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Still Alive

So for those of you who still check this blog occasionally here is an update... finally!!! Here are a few pictures from the spring tour with downhere, Jason Gray and Shawn McDonald. We were able to take a bus out on the tour which was a huge plus and makes traveling much easier. Although I really don't sleep well on the bus so it's nice to be back in my own bed for a little while. Another bonus was the fact that I was able to see my family as we did a show in Montana!!! To the right you'll see I put my Dad to work behind downhere's merch table for the evening (I was the merch manager for the tour so great volunteers made my life SO much nicer). And thank you to any of you who came to show your support at a show... you guys are amazing and we love seeing your familiar faces!!!

I had a day off to spend with my older sister and brother-in-law and was able to hang out with my cute little niece! Here we are on a tour of the bus! She loves her Uncle Jeremy... but only from a distance for some reason=}!

A couple people had Birthdays during this tour so we celebrated in style usually after the show in the bus. Jason and Taya would supply the party favors and we would play pin the tail on the donkey on the moving bus and make balloon animals... we were crazy! Jeremy and I found these mustaches for everyone to wear to celebrate a guy in Shawn's band's Birthday (he had a real mustache and wore it well)! Oh and these ugly teeth had some bling in them... notice Jeremy's jewel in his front tooth=}!

And after every show the promoters would hook us up with cereal for the next morning, and it was usually more than we could ever eat. We loved having all these options every morning though.. you never knew what you were gonna get. By the end of the tour we were buried in cereal!

Anyway, it was a great tour for World Vision!! We ended up getting 850 kids sponsored in 26 shows! Thank you Lord! It was such a blessing to be a part of that! Now for a little R & R before we are back at it again next week!

A True Princess

This last weekend I did a Cinderella party for a lady I work with part time. She has a little daughter named Gabbi who turned 6 recently. Since she is still in love with princesses and fairy tales, she thought it would be a good idea to bring Cinderella to her party. Now I was expecting this party to be like many of the others... facepainting, story time, games and crafts. etc. And all the little girls all dressed up in their favorite princess dresses like usual (very cute by the way...this job never gets old). They were all dressed up and we did many of those things, but a few moments made this one stand out among the rest.

Each activity we did, I let all the girls know that since it's Gabbi's birthday she gets to go first for whatever we are doing, so she would feel special that day! But when it was time to eat cake we sang her happy birthday and all the girls waited eagerly to get their piece of the castle cake. However, Gabbi was not at the table with the rest of the girls. She was making her way to and from the cake table and serving her friends first!! I was so impressed by that simple act of kindness from a 6 year old at HER party! I have been to many parties and I don't think I have ever witnessed that from the birthday girl.

While the girls were eating their cake I was walking around and putting little glitter tatoos on their hands. I glanced over at Gabbi and she was whispering something to her friend. Then she turned to me and asked, "Cinderella, do you love Jesus?" I looked at her with a big smile and said, "Yes I do love Jesus!" She then turned to her friend and said, "See, she does!" That just melted my heart! I love sharing my love for Jesus especially to children, because I was 6 when I asked Jesus to come into my heart, so I know she can grasp that!

Another moment that made this party different from the rest was when I realized there wasn't any presents. But there was a table with a princess table cloth right next to the one we ate at, and it had lots of groceries on it. I asked the mom about it and she said instead of gifts, all the girls brought a grocery item that Gabbi would help give away to a family in need!!! Wow... I love that idea! I give props to the parents for raising their little girl this way and I admire the little girl for her willingness to follow through... a true servant... a true princess!

My Disney World 1/2 Marathon Results!

Well I'm pleased to report that with help from my fellow running partner, Krista Lavender, we finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 15 mins! Unfortunately I didn't feel as great as I would've liked throughout the run and there were times when Krista's positive attitude had to carry me along, but we did it. Normally I get a second wind at about mile 5 or 6 but not this time... it was a bit tough towards the end. But I think it still puts me in a great place to work toward the Country Music 1/2 Marathon in Nashville the end of April. Hopefully some of you reading this will join me on that run=}!! The more the merrier!

Jeremy did a great job as a spectator trying to capture pictures along the way. He had made a nice sign that said "Go Erin, I love you", and held it up as I ran passed=}! He had the sign in one hand and the camera in the other while shouting my name. It made me laugh and gave me a boost. I guess he had to wait in the same spot for an hour to capture a picture of me after running through Cinderella's caste. But boy was it worth it! I love this picture... this is at about mile 6 I think, so I was still feeling alright=}.

As we entered the tunnel in the castle there were characters above us playing the trumpets as if royalty were entering the castle. That was pretty cool. There were also lots of characters along the way to cheer you on including some pirates in their ship, chip and dale, Alice in Wonderland characters, Ariel and much more. It was a great experience and I'd encourage you to train for one! Even if you just walk it. There are plenty of people who walk it and have a blast!

Ok I'll post more from our fun times at the Disney parks soon! Thanks for praying everyone! I'm so thankful for the healthy body I've been given and working legs to even be able to be a part of such a cool experience.

With Minnie, and holding my Donald Duck medal=}!

Disney Marathon, here we come!!

So if you've read Jeremy's blog you'll notice we'll be running the Disney marathon this weekend! I will run the 1/2 (13.1 miles) on Saturday and he will run the full (26.2 miles) on Sunday. I like that it's split up like this so we can cheer each other on from the sidelines, and hopefully get some great blog worthy pictures=}. I'm running the 1/2 marathon with Glenn's sister Krista who stuck by my side to help me finish the country music marathon in Nashville! So her presence will help push me again for sure... thanks Krista! Below is the course map for us. It might be too small but it shows that we start running at Epcot Center and then up to Cinderella's castle and then back to Epcot. I guess there are characters out to cheer you on along the way, so that and the unique scenery combined should help distract me. Also the course is mostly flat!!!... which is wonderful since I've been training in hilly Tennessee. So if you think about it this weekend say a prayer for all of us running Sat. and Sun. Thanks guys!

A Montana Christmas!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope the new year has brought you a refreshing look on life and a time to reflect on all the good gifts God has given. Jeremy and I enjoyed our time off from the road life and retreated with my family in Montana this Christmas. So far we have successfully been able to pull off an "every other year" plan for Christmas with our families and this year happened to be a time with my family. However, we were able to incorporate some of Jeremy's family traditions such as having "Christmas crackers" at dinner and working on a crossword puzzle made by my Dad. We took advantage of the beautiful area that my parents live in and went snowmobiling, sledding and even went on a horse drawn sleigh ride!! My two sisters where there as well with their husbands and of course my little niece, Ella! I just couldn't take enough pictures of that girl. She says my name now and it's SO precious... it sounds like "owen". Here are a few pictures of the lovely time we had with family!

This is Ella before the sleigh ride! The sleigh was pulled by 4 percheron horses that were all decorated for Christmas. And Ella on Christmas morning!

Jeremy and I on my parents deck after snowmobiling. The mountains behind us are covered in clouds but when it's clear the view is spectacular.

I was smiling for the camera in this picture=}!

My beautiful fam on Christmas Eve after the candlelight service.

Decorating "Our" Christmas tree

We're so sorry it's been so long since we've posted here - things have been rather crazy in our world over the last few months. However, it's now Christmas time, which means it's time to decorate a Christmas tree!

A friend of ours was snapping pictures during the whole process and when we looked at them afterwards we thought it would be fun to let you in on how our tree gets decorated every year through a series of pictures - call it a "photo essay" if you will...

Erin deciding whether she's going to let Jeremy help decorate.

Erin decides to let Jeremy help but only under strict supervision ("This one goes here, this one over there...").

Jeremy deciding if he really wants to see this task through to the end...

Posing for a picture: "Jeremy 'helps' decorate the tree."

Jeremy decides his time would be much better spent (and FAR more productive) making eggnog ice cream.

The finished product... "We" did pretty good, didn't we!

Double the Fun!

So I've always wanted to try riding a tandem bike and this past weekend was my first opportunity! It was a lot more challenging than I was expecting. I had in mind a nice leisurely ride through a small mountain town. I realized that was not the case once we got started. First of all it was a serious road bike. Not a bike with big seats and handle bars and wheels like I was expecting. This bike was used in competitive road bike races! Plus the guy that was showing us how it worked and riding beside us around town decided to take us on a 13 MILE ride!!! Now, I did not have any padded shorts to wear like you should have on if you're riding this bike. So needless to say... I'm sore!
It took a little bit to figure out how to ride it. The way you start off is the person in back, me, puts their foot in the pedals that secure in your feet while the front person holds the bike steady. Then the front person, Jeremy, steers and puts their feet in while the back person pedals. Then once you start pedaling you need to try and match each others cadence. Then you really need to be in constant communication with each other throughout the ride so you know what the other person is doing. You can easily parallel this with marriage. You have to trust the front person as they are the leader and the back person must follow. One of the tricks I learned is that if Jeremy was going too fast or I felt a bit out of control I could just pinch his but because it was right by my handle bars=}!

Anyway, it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone, especially couples needing to sharpen communication skills!

Fun in Winthrop

Today we hiked up to Blue Lake in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, otherwise known as the "American Alps". It was a gorgeous hike!!! It was about a 4.5 mile round trip and worth every step. Most of the artists on Centricity Records went so it was a fun time spent with friends. And of course when we reached Blue Lake Jeremy couldn't help but jump into the freezing water that flows off from the glacier in the background. He didn't last long but it made for a great picture.

Jeremy also started from the road below and climbed a few hundred feet without gear and I was able to get a shot of him finishing.

The downhere family at the top of the trail. Jonah is my little buddy!!

Washington pass overlook... amazing!

More pictures from the hike.

We attended the Winthrop Rodeo yesterday... such a fun experience!

Debbie and I at Sheri's, the popular dessert "hangout" in town... I have chocolate in my teeth from a yummy homemade peanut butter cup!!

Highlights from Northern Ireland

For those of you who have not yet seen these pictures here are a few highlights from our trip to Ireland. What a huge blessing it was to be a part of such a cool event. Downhere played in the Odyssey Arena - the largest venue in Northern Ireland - and opened for Chris Tomlin! It was such a great night and I am so thankful I got to soak in that experience. It was a bit stressful for me as we lost our largest merch suitcase on the way to the event so we didn't have all that we wanted to hopefully sell to 3,500+ people. But I had joyful merch volunteers and we sold out of all our Wide-Eyed CD's. AND I just loved having that responsibility that evening even though we didn't have all our merch. I am so thankful for my job and loved watching the guys give their all to a crowd who ended up loving them by their second song... and who, by the end of the night, enjoyed Chris Tomlin's set, but raved about downhere's set. God is good and he was glorified that night and I got to see him use these guys to make his name known in N.I.

We did get a day after the concert to sightsee around the coast. Here are a few pictures from the 4 days we had there. This was my first time so I couldn't take enough pictures!
Erin

downhere at the Odyssey

Giant's Causeway

Me and my new friend Cherith.

The Dunluce Castle on the coast.

White Man's Overbite

Well, our good friend Krista captured this wonderful moment Friday night in Muskegon, MI. I'm not sure what to say - I know I make faces when I play, but I had no idea they were this bad! Wow...

Jeremy's Week in Review

"Week in Review" - that sounds pretty lame, really. I'll have to come up with some clever title for this like Grandpa's "Weakly Note" - any suggestions, Grandpa? I'm obviously having a hard time hitting the Monday deadline, aren't I!! As usual, we've had a pretty full schedule since I last posted. Let me "break it down" for you:

• Last Friday we drove BACK to Nashville and flew to California where downhere performed at Spirit West Coast in Monterey on Saturday. On Sunday we did a concert in Roseville, CA and then flew back home (finally!) on Monday.
• Tuesday we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum (I'm a big Jason Bourne fan - you can read more about the movie here).
• Wednesday Erin did a Cinderella party in the AM, then we had lunch with some friends of downhere who had travelled in from various places (VA and MI, mostly), and then I was wrapped up in meetings the rest of the afternoon.
• Thursday was spent getting ready to leave town again for 10 days. Erin worked at her part time job and I ran around getting errands taken care of - it was a pretty busy day (and not enjoyable in 100+ degree heat!) and we finished it off with dinner with two other couples from church - so that was great.
• Friday we got up at 2:45am (I'm shaking my head as I type this) to drive to Michigan to play at a festival with Leeland, Jars of Clay, Casting Crowns, and others. Erin's going to post some pictures from the day, and you can read some of my post about the day here as well (we nicknamed them "Jars of Thigh" for the night - need I say more??).

That should be it - we're headed to Ireland next week so it will be probably much more interesting. Hopefully we'll get some down time next week - I'm really feeling like I'm needing it. So we'll see...

Pictures from Creation West

A tribute to our Creator! This festival is definitely one of the most scenic locations we've played. Downhere played on this stage to start off the evening. It was such a treat to have my parents out for this event. They drove from Montana to see us. I had fun getting excited with my mom when she saw Jeremy on the jumbotron. It was a blast sharing this part of our lives with them! They were also a big help at the merchandise table... thanks Mom and Dad!

During their set some lady threw this hat on stage and Jason brought it back to Jeremy for him to wear.

The river by the Gorge had a section that is known for it's dove shape... my Dad took this picture with his phone.

My proud Father waiting for downhere to come on!
My Mom and I with the crowd behind us... Doesn't she look fabulous in that shirt=}!

Update on the last week

Well, I told Erin I would do my best to do a weekly post on Mondays about what we've done during the past week, and I already missed my first post. How did Thursday get here so stinkin' fast?!?

I'll tell you how... we have been trying hard to just keep things together in the last little bit. Here are some of the noteables from the past week (and a bit):

• we went for dinner to The Melting Pot which was a wonderful experience - a first for both of us to this particular restaurant, and a reminder that we need to pull our fondue pot out of the closet! (Read a more detailed post about our night out here.)
• Thursday we (Erin, myself, and the band) flew to Seattle, WA where we arrived around midnight and stayed with some friends there
• Friday we drove out to Quincy, WA and performed at Creation West. What a GORGEOUS venue (I'm sure Erin will post some pictures from the day soon). The day was definitely slammed - we were on the run all day - but it was fun to share it with Erin's parents who drove out from Montana to spend the day with us. We arrived back in the Seattle area by 1am or so to stay with some other friends.
  
• Saturday we got to sleep in a little bit before Glenn, Erin and I went for a run on a beautiful riverside trail in the Redmond area. Erin had one of her better runs, and Glenn and I did 7 miles at a 7:58 (min/mi) pace - the fastest run I've done at that pace for that distance in a long time. We performed Saturday night in a coffeeshop in downtown Seattle where we were surprised by a visit from two of my best friends (groomsmen at my wedding) Wes Morris and Mike Guenter, who drove down from Vancouver. So we were up until 1:15am that night just hanging out and visiting with them.
• Sunday we played three times at Overlake Church - twice in the morning services and once in the evening - before rushing off to the airport and flying through the night back to Nashville, arriving at 8am Monday morning. We were picked up from the airport and drove directly to Lookout Mountain, GA where we set up to lead worship for a camp all week.

And that's where we've been this week - here in GA leading worship for these kids and taking naps in between sessions trying to recover from the crazy weekend. We're pretty much recovered - just in time to mess it all up again by flying out to CA tomorrow for the weekend. I'm going to have to squeeze in some laundry somewhere... Okay - you should hear from me around Monday again - the update will be much shorter I'm sure. Later!

And They Lived Happily Ever After...

Just thought I'd post a quick picture and note commemorating this, our 802nd day of marriage. That's a lot of days... But to put it in perspective, if all goes well and Jesus doesn't come back before our 50th wedding anniversary (although I suppose that would be a far better thing!), we will celebrate 19,052 days of marriage on that day! Crazy...

Kabobs on the Barby!

Well, it's already been a couple of weeks since we did this, but the picture was too good to pass up. Very rarely are we home long enough to actually make a regular, somewhat fancy meal. However, we had the opportunity last month and Erin jumped at it. We had a blast making these kabobs - it's really simple, actually! - and they came off the bbq tasting wonderful. We'll definitely do it again at some point... Good times had in the summer time! Now if only we'd get some rain...

Gift Giving

So if you are up to date on Jeremy's blog you will know that this month we celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Let me tell you that time has gone by SO fast! Anyway, a few weeks before the date I began contemplating gift ideas for my man. Now, I just love giving gifts to people. I love spending time and choosing the right gift for that special occasion and person. But I couldn't think of a single thing that I could get Jeremy that he would really appreciate me spending money on. Most of the things I know he would like are beyond our budget. I could think of plenty of things to get him that I would enjoy, ha=} but that's pretty selfish...so I was stuck.

I spent time finding the perfect card but seriously couldn't come up with a great gift idea. I've spent 2 years living with this man and don't know what he wants for our anniversary?!?! I even called my sister asking her for advice and ideas. She suggested maybe tools or a back massager, but Jeremy has tools and he's not too much of a fixer guy unless he is in the mood - and the back massager I know would spend most of its time in his hands because he's just generous that way. But my sis did give me a great idea for how to know what to buy him for future reference. She advised that we sit down and make a list of gifts that we personally would enjoy that covers different price ranges just to allow for different options. Then swap that list so there won't be any questions as to what to get. So - the day of our anniversary I came home from work a little down because I just had a card to give him. He noticed that I wasn't too thrilled and we sat down and talked and I explained that I didn't have a gift for him, and suggested that we make lists for each other for the next occasion.

Anyway, so of course he was generous and could care less because he was so excited to give me my gift because he knew it was exactly what I had been wanting for some time now. And here they are - two white rocking chairs for our porch!! We use them pretty much everyday now - well when we are home. I'm so thankful for them - way to go Jeremy! So that's the story. Hopefully for his Birthday I'll be able to get him that "perfect" gift. I have some time to plan as it is not until December.