Note: Do Not Eat Too Many Mango's Before A 7pm Show

Here are some more interesting photos for you today. Yesterday was a fabulous day off in San Antonio. I spent most of the day by the pool relaxing and getting rest and then spent the rest of the evening downtown where we had dinner and went to see Lion King at the Majestic Theatre. It was a pretty good Off Broadway production. I'm glad i went. I sat by myself on row K seat 1. It really was a good seat. I sat next to Gayle and Romina, two very nice ladies from New Orleans. Gayle was a talker basically from the moment she sat down. She had an amazing story too. Once she found out i worked with Veggie Tales, she said she was a Christian and just kept going on about what God is doing in her life. It was so cool! She began to tell me how her sister - Romina - had just gotten saved in December. Gayle had prayed for her sister for years, and the two of them never got along very well, but she didn't stop praying. When the hurricane happened, they both had to abandon their houses and they moved to Texas. During that time, Romina was "forced" to move about a block from their families church. Over time Romina was drawn to the church through prayer. And then it happened, she gave it all up, and became a child of God! Gayle said that "when people say that the hurricane was ALL bad, i say 'NO! My sister found GOD!'" So there you go folks! Romina somebody from somewhere found God because she was forced away from all that was normal in her life and she saw what she truly needed... a Saviour.

No, this tour is not just about kids and churches and VeggieTales, it's also about my day's off where i "randomly" sit by myself in a full theatre to meet two woman who's lives have been changed because of God, and in those moments we get to share 'tears' of oh good and how cool our God is.

Amen.


Teeler and Lessie!!! YEAH! It was a great...yet interesting day!!


Pa annoying me. or is it the other way around?


This is Brandon posing in Vegas.


Crystalyn and myself in somewhere USA...oh wait, that's in Canada, i think in BC. It was a cool lobby.


That's me.


Our promoter in the north west took us out to eat the night before our last show in Oregon. It was a really nice restaurant, a long table and good food. Troy, Michelle, me, Joe-Dell, Charlene and Andrea.


Michelle, me, Brandon and Charlene in the bus ready for bed.


Why are Brandon in so many of my pictures! "MY WORD!" This is before we climbed.


Brandon and myself racing up the "mountain-ish" range... you tell me who won!


This was an intense moment when i returned from food poisoning... Michelle had taken my place in Larry Boy so this was the tearful moment when the exchanging of flags occurred.

So i wrote the above part many days ago and i never finished it and posted it, so now it's time to do a little more updating. Today i'm in Jackson Mississippi, not one of the more glamorous cities, but we are having a day off here and that's just great. I'm going to get to see some of my childhood friends and that's exciting!

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I've got a neat story for you. I was in some state... i think it was Texas because it was only a few shows ago. I was eating a meal in catering and across and down a bit from me was a man who was apart of our local crew. He began to tell us a little bit more about his life. What we discovered was that the majority of our local load in-out crew and stage hands were from sort of half way house program. These guys were amazing. This man continues to tell us about what he has been through. He was from south of New Orleans and ended up in Houston (where we were - i just remembered), he used to be caught up in all sorts of drugs and alcohol, it's all that consumed his life. But he said... and then God found me and changed me. He just kept going on about how good his God was, how amazing his life change has been. He gave it all to Christ, and now he wants to serve him as much as he can. I saw the life changed in this man, he was a different person... i didn't know him before, but the southern man with the sweet country accent explained to me the change, and it was beautiful. Here's to you mr. new orleans and the change that you are experiencing, God speed.

Mama and Papa went to see the show yesterday afternoon. It was really to see them and to go have lunch with the two of them. It meant a lot to me that they would travel for a couple hours to see me and the show! You'll see a picture of us a little later. And speaking of people seeing the show. If any of you guys would like to come see my show in the next couple weeks and it's near you, please call me or email me and tell me and i'll try to get you tickets...one: i would love to see you guys. two: i would love for you guys to see the show! please come if you can!

now it's time for pictures...oh and it's also time for Aevyn to be here! =-)


Nat, Chris and Andrea in New Mexico...just having a little robe time.


Nat and Brandon - what what!


Jerrad, Troy, Nat and Charlene on an escalator


Nat, Brandon, Michelle and Jerrad during sound check


Hi Pa.


Jimmy getting some lovin' from Crystalyn


No comment.


huh? - digo and christian in Belton, Tx.. rodeo room. yicks

Here's Your Explanation!

Yesterday in catering, we had a great Easter dinner. There were some really good green beans. haha. There you go! =-) but seriously, they were good.

Easter Sunday, New Mexico and some good green beans.

I don't have much time until the next show but i wanted to blog just a little bit before we hit the road again and i don't have access to the internet.

Today has been good. Yesterday was a pretty tough day, but also very good. Ty and Les went to see the show and it was so great to see them! It meant alot to me that they made the trek out to see me. We went to dinner after the show and it was just great. i will post a picture later.

I went to a neat Easter service this morning. It's always so good to be with other believers in worship!

Okay, the show is in 26 minutes so i better get going. I will tell you more stories soon.

I know all of these picture are out of order, but i think you can figure it out.

I'd love to hear you guys some time soon, so give me a call. I need to return some calls so be expecting those soon.

He is alive. amen.

-me


This is another building in Vegas...Paris.


My "roomies". me, michelle, shannon.


Mr. Blue. Aka the cast bus.


New York New York. Vegas style.


This is Troy and Frankie at the Chinese Theatre.


This is another picture of me in Hollywood with the famous sign. cute huh?


Hi Jerrad.


This is the cool hotel that we stayed at while in Vegas. It was seriously large! I was on the 16th floor in room 326...there were three wings on the 16th floor...wow. I had a great day of tanning by the pool, relaxing and going to the show.. good day. This is a picture of us a few minutes before we had dinner. Crystalyn, me, Brandon, Michelle and Andrea. Joedell is taking the picture.


This is our hotel at night, beautiful huh?


This is where Joedell, Crystalyn and i saw the Blue Man Group while we were in Las Vegas, at the Venetian! Cool place, GREAT show!


I thought this was a cool picture of Chris in Saskatoon, this is at a lovely sushi place.


This is a recent picture taken in Utah (Salt Lake City in fact) during intermission. This is pretty much what we do during our break.. sit, drink water and talk..


This is the famous Bolagio "lake" fountain. It was BEAUTIFUL! seriously, it was just lovely! We caught the last half of the water show on the way back from the show. It was a song by Andre Bocelli. It was great!


This is Brandon sticking his head through our "dressing room wall" while we were having fun in Peoria, Illinois.

Screaming, Crying and a lot of Smiling

I did enter those wonderful golden gates of Disney Land, and truly it was better than i had thought. Yesterday i went to Disney and had an utter blast. The majority of the day, my little huddle of Disney going friends consisted of Jerrad (who toured us around because he used to work there), Lori (which was Jerrad's L.A. friend), Crystalyn, Troy, Charlene and Karen (our director came back for a few days, it's been great to haver her, and she used to work at Disney for a very long time so it was fun to go around with her too). We rode rides, smiled much and for a short time became like kids again. During the entire day, i saw two parades, a fire work show where i almost cried, a water/light show, i rode Indiana Jones, Buzz light year, Mr. Toads adventure, and my two favorite rides were Tower of Terror which i loved and Space Mountain where i laughed so hard that i was literally crying plus more. I remember when my parents and big brother would ride space mountain and i was always too afraid to ride... but finally, FINALLY i had the experience. And i loved it! Seriously, it was just so much fun! The next day (monday) we rented a car and drove to Hollywood, we had sushi, took many pictures and had fun chillin' in the 'burbs. Thanks to Jerrad for being mr. tour guide on our days off.

Today we are at a beautiful church in Peoria, Arizona. The weather is absolutely exquisite and the day has just been plain lovely. I'm really tired, but that's okay... i'll get some good sleep tonight before we hit Vegas tomorrow. i'm going to see the Blue Man Group and i'm very excited! No gambling for me...duh! The stage today however, is wonderfully huge and is a very nice change from a few of the past smaller shows we have had.

Well, thirty minutes until the 7 o'clock show, so it's time to leave you... but before i do, here are some images of recent.


This is me at the hotel before we even left... I'm holding my golden ticket! (okay maybe it's not golden, but you get the point!)


Jerrad and me at the gates of Disney!


A cool looking ride in Tomorrow Land


I saw Simba!


Hello Ariel!

Hollywood:

This is our hot ride! A blue P.T. Cruiser, and this is our driver, Mr. Matthew. Fun, fun car!


We jammed on the way to Hollywood... this is what it looks like when you are 80's rockstars!


This is Troy and myself in Hollywood right by the Chinese Theatre. you see the hollywood sign in the back?

random:

This church in Livermore was so amazing! They had this big climbing wall that he had a lot of fun on! This is me enjoying the wall.


More of me climbing.


This is us at dinner after intense climbing, Brandon is consuming a wonderful brownie sundae, it was so good!


I really like Hampton Inns, you want to know why? It's because they have a smile sign inside their elevators! That's just cool. This is in Medford, Oregon.


This is a wonderful sushi dinner that we had in Medford during our day off, mucho bueno!


This is a picture found in the lobby (entering into the auditorium) of a Canadian church, we found great pleasure in this... funny ay?


This is just an adorable picture of Junior and Jimmy. everyone together now "awww"...

Take in a deep breath and realize how good God is, sometimes it just really helps.

-n

The "Magic" Tour

I didn't realize that when i signed my contract that i would also be experiencing many other wonderfully 'magical' things. Yesterday we arrived in California and tomorrow we will be in the magic kingdom, called Disney Land!!!! Yes, indeed. Starting tomorrow morning at around 10 o'clock natalie will transform into a tiny little girl with pig-tales and rosy cheeks who will gleefully enter the golden gates of disney... well, that's basically how it will go. I am so excited! We have two...count it, one - two days off in Anaheim, California. Jerrad is from L.A. and is going to take us around on our second day off to Hollywood and the sushi place that he works called "BlowFish". It's very exciting!

It's great to be back to normal in the show and fulfilling my every day duties. It was hard but good to be out for a few days, so it's even better to be back in. The first show today was really good, we had a full five "marley" stage today and that was awesome. During meet and great, there was this little boy named Joshua, he was just precious. He loved Bob and Larry soo much! He was about three years old and down-syndrome. his parents told us that he has all the videos memorized, infact, his first word was Bob! how adorable! even more reasons as to why i am here, to hear stories like that and to make little kids smile. precious.

alright, the second show is in about thirty minutes, so it's time for me to prep.

call me some time soon my friends.

dearly,

natalie

Seattle and Some bad Chinese food....

It’s interesting how the strangest things will help you to see the other side of your world. I have been on this tour for over a month now, I have been with this team for about two and the world that surrounds my daily life is about all I see. I wake up to work and I go to sleep surrounded by work. Luckily I love what I do and it is a pleasant sight to behold as I wake up upon my job…. However, one thing that you lose sight of when surrounded by this world, is the fact that so many things are going on around you that you do not realize. I have already been in several different states and other provinces not in this country, and day-to-day I think about the church and/or venue directly at hand. What I do not make myself very aware of, are the people and situations that are surrounding that city. But sometimes you are forced to see those people and look around at those situations… I had one of those moments a few days ago; it’s called the E.R. Yes… that’s right, the emergency room. Little me had a visit with my road manager. The cause? A horrible case of food poisoning. So, poor Christian (my road manager) had to sit with me as I lay in a hospital bed for hours as the doctor and nurses treated my weak self. It was pitiful, and completely dreadful. Within hours I was rehydrated although weak and still sick, I was ready to go back to the bus for a lot of rest. For the next three days I was out of the show because I was just too weak and I was still trying to eat little bits at a time. Here’s the thing though, just a small bit of my story… if I had not had those hours in the Evergreen hospital in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, then I may have never met those people. I may have never had the chance to tell those nurses a little about what I do, although rather loopy, I got to see a bit of the “other side”. It was one of those bad experiences that helps you to see a little more of life.

There's my reason as to why i have been out of commission for so many days. It's been a tough week...really tough, but i'm almost 100% again. I was back in the show yesterday and it was a great feeling to be back with the cast. It was really hard on the whole cast and crew to lose someone for so many shows, but they pulled together really well and made due while i was away. Everyone is so talented that when something happens you just have to get things done, and they did.

To all of you that i have not talked to in so long, i'm sorry and please call me. I was in roaming for so long in Canada, and now i'm doing some sort of roaming but i would love to hear from you guys soon! At least email me and let me know how you are doing so i don't pay a booty load in phone bills. If there is any news of any sort let me know because i don't really know what is going on in the world.

We are in Medford, Oregon today for a day off and then a show tomorrow. It's been a long run for everyone, but our spirits are high and we still love each other...

It's about time for a picture update... and now i thought i would show you what my bus looks like as well.


The front view of our bus...walk in the door, take a left and there it is. This is our front lounge, on the right and left is our comfy seating area, our kitchen on the left, towards the back of the picture is one of our bathrooms on the left and on the right is our little table.



This is right above where i sleep...


Where my head goes at night when i sleep and chill, complete with my Bible, Pine Cove Blanket and yes... bunny and blankie travel with me! =-) haha... will i ever really grow up? neh!


This is another view of my bunk, just with my tv down, thought it's cool. I've watched many a movie on this thing. Last night Jerrad and I watched the rest of King Kong (he sleeps across the hall and up one from me) from our bunks... seriously long movie...not too bad though.


This is the view of where my feet go when i sleep.


This is our back lounge...well a little view of it. We have a T.V. with surround sound (which is fun) and a big U comfyness seating.


Another view of our back lounge, on the right is our shower that we use for storage, on the left is our "bigger" bathroom.


This is the view of the front of the bus if you are leaving the bus. So the "kitchen" is on the right and our T.V. on the left, mr. bus driver's (Rob) area in the front.


This is Brandon in solitary...i think he enjoyed it too much...haha...he was forced to sit in there because he "credit carded" michelle one too many times...


This is Michelle not allowing Brandon to come out of solitary...Andrea is enjoying the moment while taking a picture of him in solitary.


Jerrad posing next to Brandon's newly renovated bed... full of tons of pillows and blankets.. we did this while he was in solitary...


This is one of our "stop-over" day offs in Saskatoon, SA (canada). A few of us decided to take a little hike around the city. We went to a mall but it closed at 5:30pm and it doesn't help too much when you get there at about 5:20... so we walked around the city and it was just so fun. We ate at this fabulous sushi place on some side street off of Broadway. What a great day. In this picture we were crossing some pretty foot bridge... a runner took this picture, and it seems like we are in some sort of jeans and earth tone commercial. ha... from left to right... Chris (aka rock star), me, Hogie (aka Cory Matthews), Crystalyn (aka Junior) Jason (aka Hot eyes).


Do you remember the gum called "Fruit Stripes"? The gum with the zebra on the front that tastes wonderfully fruity but loses it's flavor in about... 15 seconds... this is a sign that we had that gum one day... the great tattoos that can be obtained through a little moisture and your gum wrapper.


Crystalyn and I decided to do a little fashion show while we chilled inside Larry's road case during intermission.


We met this man named Greg...he told us he was 7'2''...believe him? yep... he was so nice, and SO tall!

Until later... peace to you all... and be careful when eating Chinese... it could be bad.

-nat