Hoob. A. Stanky.

How I always end up at the most random concerts, is beyond me...take for example, my very first concert at the Amway Arena...Phil Collins. Don't get me wrong, Phil Collins is quite the gem. I loved singing along to "You'll Be In My Heart" reminiscing about the good ole day spent watching Tarzan while I swayed back and forth with the middle aged. It was the best of times....it was the worst of times. I am also yet to attend another concert with quite so many wheelchairs.

Ok I lied. I do know how I end up at the Hoobastank concert, Phil is still a mystery, but as far as Hoobastanky is concerned, our friends The Lovecapades were opening for them. 

So of course we made the trek out to Salt Lake to come and support. The funny part was Mickey, the blondie featured in the second from the bottom left photo, is a HUGE Hoobastank fan!

He knew ALL of the words, and eventually ditched us to move to the front row where the lead singer gave him a shout out for knowing all the words and singing along to their newest songs.

And the #1 Fan Award goes too.....MICKEY SCHAERTL!!!

Here comes the even funnier part. The rest of us, not being as diehard as Mickey, left the concert a little early to go grab some Applebee's at The Gateway. We forgot to tell Mickey we were doing this, since the lead singer was giving him his own personal concert in the front row (He probably wouldn't have really heard us anyways, Hoobastanky is too mesmerizing). As we get our desserts we realize that Mickey's not with us, and his phone died earlier at the concert. Glenny Boo and Nico ran the go find him and eventually spotted him sitting alone on a car outside the concert. 

And the worst friends ever award goes to...TABLE OF SIX!!

Mickey hasn't hung out with us since that night............Just kidding. He forgave us, probably because he was still on a Hoobastank high. Jammin' out to "The Reason" really takes it outta ya. 

General Conference

 Two of my favorite times of year are when we get to hear from the Leaders of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It doesn't get much better than this folks. Time to get some Soul Food on. 

 Jake had never been to Conference so I managed to snag us some tickets and get him down there without telling him exactly what we were doing....I'm sure he had it figured out from the beginning, but he played along. We started off with Music and the Spoken Word.....

...The view from our seats...

I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. I truly love this church and the inspired words that the Apostles and Prophet prepared for us to listen too. There is power and peace that comes with heeding their counsel. If you ever have a spare moment click here and look these good ole boys up. They won't let you down and you won't regret it!

The Zombie Shamble

 These three Lovelies and I saw a random ad to audition for a Zombie music video. So of course we auditioned. Who doesn't have "Be in a Zombie Music Video" on their weird College To-Do list? When we got to the auditions, they had us do a Zombie, walk,run, shuffle, shamble...who even knows what a zombie shamble is? We sure didn't. They also taped us making a Zombie happy, sad and excited face. 
Did we know what we were doing? Heck to the no. We all just made it up as we went and surprisingly enough we made it into the video!! First we had our makeup done in a random art warehouse in Salt Lake. There were some hardcore Zombie fans there and some hardcore makeup artists as well. If you think Oatmeal looks gross in a bowl, wait until you see it mixed with fake blood and guts on someone's face. SICKNASTY! We then had our wardrobes cut and dirtied to sufficiency.

Unfortunately the goons in charge of this video had us arrive HOURS early. So we sat around for a few hours taking a bunch of Zombie Selfies until finally we started shooting the video which you can find here. Now we've officially checked "Zombie Music Video" off the list. 
Was it fun? Yes. 
Did we make some dang good lookin' Zombies? Yes. 
Will we ever do it again? I'm gonna say that's a negative ;)

Sleepover in the Street

It's Pioneer Day!!! This was a first time for me and it was INSANE!!! This holiday is almost like a second 4th of July with Fireworks, Barbecues, Parades and more.

Yesterday, we drove down to Salt Lake, saw some Dance Offs, took some crazy pics, and secured our spot for the parade.

On each side of the street is a green line. We stayed up until 5am when you're allowed to move your chairs, blankets, sleeping bags, etc. to that green line for the parade. This is us sleeping on the street, after we raced to get our 5am spot. Not too comfy.

This was the theme for the parade. Almost all of the floats took the phrase and added their own interpretation.

Nicole, Jake and I right before the parade began!

Pageant Winners

Tracy Turnblad & Link from Hairspray

Aladdin Crew from Tuacahn

Not quite sure what these ladies are called but they're pretty slick if you ask me. They're standing on TWO separate horses as they walk. 

LOVE this movie! Confession, I watch it every time I need a good cry. Can't wait to see it when it comes into theaters again soon!

And these things.....

They're ginormous Pioneers and they looked like clothed Pioneer Dementors. Weird.

This float was a personal fave of mine. It had two missionaries inside a boat named the Seeker. Ha! Funny stuff!

And the Float competition begins!! Each year the church gives selected stakes a budget of 5 grand to create a float for the parade. So crazy, but lots of fun!

Before the parade, they keep all the floats in a lot, and everyone goes to vote for different awards. This was the Kids Choice winner!

BYU float!! I love my Cougars!

Madagascar!!

This float was awesome!! They had a stick of dynamite, and their crew acted out a little skit until a huge explosion went off! 

Of course the Poly floats were the biggest parties complete with bumpin' speakers, costumes and dancers. Most floats seemed boring in comparison. Gotta love my brown people! We know how to party ;)

UP!

And the last float picture also made it to the fave list. This my friends, is a black Jesus with his hand on his hip, driving Mama Temple's Church Choir. They sounded great, and the lone white keyboarder was workin' it as well. Another adventure marked off the list! Pioneer day was a success! :)

Maddox Date

Jake has been begging to take me to Maddox, a Ranch House and his all time favorite restaurant. Finally I agreed, and we made the two hour drive all the way up to Brigham City. We had a feast! We ordered the Taste of Maddox which includes turkey steak, chicken fried steak, and shrimp steak. Their homemade rolls were divine and topped with their creamy, homemade raspberry butter. Definitely worth the long drive. 

On our way home we stopped downtown to catch a glimpse of the Salt Lake Temple which was absolutely gorgeous, and a great end to a great date!