More Randomness. . .

These were all taken at a youth group party this summer. I sent my camera with the kids and this is what they came up with. . .

Random Blackberry Pics. . .

Now that things are beginning to slow down a bit, I've had a chance to flip back through the pictures I've taken on my phone and have a bit of a random snap shot of what my life looks like outside of the business.

This was taken at Gloria's school for a Family Goal's Night. It was interesting. . .

This one doesn't need too much explanation. It's Rob and Lucy. In the dumpster. Enough said.

This one was actually taken on Zach's phone and texted to me. During Art in the Park, Zach took Megan and Gloria to the zoo and this is all I the proof I have of their little adventure. . .

This was also taken at Art in the Park and texted to my phone. By Rob. I had to visit a lot of outhouses this summer but these were definitely the prettiest. . .

I'm not sure who took this or why. It's frightening.

We went to a few Hawks games this summer since we had season tickets. Seriously, like 3 games all season. I love this picture:

This was taken at the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert. It's Steph! :)

Another shot with no explanation. . .

Tadpoles at Wood River Cellars. . .

This was taken in July, I think, when I finally took a day off and went to Roaring Springs with Gloria and her friends. . .

It's good to know that this summer wasn't all about work. . .

Firsts. . .

Last week I went to my very first parent meeting at Gloria's school. Today she had her very first school field trip. Tomorrow is her very first school picture day. I have to say, this girl is in heaven. . .

I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition for Gloria and I into this new adventure of REAL school. We are a month into the school year and we are both doing fine. She is happy, confident and well adjusted. I haven't had any regrets or melt downs (school related, anyway). I'm very proud of her and I can't wait to get our very first packet of pictures!!

Retreat . . .

I had a chance this weekend to get away for a relaxing retreat up at Quaker Hill in McCall. Sometimes these ventures can seem like more work than they're worth, but this trip really was a mini-vacation for me. I love my family, don't get me wrong, but my brain has been on overload lately and the peace and quiet of the trip to McCall was a real treat. Just me, my truck, the road and my music. It was lovely.


I really did have a purpose for going to Quaker Hill even though I might have gone anyway. The girls and I completed another leg of our Northwest Tour as we brought our 2-song repertoire to the Women's Retreat in McCall. . . Katrina was able to join us this time making it a reunion tour as well. . .

We managed to put together music for the entire weekend so we have added to our repertoire and who knows how far this could go?? We must start shopping for a tour bus. . .

Anyway, I napped; I ate meals that someone else cooked; I sang with my dear friends; I visited with Louise who I had no idea was planning to be there!; and I sat on a bench, in the sunshine, and talked to other women about all kinds of things that you can only talk to other women about.

And then I drove home. Alone. More peace and quiet. Ahhhh. . .


In the meantime. . .


Rob and the kids spent the weekend working on Zach's house. We had to put it on hold during the busy summer months and now are hoping to finish it up in the next couple of weeks.

It now has insulation and outlets. It just needs interior walls, carpet and paint and Zach (and all of his stuff) can move in!!

This is sooooo red neck. . .

Welcome back to reality. . .

Joseph Israel at Idaho-Down

I found this video on YouTube that Joseph Israel made of the Idaho-Down. They made a mini documentary of the festival. . .

Slide Show of Idaho Down . . .

(The slide show looks much better when you watch it on YouTube. Scroll over the top left hand side of the video and click on the title to open it in a new window.)

The Last Two Weeks. . .

It's almost over. Our busiest season EVER is drawing to a close. My sanity may or may not return. But. . . we survived it. The last two weeks were kind of a blur: 10 event dates in 14 days including 5 stage set ups (and tear downs), 6 canopy set ups (and tear downs), 1 huge light show and 32 bands (and/or singers and various dance groups). And, of course, at least a thousand pictures. I can't even begin to sort the pictures into a decent blog post so I'll give a run down here and then I'll put up a slide show or something. Or not.

We left the cabin on Sunday afternoon and set up a stage and canopy at Settler's Park for a Battle of the Bands put on by KTSY. The event was all day on Monday and then we took it all back down on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, Kurt went to Salt Lake to pick up a line array for our big concert later in the week and Rob and I took our small stage and all of our individual stage decks out to Gowen Field and set them up to be used later in the week as well.

On Wednesday, we were all out on the base setting up pretty much everything we own for a big concert on Thursday. Our good friends from the army band used our smaller stage. Twice. In two different locations. We moved it from one place to the next at 1 a.m. on Wednesday/Thursday. AND added the extra stage decks to it. In the dark. Our bigger stage, along with a canopy and lighting, was set up in another location on base in anticipation of an event titled, "Operation Appreciation". The country artist, Darryl Worrley, had offered to take a detour from his current tour and come and entertain the troops that were deploying for Afghanistan. These big shows are pretty stressful for me. Even when you plan everything out ahead of time, there are so many variables that can throw everything off. In this case, it was the weather. It rained off and on during our set up and a big storm was on the horizon for Thursday so we spent quite a bit of time debating about whether or not to fly the speakers we brought in from Salt Lake. We debated right up until about 2 a.m. and then made the call to use the speakers we always use. The band would be arriving around 1 pm on Thursday and we went to bed around 3 a.m. without any of the audio up at all.


Thankfully we have good friends out on the base. I had a hot shower and fresh coffee early Thursday morning which made everything a little bit better. We managed to get all of the audio up and all of the stage decks leveled and shimmed in plenty of time for the band's arrival around 2 pm. Other than a short rain storm on Thursday morning, the weather was beautiful all day. The tour manager was happy with our set up and the sound check was uneventful. There were several events going on prior to the concert including a speech by the Governor and Lady Otter . . .

a Black Hawk fly over . . .

. . . the National Anthem was played by our good friend and his sax quintet . . .

as well as an opening 6 pc rock band. . .

And then Darryl Worrley and his band put on a great show for about 2500 soldiers and their families. I have to say that it turned out to be one of my favorite concerts of the year in spite of the work and stress.

After the concert a group of our friends from the army band helped us take it all down. This was so cool to me because they didn't have to do it. They weren't in charge of the event or even the ones who hired us to do the event (although they had everything to do with us landing the job). But, as our friends, they stuck around after the concert and wrapped cables and pulled bungees off the tarp and loaded the truck. They were all tired from their own involvement in the week's events and I'm sure that the last thing they wanted to do was to pack a truck at 1 in the morning but they did it anyway. I don't really understand how rank works in the army but I do know that most of the people helping us had a high rank but they weren't afraid to get their hands dirty. So cool.

We ended up leaving both of our stages set up with permission from the base to pick them up on Sunday. We had another big weekend ahead of us with a three day festival in Julia Davis Park.

Art in the Park started on Friday afternoon. Rob and I (with Gary's help) set it up and ran the sound on Friday while Kurt went back to Salt Lake to return the speakers we weren't able to use. Such a bummer.

The festival continued through Sunday and was a piece of cake compared to the events we usually run. Kurt's family came out on Saturday and I had a great side kick with me on the stage all day.

My kids and Steph were there, too, as well as plenty of other people we knew.

There was no stage to set up, no canopy to crank up, no lights to run. . .

It was easy-peasy. BUT we were still dragging when it came to taking it all down on Sunday afternoon. Kurt and his brother-in-law headed out to the base to pack up the stages that we left on Friday and had most of it done by the time we came out with the trucks to take it all back to the shop.

After a week like that it would have been nice to just kick back and take a few days off. Couldn't happen. We had three days to pack two trucks and plan out everything we would need for 3 big events over the weekend.

On Thursday, we set up a canopy at Camel's Back Park for the Hyde Park Festival.

Then we headed to Caldwell to set up a stage and canopy for The Indian Creek Festival.

This was our 4th year at the Caldwell Festival and, after the first year out there, I swore it would be my last. We've continued to do it over the years and it has improved a great deal. This year they added a Friday night concert with a disco band out of Portland. I won't go into the details but the set up took us all evening on Thursday and all of Friday right up until the band got there for sound check at 5:30. Thankfully the band was really good and made it worth setting up a big light show that included fog and a disco ball.

Saturday morning came too soon after too little sleep. In addition to the Caldwell festival, we also had a concert at The Civic Center that couldn't be set up until after 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Kurt pulled that one off while Rob and I, along with Gary, took care of Indian Creek. Everything went really well in spite of our weariness.

We managed to take it all down and fold up the stage trailer on Saturday night. We unloaded the truck on Sunday afternoon and then packed up the canopy at Camel's Back Park on Sunday evening.

It was a very long and exhausting two weeks. It was a very long and exhausting summer. And now it's almost over. There are so many events that I happily checked off when they were over and I look back with relief that we are almost finished but I also have a huge sense of accomplishment as well. We managed to get through another summer without any mishaps and we are still upright and breathing. All things considered, that's really something. . .

Freckles. . .

The Cat's In The Cradle. . .

So Tracie informed me yesterday (via Facebook) that it has been 12 days, 3 hours and 4 minutes since I've posted to my blog. (Never mind the fact that her last post was on July 18th :) I thought it was sweet that I was missed and I determined that I would put something up today.

This summer has been seriously busy. Brutally busy. And I've come to realize that I'm not getting any younger. I'm reminded of that fact in many ways, one of which is watching my first born turn 18. Eighteen. I keep saying things like, "He's old enough to buy cigarettes. And vote. And get drafted. . . " He's an adult. It's weird.

Sometimes in all of the busy-ness, my kids take a back seat to the business. I try really hard not to let that happen and I think that for the most part they are assured of my love for them and the importance they hold in my heart but it's too easy to let things slip by with a flimsy promise of "we'll do (fill in the blank) when the season is over. . . " I've been humming the old song "Cat's in the Cradle" a lot lately. All that to say, I didn't want to let Zach's 18th birthday go by without a really memorable celebration. He wanted to spend it at the cabin with friends, his collection of Nerf guns, his new PS3 and an outdoor movie. I knew I just had to make it happen. It was a huge bonus that Rob and Grandpa put up a zipline just in time for the party!!!

I think we were able to check off all of the things on his list that he asked for. . .

Friends. . .

A "friendly" Nerf Gun battle. . .

PS3. . .

The cabin and all it's critters. . .

An outdoor movie on the big screen (just for the record, I don't recommend watching "I Am Legend" outside, in the woods, at night. . . )

No birthday party would be complete without cake . . .

And last, but not least, everyone had a turn on the new zipline. . .

It was a very brief respite from work but well worth it. It was a good thing we had a little bit of a chance to relax and celebrate because the week took off fast and furious starting on Sunday night with a big set up and didn't let up until the next Sunday night when we finished tearing everything down. . .

Just a few more weeks and . . . "we'll get together then, yeah. You know we'll have a good time then. . . "