What a fun summer this is turning out to be! So much to share... so little time. Annie and her girls are here - they totally surprised us. That is definitely another story for another day, but pretty much everything is more fun with them around. Stadium of Fire was the best ever and here is why...
Last February when Trent had is Board of Review for his Eagle Scout Award, we ran into some high up Scouting muckety-muck named Jeff who Ricky apparently knows from his Scouting involvement with our Stake. Jeff gave us the inside scoop on the Provo Freedom Festival's plan to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Scouting by holding the biggest Eagle Scout Court of Honor in history at the Stadium of Fire, which is the culminating event of the Freedom Festival held every year on or around Independence Day. The Court of Honor would be open to any Eagle Scout who "boarded" between January and June of 2010, and permission to participate would depend on the Scout being approved after a short application process. Soooo, Trent applied, was approved, and plans were made for him to a attend. As the date of the event grew closer, it was announced that Carrie Underwood would perform, Stadium of Fire quickly sold out and we hadn't bought any tickets because as you know we were living off our savings at the time and it wasn't in the budget.
Fast forward to last Monday when Ricky got an e-mail from Jeff that said the mothers of the Scouts were supposed to escort their son during the Court of Honor. We knew I needed to find a ticket, so I decided to just wait until the end of the week and maybe I could find one during the rehearsals. I really felt like everything would work out. Friday came and rehearsals were almost over and I hadn't come across any source for a ticket. Right as we were about to leave, I happened to make some friendly conversation with a mom that was standing near me, we weren't even talking about tickets and she just happened to mention that she found out earlier that day that the Stadium had released some more tickets for Scouting families and they would be $10 a piece. She had gotten enough for her family and even had one extra that I could buy from her. I took down her phone number and the number of the ticket office and went home late that night, thankful for being provided a ticket for myself but wishing that the whole family could attend. For Trent and well, it WAS Carrie Underwood.
Here are a few pictures from the dress rehearsal...
The Osmond Second Generation were also there. All 8 of them are Eagle Scouts...
The next morning, after numerous unsuccessful calls to the ticket office and anywhere else I could think of, we decided that we would all go to Provo and, like many families do, set up right outside the Stadium where we could still hear the concert and see the fireworks. I still had it in the back of my mind that if Ricky could find his buddy Jeff, maybe he could hook it up for us. So, Annie packed a lovely picnic dinner and we loaded the car with blankets, activities for the kids, and camp chairs and headed down to the Stadium.
The Freedom Festival held a reception for the Eagle Scouts and their parents at the church right next to the BYU stadium just before the Stadium of Fire. This was where I met up with the lady who sold me my ticket. As we were talking, some random lady next her overheard us and told me she had an extra ticket, too. She then handed it to me and even though I was ready to pay her for it, she told me she wanted me to have it and wouldn't accept any money. Wow! In the mean time Ricky met up with Jeff who told him to keep his phone close by because he would call if he found any more tickets. I sweetened the deal by telling Jeff that I would bring him a plate of our delicious BBQ pork if he could find us some tickets. (I would've shared with him anyway.) We hadn't told him how many tickets we wanted (which was 8). A few minutes later he called and told Ricky that he had found some tickets for us. They would be $10 each and he had exactly the number we needed!
Of course, we were super-excited and these seats were obviously the VERY last ones available because we were at the very tippy-top of the stadium over on the side, but we were SO happy to be there and we were RIGHT NEXT to where they were shooting off the fireworks! It was awesome!
We had a great view of the Air Force Jet flyover...
And when the time came, I met Trent on the field for the Court of Honor. My favorite part was when after the moms pinned the Eagle badge on their son, the Scouts recited the Scout oath in unison. It was really powerful being surrounded by so many noble young men as they listed the values in the Oath... (That's Jenny Oaks Baker playing a patriotic medley on the violin while the Scouts assembled on stage.)
Proud dad and mom...
Annie took this picture of Gavin during the opening flag ceremony. She said he stood just like this during the entire ceremony which is impressive because it was close to 15 minutes long. They marched in the flag of each branch of military service, flew the United States flag and then Carrie Underwood sang the National Anthem. He uses both hands because he's not sure whether to salute like the Scouts or put his hand over his heart like everyone else.
Carrie Underwood was seriously amazing. Her voice was perfect and it was extra fun that we knew every song she performed. Our favorite was the "Jesus, Take the Wheel/ How Great Thou Art" medley. The kids kept asking me if she was a Mormon and I reminded them that she isn't but she believes in Jesus and loves Him just like we do. I couldn't find a good video of that song, but this was a fun one...
And here is a funny QOTD for you... "Yeah, since I always walk around with a cane." Said by Trent when Riley accidentally linked arms with an old guy using a cane. We were walking back to our car and she thought the old guy was Trent.
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My email address is lanaecall@msn.com.
LaNae