Collin Raye

I've been a country music fan my whole life.  Growing up, my CD collection consisted of Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Bryan White (sang on stage with him), and one of the greatest, Collin Raye!  I love his music.  He wasn't ever the big country singer, but boy do I love Collin Raye.  (His song "I Think About You" came out when I was 6.  When I was 8, that was my all time favorite song.  The chorus says "I think about you, 8 years old, big blue eyes and a heart of gold.  I was convinced it was about me)  I almost got to go to a concert of his when I was about 11.  My mom, sister, and I bought tickets to one of his shows in Riverside.  After we purchased the tickets, my mom realized it was at a casino and decided she wasn't comfortable with me coming (she wasn't sure what the environment was like).  My sister got to take a friend instead.  Turns out, it would have been fine for me to be at, but I missed out.  I was bummed.

A few months ago, my oldest sister mentioned that Collin Raye would be performing at this charity event she was helping with.  I really couldn't tell you what the charity was for, but my mom, sister in law, and I bought tickets.  Our seats we up in the balcony, but the theater was smaller so they weren't horrible seats.

 Before Collin Raye came out, the did a little raffle.  Everyone at the concert had their name put into a hat and 2 lucky winners won a beach cruiser.  Well, luck was on our side that night.  The first name called was "Terry Mazzarelli!"  So my mom won a bike, which was pretty awesome, but things just continued to get better.  It was an adventure trying to get that into mom's care.  Thank goodness we didn't take my car!

Half way through, there was an intermission.  When the performance started back up, I noticed that nearly every seat in the front was empty (where all the important people sat).  Kristy told me that every person paid the same price for their ticket.  So I decided if that were the case, I was going to go to the front.  They didn't care who came and went, so Jess, my mom, and I made our way to the front row!  That was awesome.  For one song, he just kept smiling and looking at Jess and I as we sang along (most of the people there were there for the 'charity' part of it, so not everyone knew his songs.)  Another slow song, he stared at mom the WHOLE time.  Like...to the point where it almost got awkward.  Kinda funny.

Anyway, the concert was fantastic.  It was fun feeling like I was singing along with him since he kept looking at Jess and I.  So after the show, we went out into the lobby and asked the people in charge where we were supposed to claim mom's bike.  They responded with, "It's on the stage.  Go get it from the stage."  We went to get the bike, and guess who was standing right by the door we had to exit from?  =)

Best part?  Once we started talking to him, he said, "You guys were sitting right there in the front off to the side, weren't you?  Yeah, I remember seeing you guys sing along!"  That was neat.  Then I mentioned how my mom had seen him in concert awhile ago and he winked at her during that concert and he smiled and said, "I think I winked at you again tonight!"

It was a great night!  I had a blast and love Collin Raye and his music!  Maybe I'll get to see him in concert again =)  He's a really great performer and it was one of the best concerts I've been to.

Halloween

So I know Halloween was a LONG time ago, but I never documented these pictures.  So we're taking a little journey back in time.

Halloween's always a fun time of year.  I'm not Halloween crazy or anything, but I do enjoy a few scary movies on AMC.  Anyway, our first year of marriage, there was no way I could get Darren to dress up for Halloween.  The following year, we were invited to a Halloween party so not dressing up wasn't an option for him.  That year, he went as a priest.  I, after a lot of googling, went as Flo.  It was fun, I loved my costume.

This last Halloween, we didn't have a party to go to.  Because of that, I figured Darren wouldn't want to dress up so I didn't even bring it up.  The night before our ward's Trunk or Treat, as we're getting in bed, Darren posed the question, "Hey, what are we dressing up as tomorrow?"  I was surprised but instead of questioning his desire to dress up, I quickly jumped on Google to find us costumes that I could put together in...8 hours.

After running to a few stores that next morning, here's what I came up with.  I LOVED it =)

Isn't that awesome?!  Darren makes a really good Drew Carey.  It was funny.  People who saw us separate throughout the night were really confused, until they saw us together.  I think we did a pretty good job.  Now I have to figure out next years costumes, hopefully not the night before!

Welcoming 2013

Darren and I are pretty lame...no, seriously.  Most people our age, without any kids, when New Years Eve comes around, they've got some pretty awesome plans.  Maybe a party till 1 am, maybe go out to dinner.  Not Darren and I.  This is how our New Years Eve planning went:

Darren calls me at lunch that day
D:  Uhh...what are we doing tonight?
E:  I don't know.  Maybe my mom is doing something?  Or maybe some of my sisters are?
D:  Yeah...maybe call them and find out so we have something to do.

So that's what I did.  2 pm on New Years Eve, I started calling around trying to find someone with a 'party' we could invite ourselves to.  I called my mom, she wasn't doing anything either (just hanging out with Grandpa).  Anyway, we ended up crashing Heidi's house  (THANKS for letting us come over!)  Kristy + fam, mom and grandpa came too.We played some games and lit off a few fireworks.  Kristy and family left around 10:30, as did mom and grandpa.  Darren and I left around 11 (everyone at Heidi's was slowly drifting off to sleep except for Kylee).  We got home, went upstairs, put on some Netflix, and instantly Darren was asleep.  It was 11:30 at this point.  And he didn't even care to stay up till midnight.  I did, only because...it's New Years Eve.  That's what you do!  So I watched a show, woke him up at 12, said Happy New Year, and crashed.  Pretty exciting, huh?  We're so lame..

Here are some pictures from that night!

 I love this girl

 Halle and Great Grandpa are best friends

 Sisters

 Kylee Marie & Emily Marie!

 Makie girl

 The kids showed off their dance moves

 Handsome little Brock

 Nonna and Brock

Kylee had fun jumping over fireworks

 Mom and Grandpa

 Me and the Gramps

 My favorite person =)

 A couple of Grandpa's girls

 Tanner getting attacked by kisses from Kristy and Mom

Time to crash...

Happy New Year (a few weeks late).  2012 was a good year, but I'm hoping and praying 2013 is even better.  This is going to be OUR year, I've decided this.

Darren's Gift

Darren's been looking for a new hobby and decided to try out RC Airplanes.  So for Christmas, that's what he got - his first airplane.  We didn't take it to Vegas so he didn't get to play with it until the day after (I was a mean wife and wouldn't let him play with it the week before Christmas)

Anyway, here are some pictures from that!

 

Side note - WHERE DID MY HUSBAND GO?!?!

Mr. Skinny there (he hates it when I call him that...shh...) is looking ah-may-zing!

Christmas Vegas Style

Christmas this year was special.  All 10 Hunsaker kids were in the same spot for Christmas!  (Well, one sister had to leave Christmas Eve, but she was still there for awhile.)  It was a lot of fun!  We headed to Vegas on Saturday.  The first stop we made was to visit Darren's mom.  Then we headed to the house we were staying at and unloaded.  That night, all the adults went out to eat for Michell's birthday.  I haven't been on the strip in a long time.  It's crowded and all you hear are sirens!  Anyway, it was fun.  The place we went to wasn't made to accomidate a 20 people, so we ended up sitting outside in the FREEZING cold.  Luckily, there were a bunch of heaters around our seats.  I also go to snuggle baby Grant (my nephew, he was 3 months old) so he helped keep me warm, thank goodness.

Sunday was a fun day.  We went to church at Jen's ward where they had their Christmas program.  It was really good =).  Sunday night, ALL the kids got together, along with Sheldon (Darren's dad).  We got some group photos and had dinner (I don't have those pictures, I need to get them from Tricia...).

Christmas Eve, we went to the park, fed the duckies, and went bowling.  Then had Christmas Eve dinner with everyone.  This time, Darren's mom Chris got to come to the house for dinner.  It was neat being able to visit her.  We ate dinner, exchanged sibling gifts, opened our pajamas, and did the annual Hunsaker Nativity.  Now that was a treat...hilarious stuff you guys.

Christmas morning was a ton of fun!  Santa came and the kids had a blast opening their presents with all their cousins.  Chris and Sheldon came for Christmas breakfast as well.  This year, I got spoiled!  Darren's too good to me.  He got me a Canon Rebel T3i =) and I LOVE it!  (That's why I only really have pictures starting on Christmas day).

Here are some pictures from that morning

Corinne, Danny, Brighton (baby) and Matt

Tim, Liberty, and Beka loving their gifts

Ruby Kate!

Sweet Caroline =)

Kaylee, Luke, and Jen

Chris eating breakfast

There are a ton more but I don't want to put too many (I need to remember to get pictures of US)

Around noon on Christmas, Darren and I headed back home.  We got home in time to stop by my mom's house for a few hours before bed.  Best part, my whole family was still there!  So we still managed to hit both families for Christmas in two different states.  Love.  Here are a few pictures from there

Kris and Brocko

Darren getting cozy by the tree

Kris and Brie playing a game

Heidi and Jess

Sandra Rene was home for Christmas!

Don't mind that half the pictures are blury.  It was day one with my camera.  I promise I've gotten better!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!