Best Night of My Life!

Well for those of you who know me well I am a huge Neil Diamond fan! He came in concert to SLC on my birthday December 19. I really wanted to go but we didn't buy tickets. Well about two weeks before my birthday my dad sent me and email that said Happy Birthday JanaRae ~ Sorry Mark! Then there was a link to print two tickets to the concert. We had row 7 seats 5 and 6. I don't know how my dad did it. It was AMAZING! We kept walking down lower and lower. I was in total shock as we got to guards at the floor. We showed them our tickets. WE then got a wrist band and escorted to our seats. WOW! It was first class. AS soon as we sat down two ladies who were sitting more center stage asked if we would trade them seats. HECK YES WE WOULD! Our seats were next to one of the lady's son. There were also two half rows on the side. So we really only had 5 rows infront of us. In this picture you can see that there really aren't that many people in front :) Keep in mind we had no zoom on the i phone camera so this is really how close we were. I know I am still in shock!
So my first words as Neil walked out on stage were "He is so old." However he's still got it! I really thought since the concert was so close to Christmas he would be singing a few Christmas songs but those were not his picks of the night. He sang Lots of songs from the "Hot August Night" CD. He sang a lot of old songs such as Brooklyn Roads, Shilo, I'm a Believer, Sweet Caroline, Forever in Blue Jeans (I swear he looked at me during this song, I was the first one out of my seat as soon as I heard the music), Coming to America, You don't bring me Flowers, Craclklin' Rosie and much more. It was fabulous! Mark is not much of a dancer at concerts. He watches a concert just like he would watch a movie. I was so greatful to the lady sitting next to me who would dance. We sure had fun together. Mark was a good sport and stood up everytime I did. We were not allowed to bring cameras in. However Mark's phone has a camers so this is the best we could get. Thanks so much Dad for making my birthday the best one ever!

Breakfast With Santa

Mark has been working really long hours for the past two weeks. He had his finals week and then a crazy work week. He told me he was going to work today (Saturday) and I thought I would plan a fun filled day for me and the boys. We started off with breakfast with Santa. Due to the snow we didn't get much further than that. I wanted to go up to Gardner Village where they let the kids make ginger bread house for free (at least that is what I read on the Internet) and then the Salt Lake Library was doing The Grinch Stole Christmas. The snow was pretty bad north of the point of the mountain. So after breakfast with Santa and an hour in the kiddy land, for Ethan and Jake, we came home.

So this is the first Santa that I have taken my kids to this year that was in the traditional Santa suit. The rest have all been in his workshop outfit LAME!

Here's Ryan enjoying some chocolate milk.

Ethan and Jake more interested in the movie than their breakfast.

Celebrations

Last night we had a combined birthday party for Dan, my brother-in-law, Noelle, my sister-in-law and me. It was a lot of fun. It happened to be December 7. This date is not significant in my family because of Pearl Harbor. It is the day my parents got engaged 33 years ago! My mom and dad went to a fireside and then back to some one's house to have banana splits. My dad put the ring in the cherry. They have celebrated this day every year since by making banana splits. We loved this day as kids. The rule was you could make your banana split as big as you wanted and you didn't have to finish it you didn't have to. My parents have been a little disappointed that I haven't celebrated this family holiday since I have moved out. When Noelle suggested having a combined birthday party I could keep from suggesting banana splits. They were yummy. Happy Birthday to Dan and Noelle and Congrats to My mom and Dad. I love you!