Elton John @ the Sprint Center!

This was the BEST Elton concert I have attended so far! And after seven, that's saying a lot!

I can't believe the ENERGY this man has at his age (which is 60 for you non-fans). The concert started with an unbelievable rendition of "Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding" and just rocked out from there.

Some of the highlights from his 2 .5 hour main set included songs from Madman and Yellow Brick Road, a 20-minute version of Rocket Man, Crocodile Rock, and a killer version of Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting.

His 15-minute encore included signing autographs for the people who had rushed the stage, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me and (of course) Your Song. (Every one of his concerts that I've seen has ended with Your Song, so I knew we shouldn't leave until he played that.)

I did get to impress my friend with my vast Elton John knowledge, including predicting how he would play Bennie and the Jets (just that single starting chord and then waiting for the noise to die down), and just knowing all the songs except one. He playing a song called "The Bridge" off his The Captain and the Kid album which I have not yet obtained for my vast collection *gasp*. (I shall have to get this, if only for this song - it was WONDERFUL!).

I didn't get some of the best pictures (technically only disposable cameras were allowed, ha!), but here's a few I did get. If I can get some from Ramsey (friend who went with me) I'll post those in the album as well.

From Elton John Co...

My friend's video from the night:

Children of the Corn

From Halloween 2007...

OK - so they aren't really the blood-thirsty children of that long-ago horror movie. But, they do look pretty darn cute in the corn husks!


We took the kids toa pumpkin patch today. We got three HUGE pumpkins (the kids would accept nothing less than that!) and two smaller pumpkins (mom's picks). I'll probably carve them next weekend and take pictures of the finished products then.


We got to play on haystacks & half-buried tractor tires, work our way through (or in the boys' case, over!) a haystack maze and go on a hayride.


Here are some other photos from the day. Feel free to check out the full album by clicking the "Halloween" link.

From Halloween 2007...

Psalm 23

I found a site this week that I will probably end up spending HOURS on during the coming months. It's the Godly answer to YouTube - GodTube.com!

The first feature video for your viewing pleasure - a little girl saying the 23rd Psalms as only a child can do!

Religion

A coworker of mine has a blog about running. Now, normally I wouldn't read such a thing because running is a thing of my past and probably not even a blip on my future radar. A past high school sprinter, I never had the stamina to go long-distance, but this gal trains for marathons. I find that absolutely amazing and I'm very impressed with her drive and "obsession".

She had a great post recently that I needed to quote. Hope you don't mind AB, but I real loved what you wrote! :)

"Funny how the urge to believe or to pray sneaks up on you right as things start to really suck! Then how it sneaks back up on you as things start going really well... I don't know exactly what I believe, I'm still working that out in learning from my friends of so many different faiths. I do know that I believe in something greater than myself and that belief has gotten me through a number of struggles and gives me peace of mind."

It's wonderful to hear things like this from other people. I know what I believe, what I have always believed through my entire upbringing. But, sometimes it's good to hear these things, to be reminded of the need to pray not only when things are bad but also when things are going good, to say "Thanks!"

So, God, because I haven't said it enough lately, these are the things in my life I've very thankful you've given me:

• Mercy and grace
• Your Word
• The love of a good, strong, handsome husband who protects me and only wants the best for me. It's not always easy, but it's always worth it in the end!
• A beautiful step-daughter with whom I couldn't be closer if she were my own daughter; in fact, if she were my "real" daughter, we probably wouldn't get along so well!
• One wonderful son who is theatrical and goofy and one of the most caring people I have ever met. Watching him interact with other people and try to make them laugh and be happy warms my heart daily.
• Another fantastic son who is smart and serious and artistic. Determined and desiring of education and the need to do things right, he's a joy every day of my life, because I see so much of myself in him. And I only hope I can help him turn out better!
• Friends near and far. I couldn't get through it long-term without them!
• An extended family around the globe. Sometimes it's better that they're farther away, but it's all good!
• A strong church family where I'm accepted, wanted and, dare I believe it, needed
• A good, steady job with a lot of wonderful people.
• The ability to be well-rounded in my job and in my life - to excel at so many things simply because of the gifts you gave me.
• A deep love of music and theatre - I don't know how I would get through a day without music and a good TV show or movie!

And so very much more! Thank you Lord. And I'll try to do better at saying "Thank You" the next time I'm asking for your help or begging for your forgiveness!

The Happy Hippo

Really weird week so far:

• On Monday, I had an impromptu 4.5+ HOUR meeting to help a coworker complete a site. Weird meeting. Client sat and told us what was wrong and the project lead and I fixed them. We went through EVERY SINGLE PAGE - which we found out later was about 150-ish I think. Wow!
  
  
• On Monday I also found out the boys have been lying to us for three weeks! We told them they could take their lunches to school, but they had to get milk from the school (I just don't trust the thermoses to keep the milk cold enough!). Well, they did it once and never again. I found out when I got access to the fee management site finally. What's heartening is how quickly Travis was to give up the gig and admit he messed up. What's sad is that Tom still wants to say he wasn't doing anything wrong and he wasn't going to tell us the truth no matter what! Already I feel like a bad mom and they're only 5!
  
  
• On Tuesday hubby and I met with his surgeon for his disc replacement surgery. It's a little scary what could possibly go wrong and even scarier that he could end up worse if they can't do the replacement based on his physical build. They may end up doing a fusion with a steel plate by it, which will limit his movement and other possible issues. I was a little freaked out after that meeting.
  
  
• On Tuesday I also sorta played hooky (SHHH). After the meeting with the surgeon and by the time we finally met with him (we waited an hour and a half!) and ate some lunch (I had the shakes really bad so I had to eat) it just wasn't worth it to go into the office for 3 hours. So I worked from home - although I really didn't get much done. I tried, it just wasn't happening. Please don't tell my boss....
  
  
• On Wednesday, we had a 3 hour training with the client from Monday. So they could make their OWN changes. Whoo hoo! Nice people and it was actually one of my better trainings (if I may say so myself). The project lead and I have a crazy report, so that's probably part of what made it fun!
  
  
• On Wednesday, my boys did the coolest thing. Daddy had taken them to the store to buy steaks and they saw a HUGE hippo. And they convinced him that mommy just HAD to have it. Like a "second mother's day" is what Tom told me (maybe he WAS feeling guilty about the lying thing?!). They also got me a goofy card that plays the Hamster Dance Song (http://www.hamsterdance.com/). I just died laughing! So, we played the card over and over and danced around the house with the hippo. Talk about pulling me out of a funk!
  
  
• Tonight, the boys were just loving and cuddly. They kept playing quietly with puzzles and just being really good kids. Amazing! Now, if we could just teach them to stop TALKING all the time, life would be pretty darn perfect with them...NAH!
  

So - that's been the week so far. Just crazy. But, in the end I guess I'm doing ok with the kids and they're happy and healthy and they know they're loved.

To give you a smile today, here's the happy hippo: