First Nampa Nights of 2007

Dale and Brandon are getting married on Saturday. Gloria can hardly contain her excitement!! Brandon has been sweet to let Gloria look over her shoulder as she works out all the details. She even let Gloria try on the veil!!!

You'd think Gloria was the one getting married the way she's acting!!!

We had our first Nampa Nights of the season today. This is our fourth season running sound for Nampa Nights and we were commenting on how far we've come in this amount of time. This is where we got our start. We were handed this gig back in 2004 before we had much of anything to even do it with. We borrowed some speakers and pieced together everything we would need and literally dumped it all on the grass the first few weeks we were there. Fortunately, Rob was made for this and from the start he inspired confidence in the organizers and the bands. From this gig we were hired for a couple of other gigs and it hasn't slowed down since. Back in 2004, we had to start getting ready for this event in the morning just to get everything loaded in the trailer and to make sure we had everything we needed. It took hours to set up and hours to take down. Today, all we had to do was jump in the truck (still loaded from the last event) and drive to Nampa. Everything is neatly packed in lovely cases and all of the cables are pre-wired and multi-pinned for a quick, easy set-up. Ok, maybe not easy, but we can set it all up in less than an hour and a half.

The band was really good tonight. Rob was in his happy place.

Gloria was in her happy place, too:

Dancing with daddy:

The season started off with one of the best bands we've ever run: www.thesoulcats.com

The had a great New Orleans funk sound and were amazingly talented.

This will be a hard act to follow.

Zach hasn't been feeling very well, so he spent the evening relaxing with a book:


Dale and one of his groomsmen helped set it all up and Lori helped us take it all down. Here she is working while Rob goofs off. Once again, I dub her employee of the month. Congratulations, Lori!!


When we got home. . . .

It's all so interesting. It's been years since I've entertained people in my home and my backyard has been such a source of embarassment to me and yet it's really been ok with Dale and Brandon and their families making themselves at home here. Everyone is very kind and down-to-earth and it hasn't been weird at all. This evening, they are all prepping food for the reception. Brandon's dad is out on the back deck cutting watermelon (and himself, just a little) and her mom has been working with Dale's aunt and mom to prepare the rest of the food. It's all teaching me to lighten up about the state of my house!!! I'm just glad it's Dale and Brandon getting married and not me (or Gloria!!!!). Two days until the wedding!!!

May 23, 2007

Rob's dad was in an accident this morning! He came out of it ok, but his poor, new car didn't fare so well. Rob and I went with him to the towing yard to look it over and take a bunch of pictures. We're all thankful that Jeanie wasn't in the car with him!!

We spent most of the day finishing up the stage that we'll be using next week for Star Mule Days. (www.staridahochamber.com) We still have a lot more decks to build that we'll need later in the summer but we added 6 more to the 9 we already have. This has been a pretty low-cost, profitable asset for the business. To buy a stage of this size and quality, you'd have to pay big, big bucks. We don't have big, big bucks but we do have brains, brawn, a table saw, a chop saw, a welder, a rivot gun, some paint and really cheap labor:

A lot of work goes into buiding these stage decks. Rob and Dale have been prepping them for the last couple of weeks. Dale measured and cut all the metal, Rob welded the frames together, Dale and Rob both worked on the stage legs- more measuring, cutting and welding- and today we added the finishing touches.

First, the sheets of plywood have to be carried in to the table saw to be measured, cut, routed and sanded:

Second, the plywood is glued onto the metal frame, measurements are marked out for rivot placement and the rivots are shot into the wood and frame to hold everything in place.

Then we paint. . .

. . . and paint. . .

. . . and paint. . .

. . . and paint!!!

All of the stage legs have to be spray painted- a great job for the kids!

This stage pays for itself with about 3 rentals. Pretty sweet deal.

May 22, 2007

We had our second practice tonight!! I'm really looking forward to singing with these lovely ladies on June 9th. I keep telling them we're going to "take it on the road" but they don't seem to be taking me seriously!!!

Zach and the pooches:

May 21

This is the booby prize that Zach won at retreat. He answered the least amount of questions correctly on the Who-Did-What game and won this fabulous whatever-it-is. He and Gloria spent some time decorating whatever-it-is with Apple Jacks this morning.

There is a whole lot going on right now with Dale's wedding coming up and a very busy summer sound schedule. I'm trying not to fret about stuff but right now I'm losing the battle!! I'm clinging to Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. You are with me. Your rod and Your staff-they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me- all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I recite this to myself over and over some nights while I go to sleep. Elsie recited this up at camp this weekend and I'm sure I must have been about the same age when I learned this by heart. Some days I can't remember my phone number, but this chapter is etched on my soul and it brings immeasurable comfort.

Family Camp Day Three

The kids led the music this morning and did a great job. I am truly blessed to be able to make music with these kids and have watched them grow in confidence and musical ability over the years. I had several of them in my toddler music classes when they were just finding their voices and I've seen their love of music grow over the years and I'm learning more from them now than they are from me!!

We spent some time in intercession for others this morning and it was a great way to wrap up the weekend. We each left with the name of someone to be praying for and I'll be praying for Emily. She's having a baby in July so I have lots to pray for!! I told her that I have a phobia about having friends with babies who leave me and she told me they're not going anywhere but we'll see. . .

Lori and I were being a little bit ornery during the morning session. It was all good, though!

We arrived back in Boise around 3:30 and I went straight to the shop to see Rob. I really missed him over the weekend and was anxious to see if he survived without us. He had a good weekend and the two shows went really well. He missed us, too, but he managed! Unfortunately, he got bitten in several places by some kind of spider and one of the spots was very large and swollen and getting bigger all the time. I called our family doctor and he said Rob should be seen sometime this evening. I was afraid if we didn't take care of it now, his leg would be swollen and hard by tomorrow and we'd have to amputate. We are way too busy right now for amputation so I made him go to St. Lukes to have it checked out. The doctor said to take some ibuprofen and use topical ointment and he'd be fine. I can't wait to get the bill for that.

Gloria loves to go to the hospital. I'm not sure what it's all about but she loves medical attention.

Family Camp Day Two

Just posting pictures for now- hopefully I can add comments later!!

Family Camp Day One

On Friday, Rob and Dale ran sound for a street party to unveil the new BSU football uniforms. I wasn't able to be there, so I took a picture off of the news!! See the canopy at the top of the screen?? That's ours!!

More pics to come from the retreat!!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Rob went to a specialist today to have his hands checked over. Our family doc thought they might require surgery to regain full mobility so we were a little nervous going in. I was very impressed with Dr. Clawson. He sat across the exam table from Rob and drew sketches on the disposable paper as he explained what was going on with Rob's hands (Rob can hardly tell a story without drawing a sketch to go with it, so I thought this was great!). He let Rob know in no uncertain terms that he is not getting any younger and he needs to find some ways to stay active without causing permanent damage. He explained to Rob that when he was Rob's age, he played sports hard until he blew out both knees and now he can't even walk a golf course. He really tried to impress on Rob the importance of taking care of himself while he still can. It turns out that surgery isn't necessary and Rob will have to keep the last two fingers on his left hand taped for about 6 weeks and they should heal just fine!! Poor Rob has really had to face his age lately. He's still Mr. Incredible to me, though.

Gloria in curlers!

Zach at the end of the day:

I had a very nice lunch date with Katrina today. I'm going to spend more time enjoying my friendships and less time just wishing it would happen.

I have a bunch of stuff out in the driveway that is going to be picked up by the Youth Ranch on Friday. Gloria and her friends had a great time playing with all of it this evening.

Rob went to the doctor yesterday and had x-rays taken of both of his hands. The left hand has a compound fracture in the knuckles of his pinky and ring finger and his right hand has a hair-line fracture in his thumb. The doctor put a temporary cast on the left hand and scolded Rob for not getting it taken care of sooner. The right hand seems to be healing ok so we probably won't have to do anything with it. Tomorrow morning at 7:45 a.m. we have an appointment with a hand specialist who will take a look at the x-rays and give his reccomendation. Hopefully he can cast it as is and it will heal up with good mobility but there is a possibility Rob will have to have surgery to mend it properly. The doctor said it could heal ok like it is without surgery but because Rob is a pianist, he won't have very good mobility if it doesn't heal correctly. Rob got frustrated with the temporary cast this evening and removed it. It's very difficult to play Playstation with a cast on. . .

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

We have house guests for a couple of weeks due to a bad flood at Dale's house. It couldn't happen at a worse time for he and Brandon since the wedding is in less than 2 weeks. Brandon drove down on Monday and today she invited Gloria to go to the mall with her. Gloria was in heaven!!

After a long day at the shop catching up on paperwork and schoolwork, Zach played frisbee with the three (Emma, Prince and Vanilla) big dogs in the back yard.