One Amazing Night

On Friday, March 25 I had an amazing night - one that I won't likely forget anytime soon.  My friend Shawn and I went to a concert to see Kristian Stanfield (whom neither of us knew), Dave Barnes (whom both of us LOVE) and Brandon Heath (whom we knew and liked, but wasn't the main reason we were going).  The interesting thing abou this concert is that in January some friends of ours (D & K) got married.  In their ceremony they had a song of Brandon Heath's sung and their first dance was to a song of Dave Barnes.  So Shawn and I decided that we had to do something special for these friends (who were very upset that they already had plans and couldn't make the concert themselves).

We waited in line during the intermission to meet Dave Barnes, but ran out of time before the main show began.  So we figured that he would be back out after the rest of the concert and we'd see him then.  We were wrong.  After the concert, he was no where to be found.

However, we did get in line (and stayed there this time) to meet Brandon Heath.  We had something from the wedding to get him to sign for D & K.  Shawn told him the story about the wedding and how cool it was that he and Dave were touring together, but that we didn't get to see Dave.  Brandon (and yes, I'm pretending I'm on a first name basis with these guys) asked the security lady standing guard at the autograph table if she would go get Dave to come and sign our gift.  She informed us that he was speaking with some one and wasn't available.  So Brandon suggested that she take us to him and see if he could just pop out real quick.  It was the coolest thing ever!  We got to go to his "dressing room" and meet him!  He was so awesome.  He had no problem (like Brandon) in signing our gift for D & K and he even agreed to take a picture with me.





Me and Brandon Heath

 

Me and Dave Barnes



D & K absolutely love their gift.  Shawn framed it for them.  We were so excited!  Shawn was sure that he wasn't going to sleep that night due to his adrenaline high!  I know that Dave and Brandon will never read this, but just in case:  Thanks guys!!  You made our night!!

Ethan turns 1!!

Friday was Ethan's birthday and we celebrated with him and the family on Saturday.  We are becoming Birthday Party Pros in our house ;).  He was so adorable and did so well!  He was more interested in the tissue paper than the gifts, but I'm sure that he'll warm to them soon.  He wasn't too sure about the cake, but he had some help "getting into it".  Enjoy the photos.



Ethan's shirt from Oba

Papa and Ethan bonding before
the party - hit it like this!



Miss Lily ready to party down!



Tissue paper is so much more fun
than presents

And let's not forget the balloons!





The xylophone cake for
everyone else - Danielle's
creation



Ethan's personal cake - so cute!



Am I allowed to touch this?



I'm starting to get into it







Want some?



Who needs hands, face first is so
much better!

Yea! All done!  It's great to be 1!!



We had fun helping Ethan celebrate his birthday.  We get one more shot at making a Southwell birthday a memorable occasion in a few weeks for Jay!!  We're having a tailgating birthday party before the Orange & Blue game (Florida's Spring Scrimage).  Sneak peak:  here's the cake that Jay is going to have

"Old Swampy"

Miss Lily turns 1!!

Our precious little girl has turned one!!!  Can't believe that a year has gone by so fast.  She is adorable (and according to Grammy, very much like her Oba - hates to be told "no" and will start crying when she is).  She had fun at her birthday and did so well with all the people, cake, and presents.  Well, you don't want to read about it, you want to see the pictures. . . So here you go!

The decorations - well some of them:

The birthday girl and her cake:

Ready for my cake Mom

The cake Tiffany made

Jay had to show her how
it's done

Finally got into it

The girl and her chair both had cake!

Not too thrilled about the clean up
process

 And the presents:

The loot

The book that Grammy made

Ethan thought that he'd learn how it's
done so he'll be ready next week

Loving the dolphin from Aunt Jeannie
and Uncle Randy

The shirt Oba made "Papa's Princess"

 So this was our weekend.  Now to get ready for Ethan's birthday weekend coming up!

Mom's Birthday Weekend

Mom and Dad came up to G'ville for Mom's birthday.  We had such a good weekend!  Friday night we went to the Gator Baseball game (and we won!).  On Saturday we spent the day with Josh, Danielle, and Ethan.  We went to the Butterfly Rainforest and then had dinner and cake (made by moi).  Then on Sunday we went to another baseball game, but we didn't stay long.  It was very warm (but we weren't complaining) and Mom started to not feel so well.  So we headed back to the car and then Mom and Dad headed back to Wauchula.

These were Mom's favorite, tried to
get a shot of the blue wings

Butterfly landed on Dad

Danielle and Ethan looking at the
butterflies

Mom's cake before we ate on it

The inside of Mom's cake

We had such a good weekend.  One birthday down, four more to go in the next month and a few days.