The (Actual) Surprise!

Well, the surprise was AWESOME! We left early to avoid the crazy concert traffic that always piles up at the Usana Amphitheatre. When we first got there, we went behind the main stage where they had the "Water World Plaza" set up. It was like a little festival with a couple of things to do (like fishing boat video games) and a smaller stage. We got to see Josh Thompson, Easton Corbin, and Steel Magnolia. None of them are super famous, but I did know some of the songs and it was a nice way to pass the time, since we got there so early. Then we enjoyed the carnival food for dinner (nachos, mmm...) and went to find our seats for the main event.

Cell phone pictures aren't the greatest, but I didn't want to risk my fancy camera when there were sure to be lots of dancing, stomping, drunk country fans. (And I turned out to be right! A totally wasted lady crashed into me in the middle of a song and almost sent me flying! Oh boy...) But, anyway, our seats were much, much closer than they look. We could see the people perfectly.

Justin Moore did a small set to open, then Darius Rucker came and sang a bunch of songs. I think all of his songs are so good! Then Brad Paisley came out and sang for FOREVER! It was a good kind of forever, though. He sang pretty much every song he could have ever thought to sing. He even came way out in the crowd, right in front of our section, to sing a couple songs. He was so close! That's him in the bottom right of the picture (above). Though, as I mentioned, the cell phone makes it look a lot farther away than it was...

At the end we were so tired, but I had a lot of fun. I think Tyler enjoyed it, too. At least, I hope so! We tried forever to find our car, and then waited even longer for the traffic to get out of the parking lot. I was fine to wait, since there were way too many drunk people, and I was sure some of them were out there driving. I'd rather follow far behind that kind of scariness. So, anyway, we are sitting there waiting and the biggest monster truck I have ever seen comes roaring around us. It was so loud and so close I thought we were going to be crushed, but we were fine. It sped around and tried to ram its way into the line of cars that were leaving. Well, this incredibly brave, tiny, fragile-looking car sped right in front of it and cut it off so that it couldn't cut in line! The big monster had to slam on his breaks, and I thought he would smash right into him, but he didn't. Came close, though.

That is one brave driver! I would never pull in front of that beast! It was too funny (and scary) to see!

Well, that is the great surprise. I loved it all. Thank you, Tyler, for being wonderful to me! I love you!