On the road to the rodeo

I'm taking tomorrow off in anticipation of heading to Cheyenne Frontier Days to see Bon Jovi perform and go to my very first rodeo!!! I'm not much of a cowgirl, but it's always fun to go somewhere new, try something new, and do it all with my best friend and love!

I've been rockin' out to Lost Highway for the past few weeks trying to learn all the words to all the songs so that I can act like my usual backup singer self for Jon and the boys. In all the recent interviews, Jon's been quick to say that it's not a country album, but that it's Nashville inspired. For the most part I think that's probably true, but you can hear a lot of country undertones in most, if not all the songs. Surprising enough, my favorite tune on the album is "We Got it Goin' On" with Big & Rich. It's reminiscent of the old Bon Jovi days...a little harder and heavier with lots of guitar. Otherwise, I love "You Wanna Make a Memory", "Summertime", and "Seat Next To You".

So, I've been wondering since LeeAnn Rimes and Big & Rich are scheduled to perform at CFD, will they make a special appearance with JBJ to sing their duets with him? Hmmm, one can only hope.

I've been debating on taking in my Rebel with my zoom lens. Since we're in the "standing room only" section, we could be close enough that I don't need it, but I could get some really amazing shots with it too. The website says that still cameras are okay, just no video cameras, but I'm still wondering if they'll pitch a fit when they see the size of my lens. And then there's the size and sheer weight of it. It's supposed to be quite warm tomorrow, and am I gonna wanna carry it around on my neck for the evening? (can't take the bag in, cause I'll have my purse, and you can only bring one bag in --- oh, wait, maybe I should just put my camera in my purse, duh!!!)

Concert begins at 8:00, doors open at 7, but the website says come early to get in line if you have "standing room only" tix. Wonder how I can convince DH to stand in line longer than he's going to want to? I think I'll tell him the concert starts at 7:00 then act like I didn't know! Is that bad? ;) So, since the concert begins as the sun will be setting and it will get dark, I must read up on my manual tomorrow to make sure I know how to keep the shutter open long enough for decent pics.

I'm gettin' pretty excited! I've been waiting for this day since March when I found out Bon Jovi was playing CFD! Sure wish my buddy Kris was going with me!!!

My First Photo Session

Knowing that I would have all the women in my family in one place at the same time made me very eager to capture the moment! So, I had my mom tell them all to bring a white top and khaki bottoms and be prepared for a photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites from the session:

Okay, this is a page right of ScrapJammies' book, but I loved it then, and love it now!

The End!

Sister Update

It feels like it’s been a really long two weeks. Each time I blink, I feel like I could close my eyes and sleep for days.

I don’t know that I told you that W broke the news to me over email, and we only communicated via email for over a week. At first, I was a little offended, but in hindsight it was probably best since we were able to keep more emotion out of it. Had I spoken directly to her, I’m sure I would have said something that hurt us both and potentially strained our relationship for a while, if not forever.

I finally spoke to W on the phone on Wednesday night on my way home from an Avalanche hockey event. I had a couple of drinks there, which is probably good, because I think it helped me be more honest with her without getting angry. We talked for about an hour, and there was lots of crying, but God put the words in my mouth that I think He wanted her to hear.

After I hung up with her, she must’ve called my parents to tell them, because I spent an hour on the phone with my mom on Thursday morning. As you can imagine, and just as I suspected, she was very distressed by the whole situation. She said she hadn’t slept all night, and had finally fallen asleep at about 7:15 that morning, only to wake up panicked at 8:00 and late for work, so that just added insult to injury.

Since W broke the news on the phone to my mom, there were a lot of angry words exchanged and they both got defensive and said more to each other than was really necessary. Like I said earlier, I’m relieved, now, that I had a chance to process on my own before I actually spoke to W (AND my mom).

Praise God that I was given an extra week to process my emotions and get amazing advice from you all. I remained very calm, and although I acknowledged and validated my mom’s feelings, I was able to relay all the objective and positive points she needed to hear. Again, God put the words in my mouth! I think she may have felt a little angry that I had known for over a week, and that I wasn’t as deeply upset and commiserating with her at that exact moment, but I think you all know that yes, I’ve been there, and I’ve felt everything Mom was going through. It must’ve hit a chord with her, because she sent W a long email apologizing for some of the things she said, and it helped W let down her guard as well.

So all along, I was planning on picking W up at the airport on Friday. It only makes sense since I live 15 minutes from the airport and I was going up to Loveland for our girls’ weekend anyway. Well, then my mom wanted to go pick her up so that they could have some time alone before my mom saw her in front of everyone else. But she wanted W to make the decision about who she wanted to pick her up, like she’s going to choose me over Mom at that point. So I left work about 12:30 on Friday, called Mom as I was heading home to pick up my stuff and pack my car. I asked her how she was doing today and she says “right now, I don’t think so good, I’m on the other line with Sandi” then “shit, I locked my keys in my car.” Okay, my mom never swears, so I knew she was on the verge of total meltdown. She asked if she could call me back, and of course she could. She calls me back and says Sandi is on her way to pick her up and take her home to get her spare key, but she’s still planning on driving to the airport to pick up W. (It’s an hour drive, mind you, and it’s only an hour until my sister’s plane arrives) I wasn’t going to argue though. She asks if she can call me back, of course she can call me back. So I get home, pack up my car, and I’m ready to get on the road, but I wait for her to call me back. She calls me back and says that she just got her car unlocked and that she thinks she can still make it to the airport on time because W’s plane left a little late. It’s 1:20 and her flight is scheduled to arrive at 1:35, but I’m still not arguing. Then she asks if I think she’s crazy, and I said “yes, Mom, I think you’re crazy…because I’m just like you and I know that if it were me, and I was planning a scrapbooking weekend for six people, and trying to do stuff at the last minute to get ready, AND I needed to be at the airport in 15 minutes, but had an hour drive, I would be freaking out.” And she laughed (thank God) and said I was right and asked what she should do, because she still wanted to see W for the first time away from everyone else and didn’t want W to think she didn’t want to come get her at the airport. So I offered to go get her (since I was already on my way to the airport!) and bring her to Mom’s house first so they could spend a few minutes together before we headed over to my Gram’s for the weekend.

Just as I pulled up alongside the curb, W had just come out the door, and we were on our way. I had to explain the whole story to her of course, since she was bracing for an hour ride home with our mother. We stopped to grab lunch on our way, ran by Walgreen’s to pick up some pictures she had printed from Snapfish (which is a pretty cool service!), and got her home to see Mom for the first time. It was emotional of course, but since Mom had a little time (but not too much time) to process her emotions, it was relatively calm and happy.

We spent the rest of the weekend with my three aunts (Mom’s sister and both brother’s wives), Gram, and the three of us. We scrapbooked all night and all day, watched some chic flicks, had massages, ate great food that Gram made for us, and giggled a lot. I even did a photo shoot of all of us with my new camera and tripod on Sunday before we all headed home.

I went home with them to my parents’ and that’s when we all (including my dad) finally had an open talk about the baby, M, and the plans for the future. Lots of crying, but good conversation, and I think W recognizes that even though we’re all willing to give M a shot and get to know him, that they have a long road ahead of them. She’s in process of trying to break her lease so that they can start looking for something cheaper, but more appropriate for a family (of course, my mom is less than thrilled that she’s planning on moving in with him now, and “two wrongs don’t make a right”). They’re planning on staying in California , which I expected since he has a 4-year old daughter there already and his family is there. I told her that I think they need to find a church that they like and start getting involved, and more importantly find someone to help them with their own faith and their relationship. Most churches make you do that anyway when you’re getting married, but I feel that it’s really important now that they’re bringing a person into this world. W didn’t like the word “counseling”, but that’s really what they need. I saw my dad cry for the first time since 1995 when my grandpa died, and he said how much he missed having us both at home.

We met DH for dinner in Denver , then Mom and Dad took W back to the airport to go home.

W decided that it wasn’t the right time to share her news with the rest of the family, so we’re all still bracing for that.

So all in all, it was a nice weekend. It was good to see her and hug her and let her know I still love her, but it was also a little tough to keep up appearances in front of everyone else. Not to mention that scrapbooking all weekend totally wears you out anyway. We’re not in the clear by any means, since there is a long road ahead of us all, but we’re in a much better spot than we were two weeks ago.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for me, for W, and for our family. I could not have gotten through any of this without you!