Some Place to Escape

So, the only blogs I've written so far are about concerts. I really like concerts.

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Concert Firsts

1. First Artist(s) you saw live: tobyMac 2. First Artist(s) you met: Hawk Nelson 3. First Artist you saw live twice: Hawk Nelson 4. First time you had front row seats: Royal Tailor's Walls Down Tour with Manic Drive and B. Reith 5. First outdoor concert: tobyMac at the Tulsa State Fair 6. First merch you bought: A couple Hawk Nelson shirrts 7. First time you waited in line for over 3+ hours: Rock and Worship Roadshow 2012 8: First artist you saw 4 times+: Manic Drive 9: First autograph you got: Dan Biro from Hawk Nelson, because we saw him in the parking lot before a concert. 10: First favorite band: Hawk Nelson

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The Chase by Kyle and Kelsey Kupecky Book Review

The Chase is a truly wonderful book and I believe all single girls need to read this book. There are so many wrong examples being set in this world and everyday people fall for them. However in this book Kyle and Kelsey are doing the opposite. They let girls know it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to have high standards and it’s better to wait for God’s best instead of settling for what’s plainly in front of us. In this book Kyle and Kelsey share several relatable stories about things that happened in their lives as well as some of their friends’. All of these stories encourage girls to respect, both themselves and their future husband. Through out the entire book there is one common theme. We should chase God first, above anything and everything. The book also points out that we should trust God with our happily ever after, not just in our relationships, but with our whole life. I would definitely recommend this book to all single girls, but I believe even married women could learn from it as well. The Chase truly is a special book. I learned so much from it and you will too!

Find the details on how to buy your copy of The Chase at www.kyleandkelsey.com or you can find it in some stores!!!!

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Some pics to go with my last blog! ⬇️

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Trip to Texas, and Acquire the Fire

This is my second time typing this (the draft didn’t save), so it probably won’t be as detailed as the first one was, but I’ll try.

The moment that I heard from Manic Drive that they were going to be touring with Acquire the Fire, I of course wanted to go. I knew that ATF usually goes to Tulsa, OK, which is only about an hour away. However, I also knew that not all the bands are on all of the dates. I found myself checking for tour dates, and the artists that were going to be on them. Sure enough when I found a list of dates that Manic Drive was going to be at Tulsa wasn’t on it. I’ll admit I was pretty bummed, but when I told my parents the closest they were going to come was Kansas City, or Texas, they said we could go to Texas! (Thankfully, because the KC one got cancelled later on.) This made me extremely happy, especially when I found out Royal Tailor was also going to be at that ATF! I really had something to look forward to!

Of course when you are looking forward to something it seems like it takes forever to arrive, and I had four months to get through! The months passed slowly, but the week of ATF finally arrived! We left for Texas right after I got out of school on Thursday. It should have taken around 6 hours for us to get to Texas, however it took us 12 hours, and here’s why.

Now usually we always have some sort of trouble getting to a Manic Drive concert, for instance last time our truck almost wouldn’t start, and the time before that we had to rent a car, ‘cause our van quit running sometime before the concert. Since nothing had happened so far, I was a little scared something was going to happen on the way there, and somewhere in Oklahoma, our car, which was a rental car, began shaking and making noise. My mom pulled over to see if we had a flat tire, and sure enough when my dad got out and checked, my mom’s suspicions were correct, it was flat. (We are very sure that the tire was already bad when they rented us the car.) My dad started to change it, while I held a flash light and this kind lady stopped to help us. After getting the spare on, and thanking the lady we drove to nearest town. We tried to find a place that could replace our tire, but since it was 8 o’clock at night every tire place was closed. We thought we would have to stay the night, and get it fixed in the morning, but that would have meant my dad would have missed his tour of the stadium that the Dallas Cowboys play in. We didn’t want that to happen, so we decided to drive as far as we could, and get as close to Arlington as we could on that little “donut” spare tire. Truthfully, I don’t think you’re supposed to drive very far on those tires, so we drove as slow as we could and stopped quite frequently to check on it, and let it cool down. Somehow we made it made all the way to Arlington, but since we had to stop, and drive so slow it took a while to get there. We actually got there at almost 4 o’clock in the morning, and of course no hotels are open at that time in the morning, so what did we do? We parked in a Wal-mart parking lot and waited until 7 o’clock for the tire part to open. What a long wait that was. Eventually 7 o’clock came, and our tire was replaced. I was so thankful that that was over!

Once we got out of Wal-Mart we went to our hotel, and asked when we could check in, they said we could at 11 o’clock. After that we went across the street to the AT&T Stadium. My mom, sister, and I walked around the gift shop for a little while my dad went on his tour. I got a backpack, and my sister got a shirt. After we paid for our items we went back out to our car, and waited for my dad to come back from his tour. When he did it was time to check in our hotel. Once we got there we began to get ready to go to ATF that night. When we were finished getting ready we went out to eat, but not just at any place we went to In N Out, and let me just say I now know why everyone makes such a big deal out of it! It was delicious! After we got done eating we made our way to the church in Irving, where Acquire the Fire was taking place that night. We got there a few hours early, which wasn’t really necessary since we had reserved seats. We started to wait, and then somehow my dad got to be a volunteer. Then later on while my mom, sister, and I were outside waiting my dad came out to us, and told us to follow him. I cautiously followed, having an idea of what he was doing. When I got to the door I stopped, knowing for sure what he was up to. He had saw Manic Drive setting up their merch, and told them that we were outside. Then the next thing I know the door opens, and Shawn came out! He told my dad to hold the door while he went to say hi to us! He said hi, hugged us, and said, “Thanks for coming out.” Then we talked for a few seconds, before he had to go back in to set up.

We continued waiting until it was time for the doors to open. Then, sometime after 6 o’clock they did. We got in, and found our reserved seats. I set my stuff there, and went to MD’s Merch stand to buy some stuff, went back to our seats, the event started. It was pretty interesting. There was worship with Austin Adamec, who kind of looks like Chad Graham from Anthem Lights, in my opinion, Lol! Ron Luce spoke, and then towards the end of the night they showed us the first episode of the show A.D. that isn’t going to be shown on TV until Easter, and right after that was my favorite part! Manic Drive’s concert! I loved their concert, they were awesome as always! I really loved that they played both, King of Mercy, and Good News, they were both newly added to their set list. Then after their set they said that they were going to be signing. When we got to the line there was a pretty large crowd, it brought back memories of that one really bad Winter Jam experience I had. We eventually got up to the table, and Anthony asked us how we were doing. We told him we were good. Then I put the poster I had just bought on the table for them to sign. After that I placed a gift bag filled with snacks, and a gummy bear key chain in front of Anthony, and told him happy early birthday. He then thanked us, and said he wasn’t going to open in until his birthday, or maybe he was. Then I gave Shawn and Michael there’s. We gave Michael a picture of a pixel guitar I made using PhotoShop, and Illustrator, we gave Shawn a Mater keychain, because during a Q&A on Facebook he told me that Mater was his dream car. They also had snack, as well. Unfortunately the only thing we got to see them open was the Tim Horton’s gift card we had planned on giving to them, back in October, but it arrived too late, and we had already left for the concert, so we gave it to them this time. When they opened it Michael said, “How creative, a Tim Horton’s card!” Shawn asked us how we got it, and I jokingly, but truthfully replied, “It’s called the Internet.” Anthony laughed at my joke. Then we took a pic, told them thank you and left, or rather went into the parking lot, and waited for our dad to come out, since he was volunteering. While we were waiting I turned the data on my phone to post our pic, but found myself joyfully running around the parking lot, when I saw Hawk Nelson tweeted me, and said I was their fan of the week, and I won merch! After I calmed down, I finished posting the pic. Then later on my dad came out to the car, and we went back to the hotel and slept for the first time in over 38 hours. I don’t think I have ever slept as good, as I did that night, but the next morning I still had a little trouble getting out of bed. When I did get out of bed, I began to get ready for the day, as did everybody else. We then, left the hotel, running a little behind. When we got there it was in the middle of the first worship service, oops! During the rest of the day, there were speakers, more worship, drama, and then the Royal Tailor concert! I must admit my favorite part of Royal Tailor’s set was Got That Fire! After their concert was over I went to their merch stand, and decided to buy a SnapBack, with my last $20. Then, I got in the signing, and waited. When I got to the table, which didn’t take very long since most people had already left to eat dinner, as it was the dinner break, I asked them to sign my hat with a silver Sharpie, so they could sign the top of the bill, which wouldn’t have been possible with a regular Sharpie, since it was black. I think D.J., and Tauren liked that I had a silver Sharpie for them sign with. Then Jarrod said he liked my shirt, which was pretty much a homemade RT shirt! I told them thanks, then went to chill in the car until the dinner break was over. Then the rest of ATF resumed, and soon enough the event we had waited 4 months for was over. We had to eat at In N Out one more time before we left, then the next day we left for home. I must say getting home went a lot smoother then getting to Texas! Thank God for Something, huh?!

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Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

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I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:14

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The Electric Tour- Disney, Ok

We began the morning by making Shawn’s chocolate covered sushi. (last time he said that’s what he wanted) Don’t worry it wasn’t real sushi, it was rice crispies, and gummies! Then when we finished with Shawn’s sushi (try saying that 3X fast) we started to get ready to leave for the concert. We loaded up the our truck and left…. We had a few problems with our transportation including a vehicle switch, but we finally got on our way to the concert, thinking we were gonna be kind of late, but we ended up being the first ones there. Oops! While we were waiting we took pictures of some of the animals that were there, and we could hear Shine Bright Baby sound checking. Then at around 5:00 we got our tickets, and went into the venue. I had to stop by the merch table, and then decide what I wanted to buy. I bought Manic Drive’s new cd, even though we’re already going to get one, because of their PledgeMusic campaign, but I couldn’t wait! It was totally worth it. I also bought a VIP poster, and a $10 shirt, that was one of their older ones, and I thought I would never get one of those. Then we went and got our seats. They started playing music from VIP before the show, and my first thought was “Do they expect me to act normal while they’re playing this?” I couldn’t sit still. Dance dance dance! Lol! Then, after a while Shine Bright Baby started playing. They did a great job! Anthony from MD drummed for them! Then their set ended, and they had to change some stuff before Manic Drive could play, so the venue brought out a baby camel! He was so cute! Then, soon enough the camel left, and Manic Drive came on stage! Their set was so AMAZING, they picked the best set list EVER! I was glad to hear Epic, Microphone, Count of 123, Memories, Closer, Blue and even a new song, Electric for the first time!!! Sometime during the show Shawn said that it was dark in the crowd, and told us to get out lightsabers, and more flashing objects, so I got out my green lightsaber. Then Shawn said “Ha! That one green guy!” I was the only person with a green lightsaber! Then he did the whole Canadian jumping thing, and said “You with the green lightsaber show us how to jump.” So I did. Everyone turned to look at me. The he said “Alright, that was pretty good.” Then they played more songs, but then they had to play their last song, but not before Shawn told the crowd they would be signing, and taking pics after the show, oh and giving free high fives with the purchase of a lightsaber, so me and my sister waved our lightsabers and Shawn laughed at us, then said he was just kidding about the purchase of a lightsaber. Then, they began to play Blue! I’ve been waiting to hear that song live! After it was over we went to our truck, and got the bag of gifts we brought for Manic Drive, and then went to the line and stood back tell no one was going to MD anymore, cause we knew it was going to take a while. Then when we got up there Michael said “Oh, yeah you have gifts for us”, and then Shawn said “Yes, give us your gifts” He also said that they were all his. I replied by jokingly saying “They have names written on them, you can’t steal them this time” Then, Shawn said “What color is your lightsaber, I might have saw you.” I turned it on, and it was green, so they laughed because I was the “one green guy!” Then we began showing them what we got them. Including an extra large gummy bear for Anthony. He said “Is this a legit gummy bear” We told him it was, and he said “This is like 5 pounds of gummy.” It really wasn’t, but was a pretty good size. We also gave him some Dots. Then, we my sister handed Michael the chocolate covered almonds we got for him, and he said “Thank you, for this, I have a long drive tonight” Then we showed Shawn his chocolate covered “sushi” reminding him he said he wanted chocolate covered sushi at Rock the River. We had put fortune cookies in there cause they kind of go along with sushi, and Shawn said “I don’t think anyone has given us fortune cookies before.” Then he opened one, and it said “You will soon find your hidden talent” He said “I have a hidden talent?” We also gave Shawn a Coke with his name on it (we looked for the other guys names, but couldn’t find them). Shawn said something like “Yes! I’ve never seen one of these before. It’s probably like 6 months old, how old is this?” We told him we just bought it the other day. Then we told Shawn happy early birthday, and he said “Yes, it’s gonna be my birthday, and I’m gonna be old” (Whatever, cool people don’t get old, plus he’s not even old.) He started to eat a piece of it of the sushi, and then I asked them if we could take a picture with them. Then I took a pic of my sister with them, Shawn had the sushi sticking out of his mouth! It was pretty funny. Then my sister tried to take a pic of me with them, but accidentally turned the camera off instead, and she said “Oops I turned it off” then Anthony said “It’s the end of the world” Then she turned it on, and took the picture. Shawn looked extremely serious in my picture, but I think it was cause he had food in his mouth. Then they hugged, and thanked us. Then I thanked them, and and Michael asked us how long of a drive it was, and I told them it was about 2 hours. He said “Not too bad” It definitely wasn’t. The drive was totally worth a concert like that! It was one of the best ones I’ve been to! Then I told them “God bless you, guys, and Shawn smiled at me. Then we left, and began the drive home.

When we got home we found out that a gift card that we ordered for Michael got to our house after we left to leave for the concert. I still feel bad about that, cause he got less than Shawn, and Anthony. Hopefully we can get it to him some time. :(

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Rock the River (Backstage with Manic Drive)

It all started in April. I won $200+ at afterprom, and right then I knew I was going to use some of it to buy tickets for Rock the River. The next day I ordered the VIP tickets. Then the long wait began. During that wait lots of things happened. One of them was the fact that our van "died", and because of that I thought we weren't going to get to go, but we were able to rent a car, and that almost didn't even work out. Then when Manic Drive's Pledge Music Campaign started me and my sister pledged for the VIP Concert Experience! (You can pledge here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/manicdrive  )This made us even more excited for the concert! Anyway when the day before the show finally came I got out of school early, and then we left for Arkansas. Once we got to Fort Smith we found our hotel, and checked in. It was definitley the worst place I've ever stayed at, and waking up to a roach crawling on me did NOT make it any better! :'(  Then the next day we woke up, and began to get ready for the concert. We left the hotel, and went out to eat breakfast. My dad wanted to stop at this place called California Customs before the concert, because he really likes car stuff. We stayed out in the car and very impatiently waited for him to come back out to the car. When he finally came out we went straight to the venue, traded our iTickets paper in for our wrist bands, and then stood around for a couple minutes. Then we actually got to meet our friend Crystal from Instagram, and we got to hang out with her, which was totally awesome. Then around 3:00, after some trouble with the festival people we got to go backstage with Manic Drive. Before we went backstage we got hugs from all 3 of them, then when we were going backstage Shawn, and Anthony held the curtians open for us, and Shawn said "You get service"  The whole day was lots of fun, and totally worth pledging for it. We had lots of random conversations, including something about dead ducks. They then started talking about the book/box I gave them back in April. Shawn said their mom thought it was cute! According to Shawn they don't really get very many unique gifts, and usually Anthony just gets gummy bears. Then when he said that, I remembered that we had chocolate covered gummy bears for Anthony. We gave them to him, and I think he was surprised that they were chocolate covered! Sometime during all of this Shawn went to get chairs. He came back with 3, one of which had no back. My sister ended up sitting in that one, glad it wasn't me, because I probably would have leaned back, and fell (I've actually fallen through a chair before.) Then Shawn asked us Manic Drive trivia, and you had to say buzzer NOT buzz to answer. That was so much fun! We made him sad though, because we didn't get him any snacks, he told us to get something for him if we went to Disney, Ok. I asked him what he wanted, and he said chocolate covered sushi, I think everyone was grossed out after that. Shawn even told us what their new music video was going to be about before anyone else knew! Then we talked about the other bands that were at Rock the River. At one point they asked us if we knew the band that was playing, I said I had no idea who they were, and then Shawn told us it was Children 18:3, and that their drummer was incredible, then he said they had a female bass player, who was almost as incredible "for a girl", at that point I pretended to throw the Sharpie I had in my hand at him, then he ducked. Haha! Then we went out to watch the drummer, who was doing a drum solo, and  he was amazing, he did lots of tricks with his drumsticks. Then we went back, and saw Jesse, or Jesus from Building 429. Shawn asked him if we could have our picture taken with him, so we got our picture taken with him! (Shawn took it for us) Then Shawn picked up one of our lightsabers that we had laid on the ground, and acted like he was going to stab Michael, and then Michael said he had mind powers.... I decided to jokingly say "You have a mind!" Then he said "Who said that?"  I acted innocent, but guilty at the same time.....  Then soon they had to leave to get ready for the VIP meet and greet, so we had to leave, find our parents and then get in line for the meet and greet, since we were VIP. When it was our turn Jason Roy from Building 429 told me he liked my necklace (It was a lightbulb) I told him it was Anthem Lights, and he said it made sense, then he started singing Can't Shut Up! We got our picture taken with all of Building 429, then moved down the line to Manafest, got his signiture, and totally forgot to get a picture taken with him! :( Then we moved along to Disciple, then we got to Manic Drive, and they said "You again!" Then I said to my sister, "Do you know who this band is?" Haha! Then I asked them to sign my arm, because I always wanted to have a band sign it, but never asked. Shawn asked if i wanted something big, or small and I replied with "just whatever" Then he says "OK" and draws a line all the way up my arm! LOL Then we got Shawn McDonald's signiture, and then went to find our seats again. We then went to stand by the stage with our friend Crystal, and waited for Manic Drive to play. When they came on the party began. It was so much fun! They even played their new song VIP! I loved it live! Then after Manic Drive got done playing my contact decided to fall out, so I had to go to the bathroom to put it back in. I was so worried I was going to miss Manafest, but I didn't. We even had time to very quickly, and in big bites eat some ice cream before Manafest started playing! He's so good live! Then after he played it was Shawn McDonald, then it was Disciple. Then the very last act of the night was Building 429, and they were, as always amazing! This time they had their raising platform thing, and that was so cool! Then when they got done I had a hard time believing the concert I had waited for, for so long was over. My dad wanted to go eat, so we went to IHOP. Then back to our nasty hotel room for one last (Thank goodness) night. Then the next morning we left, and went a very long way home, because my parents wanted to go through Branson, Mo. We finally got home, and were finally able to post about our amazing concert experience! Hopefully we will get to see Manic Drive a week before my birthday in October at Disney, Ok! We already have tickets reserved! 

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Manic Drive: New Album-'VIP'

Pre-order the new Manic Drive album + get behind-the-scenes access to our recording sessions + cool merch & more!

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Watch my Hide Your Love Away stop motion lyric video!? Thanks! :)

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Walls Down Tour 4/5/14

Walls Down Tour We left our house around 12:00, and managed to get to Wichita without getting lost. Before we got there we stopped at a Walmart in a town called Augusta and bought Anthony some gummy bears, and the other guys some Doritos (If You've ever seen that interview of them on Youtube you'll know why we bought Doritos) We got to the venue around 4:00, so we had to wait a little bit before the VIP stuff started. We passed the time by listening music. At about 5:30 we got in line. Then finally it was time for us to go inside. Almost as soon as we walked in we saw Shawn and Anthony getting things ready for the show. We put some things in the chairs we wanted to sit in, and then went to the VIP room. There was a question and answer session with Royal Tailor, then we got to get our pictures taken with them. After that we went back to our seats in the FRONT ROW (it was our first time ever being that close). While we were waiting we bought two Manic Drive watches. I got a blue one, and my sister got red. Pretty soon the show started and B. Reith came on stage. His set was really fun. Then next was the guys I had been waiting to see for six months (the concert I was supposed to go to got canceled). I was so excited! When they started playing I started jumping! I'm pretty sure me and my sister looked like complete idiots, but who cares we had fun, even though I'm sore from jumping, and my finger is bruised and swollen from clapping, and I also some how bruised the top of my wrist. It was so much fun to finally get to see Manic Drive, even with their awkward silent moment brought to us by Huggies. (If you're wondering where that came from, all I need to say is Michael.) While they were on stage I could tell they could see us, probably cause we looked like idiots and were on the front row. It was such a good night! They even played my favorite song Save a Life! Soon though they had to play their last song, I was pretty bummed about that..... But like Shawn said Royal Tailor was up next. They had to change the stage over before Royal Tailor could play, and when Shawn went out there to help he came over to us shook our hands, and said something like thanks for holding the sign, and rocking out with us! It was awesome! Pretty soon Royal Tailor came on and more fun began! At one point they sang a song, and had B. Reith come on stage to sing, and then Shawn! Then at the end of Royal Tailor's set they had everyone go up to right in front of the stage. We were just a few inches away from the stage! It was crazy awesome! Then the concert ended. After it was over we got into the line to meet Manic Drive. While we were waiting some people in front of us asked me to take their picture with Manic Drive. I really hope they didn't come out blurry, because my hands were shaking from clapping all night. While I was taking the picture I said my hands are shaking, and then Michael said "don't worry it's not like we're immortal beings or anything" When it was our turn the first thing I said was "I have some presents for you", then I gave them to them. One was a piece of wood with the words Manic Drive engraved out of it, and the other was a book shaped box that I had painted Manic Drive on the front, and engraved Mountains into the back. When I gave it to them Shawn grabbed it and acted like he was going to throw it down saying "Is this fragile?" I was like I don't know I haven't tried doing that to it yet. Then they looked at my other "present", Anthony said "We should put it in our bus" Then Shawn said or we could put it here, instead of this. (He was talking about the TV thing that's over their merch. Then I had them sign my Manic Drive letters with their pictures, and names engraved into them. They asked me how I did all that stuff I told them I did it with an engraving machine at school. I remember Michael saying something like I'm guessing you do a lot of arts and crafts. Then Shawn was like she actually knitted that shirt. (The one I was wearing.) Why are all the guys in Manic a Drive so hilarious!? Then I took a "selfie" with them, which I'm not very good at. Then I asked them to sign my shirt. I heard Shawn say I was "so demanding" Lol! Michael signed it then Shawn, and while he was signing it he saw the wings on the back of my shirt and said "Oh, You have wings, do they work, I'm assuming they work" I responded by saying that they glowed in the dark, but I don't think he heard me....... I guess Anthony never got sign my shirt. :( After that I said thank you then we left. On our way home we got a little lost in the dark, and had to turn around and go back the opposite way we were going, but we finally got home posted a few things on instagram, and twitter, and then went to bed. It was such an awesomely fun night!

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Crazy Experiences at Winterjam!

Winterjam Tulsa, Ok 3/9/14 We got up at about 8:00 am, so we could leave our house by ten, and get to the venue by 12:00. Once we were all ready we left our house, and began the trip. We got to the BOK Center at 11:38. There were only about 60-100 people there. We began waiting. The first few hours flew by, but then more people started to show up, so we had to get up from sitting on the cement, so we wouldn't get cut by a bunch of people, even though we did get cut by several people, and some of them were pretty rude! So we had to wait about 3 hours standing up, and we couldn't even move, because everyone was so squashed together! Then at about 4:20 I heard people whistling and pointing at something, so I looked to see what it was, and I saw the very top of the back of Nikita's head! I could barely see him because of all the people around me were taller than me as usual. Then some guy came through the crowd selling shirts and CDs, I bought a shirt and got a free CD, so did my sister. Then a few minutes later Everfound came closer to where we were in the crowd, and started to sing, we could barely hear them cause they were still pretty far away and people in the crowd wouldn't stop talking. We got some pictures of Nikita. While they were singing someone asked me "Do you know who he is?" I had a sign I made in my hand, so I showed it to them. Then they left and went back inside. Then the longest part of the wait began, the last hour. When the doors were finally opened, which was a little earlier than 5:00 people started pushing and shoving. There was absolutely no room between you and the people to the side, front, and behind you. It was like you were all one giant person trying to squeeze through a tiny space. When I finally got inside the venue, and could finally move again I felt like my legs were going to give out, after standing completely still for over 3 hours! Then me and my sister looked behind us and realized our mom wasn't there! She had got separated from us in the mob of pushing and shoving people! We decided to find seats then have one of us go and look for her. We found seats on the right side of the stage that were pretty close. Then I put my stuff down and went to look for our mom. I couldn't find her anywhere, so I went back to our seats. My sister went to look for her next, but returned unsuccessful. By that time Love and the Outcome was coming on stage, and we could see Everfound getting ready to come on stage. We even saw Nikita walking back and forth, it looked like he was warming his voice up. We also saw them praying. Wow, I kind of sound like a creeper, but where we were sitting we could see behind the stage. Then when it was finally Everfound's turn to come on stage we got so excited! It was so much fun hearing and seeing them live, and in person! I especially liked when they were playing Hallelujah. I must have jumped so much that Ruslan saw me at pointed at me! I was like "is he pointing at me?" I decided to wave, then he nodded his head back at me! Later on during the same song Ruslan pointed again, and I'm pretty sure Nikita looked at us and smiled! After Everfound was over my sister went to look for our mom again, but still had no luck. We anxiously waited for the next band we wanted to see which was Thousand Foot Krutch. We knew when they were going to come on, because we saw Trevor McNevan walking around beside the stage. Then when they came on we rocked out pretty good. When they left our other favorite band on Winterjam was next, Tenth Avenue North. They were so good! Tenth Ave was the last the of three bands we wanted to see, so after the intermission we went out to Everfound's merch stand, and stood at a nearby little table. We stood there for about half an hour, waiting for the Everfound's meet and greet, and hoping our mom would come to see if we were there. Sometime close to 10:00 they started to to set the sign up for the M&G, so we moved by it, then they put the little table we were standing at by the sign, so they could use it to sign stuff on. Pretty soon we saw Everfound walk up. We were the second ones in the line, even though we were the first ones waiting. When it was our turn I unrolled my poster that I made in my graphic art class, and Yan said "cool poster" I said thanks, and then he asked me if I printed it out myself. I told him I made it at school in photoshop. He started to sign it then stopped to ask if I wanted them to sign it. I told him yes. Then after he got done signing it he shook my hand, and told me his name was Yan, which I already knew, then asked my name I said it was Machelle. Then I put my shirt on the table for them to sign. I remember shaking Ruslan's hand and him telling me his name which I also already knew, then he asked my name and I told him. I then put an envelope on the table and said "I have some smaller versions of the poster" They said thank you, and I moved out of the way and waited for my sister to get done, and some guy was like the line forms over there, I told him I was with my sister, and he was like oh. Then after she got done we started to walk away and Nikita said thank you, I said thank you back. We then began the search for our mother. I was starting to get worried cause we hadn't saw her in over five hours! We were walking around looking for her, and got caught in another mob of people once again, this time people were trying to go in all different directions. We finally got out of it, then walked a little ways then realized we were in front of Everfound's merch, again. By then I was really starting to get upset. We tried to find the door we came in, but couldn't, so we found a different door and went out it, cause we didn't want to get caught in that mob of people again. When we finally got outside there were some pretty strange characters out there. We found our van and our mom wasn't there. After a few minutes of standing by it we decided to go back in the venue, but not before we left a gum wrapper on the door of our van so our mom would know we were there. We were crossing the street and heard some sort of yelling, we realized people were protesting something. (Later we found out it was Winterjam) When we got to the doors we almost immediately saw our mom! It was such a big relief! We went out to our van and removed the gum wrapper and headed home, listening to our new Everfound CD, and talking about how we would most likely never go to another event like Winterjam, even thought the concert part was amazing, but getting separated from family is TERRIBLE, especially when you're not like everyone else, cause you don't have phones. We finally got home, and crawled safe and sound into our beds.

[jonsteingard-deactivated2014081]

Made is finally out in the world! Get it at itunes here!

https://t.co/m1Nw2WyXuN

[jonsteingard-deactivated2014081]

It’s interesting to me that in a sea of positivity my heart is capable of honing in on a single negative and dwelling on it. I know it’s not just me. I’m sure most of us can identify with that feeling. It’s like the whole world goes out of focus and all you see is this big glaring negative. Maybe...

[mikedonehey]

Becoming a father has made me a softy. I mean, I was a crier even before I had kids, but now? Dang. I was choking up watching a Subaru commercial last night. A Subaru commercial?! Seriously? I know, I know. My man point stock is crashing with every key stroke, but before you condemn my...

[jonsteingard-deactivated2014081]

Excited that our new single WORDS is out on iTunes today!

[thejasondunn-blog]

So I never get on this thing….

Anyways, if you follow me on twitter, or stalk me on facebook, you’ve come to the conclusion that I’m making a record right now.

This is true. I am making an album and it’s called “Abandon Progress”.

2012 was quite a whirlwind of a year. I quit my band. I started...