The Piano Guys

Why do people take selfiess? I think they always turn out so horrible.

Darren and I went on a double date with our friends Aaron and Lisa Fernandez. This date was planned almost a year in advance.  LOL!  No lie.  Aaron usually buys tickets to unique events and in return we treat them to a nice dinner out. Last night, we finally brought that date to fruition.  First, we ate at Beamer's, in downtown Roanoke.  We had never been there before, so it was a royal treat to go somewhere new. Both the atmosphere and the food was delicious.  After dinner, we headed over to the Jefferson Center to watch a performance by "The Piano Guys".  I had no idea what to expect and I had no idea who these guys were, but MAN O' DAY! It was truly the MOST phenomenal musical performance I have ever witnessed.  

A little insight into who "The Piano Guys" are,

Hailing from Utah, "The Piano Guys" became an internet sensation by way of their immensely successful series of strikingly original self-made music videos. Actually, there's only ONE piano player, Jon Schmidt, and one other instrumentalist, Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. Yet the other three are equally significant members of the group.  The spectacular Piano Guys videos have so far netted over 186 million YouTube views and 500,000 new views per day. Check out my three favorite songs they played last night.  Once you watch one video, you won't be able to stop. I loved this so much, I want their soundtracks for Christmas!!!  It's so upbeat and peaceful!!!

One thing you will notice.... these guys LOVE to take their instruments to unique places to play.  If you check them out on youtube, you will see that ONE AMAZING PLACE they took their instruments to was to "The Great Wall of China"! Incredible.

That's What Makes You Beautiful: This was the last song they played and I was THRILLED. It reminded me of Lilah.  It's her FAVORITE song!!!! Charlie Brown Medley  Titanium

Bollings VS. Williams Family at Lee-Hi Bowling Alley

On Friday night, we spent the evening with one of our favorite families... The Williams Family. First, we ate some grub at Rancho Viejo then we had a brilliant idea to drag 4 children under the age of 6 and the 4 adults to the bowling alley.

It was Ansley, Lilah and Jaxon's first time bowling, so they had no idea what to expect, but were thrilled to say the least. They bowled one entire round, but after that enjoy just playing chase throughout most of the bowling alley! It allowed the grown-ups to bowl one last game without major distraction.

I won't lie. I think the Williams family played a better game, but my hubby was under the weather. He's been in bed since that night. A touch of the flu, I think. :( We'll beat them next time. :) The photos are mostly from behind. Sorry.

Chicken, Waffles, and Jazz!

A few weeks ago, Aaron & Lisa Fernandez invited Darren and I to attend a Jazz concert on March 31st. Being we are a couple perfectly content at home on a Thursday night, Darren checked with me first to see if I was interested in going. Although a Jazz concert is not the FIRST thing I would consider doing on a night off from parenthood, I immediately said, "Sure. Let's do it!". I knew a night out on the town with the Fernandez' would be time well spent, not to mention FUN and quite hysterical. Darren has bible study on Friday mornings, at 6:30 am, so he was a little more hesitant to say yes, knowing it'd be a late night. BUT... he's the greatest hubby; he just goes with the flow.

The days leading up to the concert, Darren asked Aaron if we could try a new restaurant downtown called, "Thelma's Chicken and Waffles." Aaron obliged. I'm not trying to sound snotty, ungrateful or HIGH MAINTENANCE, but Thelma's Chicken and Waffles was not quite the restaurant Lisa and I had in mind. We tried to change the guys' minds, but after a while, we decided to submit and just enjoy it... even if we were going to leave there smelling like FRIED foods.

The date was sooooo much fun. We ate at Thelma's and then headed over to the Jazz concert. I had NO idea what to expect. Actually, that's sort of a lie. I had my own thoughts on what this event was going to be like. I envisioned a fuddy duddy jazz band entertaining a room full of fuddy duddy elderly folks. I wasn't quite sure how our age group would fit in. BOY WAS I WRONG. Instead, it was the COMPLETE opposite. It was loud, funky, fun, and memorable. We saw in concert, Trombone Shorty. He's amazing. Check him out on this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq8ZqVTrOFI He sorta reminded me of a hip hop singer playing in a jazz band. Justin Timberlake came to mind. Many of the audience members ran down to the stage and danced their hearts out, even Aaron and Lisa, but we remained seated and till this day, we are not sure what we found more entertaining, the band or the audience who thought they were good dancers. Key word, "THOUGHT". I would bet money that many of the "dancers" were on drugs. You should have seen these dance moves. Darren and I werelaughing hysterically ALL night. Lisa and Aaron, you two were not included in the wannabedancer list. You maybe white folk, but you sure have rhythm.

We ended the night with a heaping scoop of ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Darren, of course, just sat there and watched us eat our desserts. He's a dud when it comes to desserts. OR maybe one would say he has the self-control of a super hero.

Aaron and Lisa, WE ARE SO GRATEFUL that you invited us to this concert. As we said on the way home, we are fairly boring people. We would NEVER do anything like that without the push of good friends. Don't hesitate to ask us again to do something totally out of the norm or out of our comfort zone. We had a BLAST!

Darren and I do not get to go out as often as we'd like.

We were super excited to go on this double date.

Aaron and Lisa are pros at doing fun things together.

This restaurant is definitely good'ol southern cooking by the black folk. Can you tell? Check out the bottom of the menu. "Run and Tell Dat" homeboy, homeboy.

Lisa, Aaron, and Darren pigging out. Of course if you've seen Lilah and Jaxon's second birthday party video, you already know that Aaron loves to CHOW down. LOL!

I ordered an omelet. It was literally at least a 8 egg omelet, if not more. Darren and Aaron couldn't refuse, chicken and waffles. EWE! What a gross combo. Darren is a chicken and waffle snob. He says, "Hands down. There is no comparison. That was the best chicken and the best waffles I've ever had."

Trombone Shorty in action, live!

What the HECK did I say here? It must have been bad because I am getting the death look.

Aaron was brave enough to ask a passerby to take our group picture. Being Lisa and I both blog, you know we had to have a group shot :)