Jack Johnson, Wedding Bliss & other tales...

(WARNING: Be prepared for a long post with LOTS of pictures!)

I've been trying to get to this post for the last week but life has been so busy that it just wasn't possible. Oh well... better late than never, right!?

As you know, Jon and I had the awesome pleasure of going to the Jack Johnson concert in Vancouver on Aug. 21 and what a show it was. I'd say the only "down" side to the concert was the fact that out of the 21,000 people that were there, approximately 20,900 of them were smoking pot. That meant that the 100 of us that weren't smoking it, were pretty much high by default by the end of the concert. But as for Jack's performance, it was INcredible! He sounded great live and his interaction with the crowd was very entertaining.
The concert was outdoors at the Thunderbird Stadium on the UBC campus and though we got decent seats on the huge field, our little camera still wasn't strong enough to zoom in on him from that distance. It was good that they had the big screen up.

Susie & Jon gearing up for the upcoming greatness of Jack...

The very wonderful Hailey & Danny Taylor...

Jon's sister Susanne got tickets from her boyfriend but due to working out of town, Juergen wasn't able to come. Thankfully, our cousin Annette was able to make it at the last minute to take his ticket.

Cousins...

I got a few little clips of the concert on our camera. Here they are for your listening pleasure. Sorry if they're not very clear but the crowd was pretty loud...

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The next day it was time for me to start my whirlwind trip to Saskatchewan. My flight left Abbotsford at 6:30am the day after the Jack concert which meant not a lot of sleep that night. But with bleary eyes, I headed off to the airport at 5:30am and boarded the Westjet flight bound for Saskatoon. My closest childhood friend Michelle was getting married and had asked me to sing at the ceremony. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford for both of us to fly so Jon decided to stay home for the weekend. The reason I say it was a whirlwind trip is that I only arrived in Saskatoon at 10:15am on Friday and was already back in Abbotsford by 8:30am on Sunday. Yeah... not much time to fit in a wedding and time with friends that I hadn't seen in years. But nonetheless, it was well worth it and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

The ceremony was held at our home church, Hepburn MB and they did such a beautiful job of decorating.

Geralyn, Carly & Amanda lighting the candles...

Darren & Michelle had their siblings as their attendants.

Michelle's brothers and sister-in-law...

Darren's sisters and brother-in-law...

The exquisite bride making her entrance.
It was tough to keep the tears back at this point... she was absolutely stunning!!

Jared Wohlgemut & I sang "The Fear you won't Fall" by Joshua Radin...

(you can click on the link above to hear Joshua's version of it.. its a beautiful song)

The receiving line...
I love this picture of Darren & Michelle...

Grade 5 & 6 buddies.
Donovan, Darren, Michelle & I were inseparable in elementary school.
So crazy to think that Darren & Michelle ended up together all these years later :)

Posing with their get-away car...

One of the best things about weddings is re-uniting with friends that you haven't seen in a long time. It was awesome to catch up with my good friends Traci & Donovan.

Me & Traci...

The "girls"...

Darren & Michelle had their wedding at Shekinah's new lodge, just a short drive from Hepburn. It was like something out of a fairytale...



The happy couple, Mr. & Mrs. Huebert...


And of course, I had to add the faces of the next newlyweds-to-be,
our wonderful friends Carly & Aaron!
Their big day is coming up really soon... October 11!
Jon has the honour of being a groomsmen and we can't wait to share in their special day!! Only a month and a bit to go... :)
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Let's see... as for an update on us, things are going really well! Life has been ridiculously busy as always, but full of blessings and fun stuff :) We are in full swing of reno's on our townhouse and are looking forward to a completely finished house. We are finishing the painting of the rest of the house, we re-did the upstairs bathroom and upgraded the ensuite and powder room and the best thing of all is we're getting our kitchen cabinets & countertops re-done next week. Our existing cabinets & counters are pretty "blah" and seeing as I'm working for a custom kitchen cabinet company now, we can get them done for a smokin' price. I am SO excited about it!! The cabinets are going to be done in a dark espresso colour and the counters are going to be a rich, granite-look-alike laminate. Stay tuned for pictures!

I've been really busy with music lately. I was asked to sing for our church's fall kick-off carnival and have been practicing with the band every week for the last couple of months. It will be my first "mini-concert" and though I'm a bit nervous, it will be a ton of fun! So if you live in the area and want to join us, come on out to Central next Sunday afternoon. The BBQ and carnival start at 11:30am. Or come out for the worship service first (10am) and stay for some great food, fun and fellowship! Oh, and as well as our band, there will also be a concert by Greg Neufeld, one of Canadian Idol's Top 10!