Country Concerts 2016 - Luke Bryan

When it was announced that Luke Bryan was coming to the dome for the second time since we've been here, it was pretty obvious that we would be going. My friend Kate and I text each other quickly and then let the boys know that they were in charge of tickets.

I had Wacky Winterfest duty at school that night, so dinner was a quick pizza take out from our favorite place, Tony's when I got home. Brad's parents had come up to spend some time with Dayton, so we already had babysitters in place! We headed to the concert around 7:30 pm to miss the crowd but get there in time to see Little Big Town. I love, love, love Little Big Town!

The hubs and I sat with our good friends Kate and Ryan. Although, I still can't figure out why we didn't all get a picture together! At least I got one with the hubs!

Did I mention that that last time Luke was in town, I was pregnant then too? Hmmm, weird coincidence, right? Last time I was about 34 weeks pregnant. It was a little easier to be pregnant this time around at the concert. I had a few less visits to the bathroom!

As always, it was a great concert! Little Big Town was perfect, Luke was amazing as always, and we always love getting out to some great country concert!

Country Concerts 2015 #2

This Saturday it was time for our second country concert of the year. Jason Aldean came to the UNI Dome and we were there - along with everyone else in town! Tyler Farr and Cole Swindell were the opening acts. We left the house a little later, went to dinner, parked, and walked in as Tyler Farr was finishing up. It was perfect. We missed all of the dinner and concert traffic. That's how we roll. We had a large group of friends who had all bought tickets together, so it was fun to hang out with everyone and enjoy the show.

The concert was great and somehow, I went the whole night and didn't take one good picture of the hubs and I. #majorfail. Here are some of the pictures I actually did manage to take!

Valentine's Day with FGL

A few months ago,  saw that Florida Georgia Line was going to be in Moline. Um, yes please!! Brad got tickets for us and our friends, so the double date was planned for Valentin's Day. We drove down to the QC's Saturday afternoon, spent some time with the grandparents, went to dinner, got ready and then the four of us left for the concert!

The concert was amazing. We missed the first opening act, but we did arrive on time for Thomas Rhett! Love. Then out came Florida Georgia Line. They were so full of energy, passionate about their music, and put on a fantastic show! We had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it. Even the throwback to Forgot about Dre performed by FGL. Perfect. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting so us kids could get out of the house!

lover

Country Fest 2013!

Where do I even start....... What. A. Weekend!!

This past weekend Brad and I, along with our friends, Kate & Ryan and Tami & Jeff went to Country Fest 2013 in Cadott, Wisconsin. I'd never heard of it (or the town) and none of us had been to Country Fest before, but we all decided to get tickets and go! How can 3 days of country music concerts not be a good idea??

What is Country Fest, you ask? Country Fest is 4 days (Thursday - Sunday) of Country Music concerts- almost all day! In the middle of a field. In the middle of no-where. It was fabulous! Brad and I are die-hard country music fans, so this was awwwwwesome! Seriously, I was counting down the days till we left. Here is the line up for all of the concerts!

I mean...come one...Holy cow!! This line up is awesome! Miranda Lambert, Thompson Square, Brantley Gilbert, Gloriana, Hunter Hayes, Montgomery Gentry, Little Bog Town, Toby Keith, Jake Owen, Jason Aldean...*squeals*

Since we were going to be there for 3 nights, we decided to get a hotel and not camp. Ick. I'm cool with camping, but not for 4 days and 3 nights! Our hotel was in a city near by, so we were able to avoid a lot of traffic and crowds. We stocked up on tailgating/grilling food, brought a small grill, lawn chairs, and of course our hats and boots #duh. We all met at Jeff and Tami's house Thursday morning, packed the truck full, and all 6 of us piled in.

It took us about 5 hours to get to our hotel. We veerry quickly unloaded, changed, and headed out to see Thompson Square! And yes, despite having health/vocal issues recently, Thompson Square was there and they were fantastic. Brad really likes Brantley Gilbert, so he was pretty happy to see him in concert and he did not disappoint! Miranda Lambert is one of my favorites, so when she got on stage, my eyes were glued. Unfortunately, after about 3 songs the wind started blowing so hard that we couldn't hear that well. Then it started raining. We ran for the truck and headed home. Boo. Next time Miranda, next time.

Friday and Saturday's concerts were really good too. I don't have one bad thing to say! Other than the fact that we all had to work Monday morning, so we missed the Sunday night concerts. Oh well. 3 full days of country concerts made it worth it!

While we were at Country Fest we: tailgated, saw some interesting people, rode a mechanical bull, jumped off a 3 story platform onto a big blown up "pillow" (I did a back flip, twice - on video - see below), ate fair food (I had a funnel cake! - be proud), met some new people, used porta potties (ew), laughed...a lot, made some awesome memories, and enjoyed all the country music we could! We can't wait until next year!

Thursday Night

Thursday Night's Line up: Thompson Square,  Brantley Gilbert, & Miranda Lambert

Friday Night 

Friday Night Line Up: Gloriana, Hunter Hayes, & Montgomery Gentry
(My camera died, so we didn't get any pictures of the concerts! Boo...)
Saturday Night

Back flip off the tower! First Kate jumping then me flipping off! Woo!

Saturday Night Line Up: Neal McCoy, Little Big Town, & Toby Keith

We had soooo much fun and made tons of fabulous memories. That's what life's about. In fact, we had so much fun...we've decided to make this an annual trip ~ yeeeaah Country Fest 2014!!

Country Concerts ~ Gloriana and Alan Jackson!!

We. Love. Country. Music. #duh

Last year, Brad and I did not get to go to any concerts because of the craziness that was all of last year.

This year, we decided to try to go to as many concerts as our bank account would allow. What...? We're still exploring our new state! And how better to explore than to go to concerts in different cities? Well, we think it's a great idea. That would be why we're doing it. (#duh)

January's concert was The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts. Awesome. February's (this months) concert was Gloriana and Alen Jackson!!

We had a little bit of an "uh oh" moment the day before the concert. We had bought 4 tickets originally so that we could go with some friends. Well, we had no problem finding some friends to go with, but Friday morning, those friends text and said that the husband was sick... *uh oh* moment. So, we scrambled trying to find some friends to go with that hadn't already made plans for Saturday night.

One of the friends we called was already going to the concert, so we made plans to meet them for dinner before hand. The friends that we did find to go with us, knew the 3rd couple, so it worked out great!

The 3 of us couples went to Mulligans before the concert to eat and have a few drinks, then off to the concert we went! There were a few seats still open that were all together, so we ended up all sitting together!! Now that made for a good night. We probably looked segregated because the husbands sat together on the left and the wives sat together on the right. We had us some good ol' girl time!

Gloriana is one of my favorite bands, so I was so excited to see them. They were amazing, as usual. Now Alan Jackson...what a good ol' guy. He has so many good old songs, including one of my favorites, "Good Time," as well as "As She's Walking Away" (originally done with Zac Brown), "Don't Rock the Jukebox," ""Chattahoochee," and "Summertime Blues"! Loved it!!

We didn't get too many pictures...we were too busy having fun ha!

Overall, GOOD TIME!!

The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts

It's no secret that Brad and I love country music. It pretty much is playing 90% of the time at our house and in our cars. Since last year was a *little* crazy, we didn't get to go to any country concert...but this year...

We plan to attend as many as possible! Our first country concert this year was The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts (Jan 11th)! It was greeeaaat!! The Band Perry is a favorite of mine, and Brad and  both love Rascal Flatts. The concert was in Moline, so we drove down Friday to the rents house and stayed there after the concert. Quite convenient and got to spend some time with Brad's parents too!

The Band Perry opened the concert. She is amazing...so much enthusiasm and energy. They changed it up a bit and did a few cover songs, which is always fun. She ended her portion of the night with, "Grave Digger." Love, love, love that song!

Rascal Flatts was really good, but not quite what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting more?!? They played a few of their newer songs, but since this was their 7th year in a row in Moline, they asked the crowd to shout out some requests. Let me tell you, some oooold songs were played, but it was great to hear them live again! Overall, we had a fantastic time and would definitely do it again!