Had an absolute blast last night.
Aimee, Mac Powell’s wife, and I got a chance to meet up at the Created4Care conference in March. And she graciously – and amazingly generously – offered to hook our entire crew up with tickets to the Third Day show in Raleigh.
For our family, getting a chance to go to this concert was a especially rare occurrence.
As in, we rarely go anywhere with everyone that charges more for admission than the Chick-Fil-A play place.
So, needless to say, our kids were pumped.
The very best part? Aimee worked it out so that we could meet up with her man, lead singer and front man Mac Powell.
One of Chris’ and my most favorite, love-’em-so-much-you’re-almost-a-stalker singers. Ever.
Proof: see my face in the above picture.
Case closed.
And, amazingly, my huckster grin and goofy blathering didn’t frighten him off. We even got to meet Tai Anderson and David Carr, two other members of Third Day.
Third Day was the first Christian band I fell in love with back in 2001. We’ve loved ’em ever since.
Our kids know and love their music because our iPods and iPhones are packed full of Third Day songs.
And worshiping our amazing God in a huge arena with thousands of other believers was nothing short of awesome.
Chris and I even bought the concert t-shirt.
Thank you, Aimee and Mac, for making last night a night we’ll never forget. You truly blessed our entire family in a crazy cool way.
And a P.S. for the photography stuff. While these aren’t the best, and they definitely don’t do the night justice, they’re so very special to me. My favorite shot (photographically speaking) was the first one, of Jude, because of the way I caught a ray of the sun as it was setting.
These were shot on my Nikon D90 with my 50mm 1.4 lens. My settings for that first shot were ISO 1250, 1/100 sec, f/3.5. I was playing around with my aperture trying to get some sunflare and this is what I got.
Can’t wait to see your Snapshots.
Ready to play along? Here are the Sunday Snapshot rules – in a nutshell.
1. Sunday Snapshot will begin weekly with my Snapshot post on Sunday (or Saturday night) and will close Tuesday AM.
2. It is open to anyone who wants to become a better photographer and have fun in the process.
3. Snapshot posts should have the photo to be considered AT THE TOP of the Sunday Snapshot post, and should include the Sunday Snapshot button as well as a link back here to encourage others to play along.
4. Share any photography tips and/or settings on your posts for others (like me!) who are learning – this is encouraged but definitely not required.
5. Each Snapshot entry will be reviewed by me. Then I’ll select a favorite photo to be announced on Wednesday.
6. The winning Snapshot will be selected based on composition, color, emotion, creativity and post-processing.
7. Weekly winners will be featured in a monthly Sunday Snapshot post which will be judged by y’all, the readers.
8. The winner of the monthly Sunday Snapshot will receive a photography related goodie donated by the Sunday Snapshot monthly sponsor. May’s Snapshot sponsor is SnapShops.
9. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
9. Rules subject to change, as necessary, to keep this fun and fruitful for everyone.
If you’re ready to link up this week with your Sunday Snapshot, just copy the code under the Snapshot button and paste it into the body of your post where you’d like the button to be displayed.
When you hit ‘publish’ it should show up just fine. Then add your link below.
Happy Sunday, y’all.
Third Day?????!!!!!!!!!
I’m SO STINKIN” JEALOUS, and it AIN’T pretty!!!!!
And the concert pics are really pretty!
nancy
I have always loved them too! Way back when I was in college : ). I went to a concert in Scranton of theirs in 1998. I thought they were the coolest group ever. What a blessing for you to get to participate in something like that.
LOVE the flare. Way to go!
wonderful pics of a great event! 🙂
Sweet! Looks like an incredible evening!
and Lovin’ the sunflare… Great job, Stefanie!
Third Day are awesome! So good that you could all go together! I think your pics are fantastic! Shooting in a dark room with lights are stage, are my nightmare – I can never get it right!!!
*Sorry! * Correction – “Lights ON stage!!!”
So glad you all got to enjoy it! They are awesome and living it out too. I met them at a meet and greet and I’m sure I was a bigger goober!
ooooohh. jealous– in a good, Christian way;) can’t wait to take my whole clan to a newsboys, tobymac or third day concert– love!!!!!!!
Oh how fun- I bet that is something they will be talking about for some time!
What a fun treat for the entire family. Third Day rocks!!!!
lovely fun, awesome opportunity
You’re right that is amazing!
Oh what a fun night for you and your family!! You totally captured the joy and excitement in these photos Stef!! Really love that first shot with the flare:)
Have a great Sunday~
xoxo,
Lisa
You look so happy family. 🙂
Haha..I just listen prog and heavy..but hey, I’m from Finland. 😀
totally off subject here. Someone suggested I read a book by Michael Pearl, To Train Up A Child. I know that our, almost 29 month old daughter is needing structure and disapline. Neither of my parents were good with either so I don’t have much to work from. My dad was violent and loud (I’m still afraid of him) and my mom yelled constantly. Any suggestions you or your readers have would be much appreciated. Thanks, Michelle
I sent you a p.m. on Facebook Michelle. Hope you don’t find me presumptuous to do so……
How awesome that you could go and your kids could too!!!! Love them all, my 2 faves are the first one with the sunflare and the last of daddy holding his 2 girls…just precious.
hugs,
Gail
You look shocked! Glad a good time was had by all.
Quick question… can you offer any tips on how to compress/reduce a photo without losing quality? I’m so annoyed, whenever I compress (I just do it in Microsoft Picture Manager) my pics lose alot of quality?
Wow….what a gift. And what gusto you gang has. Love it!!!
SO jealous. LOVE THEM. Around here, at The Gang’s House, they are known as Mac Powell and his other guys. 🙂 LOVE them. LOVE.THEM. Crazy, stalker kind of love. No “kinda” or “sorta” about it!
I love Third Day, have seen them 3 times in concert:) Great pics!
Oh my gosh the first and third picture are uhMAZing. I love Asher’s smile.
That is soooo awesome! Great for you guys, what a treat!
We love Third Day! Absolutely love the first picture and the sun flare…just beautiful! I wore my “So Loved” shirt this past Friday when our daughter had surgery. Love the way it sparks conversation. Looks like you had an unforgettable night…
What a BLAST!!!!!!! Jeff and Ainsley saw them this year too, and the thought it was an amazing concert!!! So happy that you and your special family were blessed in this way!!!!
Hugs,
Diana
How cool!! Love me some Third Day. I’m glad your whole gang got to have such an amazing evening together.
Gin =)
Dorton Arena!? I grew up going to concerts and the State Fair there, we’re about 2 hours west of there now. I didn’t realize you lived in NC?
Donna
That looks like so much fun! I love that the girls are all wearing their So Loved shirts.
OH.MY.STARS!!!!! I love love love this post…. what an amazing time you all must have had!! <3
I’m a sucker for sunflare : ) Your night looked and sounded amazing. So happy for you all!
How cool is that? We’re big Third Day fans here. My 3 yo can sing almost all the songs off the Move album…it’s pretty sweet to listen to.
It sounds like your family had an amazing time! The way you described yourself around Mac Powell was how I acted when I met Michael Buble! Swoon!
Just linked up! Have a great week!
What a blessing! The expression on your face is pure joy! A perfect response to a night of worship! So cool!
WOW! Looks like you guys had an awesome night! I love the pictures!
What a lovely night out for your family! I can completely relate to the “stalker” in you…Mac and Aimee live less than a mile from me. My hubby has known Mac and Mark for years (he does their A/C work). Every time he’s headed to one of their houses I try to come up with a plausible reason to accompany him. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to be successful. Like, doesn’t he need a “tool girl” or something??? LOL. Your pictures are stunning, as always!