Jake Says:

 Jake: (Pointing to the page on the left.) He's crying.

Blaine: He is? Why is he crying?

Jake: Um, because he lost his legs.

u2

"Back in the day" I was quite the U2 fan. It wasn't uncommon to for me to wait in line for hours for midnight album releases, or even sleep out for concert tickets {so fun!}.

While I've never been able to compete with some friends {Becca} or certain family members {Jeff} who on separate occasions have danced with Bono onstage, I used to consider myself their biggest fan. I remember crying when I saw them in 1997 and telling Becca, "I can die happy now!" Yeah--I was pretty dramatic. I soaked in the whole experience of seeing them live for the first time... Becca and I spent the day at the U, just existing with "our people".

Fourteen years later, I was excited to do it all again--this time with my brother, and fellow freak, Scott. Scott and I made fun of the mid-life-crisis people arriving "in style" in rented stretch-Hummer-limos. We laughed at our former selves and how we used to wish they sold U2 tickets according to how big a fan you were. And we pointed and laughed at the couple in front of us {"Snookie" and a bigger version of "The Situation"} who were sitting in the wrong seats and appeared to me smuggling their cigarettes or boxes of fries in "Snookie's" bra. It was a good night.

I was excited to see U2 too... I'm just not the fanatic I used to be. Music used to be my main passion and now my awesome hubs and kiddos are. I'll also admit that I don't love their newest album, No Line on the Horizon. It's okay. It's good. It's just no All That You Can't Leave Behind, Joshua Tree, or my personal favorite, Achtung Baby! So, when U2 took the stage, I wasn't ready for the nostalgia and U2 love that would permeate my entire being. This was the band that I love so much, and this was a concert for their fans. They played something for everyone--something from every single major album or project they've put out. This concert was a culmination of their entire career. And needless to say, it was really, really cool. Highlights for me were: Love Rescue Me, Stay, Until The End of the World, One, Where The Streets Have No Name, and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.

Scotty and me.

If you've ever seen the movie, PCU, you know that when you go to a concert, you should never "be that guy". Apparently, Scott wants to "be that guy". {He told me so.} Also, I'm pretty sure this shirt used to be mine.

This is Scott's friend, John and John's friend, John. I thought it was funny and cute to call them, "John squared". No one thought it was funny but me, so I kept calling them that all night. I thought about calling them "John cubed" so John's mustache didn't feel left out, but I thought that might be pushing my limits.

Two really good things.

"The claw" was seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

And here are the boys...

The screen broke apart and descended around the band for a couple songs.

The rotating walkways were so cool.

The greatest thing about a U2 show is that they really know how to touch everyone in the place. They make themselves "accessible" to the people with the best seats and those like me in the stands.

Scott's handiwork.
Have I mentioned how much I loved going to this concert with him? We had so much fun.
 He's the perfect U2 concert buddy.
{Thanks again, for getting us tickets, brother.}

This tour is kind of a big deal. It's surpassed Rolling Stones and is on pace to earn over $700 million. Wow.

Here's a cool concert review from the Daily Herald if anyone's interested.

And the night's set list too.

1. Even Better Than The Real Thing
2. I Will Follow
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Mysterious Ways
6. Elevation
7. Until The End of the World
8. All I Want Is You
9. Love Rescue Me
10. Happy Birthday (to Bob Dylan)
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
12. Beautiful Day / Here Come's The Sun
13. Pride (In the Name of Love)
14. Miss Sarejevo
15. Zooropa
16. City Of Blinding Lights
17.  Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
18. Crazy Tonight
19. Discoteque / Mofo
20. Sunday Bloody Sunday
21. Scarlet
22. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone


Encore:
23. One
24. Blowin' In The Wind / The Times They Are A-Changin'
25. Where The Streets Have No Name
26. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
27. With Or Without You
28. Moment Of Surrender

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day feeling pretty yucky. Jake had a fever of 103 and Sarah's nose was running like Niagra.  Blaine and I were down for the count, but I managed to get a great dinner made by my great husband anyway.

Mother's Day has had me in a state of reflection for weeks now... My mom is the greatest. She rocks. {For real, she totally does.} My mother-in-law is the bomb. {Jealous?} I have a wonderful Nannie {Grandma} whom I talk to often. I didn't know my Grandma Lee, but I know she's great, too. I'm influenced by these amazing women every single day. But that's not really why I'm writing this...

Motherhood is really hard. I love it. There are moments where my patience and inner-peace is so far away from me, I can't see it at all. But, there are also moments in which I experience such happiness-- such joy-- that I can't contain it, let alone describe it. Sometimes, when I am in these moments, I can't believe that these are my kids.  I am surprised by the sense of pride and fulfillment involved in being a mom. They are beautiful, and genius, and so perfect for me, and I'm incredibly lucky to have them.

Annie's Shower

Candice and I started at McDonald's for dollar Cokes, then made our way down south for Annie's baby shower. {Little girl Sorensen is due any day now!} 

Gosh-- I love these two girls so much. I am not joking when I say that the stars aligned and made us friends for life.

Sarah's First Birthday

We celebrated Sarah's birthday on her actual birthday this year. It was really fun and {as always} we love having all our family over for these kinds of things.

The invite. {Hanging on our fridge.}

The Richardsons.

Megan and Benny.

Love this.

Brett.

He's trying to prove to me {again} that he used to be fat. C'mon, Brett.

The fam.

Love this too.

The birthday girl with Aunt Laurel.

Uncle Doug.

Scarlett and Sarah. I love that these girls are only about five months apart... they are destined to be besties.

Scarlett smiles on demand. I love it.

Pretty birthday girl.

Scarlett trying to grab her cousin...

Then maybe a little pissed that Sarah thinks she can just walk crawl away.

Cute ruffle bum.

Playing under the table.

Cake pops. Yes, I made them. Yes, they were the bomb.

{One hundred cake pops are too many to make by the way.}
I only wish we had taken pictures of the beautiful brats Blaine cooked for everyone. We also had delicious sauerkraut and cabbage from Siegfried's. Yum.

The little kitty piano-keyboard from Richardsons and Walkers that is now driving me nuts {not all the time... just when it begins purring because it was left on and freaks me out... it's actually adorable}.

Megan is a champ at getting little Ben to laugh out loud.

All the cousins helping to open presents.

{I figured that Sarah didn't know any better.}

Jack-attack.

The spectators.

Doug and Jen.

Dress and matching coat from Dee Dee and Pop Pop.

Everyone checking out the princess book.
{I think Kaiya was disappointed this this didn't go home with her.}

The new walker/stroller from Mom and Dad.

Sarah seemed to enjoy all the attention.

Cute Little People dollhouse from Nona and Poppy.

Brent, Miles, and Blaine.

{I don't know how many pictures there are out there of these two sitting on these stairs just like this.... Also--where is Markelle? I hate when I don't get pictures of everyone.}

Pretending to blow out candles.

Sarah was so funny eating her cake.

She took a little off the top to taste it and then was off. I've never seen anything like it. She devoured {or demolished} the entire thing. When Jakey turned one, we really had to coerce him into diving into the cake. 

Not this girl.

She went in head-first.

I love her look here... like she's making sure it's cool to eat it like this.

She's either blowing a kiss or shoving more cake in her hole.

 I think at this point Sarah may have mistaken her cake for play-dough.

 Isabel came in and was appalled at the mess her cousin was making. 

{This was her real reaction.}

 However, once Sarah decided to tip her plate over, we decided she was done.

 Off to the bath.

 I love the pleased look she has on her face.

 These next pictures are from the day after the party. We were still snacking on cake-pops {the ones we didn't give away} and hanging out in the back yard. I think they still have a certain birthday feel to them though... Maybe not... but it's fun to see the kids enjoying their treats.

 Good 'til the last bite.

 Jake was a good poser for me.

I have to document the cat:
For Jake's first birthday, we bought him the cutest Jellycat stuffed doggy. I've been obsessed with the idea of getting Sarah the pink kitty since... well probably since we found out that Sarah was a girl. However, I put off buying it much too late, because everywhere I tried locally was out of stock. Ugh. Long story short-- {too late} --the pink kitty was ordered online and arrived the day after her party. Oh well. It's so cute and much better than the pink piggy I almost settled on. I know, I know. I'm nuts. Go ahead and say it. It's true.

 Proof that the doggy exists. I'm glad Jake's buddy has a pal to hang out with now.