghost as well. That makes it easy. For the past couple years Quinn and I have dressed up as well to go to the trunk or treating. I couldn't think of what I should dress up as to go with them. A friend of mine suggested going as a Ghostbuster and a costume idea was born!

We are going to get those little monsters! Quinn made the proton packs and I do have to say they were pretty awesome. You can't see much detail in the pictures, but there was detail. We were pretty cool.

Quinn was taking his role pretty seriously.

Baseball

We let the boys have a go at baseball/t-ball. The T was rarely used on Miles' team and Carter's team only used it here and there. They were so cute.

Carter is all decked out ready to play. His team was the Cincinnati Reds. The teams had actual MLB teams this year.
Carter hitting one out of the park. Ok, not that far. But he made contact and that is awesome!

Carter would put the helmet on top of his cap. It didn't quite fit right but he was fine with that.

When they were in the outfield Carter kept getting bored. Here he is twirling in the dirt. His arms are in position for a good spin.

Check out that handsome boy. He is so proud of his certificate. Miles was on the Indiana Braves team.

Getting ready to bat.

Good hit!

GO!

Miles did really well this year. He hasn't played for a few years so I didn't know if others would be way ahead of him, but they were all pretty much the same. I really do enjoy having them in something, but with all of our other obligations in life we only put them in something once or twice a year. Tennis might be next.

Singing in the conference center

Back in September I got the opportunity to sing in the choir for the General Women's Conference. It was a really neat experience. We practiced every Sunday for about 6 weeks at a stake center close by. The Saturday before we had a dress rehearsal in the conference center. I'm so glad I ended up getting to do it and have that opportunity. Don't know that I'll ever get to do that again.


Guess where I was, guess? Back row? Yep you got it. I am on the back row 3rd one in on the right section.


Hee hee. Look at me. I'm singing. I'm pretty intense.


Just hanging on the back row.

It was pretty cool to see everything from that point of view. The session of conference felt like half an hour instead of hour and a half. I guess when you are worried about standing up just right and singing the right words and notes the time flies by.

My Grandpa's Funeral

My wonderful Grandpa Riding passed away on September 19th. It was not completely unexpected. He has had Alzheimer's for years and for the past couple of years we have kind of just been waiting for the call. We would have liked for the whole family to go down, but timing was not on our side this week. Quinn had parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday that he could not miss. We had tickets to the circus on Friday and I was so looking forward to that. But, the biggest part of my week occurred on Saturday when I was part of the choir for the General Women's Conference in the conference center.

I was all sorts of worried on Monday. Of all the things that were going on, I did not want to miss the choir. By Monday evening we found out the funeral would be held on Friday which relieved a lot of my stress. Because of the rest of the schedule for the week, there would not be time to drive down and back. I decided I would fly down by myself. After talking to my brother Seth we got tickets for the same flight. Same situation with his family.

Seth and I flew down Friday morning at 7:00 and flew back that night at 7:00. It was a quick trip. When we got there we picked up a rental car and headed to the church. It was good to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I love so much. All the grand kids except Cassandra and Melanie were able to make it. It helped that most of them were already in Arizona. But there were still a few who had to travel quit a bit.

The service was very nice. Uncle Jed conducted and my dad gave his life history. One of the things that I will always think of when I think of my grandpa was what a hard worker he was. He would always be up so early and when we would stay at their house in Cornville and get up around 7 or 8 we were always greeted with, "well, good afternoon". I joked that in honor of Grandpa I got up at 4:30 the day of his funeral.


The cemetery was a National Memorial cemetery where those who have served in the military can be buried. As we turned into the cemetery I told Seth to remind me never to be buried in Arizona. It is too hot - even if I'm dead. It was around 100 degrees that day. A little to hot for me.


At the cemetery you didn't go to the grave site itself. They had several areas where you would gather for the ceremonial part and then they would take the casket from there. This was members of the National Guard coming up. They did a twenty one gun salute.


Getting ready to fold the flag.


The folded flag ready to be presented to my Granny.


I was sitting right behind my Granny and I don't think she was expecting them to come kneel down and present it to her. She gave a little, Oh! as they came over. It was sweet.

I am very grateful for the family I have. I am grateful for grandparents who instilled the importance of extended family in my life. I have wonderful relationships with many of my cousins and aunts and uncles because of the time I spent with them growing up. I hope my kids have the same kinds of memories someday.