Thursday, day 3 of Mule set-up AND Nampa Nights #2

Thursday was a check-all-the-details-and-clean-up day. We also ran a few errands and went back to the shop to get the last two speakers ready for the show. There was a real time-crunch since we had to be out in Nampa to set up Nampa Nights by 3-ish. We made it there around 3:45 but still had enough time to have everything set up for the 5:30 start time. Lori had a friend come out to Nampa Nights with her family including this cute girl. Gloria always gets a little jealous when Lori talks to other kids!





The band, "Stella", was really good:

Lori needed a jump. . .

Back out to Star to unload the truck and prepare for show day. We went to sleep around 3 a.m.

Wednesday, day two of Mule set-up

Second day of the set-up and there is still so much to do. Today we have to hang all the lights, run all the cabling, hook up the lighting rack to power and pray everything works like it's supposed to. Oh, and the stage still isn't shimmed!!! We went back to the shop for another load in the van. The kids really didn't ride on the back like this all the way back, just over the field!!

Rob, in a very rare moment of relaxation:

Joe had a narrow window of time in the late afternoon so he came out to help shim the stage. He helped us out on this event last year (at about 7:30 a.m. after Rob and I worked through the night setting everything up due to bad weather!!) so he's far too familiar with climbing around under the stage shimming and clamping. Unfortunately, the army guys showed up at the same time to put a canopy over the front-of-house stage and Rob had to spend most of Joe's time ordering around the army:

So, Joe hung out with Gloria. She was very happy to see him. She had a pretty big crush on him last year and then he had to go and get married and break her heart. . . In this picture, I think she's saying, "Ha, ha, Erin, you may have him most of the time, but I have him right now!!"

We were able to get a little bit of the stage shimmed up with Joe's help, but not all of it. :(

Emma hung out with us all week and did pretty good, all things considered.

Home, sweet home:

By the end of the day, the lights were mostly working and the stage was mostly shimmed. We went home to take showers, went to Shari's for a bite to eat and fell into bed around 2 a.m. I wonder how many kid's take a bath at midnight????

Tuesday: Day 1 of Mule set up

We had planned to be out in Star for the set-up by 10:00 a.m. but Murphy's Law kept us away until close to 2 p.m. The first trip out consisted of the stage on the trailer and most of the lights in the van:

We were told to set up in the field and everyone would set up around us. The organizers of this event trust Rob to make these kinds of decisions. They think he's "The Bomb". We went to several planning meetings before the event so we had a pretty good idea of where we'd be. (Note: this is a dirty, dusty, rock-filled, weedy, bumpy field with absolutely no shade. . . )

Since Dale is on his honeymoon, we hired a friend of his to help us set up the stage and canopy:

After dropping off the stage, we went back for load number 2. The second trip is the truss, the lifts, more lights and other misc stuff:

The three of us put up the stage and the truss for the canopy:

There is still lots of work to do- the stage has to be completely shimmed and clamped and the canopy has to be put on. We were hoping to have the stage and canopy completed today. . .

It's getting dark and the canopy is on but the stage isn't shimmed yet. . .

We finally sent Jeff home when it got too dark to see under the stage. We retired to the motor home, our new home-sweet-home, for the night:

We played 3 rounds of Deal or No Deal (we all seem to have an inability to go to sleep before midnight):

Rob had a million dollars in his case, but took a deal from the banker for $400,000.

We played until well after midnight and fell into bed. We still have a lot of work ahead of us. . .

Monday

Way back in the summer of 1987 when Rob and I were still in the "courtship phase", I set a precedent that still haunts me today: I packed the ball bearings on the brakes of his Ford Courier pick-up. I totally volunteered for the job, trying to impress him, of course, and I sat on the ground, in the dirt beside him, covered with grease. If I could do it all over again, I'd go the girly-girl route and say, "Ooh, gross!! I have to go paint my nails." Over the years, I've been beside him under many a car hood up to my elbows in ick. To think, if I would have gone the girly-girl route, I might have perfectly manicured hands today. . .

We replaced the water pump on the van today:


Gloria watched Miss Universe and is practicing her poses:

Zach watched Miss Universe, too. . . .

Sunday, May 27th

By Sunday, we were pretty tired. We went to church and then spent the day working at the shop and hanging out with Andrew and Megan. One more night at the Adams':

THE WEDDING!!!

Brandon, the beautiful bride:

The handsome groom and his boys:

Dale with his cousin and his mama:

The ceremony:

Dale went down on one knee to say his vows:

Poor Zach was just hungry:

These are the lovely ladies that stayed with us before the wedding, Dale's mom and aunt:

The cake:

The toast:

Dale planned a wonderful surprise for his bride. . .

. . . just behind the curtain. . . .

. . . he brought in Straight Shooter to rock the reception!!! Here's Beau dancing with the bride while he serenades her:

The bride and groom dance:

And Gloria watches. . .


And then Gloria dances. . .

. . . and dances. . .

. . . and dances. . . .

. . . and dances. . .

. . . and dances. . .

. . . and dances. . .

It was a beautiful wedding!!!!!!!

Dress Rehersal

(Things have been even crazier than usual around here but I've still been taking pictures everyday. I'll try to be brief as I get my blog caught up!!!)

On Friday, Dale and Brandon had the dress rehersal for their wedding. Rob graciously handled the sound:


Gloria has been soaking up all of the wedding excitement:


Zach found more interesting things to do:


They had the minister and the witnesses, they could have called it good right here:


After the rehersal, we packed up a few things and vacated the house. It wasn't only due to all of the wedding stuff going on at home, the Adams' needed someone to stay at their house while they were gone for the weekend, so it worked out for everyone. Wedding pictures coming up!!