Photo of the Day: Angry Note

Can you decipher Kennedy's angry note?  My guess is she doesn't like chocolate chip cookies very much! 

Diary of a Red Sox Fan

It finally happened. After two months of failed expectations, the Red Sox are in 1st place in the American League East. Who would have guessed that they could come back so quickly? Come on, this was the team that started 0-6, was 2-10, and didn't break .500 until mid May. Well, things have certainly changed. The Red Sox are the hottest team in baseball and they are now 29-22 and in 1st place!

I never officially jumped off the band wagon in April. My arms and legs weren't completely inside the band wagon at all times, but I never took the leap. This team was too good to be playing the way they did in April. It just seemed like they couldn't catch a break. They had four chances to reach .500 and lost each time. There were errors, bad pitching, and atrocious hitting. It was a team effort to the bottom of the cellar.

Then, along came May. Things just seemed different. Adrian Gonzalez starting hitting everything. Carl Crawford had some clutch hits. Lester, Beckett, and Buchholz are pitching like studs and shutting down opposing teams. Even better - Dice K and John Lackey both went to the DL. Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, and Big Papi are getting back to their old selves. Things are good in the Nation right now.

360° of U2

Last year I bought tickets to see U2 for Tara's birthday.  We were both really excited to see Bono and the boys one more time.  Unfortunately, Bono had a problem with his back which required surgery.  The last part of the North American tour was postponed and we were left in limbo.  Should we turn the tickets in and get our money back or should we hold onto our passes and wait for U2's possible return to Utah?

We held onto our nose-bleed seats and I'm glad we did.  Last night was the return of the 360° Tour to SLC and it was worth the wait.  U2 came onto the stage and overwhelmed the crowd with a musical and visual force that's hard to describe.

A lot has been made of "The Claw" - U2's gigantic stage.  With it's unique design, including 4 massive legs and a mammoth video screen you couldn't take your eyes of it.  To be honest, we couldn't take our eyes off of it because it was the only way we could see the show.  Still, that was the intended point, as the stage was designed so that you could see the action no matter where you were sitting. My favorite part of the show was when the screen broke apart into hundreds of smaller shapes and became a video curtain that stretched down to the stage. It was something I've never seen before and it was unreal!


With a collection of songs over the past 30 years it was easy for U2 to pick a vast array of diverse songs. Good thing for us. We weren't really big fans of the last album, so it good they didn't choose many songs from No Line on the Horizon. To be honest, Get on Your Boots actually sounded great live. Take a look at the setlist from the SLC show and you'll find a great mix of old and new:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
Until The End Of The World
All I Want Is You
Love Rescue Me
Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - This was a great acoustic set with Edge and Bono
Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet)
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Mofo (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encores:
One
Blowin' In The Wind (snippet)/The Times, They Are A-Changin' (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name - Loved watching the stage go red during the intro!
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender


We loved every minute of the show, but as the second encore was starting we knew we needed to end our night.  Jason and Kristin were nice enough to watch the kids (on Kristin's birthday no less) and our night was well after 11:00 pm when the boys started playing With or Without You.  We decided to pack it in and head to TRAX, hoping that we could beat the rush and make it home by midnight.  We were wrong about everything.  The TRAX riding crowd had no end and we missed every connecting train.  It was impressive.  In fact, we couldn't have messed things up any better.  Still, we finally made it home a little after 12:25.

So, that was our night with U2.  It was fun to see them - probably for the last time for us.  Their music was great.  The show was beyond description.  The night was fantastic.  For a night, we were taken back through the years and U2's part of our lives.  It was just us and a band that have been together a long time.

Big Graduate

Alex graduated from preschool yesterday. The program that his teachers put on is amazing. They all have memorized parts, they sing tons of cute songs and it is very organized. Alex did a great job during the program and seemed to have a great time.

Alex's preschool has been amazing. He has loved his teachers, Miss Fidge and Miss Alyson. They really do a great job. Kennedy was in the same class last year and I hope Dylan will be able to get in when he turns four. It's nice to know that your kids are in good hands and are learning while they have fun. Now, on to Kindergarten!

Don't you just love Alex's self portrait! Pretty talented, don't you think!

Zoo?

My sister Char called to invite us to go to the zoo last Saturday with her family. Little did we know it was a free day for all the military. As we drove up and saw people walking a mile after parking just to get into the zoo, we quickly decided to bag it and headed to Liberty Park. We were going to hit Tracy Aviary and the playground but ended up just doing the playground. The kids had a blast playing in the water and riding a few of the rides at the amusement park.

What started out as a big mess, ended up being tons of fun. We might have to spend more time at Liberty park! It's cheap and fun!