Nashville: Miracle on Broadway

Doug and I were given the chance to attend Kelly Clarkson's Miracle on Broadway, which was a fundraiser for four Nashville non-profits.  Aunt Josie and her good friend, Emily, had a couple extra tickets and offered them to Doug and I.  Once Josie mentioned that there were to be appearances by Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Ronnie Dunn, and Garth Brooks, we were sold!

Pa and Gram were kind enough to watch the kiddos.  So Doug and I took off on Saturday afternoon.  We met up with Josie and Emily for supper at Caney Fork River Valley Grille.  Talk about a cool place!  We were seated right next to the catfish pond, and were able to watch the fish swim while we ate.

After supper, we made our way downtown to Bridgestone Area.  I made Doug stop for a picture before heading into the concert.

There were probably 12 special guests performers throughout the night...here are a few of the pictures I tried to capture...

Any Nashville watchers? Recognize the first guest? That's Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten)!

Meghan Trainor was the second guest on stage

followed by Kix Brooks and his wife

Kacey Musgraves also performed

Martina McBride sang with Kelly and on her own.

Ronnie Dunn also joined Kelly.

One of the highlights for me was when Trisha and Reba joined Kelly to sing "Silent Night"

The other highlight was the end of the show when Garth Brooks appeared on stage with just his guitar to sing "Little Drummer Boy".

We walked downtown after concert, and man there were a lot of people out!

Until next time...

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Start your engines!!!

As an anniversary gift to Doug, which was June 4th, I bought tickets to the Indy Car Series - Iowa Corn 250 race. The race was yesterday, so the tickets also functioned as a Father's Day gift! In addition to the race tickets, I also purchased tickets for the Fan Walk.

With the Fan Walk, we took a shuttle down into the infield before the race, and we were able to walk right behind the pits. Right when we got off the shuttle, we were able to catch a glimpse of Danica Patrick on a golf cart. Then, we saw Scott Dixon and his wife get off their moped. I was able to get their picture...
We saw Victory Lane upclose...

One of the pits getting ready for the race...

A famous name is Indy Racing...AJ Foyt Racing. (This is Ryan Hunter-Reay's pit.)

Trying to catch a glimpse of Graham Rahal...

Helio Castroneves' team pre-race...

Roger Penske with Ryan Briscoe's pit team

Dropping the green flag for the first time...

Our view of pit row

Tony Kanaan takes the lead!!!

Tony Kanaan wrecks a lap after coming out of the pits :(

Dario Franchitti wins!

The best part of race day...the various hairstyles that you see! This was one of my favs from the day...

After the race, country singer Shannon Brown (of Spirit Lake, Iowa) put on a concert. We heard her sing a couple of songs before taking a break for the Victory Lane festivities. Doug and I whimped out and left because of the heat. Plus, it was going to be another 45 minutes before she was to come back on stage.

All in all, we had a wonderful time! Aunt Katie came down to the spend the afternoon with Dallas, and they had a great time together as well.

Until next time...

CMT on Tour

As I mentioned on Friday, Katie met us in Cedar Rapids for a concert. It was the CMT on Tour featuring Sugarland with special guests Little Big Town and Jake Owen.

It was a pretty eventful evening beginning with trying to find something to eat. We met at 6:30 (concert began at 8 o'clock), and went to Legends - a bar not too far from the arena. There were not too many people in there, but they still said it would be a half hour to get some wings!!! Well, the lady never really returned to take our order...so after waiting for half an hour, we left. We were then going to just grab a sandwich at Quizzno's, but they closed at 7 o'clock! Can you believe that?!?! Finally, we ended up at Taco Bell...where it took 20 minutes to get our food.

We made it to our seats right as Jake Owen came on stage. He sang for about 20-25 minutes. Little Big Town came out a little bit later and sang for about 45 minutes. Then, it was time for Sugarland. They were on stage for almost an hour. Here are a few pictures...sorry, my camera isn't the best at taking pictures far away.

Jake Owen

Little Big Town

Rajean & Katie

Doug & Rajean

Sugarland

I Need A Drink!

Alright...so I have been pregnant for 4 months now, and during that time I have not had the urge to drink (alcohol that is)...not once...not until TODAY! I spent yesterday and today subbing in a sixth grade classroom...and they have to be the worst class in history! Yesterday, they were decent...I only had one student tell me to shut-up. Today, on the other hand...I had 2 students get in a fist fight first thing this morning. I had another student mock me during a lesson. Another student flip me off...and the list goes on! I couldn't believe them. They were just plain awful! As I was leaving the school, all I could think about was wanting a big ole margarita!!! Guess I'll have to wait a few more months before I can have it though.

Hope everyone else had a good Friday...and a great weekend planned.

Katie is on her way down to go to a concert with us. I'll post pics over the weekend.

Until next time...