Benson Boone Concert

Jonny and I had so much fun at the Benson Boone concert! Jonny even got to meet him in person!

We arrived right on time and waited in line for the meet and greet. I went in with him for just a minute to scan the ticket and use the bathroom. I'm glad I had gone to the bathroom because Jonny said they were having trouble scanning his ticket to get his wristband so I was able to help with that really quickly before I went back outside. Then I had to entertain myself for the next hour and a half. I sat down for a little while and talked to some people. I walked to Chipotle and I had some pork tacos. I walked back and the line to get in was insane. It was like the line to get into the Eiffel Tower. I walked up and I saw the Barzees so I talked to them for a minute and then I went to sit down on a bench. I went up to the security guy to explain that my son was already inside and asked him where I should go and he led me to go in the short line so that worked out great. Jonny was already in our seats. He had a great experience at his meet and greet. He had to wait in line for his turn. Benson Boone gave him a hug and the people used Jonny's phone to take some pictures. Jonny had wanted to ask him why he wanted to become a singer but he never got the chance. It was pretty quick, I guess. He said he was really nice. After the hug and the pictures, Jonny asked if he would sign his shoe. He had seen a video of somebody getting that done by him before and he had brought a silver and a black sharpie. He used the silver sharpie on his black shoe and it looks pretty cool. 

After that, they went back out to the main area by the concession stands and they had a little stage set up and he played a couple unreleased songs and had a listening party. Jonny also got a handkerchief and a lanyard with a signed VIP badge. I'm so glad he got to do that! We had so much fun at the concert! It was so loud. The opening act was on for about 45 minutes or so, I think. She was very good but I didn't know any of her music. She was from London and her name is Mimi Webb. I kept asking Jonny if he wanted anything to eat or use the bathroom and he said no but he did say he wanted a soda so I got him one and brought it back. I saw Cole McClure on my way out. We waited a while for Benson Boone to start and I think it was a little after 9 PM when he came out. 

He's a fantastic performer and everybody had a great time. The audience was so loud! I had a headache by the time it was over and I was super tired. He played all of his great songs that Jonny loves. I wanted to tape "In the Stars" for him but it was before that song that he asked everybody to put their phones away so I didn't get to record it but it was fun to sing with Jonny. His final song was "Beautiful Things." 

When the concert was over, I got a picture of Jonny with the stage in the background and we went to the bathroom and headed out. We had a little trouble finding the car but Jonny figured it out. We got out of the parking garage pretty quickly and there was hardly any traffic once we got out so we got home in the regular amount of time. It was midnight when we got home. It was an amazing experience and I know that Jonny and I will both remember it forever! 

Papa's and Emily's Visit

April 24, Wednesday

Dad came into town yesterday morning and Emily got here this afternoon. Dad and I went to lunch at Vito's. Dad, Jonny, and I we picked up Emily at the airport. I made chicken enchiladas for dinner. We cleaned up and read scriptures. We decided to watch a movie together. It took us a while to decide but we finally agreed on Mask of Zorro.

April 25, Thursday

It was so nice to sleep in today. Michael took Andrew and Jonny to school because the car was in the shop. Dad and Emily went to Costa Vida for an early lunch today. 

We left around 12:45 PM to go to Queen Creek High School for the track meet. He didn't have his best race but I'm still proud of him. We stopped at the post office on the way home so I could get stamps for Andrew's graduation cards. They were laughing when I got back to the car because they were making bets on how long it would take me and it only took me about two minutes. We went to an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We had a really nice meal together and then went home. 

We read scriptures together. Dad, Michael, and Andrew watched a couple episodes of Masters of the Air. Jonny played Fortnite, Emily did some grading, and I did a few chores. Later, Dad watched the Eras Tour with Emily and Jonny. Emily showed him her favorite parts.

 

April 26, Friday

Today we did a lot of errands and hung out. We went to nice dinner at The Keg. 

Tonight, we went to a Stake Line Dancing Activity. 

April 27, Saturday

I slept in on Saturday morning. When I got up, Dad and Andrew had already been to Bosa and came back and then left to clean Andrew's car. We all met together and had a prayer and talked about what we would do today. We ended up deciding not to go to the go karts and not to try to go somewhere else but to just get our chores done and see if we could help the Williams family with their move. We were able to help them load up a car, pull some weeds, and bring out some furniture. Then we went back home and got ready and went to lunch at Osaka. 

In the afternoon, we started our Monopoly game. Everybody but Andrew played. He didn't want to and he had to get ready for prom soon anyway. I took a few pictures of him once he was dressed and ready to go and then he left to pick everybody up. Dad and I left at about 6:25 PM to go meet everybody for pictures next to Spinatos. We spent quite a while getting pictures. Their dinner reservation wasn't until 7:30 PM so we had plenty of time. I said my goodbyes to Andrew and we went back home. We finished playing Monopoly, then Daniel went to play his video games. Emily and I watched the latest episode of The Amazing Race. Then it was pretty late and the boys went to bed.

April 28, Sunday

Dad and Emily made it home safely. We had a nice day at church. We came home and ate leftovers and then Emily got packed and ready to go. All the boys came with us to take Emily to the airport. Later, we had family home evening and then we started getting ready for bed.

Senior Prom

Andrew had a wonderful time with his lovely date Natalie at Prom! They met together at Epicenter at Agritopia for pictures and then went to dinner at Spinato's. He even let me and Papa be in a couple of pictures, lol. He went with a really nice group and they had a blast!

Andrew's Last Track Meet

We are so proud of Andrew for an amazing track season! He has worked very hard and improved so much over these last four years. His last track meet was the East Valley Qualifier at Queen Creek High School. He finished the season strong.

Great job, son!

Underclassmen Awards Ceremony for Daniel and Jonny

We are so proud of Daniel and Jonny! They have worked so hard and I love seeing that rewarded for them.

Great job, boys! We love you and we are so proud of you!

Andrew's Track Meet: Queen Creek High School

Andrew ran a great race today and got a personal record! He won his heat and he was so proud of himself and we were proud of him, too! 

The coaches have a tradition that when you PR, you get a pickle so we did that and got a cute picture. 

Then we took him to lunch at Olive Garden.

Great job, son!

Andrew's Track Meet: Hohokam Invite at Westwood High School

Andrew ran a great race at the Hohokam Track Invite at Westwood High School! 

After the race, I took him to the new Andretti Indoor Karting. Daniel and Jonny didn't sound excited about it, but Andrew really wanted to try it out and it was so cool! He had so much fun speeding through the course!

International State of the State

Michael and I went to the International State of the State event at the Phoenix Art Museum tonight. Mike Patterson invited us and it was a really cool event. There were multiple mayors there. I shook the hand of the mayor of Scottsdale and I sat next to the mayor of Paradise Valley. 

It was cool to hear from Governor Katie Hobbs. 

They had some cool exhibits, like this Barbie one. Most of it was blocked off, unfortunately.

Promposal Answer

Andrew invited Natalie to prom, and this was her way of saying, "Yes!"

Andrew's Track Meet: Rattler Booster at North Canyon HS

March 16, Saturday

I got ready for the day and I left for Andrew's track meet at about 11:30 AM. Andrew said his event would be between 1 and 2 PM and it was closer to 3 PM but that's OK. It's almost an hour drive to get to North Canyon High School. He was in the first heat of his 300 M hurdles and he did amazing! It's hard for me to see who is who from the other side but as soon as he went around the curve, I could see that he was doing well and I was so proud of him. He got a personal record. I think his best score so far was 50.97 and today he got a 50.38. He kind of passed out on the field afterwards for a little bit but he was also pumping his fist in the air and I know it was because he was proud of himself for beating his own record. It was awesome! When he got up, he looked up at me from the field and I waved to him like crazy and he saw me in the crowd and we both gave each other a thumbs up. That was a fun moment. 

We checked out with his coach and went to go get a bite to eat. He wanted to go back to that Comix restaurant. They brought us our food pretty quickly. They were supposed to bring us an appetizer of a pretzel but they brought everything at once and the pretzel was hard as a rock so I told the waitress that and they took it off the bill. Our food was actually quite good otherwise. 

I told Andrew there was a cookie shop I wanted to try so we stopped there. It's called Urban Cookies bake shop. There's another location in Phoenix and I didn't know they had this one right off the 101 that's way more convenient and I'd always wanted to try it. We got a few treats and they were delicious. We stopped by the school so Andrew could get his car. He went to get the pizza for me and I had to get some gas, cash, and the mail. I did some chores on the computer and the boys played their video games for a while. Then Andrew and Daniel watched Young Sheldon with me. It was about that time that Michael came home. He had driven home from Anaheim today. Michael, Andrew, and I all watched Crocodile Dundee together. I'm so proud of Andrew and so glad I could be there at his meet. He has worked hard and improved so much!