Jars of Clay

Happy Anniversary to us!!! Justin and I decided that the perfect way to celebrate our 6th anniversary would be to go to a concert! Not just any concert...but JARS OF CLAY!! Thank you Mike for taking our picture!

Got to hang out with some youth/sponsors from our church before the concert.

We were about to take this awesome picture when...oh, snap, it's Austin!!!

Laurie Herbers, Shawntel Shirkey, Mandie and Mike Carroll(our bearded youth minister who got a picture with Jars...blasted old man), Sadie Williams, Austin Callahan and Randy Williams.

Me with Laurie and Mandie...our re-do shot. Our chaperone, Shane Powers. He goes to our church and didn't want to sit with the youth by the speakers. Can't say I blame him. This is why....Canadian band FM Static started off the night. Very loud. He sang one of my radio faves, 'Take Me As I Am'. Trevor McNevan This Beautiful Republic....even louder. Good band, though. Can you see the drummer's hair flying? He was 3 rows away from us!

Lead singer, Ben Olin.

This is B. Reith(not wreath, rythe). He is our new favorite artist. After all of the extra loud evasive music, this guy rapped! He was like Justin Timberlake, Jason Mraz and John Reuben all rolled into one!

B. Reith also was the host for the night. Emily loves his song 'Go On'.

Surprisingly, Audio Adrenaline stole the show. Well, I shouldn't saying "surprisingly". I was there to see Jars and I was swept away by Audio A's music, instead. I've seen them twice, both times in high school...even have their autographs. If you've ever heard Mark Stuart of Audio A sing, you know he has a very distinct voice. Years of singing damaged Mark's vocal cords and he was forced to announce his retirement in 2006. You could tell his voice wasn't the same, but you still heard that epic sound despite the rasp. It gave me goose bumps listening to him sing the old school songs 'Big House', 'Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus', 'Get Down', 'Ocean Floor' and 'Hands and Feet'. I even sent my brother-in-law, Jason a text saying I was listening to him sing 'Big House' LIVE. Ja use to play that almost every Sunday in Kids Church when he was the Children's Minister.

Singing 'Get Down'. Will McGinniss with a beard. So weird. Thousand Foot Krutch. Kinda felt like I was part of an anarchist movement for a bit. They were a really good band, though. A lot tamer on the radio. Trevor McNevan, the lead singer, also sings for FM Static.

JARS OF CLAY!!!!

Stephen Mason...one of my all-time faves.

Lead singer Dan Haseltine singing 'Two Hands'.

Charlie Lowell.

Matt Odmark.

This is my favorite picture of the night. Great night. Great show. We even got a card for 20 free iTunes from the shows artists. Awesome. Best anniversary ever! We owe a big THANK YOU to my friend, Jen. My sister's grandfather went into the hospital on Thursday night...she was suppose to have the kids spend the night at her house. So, I called Jen (extra last minute)and asked if she could stand to have 2 more kids. What a trooper. Then, I thought the concert would be over around 10pm. We were out the doors at 11:45pm!! Yikes. To top it off, Aiden stayed awake til we got there at midnight...super hyped up, too.

While Justin and I were picking up the kids and getting them to bed, our youth minister was waiting around to meet Jars and have them sign his vinyl copy of their new album. Lucky Mike Carroll. As Justin commented, Jars of Clay is so old now. What Justin doesn't realize is that these guys are 35-36 yrs old...so Jason's age. :) This pic is from their 1997 album Much Afraid. It's one of my personal favorites.