Benson Boone Concert!

I still can't believe the girls talked me into it, but they did...we went to the Benson Boone Concert! I bought the tickets clear back in May, and they were really good seats.

Because I'm overly anxious, we got there 3 hours early, as soon as we could get into the parking lot. I wanted to get a parking spot right next to the exit so we could leave quickly. I was very anxious about this, but my plan worked! Yes, we had to wait outside for two hours, BUT- we were so early we got to stand under the eaves and when it started down pouring, we were perfectly dry. And, my plan worked perfectly- we got to the parking lot and out of the lot in 30 seconds. It was glorious.

I haven't been to a concert in years. But, dang, Benson Boone puts on a really, really good show. We really had the BEST time! (Ben stayed home, so he missed it)

The best part was seeing these two have the absolute time of their lives. They were so incredibly happy! I mean, absolute pure joy.

It really was a perfect night. I'm glad we went. But, now Claire and Camille seem to think we are concert people and want to go to more. We may have created some monsters.

 

Another Whirlwind Weekend

 It was a little crazy, but my friend Kim and I flew to Salt Lake City for the wedding of my old roommate, Crystal's, wedding. It was wonderful! We stayed downtown which was a lot of fun, as we got to see all of the construction happening on the temple.

We went to a very fancy Italian restaurant for dinner. It was delicious!

Of  course, we had to sneak in a visit with my girl! We had breakfast with her and it was wonderful. Kim asked her how she liked BYU, and Audra didn't hesitate, "I LOVE BYU!" Yay!!!! Music to this mama's heart!

We did a lot of shopping as well, and ended up at Brick Oven, my personal favorite, for lunch. I wanted to call Audra to come with us, but she was with her friends. It didn't take her long to ditch me for a boy (Matthew, for the record, who came over to bake cinnamon rolls and watch a movie with her)

Then, of course, the wedding. It was beautiful and perfect, and they both were glowing. It was such a JOYOUS event, and I am so glad that we went!

I'm so glad that we went and got to share in this beautiful event! Life is hard, and we need these moments with loved ones to remind us of all the good in the world! It was simply a glorious weekend!

But, it was even harder to say good bye to Audra as we likely won't see her again until Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for Sunday Zooms!

NHS

 Claire is officially inducted into National Honor Society! Go, Claire! She has an incredibly hard school year ahead of her with 2 AP classes and an IB class. She spends almost all her free time studying, but she is determined to continue her 4.0. We are super proud of all her hard work and determination, and even though we know this is a difficult school year ahead of her, we are confident that when she puts her mind to it, she can literally accomplish anything!

But, this is the best I could do to get a picture of her, the little stinker. She refused to let me get a picture of her!

Going Home

 Sadly, our trip had to come to an end.

We went and had a few last minutes with her. Ben wanted to go walk by the MTC, which has completely changed (they rebuilt it) since he was there.

Then, it was sadly time to say good-bye. We were very sad to say good-bye, but so grateful that we were able to see a little bit of what is going on in her world. We can picture her life as she tells us about it on the phone. And, she's doing OK. It hasn't been all easy- she often feels lonely. But, she's joining clubs (Swing Club), getting together with different groups to make more friends, going to play volleyball, and much more. She is excited about her classes- she loves her education class and human development class. 

She's going to be OK.

Game Day!

We started the day by going homecoming dress shopping for Claire. We were together, and that's all we wanted, but this was exhausting! But, we found the dress! She loves it and feels like Belle- and she looks stunning in it. Now, she just needs a date.

Then, it was all about the real reason we came: The Game!

This is Audra's uniform- what gets her into the game and lets the workers know she is with the marching band.

Ben and I took her to the grocery store (where she only spent $20. She said she's trying to only spend $20 a week on groceries, so I had to remind her she can actually spend twice that. And, really, more if needed. We have no intention of letting her be a starving college student).

She wanted us to go to Macy's so we get a "Kong Cone." She went with the trumpets and got the 59 cent cone, and she wanted to share the experience with us, too. 

Claire and Camille were exhausted from all the homecoming dress shopping so they stayed at the hotel, and Ben and I weren't sad that we got a little alone time with her.

We are ready for the game!

Ben and I walked her to the stadium. She had to be there 4 hours early.

We got to the game a little more than 2 hours early. We wanted to see EVERYTHING the band was doing and be a part of all of it!

We saw the parade- this is pretty simple, they march down in front of the stadium playing the fight song and then go to their practice field.

Then, they do a practice where they run through their pre-show and halftime show for the public. Of course, we sat in the stands and watched. Then, when normally the football team runs through the tunnel, they had us come out of the stands and run through. It was so fun!

It was wonderful to be there to watch her, but it turned out to be really beneficial to us so we could see where she was standing for the show and know where to look for her for the actual performance.

Then, we went into the stadium to get our dinner. Claire wanted a hot dog, and the rest of us decided to split these pork nachos. These were so yummy! While we were heading up to our seats, at least a dozen people asked Ben where he bought them from. It was pretty funny. It is a souvenir bowl, so we gave that to Audra to enjoy at college.

While we were running around getting our food, we saw Audra come in to get set up for going onto the field for pre-show! What luck! So, we grabbed a picture of her with us in full uniform!

And, here we are in our seats- the north end zone.

Pre-show was AWESOME- Audra admits it's her favorite

At one point, Audra was on the Jumbotron, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of her

I did NOT eat this entire 15 inch Cougar tail by myself- we split it between the four of us. But, it was really yummy.

Got to wear my BYU Mom bracelet!

For halftime, we had friends from our ward who had incredible seats on the 50. They invited us to join them to watch half time with them. It was perfection!

Then, after the game they do "5th Quarter."They play again outside the stadium. It was so cool to listen to them, but it was also midnight at this point. So we stayed and listened, but we were also very tired. But, they sounded absolutely amazing.

Words can not express how it was to watch Audra perform at LaVell Edwards Stadium in front of 64,000 cheering fans. My memories of LaVell Edwards Stadium are of cleaning the bathrooms. She will have far happier memories (though, in reality, I have a lot of happy memories from being a custodian there. That job was a huge blessing that paid for my college education, but regardless, I think playing with the marching band would be way more cool). Our little girl is doing what she loves in front of thousands, for a premier college football team. It's amazing. She's amazing. And it was amazing to watch her do her thing. 

Oh, and BYU won 24-3 against Standford.