Nitty Gritty Dirt Band In Anaheim

This weekend I flew to Anaheim, CA to produce a concert for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the Anaheim Convention Center. I was covering for one of our other Gary Musick producers, Curt.

The band was incredible...and great guys. Very easy to work with and a huge, HUGE hit. Their hits range through five different decades from "Mr. Bojangles" to "Fishin' in the Dark" to "Broken Road" (made popular by Rascal Flatts but written by NGDB members).

Friday night I begged Peter and Lindsey and baby Brayden to drive up and have dinner with me. We had just left Cabo together earlier in the week but I was having withdrawals. Brayden is such a cutie. Thanks for driving up, Pete and Linds! Always enough laughter to make me sore the next day. Love that about good friends!

This morning I took a few pictures around the convention center...

The Anaheim Convention Center has a lot of rich history...including Elvis back in the 70's

Inside the convention center getting ready for load-in

Sound check

The show...for Commodity Classic

The musicianship of these guys...just incredible! Thank you to all the NGDB guys for a fun show and always doing a great job!

And, I want to add that the 1500 or so people at this conference were overall such genuinely nice people. They are the farmers (proper term is "growers") divided into 4 groups... corn, whet, sorghum, and soybean. These business owners care about making our country a better place. They are salt of the earth people whom I respect a great deal. Thank you to Peggy Findley, Bruce Hobbs, Dave Dupree from McCune Sound and Lights and to all the PSAV tech guys. You made it happen. Great job! Thanks for allowing me to cover for you, Curt. I had a great time.

Cabo Get-Away

Thanks to the generosity of our friends Bruce and Taylor Morgan and the gift of miles from other friends last year, we had an incredible vacation last week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I met Sheryl in Dallas after Jenny's funeral and we flew out on Friday. The timing of this get-away could not have been better. Our hearts were still heavy for our friends and there were moments of tears over the weekend as we processed our disappointment with God not answering us in the way we'd hoped. (God is definitely big enough to handle my questions and frustrations.) But God made the Cabo sun beat down on us with healing power. We had an amazing time.

Bruce and Taylor are the parents of Lindsey Morgan Wilson (married to Peter who sings with us.) Bruce and Taylor have a place in Cabo at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach and welcomed us with open arms. I had the honor of performing Peter and Lindsey's marriage ceremony in a beautiful vineyard in Sonoma, CA a couple of years ago. They were also there with us along with Peter's parents, Peter and Gail. It was fun to be with all of them and to get to spend quality time together and get to know Baby Braden better. What a cutie!!

Let me just say, I LOVE my new camera. I had so much fun taking pictures...I was a total dork. Thanks for indulging me...here are SOME of my favorites! :)

Sheryl and Bruce

Sheryl and me with Peter and Lindsey Wilson

This beach was right outside our back door...

Braden Wilson...a man among men.

This is a REAL picture...unbelievable beauty!

Peter and me

Peter C. Wilson and Peter F. Wilson entertaining Braden...he looks entertained doesn't he? :)

Peter, ok, ok, OK...your lens is better!

Peter, Lindsey and Braden Wilson

headed out for a dinner in Cabo

I love this picture of Lindsey and Braden!

This restaurant was so cool and perfect for moonlight dining!

gorgeous!!

Our waiter was so awesome...and made this very cool dessert coffee with a delicious kick!

Peter and Lindsey

Bruce Morgan

Sunday brunch. Unreal.

Sheryl and me with Gail and Peter Wilson, Bruce and Taylor Morgan and Peter and Lindsey

These were out our front door. Did I mention how much like paradise this was?

the pool...where we lived.

Bruce and Braden...a very proud grandfather. (and young.)

Lindsey and Taylor are amazing cooks. We had some of the best meals by their hands.

Taylor Morgan

The view off the back deck

more of the view

This picture was taken at sunset...completely unedited. The color here is God's doing.

We're back home now and so thankful for 4 days with friends and basking in the beauty of God's creation. Please continue to pray for The Bizaillion and Ross Families. They need our prayerful support. More info to come for financial donations to help David and Malaya.

Jenny Bizaillion's service

Please go to this site as soon as you see this (hopefully it will still be up). You'll need to click the first link entitled "Listen or watch sermons & lesson FREE now" which will open up another window. Go down to the second one entitled "In loving memory of Jenny Bizaillion". You can watch the service or download it to your itunes as a podcast. Here's the link.... http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/sermons-and-podcasts/

You'll be glad you did.