one great big weekend packed full of FUN!!!!

To prewarn you, this is a long post -- This was one jam-packed weekend!!!

Friday night kicked off with a party at Pam's to celebrate her 30th birthday (her official bday is on the 20th). A bunch of good friends, some wonderful appy's and an ice cream cake made for a delightful evening!!

It was late to bed Friday and early to rise Saturday as Pammer and I met up with her sister and brother-in-law (chad and theresa) and nieces (kassandra and maya) to head down to the Seattle area. We stopped on the way to do some shopping, fit in a great dinner at Olive Garden and then headed to the main event... the TOBY MAC concert!!!!! Now for all you out there who remember the good old DC Talk days, Toby Mac was one of the DC Talk members who is now a solo artist. I must admit, I have not really listened to much Toby Mac, but a few months back when we found out he was coming to the Northwest, and Chad and Theresa decided to get their family tickets for Xmas, Pam and I decided it would be a lot of fun to tag along too. I attempted to quickly learn some of his music before hand, but i wasn't really successful (doh...note to self, next time allow more than a few days to learn music and lyrics!). Oh well, it was still a lot of fun anyway and we surely did get our groove on!!! Actually one of the best parts was that the last number of the encore was "Jesus Freak", a classic DC Talk song!!! Now THAT one i could sing along to!!!!

Jeremy Camp was the opener, which was pretty good because he has some really good music and i realized i know a lot more of his songs than i thought i did!!!

You will notice that these pictures are taken from a rather far distance from the stage. The concert was at Overlake Church, a ginormous church that hosts a lot of concerts. It seats 5000 people and there must have been more than that at this concert, as not nearly everyone got seats, and many of us were sitting on the stairs in the aisles. And we were in the very very back, right up against the wall, and a little off to the side. Not great seats, but this was even after moving once, because in our other seats we could barely see the stage.

Ah...the moshpit, way down there...you can almost smell the teenager b.o. from here...!!
We drove home from Seattle that night got home around 1:30am, all headed to bed and all were up ready to go again on Sunday morning for the next big event: Mama Marty's 60th birthday open house!! Now, I shall explain, don't worry.

Most of you know that my parents live about 3 provinces over, in Manitoba. So I have done a very good job of finding a new set of adoptive parents out here in BC, - Pammer's parents. The beauty of it all is that it turns out that I not only have a best friend, but second parents, siblings and some nieces and nephews too. This past Friday (the 15th) was Theresa and Mama Marty's birthday (pam's sister and mom). And when one turns 60, one should have a big bash. Pam and her sisters put together a fabulous open house, hosted in the church gym. At least 50 people showed up. We had great food, a slide show and a good time!!

" Happy birthday to you..." Butter tarts with candles, how great!!

And after this crazy busy weekend, I was exhausted and ready for a weekend!! But instead i dragged myself out of bed this morning and off to work. Pam, on the other hand, decided to call me this morning and inform me that she now has the Norwalk virus. I think i'd rather be tired and go to work....