"Play On"

I just realized I never blogged about this! I can't believe it.

Back in May, the radio stations were announcing that Carrie Underwood was coming to Boise on June 1 to do a show for her Play On tour. I would have loved to go, but I didn't think much of it because it was a Tuesday, especially once I found out I'd start my first day at my new job on the 2nd. But then, Grant sent me an email stating that Carrie was offering a military discount to get tickets for $10 a piece to say thank you to our service members! How could I say no to that?! Tickets at that price went on sale the Saturday before the concert, so I waited and found 2 "okay" seats, but I was fine with it for a total of $33! Grant and I both said being tired at work the next day would be worth it.

We arrived at the concert and found our seats, which were really not that bad at all. We were on the upper level, on the right side of the stage. We actually had a pretty good view. Sons of Sylvia and Craig Morgan opened for Carrie. Sons of Sylvia was an interesting mix of music...I honestly could not figure out if they were bluegrass, country, rock, or what. It was weird. Craig Morgan was really good, to my surprise!

Carrie finally came on and lived up to her amazing-ness!! She is so so talented and sounds just like she does on her records as she does live. She's super sweet and couldn't be any more beautiful. I LOVED the concert and enjoyed myself. And luckily, we didn't have to stand the whole time. :) If I ever had the chance to go to one of her concerts again, I definitely wouldn't hesitate!

She rode around the arena above the crowd in this truck! Super cool.

She wore some awesome shoes throughout the show, by the way. ;)

 Here are some video clips...hopefully they don't take too long to load. Enjoy!

See what I mean about how awesome she sounds live?!?

"Undo It" is probably my favorite song of hers ever! So sad it's blurry.

Worst. Flight. EVER.

Okay...I haven't flown that many times, but I've had my fair share of flights. Dear Lord, this was the worst one of all time. My return flight out of Fort Wayne left around 7:30 eastern time, with a layover in Chicago and arriving in Boise around 11:30pm mountain time Saturday night. Everything was going great until we were about 30 minutes from landing in Boise. The pilot came on and said we'd be experiencing some turbulence on our descent. And that we did. Like up and down, side to side, make you nauseous, fear for your life turbulence.

Just as we were about to land, something happened and we started going back up. We "went around" and the pilot told us the airport reported wind sheer (winds blowing at different speeds and directions at different altitudes during landing...can flip the plane), making it too dangerous to land. We were diverting to Twin Falls. AWESOME.

We landed at Twin Falls to refuel and wait to hear back from the wind situation in Boise. Apparently, they were having some crazy 70 mph wind gusts that night, and later I learned that it caused some damage to buildings and houses in the area. The pilot also mentioned that we may have to divert to Denver. DOUBLE AWESOME. Since Twin Falls is only about an 1 1/2 hours from Mountain Home, I wanted to get off and rent a car and just drive back. I figured I'd pick up my car in Boise the next day. No such luck. The Twin Falls airport does not have any stairs or a jet bridge big enough for our plane, so noone is getting off. Are you kidding me?!? So we wait...for an hour.

It's now around 1:15am, and the pilot tells us winds have not improved in Boise, so to Denver we go. I really wanted to cry at this point. I just wanted to be home. We arrived in Denver around 2:45am. The airline (United) told us we could get a voucher for a hotel if we wanted, but our return flight to Boise would depart at 6:00am, with ticketing to begin around 5:00am, so there really was no time to go to a hotel. They did hand out meal vouchers and blankets and pillows, so I charged my phone for a bit and then found a spot to try to get some sleep. I was able to sleep a little bit on the flights, but probably only a total of 2 hours. I tried to get about 2 more in the airport, but this one cleaning lady was using the LOUDEST, MOST OBNOXIOUS machine I've ever heard....right next to all the people at our gate (probably the only people in the airport). I'm pretty sure whatever she was doing could have waited. So anyway, I think I got about an hour or so.

We finally re-boarded, took off, and landed....much more smoothly this time. I used my voucher at McDonald's for breakfast before leaving the Boise airport, and you better believe I tried to get as much as I could out of that $15 voucher, haha! I finally arrived back at home around 9:00am and let the dog out, fed him, and headed straight for bed. I'm pretty sure I slept until 1:00 or so.

I really pray I never have this type of experience again. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that I was really scared, envisioning the airplane flipping. I was gripping the arm rest and closing my eyes every time we hit a pocket of turbulence. And praying I wouldn't puke. I don't think I'll ever forget this flight, but I really hope I do...for the sake of my nerves the next time I fly.

Grandpa

Sunday morning, August 15th, my dad called me and left me a message to call him back. We had talked earlier that week, but never "finished" our conversation, so I figured he was calling to do just that. Instead, he says, "I've got some bad news. We lost Grandpa this morning." I was stunned. My grandpa has always had health problems, but usually we know when he is doing well and when he's not. I had no idea he wasn't doing well. Come to find out, Saturday night, he hadn't been feeling well and was having trouble breathing. He woke up Sunday feeling the same way, so my grandma was getting ready to take him to the hospital. Unfortunately, they never made it, and he collapsed at home. The doctors were unable to revive him.

After I hung up the phone, I walked into the other room and told Grant what had happened. I'm not normally the type of person to cry, but that day, I couldn't help it. I started thinking about the last time I saw him, and honestly, I could not remember. Once I left for college, and now especially that I live so far away, I was never very good at getting over to see my grandma and grandpa when I was at home visiting. So I felt guilty for that. And then I thought about my grandma...and how that night, she'd go to bed alone for the first time in 50+ years. I put myself in that situation, and my heart ached for her.

Over the next couple of days, arrangements were made for my grandpa's visitation and funeral, and I debated on whether I should go back or not. Flights were EXPENSIVE, I'd be going back in October anyway, I'd miss a day of work, and Grant was leaving that Friday for 3 weeks in Alaska. Despite that, I decided that I needed to be there, especially to show my support for my dad and my grandma. I'm very glad I made that decision. I flew back on Wednesday, the funeral was Thursday, and I spent time with family on Friday and Saturday before flying back to Idaho on Saturday evening.

The visitation and funeral were very nice. There were pictures of my grandpa from his childhood that I'd never seen before. He was wearing an ornery shirt (just like him!) and had a lottery ticket. He looked so peaceful lying there, but it was still surreal. I wanted to keep looking at him, but I couldn't without crying, so I had to stay back. It was very strange. I think I was just feeling so sorry that it had been so long since I'd seen him, and we'd never get to talk again.

We made our way to the cemetery for the funeral service, where Grandpa was buried with military honors. They folded up the flag and presented it to my grandma and had a 21 gun salute (which was crazy loud!). The whole flag thing brings tears to my eyes whenever I see it. My cousin Samantha interviewed my grandpa a few years back for a college project, so she read a portion of her report and interview. My grandpa had fought in the Korean War and was given a medal for his service, honoring him as a hero. However, he never saw himself as a hero. Samantha ended her "speech" by telling us that my grandpa said, "only a deceased person is a hero." It was a very sweet moment and made me appreciate my grandpa even more, to learn of him in that light.

We all made our way back to my grandma and grandpa's house to have dinner and spend time as a family. It was nice to see all of them, as I don't get to see them very often. It was a tough day for everyone, but I'm so so glad I was able to be there. I think I would have really regretted it if I had not gone. So here's to you Grandpa...I hope you're watching over all of us now. We will miss you, but we look forward to the day we'll see you again. :)

It's Finally Finished!!

Well, here it is, finally finished and in our bedroom. It might have taken us quite a bit longer than we thought, but we did it. We built our own bed from scratch! And we LOVE it! There is really only one thing I would have changed, but it's not that big of a deal. I will edit this post and add more pictures with our plans and how we built it later. For now, enjoy the beauty of it. :)

(Please ignore the "spots" throughout the picture...apparently we need to clean the camera lens!)