Blessing

My friend, Brent, had the opportunity to bless his first baby this past Sunday!

For those of you who have no clue who Brent is, he and I met in 2003 right when I had graduated from high school and moved to California (I was 17).  Anyway, we hit it off right off the bat and he's honestly like a big brother to me.  When we were hanging out 24/7 in Cali, everyone was saying that we were going out (Brent told me this one time when we went to In-N-Out).  No one understood the completely platonic relationship we have.  He told me that his mom was SO disappointed when he told her I was engaged to Shane.  haha

We've been through a lot the last 9 years.  Brent is five years older than me and was really feeling the pressure to get married (not to me...well, I guess that depends on whom he was talking to) when we met.  He didn't end up getting married until 2009 (old fart) and they just had their first baby (a girl) this past December.  I always tease him that I met and married Shane, bought a house, and had two kids before he even got married.  ;)

Anyway, his daughter's name is Elora and she is so, so adorable!

Proud papa

 Let me tell you, she has him totally and utterly wrapped around her little finger.  ;)

The kids got to play while the grown-ups munched and chatted:

Ari the firefighter.

Lexi was thrilled to find a coloring book (even though I hid the colored pencils from her).

 Lately Ari has been such a little ham for the camera.  This is her new "cheese face":

She scrunches up one eye and looks like a pirate.  haha  She cracks me up!

After spending some time with Brent Elora, we headed to my friend Emily's house.  The kids got to hang out and play some more before heading home for the day.  Thanks, M, for letting us crash the place!  ;)

It was a really great day.  It was so special to see Brent bless his first daughter.  

He's such a good dad and I'm grateful to call him my friend.

Lady A concert!

On Valentine's Day I ditched Shane and the kiddos and left to the Lady Antebellum concert with my friend, Kim, whose hubby, Kevin, had no interest in going to a chick concert, either.  ;)  We stopped at In-N-Out (YUM!!) for the best burgers around and then headed for the Delta Center Energy Solutions Arena!  Earlier in the day, I found out through Facebook that my friends from Fillmore would be at the concert, too!  Kim and I met up with them really fast before the concert started.

Me and cute preggo Kenz (Chad was there, too, just not in the picture)

Kim and I

 There were two openers for Lady A.  The first was Thompson Square.  They are best known for the song, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" and they did a fantastic job! I didn't realize that they are married, but I'm so glad they are because they are just adorable together.  :)  At the end of their short 25 minute set, the guy (don't know his name...) had someone bring roses out on stage for his wife for Valentine's Day.  Awwww....

Cute husband and wife!

I loved her dress!

 It was during Thompson Square that Kim and I noticed something....annoying.  These girls near us would NOT sit down.  They were standing there dancing when EVERYONE else was sitting and trying to enjoy the show.

So distracting.

 Anyway, after that, Darius Rucker came out!

He's one of my all-time favorite country artists and I was SO excited that he was opening for Lady A!

If you don't know who he is, YouTube him.  He's so, so talented.  His set lasted an hour (I think?  Or close to it) and he even busted out an old Hootie and the Blowfish song.  It was awesome!

Darius!

I can make anyone look tan.  haha  (The blond girl's expression behind me is cracking me up.)

 After Darius, it was time to get ready for the main event!  WOO!

LADY A!!

 It was SUCH a good concert!  

All of the bands were fantastic!  A fun, fun night!!

Out to eat

Shane and I normally go out to eat (not counting Little Caesars like Shane does) maybe twice a year.  

And even when we do go out, we always take the kids and we always go to Red Robin.

Well, this last Saturday we went with our friends, Kim and Kevin, to the Cheesecake Factory!!

WITHOUT KIDS!

It was my first time ever leaving the kids with a babysitter that A) we had to pay and B) was under 20 years old.  I've been babysitting since I was 11 years old, but after Kaden was born I looked at the 11 and 12 year olds in our ward and thought, "Who in their right mind would leave their children with a 12 year old?!?!"

Anyway, Kim has connections with the child whisperer of babysitters (she's 12).  

And nothing bad happened!  I think Ari only cried for a few minutes after we left.  It helped that we had all of our kids (so there were 5 kids total) together - they didn't even notice we were gone.  ;)

So, we headed down and were told it was a two hour wait.  

What do you do with that kind of kid-free time and no hotel room?  

Shopping!!

We walked all over the mall and Kim even got the people at Godiva (chocolates) to give her a free sample.

Yummy!

It was Shane's first time at the Cheesecake Factory and I laughed at hearing him say how huge the menu is, because that is exactly what I said when I had it in Chicago.  It was delicious food and I told the waitress that it was Kim and Kevin's anniversary (it really was-I didn't lie!) and all the servers came and sang to them.  

It was so fun.  :)

 

I think Kim liked being sung to more than Kevin.  hahaha

It was a really fun, kid-free night!

 

Monday, Shane and I celebrated Valentine's Day since Tuesday I would be gone. 

My mom had given us a gift certificate to Flemings Steakhouse (at the Gateway).  She watched the kids while we ate steak!  Good trade off, I think.  ;)  It was really good!  SO expensive, though.  But the steak was just so, so tender!  Anyway, so that's TWO kid-free, non-Red Robin meals this year (for both of us)!  

I'm keeping track because I think last year we had ZERO.  :)

Rapping

In my Wednesday evening lyric writing class we always have a "themed" song that we're required to write. 

(Like, a couple of weeks ago was blues, then folk, tonight was pop songs, you get the idea...)

Anyway, tonight the teacher said that next week was country (YAY!!!  And, yes, I actually cheered....and I was the only one since the rest of them are heavy metal guys) and someone asked what genre we would be doing the following week after that.

The teacher said, "Rap."

(And I nearly died of dread...)

Everyone immediately casually glanced at the one black guy in the class and he goes, "Oh, so y'all just automatically look at the black guy, huh?  I see how it is."

(He was joking, if you couldn't tell.)

After class the black guy (I feel really bad that I don't know any of the boys' names in the class, but I know all of the girls) was reading a book and I glanced at it and saw that it was written about Jay-Z.

Me, being the super white girl, asked, "So....he raps, right?"

The black guy literally smacked his head and was just laughing at me.

I was laughing at myself and told him that he will never meet another girl as truly white as me.  

He was still laughing and sang/rapped a couple of Jay-Z's songs to me (thinking I would recognize them once I heard them....I didn't).

I'm kind of freaking out about having to write a rap song.

When I think of rap, this is what immediately comes to mind:

Yes, I have that memorized, and, YES, my class is in for a real treat when it comes my turn to rap.  ;)