Norman Music Festival 2009

This past Saturday, the Norman Music Festival took place. It is a free all day concert, where Main Street of Norman is shut down and bands come out from all over the country to play. Its incredible! And my work, the Norman Arts Council, puts it on. I worked from 8:30am until 12:30am - a completely exhuasting but fun day. Last year was the first year this event ever took place and we drew about 15,000 people total. This year, with 90 bands playing on 12 different stages scattered throughout the street, we drew close to 30,000 people. It was amazing! We had bands come from L.A, San Fran, Georgia, and a bunch of local bands that were able to get face time with press and with new fans. The picture above was the Main Stage where headlines such as Starlight Mints and Of Montreal played. It was an incredible show!

This is just a small shot of the crowd around 9pm. People were dressed in the craziest things. There was one guy in a chicken suite!

We had performers all day long, flame throwers, dancers, and this band of drum players. They were awesome.

This is my All Access pass.:) Which meant I could have access to any backstage or VIP area. My job was to check the bands in and out. It was so cool getting to meet all of them. If you want to check out the website, its normanmusicfestival.com. We even have our own Pandora station!

College Life Camping

This past weekend we went camping in the Wichita Mountains with the college group we do ministry with. It was so fun! It was a great time to relax and hang out with the students off campus and just have a good time.

We went for a hike to the highest point in the mountain range to watch the sunset. It was beautiful.

This is Michelle, my good friend and the wife of the college pastor. She is 4 1/2 months pregnant and so close to finding out the gender or what we like to call, flavor of the baby.=)

Eric waiting for the sun to set.

This is Jeremy and Arash. Jeremy, on the left, is the college pastor and Michelle's husband. Arash, has been attending Wildwood church for 6-7 years now, plays the electric guitar for the band and works with us in the College Life. They are both great guys.

From left to right: Lindsey, freshman) Katherine, (freshman) Michelle, Abby, (freshman) Lauren, (sophomore) They are such precious girls and I love them to death!!

We saw buffalo!!! They were so cool! The baby one was adorable. They crossed the street as we were driving to the place we were going hike. They are such big animals!

From left to right: Sarah, (sophomore) Abby (freshman) Katherine (freshman) Darby, just graduated in December but still hangs out us in the College Ministry, and Katie, (sophomore) This was before our hike.

This is Rick and Carla. Rick does a camping ministry at Wildwood and he was the one that brought all the food and prepared all our meals while out in the woods. His chili is A-mazing!!! They are such a great couple. On a side note, Rick is also my boss. He is the director of the Norman Arts Council where I work. It is such a blessing working for a believer.

Here Rick is making biscuits over the fire. Its incredible how he cooks when outside.

Eric and I hanging out at the campsite.

The girls of the trip. So cute.

Lauren, on the left, and Sarah in the middle are 2 of my 6 Biblestudy girls. They are so much fun and such a blessing. I have loved leading a Biblestudy. It has been the highlight of this year.

This is Darby. She is so much fun and a complete blessing. She is going to be living with me for about a month while Eric is deployed. She is getting married the beginning of August and her lease runs up end of June. I'm so excited to hang out with her and get to know her better. And help her plan her wedding! Always fun.=)

Andrew Babb. The first born of 12 children and our worship leader. 90% of this air mattress was blow up by his lungs.=) He was pretty winded.

Crazy dog

We are teaching Ellen to sleep on her bed, outside of her crate. I think its best that she is sleeping next to me by the bed rather then caged up in her kennel for when Eric is gone. It definitely makes me feel safer. Well, this is where and how she has slept the past couple nights that we have tried it. I think its adorable. For some reason, she just loves under the bed! I think its because its cave-like and she loves anything that feels enclosed.

St. Louis

Due to the fact that Eric will be in the desert during our 3rd year anniversary, we took our trip early this year. We have a tradition of going to a new city each year to celebrate. We have visited Houston, Kansas City, and this year, it was St. Louis. Its a wonderful tradition, one because you dont have to worry each year what you're going to do, you just have to pick the place! And, you don't have a chance of getting stuck in a rut, cause there are always new cities to visit.

We had an absolutely wonderful time being together, with no distractions, and it just the two of us. The weather wasn't the greatest, except for one day, which was all we needed to go see the Arch and attend a Cardinals game. We even got in FREE, thanks to military discount. Below are the pictures of our time together this weekend. We are so so grateful for the time the Lord has given us with eachother.

My own arch.=)

Eric getting ready to take a cruise on the dinner boat on the Mississippi River.

Being silly, therefore, being Eric.

We did quite a bit of shopping on one of the days that it was raining. And yes, those are all HIS purchases. Ok, maybe only a couple. Okay, maybe only one.

We ate at IMO's, apparently the best St. Louis style pizza there was. It was pretty delicious, but then again, I am ALWAYS up for some pizza. Really thin and crispy and they used mozzerella and cheddar cheese. It was fun to go to a local place and try the cuisine.

Sushi for dinner! So so yummy!

The St. Louis Cardinals. It was so fun to go to a baseball game with Eric. And all-American sport and of course I teared up when we sang the National Anthem. Can't help it when you're taking next to a soldier.=)

Waiting for the game to start.

Pujolas, their best player, hit a GRANDSLAM! It was incredible!!!!

We had a mullet sitting right in front of us. Couldn't help but take a picture. They're becoming a lost art!

Dinner at Maggiano's. So good.


Our massive bowl of Chicken Pesto Linguine with pine nuts that looked hardly untouched after we were finished dinner. Never never get a full serving - always order half.

The Grad Student

This is Eric's new hobby. Studying and writing papers. He has just completed his first Masters class with the final grade of an A. I'm pretty proud of him. He is enrolled in the Human Relations Program at the University of Oklahoma, which officially makes him a Sooner, but only secondary to being a Duke. (GO JMU!!!) He has really enjoyed it so far and will be doing some online classes when he is in the desert. The classes are set up so he goes to class Friday, Saturday and Sunday, for two weeks in a row, and thats it! It's a blessing that is doesn't span out over a long period of time and doesn't take up free week nights that are hard to come by these days.

Worshipping

I"m sorry its been so long. Life has been busy, but beyond that, I've just been in a rut with what to write about. We don't have kids to update on every day and my camera battery is dead with no way to charge it (I lost the charger) so I have had no new pictures to post. But alas, today, I recorded an everyday occurrence for you all to see. This is the latest command that Ellen has learned. She is fully aware of the fact that she will not be petted or touched when she is let inside until she is "worshipping." Sometimes its a little bit more dramatic then others, and today was a mediocre day. She will prostrate herself on the floor, little stump of a tail wagging, waiting for the moment you bend down and pet her. So here it is... Ellen worshipping.