Imagine Dragons

Last summer, I was driving home from Utah for what felt like the 100th time since we moved back to Montana.  I wanted/needed something new to listen to.  So, I decided to download my friend's brother-in-law's new album.   I was thinking it would be pretty good and I wanted to help out this little band.  I mean, who's brother-in-law/brother doesn't have a band? (for the record; me) I found that I really liked it, and my kids LOVED IT!  As it turns out, so does everyone else.  We soon started to notice their songs in commercials, TV shows, and movies.  I realized they were not a little band anymore.

When we heard about their Night Visions tour I really wanted to go, and I really wanted to take the boys.  Asher, seriously loves these guys.  Like, he knows all the words to their songs and sings them all the time, like it's his job.  It's serious business.  And Jackson just loves to rock out.  I knew that the concert would be more fun with the boys.  So we bought our tickets and planned a Utah vacation.


The boys were so excited for the day of the concert and we decided to make a day of it.  Of course, in my mind, we had to have super cool rockstar clothes.  We did find the boys some cool shirts.  I was not so lucky, and I don't know what I was thinking taking all the kids to a mall!
The kids on the floor at City Creek. Why did we take them shopping! We made up for it by taking them to PF Chang's for lunch and they loved it.  The biggest hit was the Great Wall of Chocolate.  A squeamish person might have been made sick the way my kids devoured it!

Then we were off to the concert.
 We found pretty good seats.  Made it through one of the opening bands.  LOVED the second opening band.  Nico Vega is pretty awesome and Aja Volkman is my new favorite female singer/performer.  She was amazing!
Nico Vega
Then it was time.  The boys were so excited.  The show was fantastic.  Highlights were, of course the songs that my boys have been singing the past year.  When Dan flew into the rafters to beat on a drum hanging there during Radioactive, their favorite song.  Watching how Dan altered his drumming because he had a broken hand from punching a drum during a show in Europe.  Most of all, dancing and singing with my boys.
One of my favorite moments was, at then end of the show when it was time to leave, Asher didn't want to go.  Finally he said he didn't want to go  because he didn't get to ask Dan a question.  The sweet kid thought that we would get to meet the band and ask questions.   Not just us, but everyone there.  His question: What was the first song that Dan ever wrote.  Maybe somehow, we can get that answer for him.  

ID concert from Wendy Parrish on Vimeo.
This video is about 5 minutes long and maybe not for everyone, but I just wanted to to show how seriously the boys took singing along and dancing at the concert.

Greta's party

We decided to celebrate Greta's first birthday almost a month early while we were in Utah.  We had her party and Willow Park in  Logan with both of our families.

I had envisioned her party outside as a big festive occasion.  We were almost disappointed when it poured rain the whole day.  The party was nearly moved to Mitch's parents house, but we saw a break in the clouds and decided to go for it.  I am glad we did.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.   There was one big rain storm while we ate, but other than that the sun was shining and the kids were happy to be outside at a park with a zoo!

Greta got lots of love from her aunts, uncles and grandparents.

These have to be some of my favorite pictures I have ever taken. I think my dad is trying to get Greta to laugh!

Then it was cake time. We gave Greta her own cupcake and let her go to town. It took her a moment to figure it out, but once she tasted the sugar she was all about it, creating a beautiful mess.

the boys wanted a bite too

Jackson and Asher really wanted to participate in Greta's cake smash.  Lily said she did, but when it came down to is, she really didn't want to stick her face in a cake.