Coldplay Concert

Last night we got to go to Coldplay! 

Before the concert Zac took me to Ruth's Chris Steak House.I had a salad, broccoli au gratin, & mashed potatoes! :) I couldn't believe the waiter wiped the crumbs off the table when he cleared the table! According to Zac, this is a 5 star restaurant and the nicest restaurant in SLC. Zac is no stranger to fine dining. It was nice to kind of get to know the other side of my husband that I rarely see. He profiled everyone at the restaurant which he is very talented at. That was really fun to listen to. It was the best place to people watch.

Our seats for Coldplay were down on the floor which was pretty cool. In the middle of the concert Coldplay played a couple of songs in the middle of the audience up in the stands. Afterwards everything went dark while they were headed back to the stage. Everyone started waiving their cell phones (like they used to do lighters). I'll bet over 90% of the audience had cell phones - it was quite a sight!

I wish I'd been a bigger fan & known the music better before the concert. Now I'm going to get to know all of the songs better & want to go again! 

My top 5 favorite concerts:

1) Maroon 5 - private concert for Best Buy @ Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, FL. We stood front row!

2) American Idols Live 2008 - this concert was awesome! We stayed afterwards and got autographs and pictures of everyone.

3) Dixie Chicks

4) Cake

5) Sawyer Brown

Zac's top 5:

1) Billy Joel / Elton John Face to Face Tour @ MGM Grand in Las Vegas (with Josh)

2) Ludo / Story of the Year @ McKay Events Center (with Tylor)

3) Cake @ Red Rock (more for the venue then the concert, Cake was good, the rest wasn't) (with Christie, Josh & Michael)

4) Toby Keith - Front row @ Usana Ampitheatre

5) Metallica Death Magnet Tour @ ESA (with Josh)

Pictures of Ashley

Tuesday Ashley had a dress rehearsal and pictures for her dance class. I took these pictures when we got home. I'm so excited to see how the professional pictures turn out. Their costumes are long red velvet dresses with furry white trim - so cute! They are dancing to "Holly and the Ivy". I'm so excited and it's not for 2 more weeks!

Disney on Ice

Friday we took Ashley to see Disney on Ice. We sure did spoil her - but it was fun! Lately she has had such a fetish with Cinderella so it fun to see her. Ashley said, "Cinderella is my best friend!"

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Thursday we went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra at the E-Center. What a show! The best part was being able to go with my two brothers and their wives. These tickets were another great perk of Zac's job.

Doctor appointments

Emily had a check-up appointment today for her helmet. The level of severity of her head flatness was a "12" before she got the helmet. Today she measured a "3"! "0" is perfect. Usually they call it good once they are a "3" or "4". She's only worn it 4 weeks! They told us she can be done wearing it if we want to... but we like it so much! We decided that since we already have the helmet, it's paid for, and she's used to it that we'd go ahead and wear it for another month and see how much better we can make her head.

Also, Emily had her 9-month well child visit today. I was so glad she didn't need any shots at this visit! Here's her stats (my favorite part of these visits):

Weight = 17.35 lbs. (24 %tile)

Length = 28.25 in. (75 %tile)

Head = 18 in. (91 %tile)

Here's a few interesting (to me) statistics:

Ashley weighed 14 lbs when she was 9 months old.

Ashley weighed 16 lbs when she was 12 months old.

Emily weighed 16 lbs when she was 6 months old.

Ashley was always in about the 3rd %tile in weight, length, & head circumference.

Zac has moved stores... again.

Zac is now running the Orem store on University Parkway instead of the store in American Fork.

Zac has had an amazing journey with that big blue box with a yellow tag!

It all started in St. George when Zac was a full time student at Dixie College for Auto Body. He was working part time at The Home Depot. He used his amazing talent to sell himself & interview skills and was hired as an Assistant Manager & helped open the store. One & a half years later he was promoted to General Manager in Logan. Another 1 & 1/2 years and he was asked to open a new store in American Fork. Now he's the GM in some amazing accomplishments and awards. He is on multiple committee's including one on the corporate level. He is on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Utah County.

Some of our favorite perks of Zac's job:

• Season tickets to the Jazz! His boss raffles off tickets they have and we've been able to purchase season tickets to the Jazz for a really good price 2 years now. Lower bowl too!
  
• Season tickets to BYU football!
• Free electronics! We've won 2 plasma TV's. He's been given a digital camera, laptop, portable DVD player, video camera, and too many other things to name.
  
• The people he meets! He knows Thurl Bailey & the Jazz Bear to name a couple. He's gotten to know people who have gotten us free tickets to concerts, football games, etc.
  
• Free vacations! He's won free vacations to Seattle & Orlando.
• Great discount at his store & some of their vendors!
• Golf Tournaments! Zac loves to golf! He's been involved in several golf tournaments including a marathon tournament at Thanksgiving Point where they did 3 different rounds of 18 holes in the same day!

Now of course with all this comes really long hours, lots of traveling, and a lot a stress... but I won't go there!

Austad Motel Vacancy

Jill & Kent (my aunt & uncle) found a place to live! They found a place about a mile north of my house in Jacob's Ranch and moved in yesterday. They have been living with us since June. Life isn't going to be quite as entertaining...

A few weeks before Jill & Kent moved in, Zac's brother & his family lived with us for about 5 months too. Now they live right next door. Turns out we're not the only ones who think Saratoga Springs is a great place to live! We love having family so close!

Preschool & Halloween Day

On Thursday, the day before Halloween, Ashley's preschool class sang for their parents. I thought it was really cool because this was the first time I've heard her sing or interact with the other kids. I wish this camera would have let me zoom in more...

The best part is the end (hee hee)!

Halloween was really fun -except for the wind & rain. Zac dressed up and stood in our doorway and scared all of the neighborhood kids. Afterwards he was walking down the street with Ashley & could hear the other parents saying, "See? She's not scared of him!" His scary effect was a little lessened by having a jabber-mouth princess next to him.