I MET AND HUGGED DAVID ARCHULETA!!!!

The day finally came...American Idols Tour Live 2008!!!! My friend Ashley and I arrived at Joe Louis Arena at 11:30 AM so we could get autographs and pics with the idols before the concert. There was about 150 people lined up along the gates just waiting for their tour bus to arrive...

Here's how the day went down:

**WARNING** LOTS OF PICTURES

After asking a few people where the tour buses pulled in, we were able to find the location for the pre-concert autographs and pics. We knew we were in the right spot when we saw a group of girls with signs and shirts that said "I heart David Archuleta"

After waiting about 2 hours, the tour buses finally came!!

After waiting a little longer, the first person finally came out. It was Brooke!! She was on vocal rest though so she couldn't speak, but was still as sweet as ever. (notice the pink tape on her shirt)

The next was Kristy Lee Cook. She was really pretty!

And then he came...that's right...David Archuleta!!!!!!!! I was sooooo excited!! I got him to sign the picture I had, along with signing my shirt. Then I asked if I could get a picture with him. He was SO cute! I told him that my phone company kicked me out of their service because I called to vote for him so many times outside of the Tmobile phone zone. He laughed and said "Really? wow...I used to have tmobile, but then we got AT&T phones" Before he started moving to the next person, I asked him if I could have a hug. He said "sure" and he leaned over the gate and gave me a hug!! It was pretty much the most exciting thing EVER!!! He was such a sweetheart, and a cutie too!

Then David Cook came out. He was in a big hurry and wouldn't pause for pics at all. He was kinda rude and kinda acted like a jerk. It made me not like him very much...

Chikezie was really nice though. Very friendly and such. I don't know why we didn't get a picture with him...

Guess who this is....

If you guessed David Archuleta's dad, you are right! He was walking around talking to fans and he stopped and talked with us for about 10 minutes. He was very nice and told us that David is trying to get his album out before Christmas, YAY!!

Then there was Syesha. She was friendly and sweet too.

And last but not least for the afternoon...Michael Johns. He was kinda in a hurry like David Cook, but still took the time to take pics with fans and such, which was cool. His accent was awesome too!

Sadly, we didn't get to see Jason, Ramiele, or Carly before the concert. We decided to get some food and wait till the doors opened so we could sit in the air conditioning. By now, we were hot, thirsty, and rather hungry.

At 6:00 the doors opened, and at 7:00 the concert started! Each person came out one at a time, starting with the 10th person to get kicked out and counting down from there.

This is Jason playing his guitar and singing

Here is David Archuleta...he came up from the floor sitting at the piano! It was pretty cool!

More Archuleta

And some more Archuleta (can you tell he's my favorite?)

Then came the winner of American Idol 2008, David Cook

Notice the different angle from which this pic is taken...Ashley and I decided we would get up and move towards the doors to where autographs would be after the concert. She ran down to get a good spot, while I stood at the entrance near the doors watching the rest of the concert, but ready to sprint out as soon as it ended.

It was worth it. Ashley finally got her autograph and pic with Jason!!

Then Ramiele came, and we got her autograph, but totally missed a picture with her.

And our last idol to meet...Carly!!!

Our day was complete. We met ALL the top 10 American Idols of 2008 and got all their autographs. We had the greatest time and all the money and time spent waiting was TOTALLY worth it!!!

If you want to see even MORE pics, go to this link. It will take you to my albums on facebook that I created from the concert. I also have about 15 videos from the concert on facebook, and if you want to see those, let me know and I can either give you the links, or I can put them up on the blog as well.

Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231146&l=2c930&id=21702771

Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231149&l=a0288&id=21702771

July 14...I am OLD now!!

Yep, that's right, I just turned 22 years old yesterday! In my mind, I am now officially old :)

On Sunday night we celebrated my birthday a day early so Matt could celebrate with us, since he is gone all week. Then on my actual birthday, we celebrated again with the Oglesby family.


Sunday night celebration...look at all those candles!!


I managed to blow all but 3 out on the first try. Notice all the smoke in the air


If you recall from previous posts, my main birthday present was the ticket to the American Idol concert on July 24th, but here are a few more things I got to open ON my birthday. I got the movie 27 Dresses, a deck of High School Musical 2 UNO cards, and yes, the children's book Are You My Mother. I loved that book as a child, and for all of you who know me, I love getting childrens books to add to my collection for my future classroom :)


Now pics from my actual birthday night. As you can tell, our cake is half eaten from the night before. And if you look closely, you can also see my beautiful Bob Evans attire. That would be because I had to work on my birthday.

Since we used all the candles from the night before, we put 2 and 2 to equal 22. Don't worry, I managed to blow all those out on the first try ;)


It was a good birthday. That morning before I went to work my mommy and I went to Bennigans for lunch and I took advantage of free dessert on my birthday :) Then I went to work at 3, and came home for more cake and ice cream with the Oglesby family. Nothing too exciting, but I'm old now, so thats what happens once you get old... :)

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!!!

Mike's Going Away Party

As I think I've mentioned in other posts, my friend Mike is getting deployed to Afghanistan. It's already reached that time when he has to leave, so we threw him a going away party. The party was fun, but saying good-bye was sad.


Me and Mike


Look!! Army gummies!!


I love this group pic...its very cute :)


We decided to play on the playground at the park where we had the party at


And afterwards we went swimming in Mike's neighbor's pool at night...it was cold, but we had fun anyway

I stayed in Grand Rapids for 3 days to hang out with Mike before he left. We saw Wall-E and Narnia:Prince Caspian, went to the zoo, and lost power at his house! It was a great few days, but went by really fast. It was sad saying good-bye. :(

Mike is over in Afghanistan for a year, so please keep him and all the troops in your prayers. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate it!!