Billy Joel Concert

The great Billy Joel came to play in Denver yesterday, and lucky me and Justin won tickets to see him! I never win tickets to ANYTHING, so we are still recovering from shock at our good fortune. I would call it a blessing, but I don't know if the Lord blesses with rock concerts.

Anyways, Justin, of course, would not be caught DEAD dancing at a concert, so I understood it as my duty to do the rocking out for the both of us. It helped that I had an equally enthusiastic fan named Michelle sitting next to us, who danced with me for most of the songs. Didn't know her--she didn't know me, and neither of us cared! We hugged and shared Billy Joel stories and favorite musicians for most of the concert. She thinks he looks old and needs a good woman to keep him in shape. Is that what good women do these days? I hope you will keep me posted on this... :)

Just wanted to let everyone know the Piano Man is alive and well and puts on an amazing concert! "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Piano Man" were the two best for me. And in my humble opinion he is the best songwriter EVER! They did close-ups of his hands and it was amazing to watch him play the piano, also--he just pushed that instrument around. And his voice is still the same as his cd's. He's truly as good as or better than he ever was...

After 3 encores, he finally finished up. And I blearily write this post in awe of a great talent.

Here's to Michelle and all the other fans out there! :)

Evelyn's First Birthday

The grand festivities took place on February 12th. Just a few snapshots to give you an idea of how the party went!

Here she is with Grandma Conway opening presents.

She is very excited about that new humidifier from Grandma Riggs. Here she is pounding the box to a pulp... And the winnah is...? (That's Daddy behind her.)
She ended up accidently blowing out her Winnie the Pooh candle with her heavy breathing.

She is still able to look dainty with cake all over her face...

A not so dainty shot. :) It was all over for that cupcake within minutes.

Love to you all! We hope you enjoy sharing these wonderful milestones with us!

Best,

Justin, Katie & Evie

The Long READ to Freedom

So I am on page 612 or so of Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela. Only 13 pages left!!! And only 1 year and four months after starting...

Of course I loved it--it was an amazing inside look into the coming about of the end of apartheid in South Africa, from the viewpoint of a dedicated man who sacrificed his life to its cause! I guess it just took me forever to read because I normally don't sit down long enough to read anything over a page long. Is that why they refer to active people as 'dumb jocks'--because they're too busy keeping their body healthy to read War and Peace? This term is obviously just mean-spirited! Don't persecute jocks! ...Harmless, physically fit people is all they are!

Justin is one of those who likes to tease me about these things. He would have probably finished this book in three days, tops. All I have to say is: "book nerds should not make fun of active people, aka 'dumb jocks'." I have powerful friends.

Anyways, the point of this whole blog is that this book is awesome and I highly recommend reading it--even if it takes 1 1/2 years. It was worth it. ...And Mandela is one of my heroes. Take that, book nerds! I guess I'm one of you, now.