Emmy's solo

 

Choir concert

 

God's country

 

Emmy's big night!

 Emmy had a big night at her choir concert.  She sang a BEAUTIFUL solo, played bongos for a song, and was recognized for her all-state choir selection.  She and I got so many compliments on her singing that night.  The next day at work and through texts I continued to receive messages about how well she did.  She was a star!!  Emmy is so incredibly talented and her courage to perform was really amazing.

basketball league

 

Trying to get home

After the concert, we had to try to get home....that was an ordeal.  Our flight into Mpls was late and the Bismarck flight did not wait for us so we ended up stranded in Mpls overnight.  We used vouchers to get a hotel and some food the next day.  We were on the morning flight back home which kept getting delayed since a snow storm had just begun in Bismarck.  Finally we got to get on the plane and head to Bismarck.  We were 15 minutes from landing in Bismarck when the captain told us due to visibility conditions we were re-routing to land in Rapid City SD!  They told us we'd refuel and get going but the staff in Rapid City was not prepared for us and kept us there longer.  Then we heard our flight crew had timed out and could no longer work!  We had to wait almost 9 hours in the Rapid City airport for a new crew to come from Mpls to fly us home to Bismarck.  The crazy thing is the weather in Bismarck got worse, not better and yet we somehow could land that evening but weren't able to that morning.  Bobby did his boxing game in the  middle of the terminal and I logged 3 miles walking in circles in the TINY airport.  It was torture but we were happy to finally get home.
 

Blake Shelton and a 24 hour stomach flu

The night before we were to leave for Tampa Bobby got stomach flu.  He puked everywhere......all over the bathroom, floor, and the worst was when he puked all over grandma's comforter and bedding.  I spent time cleaning and disinfecting what I could and we waiting until the last minute to get him into the car to drive to Tampa.  A long drive full of traffic, but he made it on no sleep and no food.  We tried the Florida Aquarium for an hour, most of which he spent sitting on the benches.  He did get to do some cool things like pet a jellyfish.  When we got to our hotel room he took a nap and he told us he needed to sleep through dinner but we should count on him for the concert.  He called me during dinner (grandma and I went downstairs in the hotel for dinner) to tell me he puked all over floor the half a pretzel he tried to eat at the Aquarium. I cleaned it up and then let him rest until 6:45.  When I went to see if he wanted to give it a try, he jumped up and out of bed, got his boots on and was ready to go.  He hadn't kept food or fluids down in 24 hours but he was still excited to go.  I bought his a sports drink with electrolytes and he was a great country fan that night.

Carly Pearce did not disappoint.

We found some other people who were ALSO having birthdays at the concert.  This lady ended up sitting in our section.  Bobby was waiting for me outside the women's restroom (long line of course) at intermission and I heard some ladies talking about the birthday dude.  When I left and got to Bobby I asked him if he knew what that was about.  He told me two older ladies came over to him and told him "Happy Birthday" and gave him $20!!  Later I was telling someone the story and another older couple overheard me.  As we exited the building that night they came up to Bobby, wished him "Happy Birthday" and gave him another $20!  He was really excited about that.  We were glad he wore the shirt.

Gwen Stefani surprise guest appearance!  They sounded amazing together.

All in all, our Birthday dude was a real trooper.  He managed to muster enough energy to go to the concert we'd been waiting so long to see.  Our seats were great, the music and performances were awesome.  We had such a fun night making memories together.
 

Florida trip for Bobby's birthday

 Trip to Florida for Bobby's 12th birthday started off great.  Lots of great weather and fun.  Bobby got the high score at the baseball pitching game and got the most points I've ever seen awarded at a Dave and Buster's game arcade!  That was exciting.  I did not fare so well in that game.

State Hockey

Emmy's team wrapped up their hockey season by taking 3rd in a win over Mandan.  Emmy is planning to move to the High school level next year. Robb and Emmy braved some tough roads to make it home safely. This winter weather has been rough this year for travel attempts.

 I came across another Bismarck Marathon add with my picture!