Boise Music Festival

Yesterday was the long-awaited Boise Music Festival.  I was really looking forward to a great line-up... Green River Ordinance, The Alex Band, Macy Gray, Backstreet Boys, and Bret Michaels.  And it was all free!!  Well, disappointment set in on Friday night when Jen heard on the news that they had given out over 75,000 tickets to the Boise Music Festival.  Seriously, are there really that many people in Boise who wanted to go to this event?  I knew then that the park would be PACKED.  We were originally going to head to the park early to beat the crowds and get a good spot, but with that many people we knew we would never beat the crowds.  I think people had their spots staked out early that morning, and there was no way I was going to spend all day in the sun at the park.

We ended up heading out at 4:30, grabbed some Costa, parked at Boise State (thanks to my permit!) and walked over to the park.  When we got to the main stage and saw we would have to sit about a mile back and in the sun, we came up with a different plan.  Since we were going to be too far away to really see anything anyway, we decided to cross over the little pond near the stage and sit on the other side where there was a small hill with a lot of shade (it was a hot day and the thought of sitting in the sun packed in with a bajillion people wasn't that appealing).  From our spot we could hear really well.  We could only see a small part of the stage, but with the help of my binoculars, we were able to see all the artists.  Overall, I really enjoyed my picnic dinner, a frozen chocolate covered banana with toffee, games, a good book, and some great tunes.

Toby Keith Concert

I love Toby Keith!  He is a great musician and an awesome entertainer.  I saw him in concert in 2003 (opened by Rascal Flatts!) and it was seriously the best concert I've ever been to.  So of course I wanted to go see him again when I heard he was coming back to Boise, and I was glad Jen wanted to go too!

The concert was opened by Jaron and the Long Road to Love... LOVED him!  I loved the simplicity of his performance and thought his songs were fun.  I even bought his CD!  Here's a video of one of his songs that I liked :-)

Trace Adkins was the special guest performer, and he was really good too.  I love how deep his voice goes.  Jen and I both love the Apprentice, so it was fun watching Trace Adkins (runner up of Celebrity Apprentice 2008)... knowing that Bret Michaels (winner of Celebrity Apprentice 2010) will be performing tonight at the Boise Music Festival!

Jen and I splurged for floor seats.  I bought them 20 minutes into the pre-sale and we were still pretty far back, but the energy in the arena was great.  Toby is quite the entertainer!  He really engaged the audience (how could you not with that music!?) and the pyrotechnics, streamers, and confetti added to the show as well.  I didn't take the best pictures, but oh well.  Here's what I've got!

Maybe It's Time to go Grocery Shopping???

Free Night

I had a free evening on Tuesday.  I didn't have bootcamp or a church activity or any plans with friends.  I didn't have to work on Rec Fest or have a project for work.  I didn't go visit my mom and dad or my sister.  I honestly can't remember the last time I didn't have anything going on after work in the evening.  I would guess it has been months.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.  I ended up folding a couple loads of laundry, washing my motorcycle, getting my Blazer washed and vacuumed, running a few errands, and watching some tv.  Ahhhh, I might need to have nights like that more often.  I won't hold my breath though... looking at my calendar it doesn't look like that'll happen any time soon!

Fun Weekend

I had a really great weekend, but don't have any pictures to go along with it :-(  Guess my post from last weekend makes up for that!  Anyway, it started out Friday night with dinner and my first visit of the year to the Shakespeare Festival.  We watched A Midsummer Night's Dream...  I am always impressed with the quality of the shows the Shakespeare Festival produces, and this play was no exception.  Thanks Brandon for the fun evening!

After waking up early for bootcamp Saturday morning, I headed up to Banks to raft the south fork of the Payette River.  Nate and Colette got a new raft earlier this year, and I was excited to have been invited to join them on their maiden voyage.  I enjoyed hanging out with old and new friends as we got in two trips down the river.  It was a hot day, so the cool water felt nice... even when I got dumped out of the boat on the final rapid of the day!

With the weekend coming to a close, I've got a full week ahead of me at work.  Not sure how I feel about that, considering I haven't worked a full week of work in about a month with all the vacation time I've been taking!  Back to real life I guess :-)

There is No Z in Boise

Jewel performed in Boise at the Botanical Gardens a couple weeks ago.  I didn't go to the concert, but saw this clip on YouTube and thought I'd share!

Help Bail Me Out!

A couple weeks ago I received a phone call from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telling me that I had been nominated as a "community leader" to assist with the annual MDA Lockup fundraiser.  I asked who had nominated me and was told there was a "witness protection program".  Hmmm... I'm pretty sure it was because of my involvement with Boise Rec Fest - not sure how else I would be considered a community leader!  Anyway, over the next month, I need to raise $1600 to post my "bail".  I will be picked up from work one afternoon in early August by some firemen and driven to the lockup event (which happens to be in the Stueckle Sky Center this year... not a very far drive!).  I was told something about being put in jail stripes and having my mugshot taken.  Anyway, I'm hoping to have my bail posted before the event, and this is where I can use your help!  Any donations to the MDA on my behalf would be MUCH appreciated.  All donations are tax-deductible!  You can make donations on my Lockup homepage: https://www.joinmda.org/bsuskybox2010/kimberly  (you might get a warning about the certificate - it's okay to accept it!).  Any donation big or small is appreciated.  Thanks to those of you who have already donated - I'm 1/16th of the way there!!  Oh, you'll have to check out the video on my Lockup home page... it's pretty cute!

Family Vacation to Badger Creek

As I mentioned yesterday, my family went on a quick trip to visit Beki this weekend in eastern Idaho.  Beki is a counselor at BYU-Idaho's Outdoor Youth Adventure (OYA) camp.  As family of a counselor, we were able to visit and stay in the cabins and do all the activities for free!  It was really neat seeing what Beki is doing all summer... I can see why she loves her job!

The camp is in Tetonia, Idaho (near Driggs) and has the most beautiful views of the Teton Mountains.

So now for the picture overload of all the activities we did... my mom and my sister always had their cameras with them!  I think this just may be my longest post ever! We started out Friday night with the Giant Swing.  That was one of my favorites!  It's hard to tell from the video, but I was up so high!  We all took turns in the swing, while the others pulled the person in the swing up to the sky :-)

After a delicious breakfast Saturday morning, we headed off so Beki could show us some of their "initiatives" at OYA.  The first one involved swinging on a rope over a "ship" and landing on the platform.  You couldn't knock over the ship (which was really a stick resting on a couple of stumps) and your entire group had to stand on the platform on the other side.  We all made it! 

I know some of you reading this might wonder at my hat because you've probably never seen me with any hat (besides my cowboy hat!).  I bought this hat in Ketchum and it was my savior over the weekend.  I can't go more than a day without washing my hair :-)

Next was the trust fall.  Hailey liked this one!

And then we headed over to All Aboard... similar to the ship platform, but the platform was much smaller.  Beki tells us that they had all 22 counselors on this platform at one time.  I would have liked to see that!

I can't remember what this next one was called... but the point was to try and walk across the cables, pushing against the hands of your partner.  The wires widened as you went, so if you made it all the way, your body would be parallel with the ground.  My mom and dad didn't make it very far, but way to go mom for trying :-)

After the initiatives, we did a little rock climbing.  Great shot, I know :-)

My trusty belayers... mom, Hailey, dad, and TJ.

And for a little perspective - we were up high!

Once we got to the top of the wall, we zip lined down.  I love my dad's face in this picture... just as he is getting ready to start the zip line.

After we had all had finished our zip line, my dad and I went horseback riding while the rest of my family had lunch and took a nap.  I really enjoyed riding Excalibur (my horse), and for the first time ever I got the horse up to a run (canter).  That was so much fun!  Way more exciting than a walk or trot.

Next up was the ropes course, aka Jungle Gym.  There were definitely a couple times I relied on my "lobster claws" (carabiners), especially in the third picture down.  Those ropes seemed so far apart!

Our last activity of the day (before smores and fireworks) was the Power Pole.  You had to climb up a tall pole, and then jump off of it and try to hit the tennis ball suspended in the air.  It seems simple, but this was probably the hardest one for me to do.  Taking that last step up on top of the pole was kind of scary!

And here's my somewhat freaked out close-up.  Not sure why I was so nervous!

I've got way more pictures, but I figure 19 is enough for one post.  Nah, let's make it an even 20.  My mom might kill me for this one, but it made me laugh so hard.  This was the first night when my mom was getting out her sleeping bag.  Look at the size of that thing!  I'm seriously laughing now as I type this.  Thanks for being a good sport mom and letting me take a picture.  You know that any picture I take has a pretty good chance of ending up here :-)  Thanks family for a fun getaway!

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday today!  I spent most of the day driving back from Tetonia, Idaho where my family and I spent the last couple days visiting my sister Beki.  I will post more about our trip soon... But here is a preview of some of the fun we had.



And just for fun, here's a picture of my current pedicure. In case you can't tell, Erin (my pedicurist) painted fireworks on my big toes :-)

I Scored Boise Music Festival Tickets!

I have been hearing on the radio about the Boise Music Festival for a couple months now.  The event sounds like a blast, with artists like Macy Gray, the Backstreet Boys and Green River Ordinance.  I am super excited to see Bret Michaels (LOVED him on Celebrity Apprentice).

Anyway, every time I've heard the cue to call on the radio to win tickets, I've tried to get through with no avail.  Well yesterday on my lunch break one of the radio stations was supposed to be giving tickets away at a local business.  When I went to try and win some tickets, the radio station wasn't there.  One of the other people who had gone there trying to win tickets as well called the radio station to see what was going on.  I guess there was a last minute cancellation, and so they told us we could come down to the station and pick some tickets up!  That worked out perfectly for me.  I got SIX tickets (I think they normally only hand out two per person).  Hooray!

Adoption

My cousin Chase and his wife Joni are unable to have kids and are looking to adopt.  They have been told that the fastest way to adopt is by letting people know about their desire to adopt... so I'm helping them spread the word!  If you have any leads for this wonderful, loving, young couple, please contact them.  Here's a link to their newly created adoption blog.