We opened up for Phil Vassar in University Park, IL and had a fun as always. However, we got two wonderful surprise guests up on stage with us that night : ) At the top of our set between songs Mike noticed a spider crawling across the set list!! Then while singing “Gettin’ Out Of Dodge” a fly wouldn’t leave me alone! This little jerk was not afraid of me in any way shape or form. Just as soon as I would get rid of him, he’s right back for more. So I decided that I’d just embrace my newly found friend. I put out my hand, he landed in my palm and he just sat there for the rest of the song. It was pretty nasty but a least he didn’t fly into my mouth while I was singing.

LH

We started off our journey to Glens Falls in a stealth like minivan with Dunkin Donuts and a side of upset tummy. We left Maine at 7am and settled into our black beauty(the minivan) for a comfy 7 hour drive:) Thanks to me and my multiple potty breaks the drive took a little longer but once I got some Saltines, Pepto, and a clean potty we were home free. We arrived in Glens Falls just in time for a sound check and a quick bite in the cute little town, then it was show time. Our show went great and all the AJ fans were very welcoming to us.

On September 11th at 8:45 AJ took the stage for another night of great music but this time his show struck a nerve more then it had any other night. His hit song “Where Were You” a tribute to September 11th got everyone in the crowd on their feet with flags and lighters. I peaked out at the crowd from back stage to get a better view and noticed someone holding up a picture of Ground Zero, you could feel the emotion in the air. By the look on AJs face I think his words hit him harder on that day as well. All in all it was a great show and were very thankful to do a show with AJ in NY on such a special day. Thanks Glens Falls:)

We just got to open a show for Alan Jackson in Michigan and it was awesome!! However, there were some bumps in the road on our way there.

We started our trip off right in my opinion……. an 8pm flight. It’s pretty awesome to not have to fly out at the crack of dawn and sit in a metal tube sharing recycled air with other humans! We land in Detroit at 10:30pm and head straight to the rental car place excited to get to our hotel and SLEEP! There were a few more people on the Budget bus then we would like but hey, what’s a few people? Not only was there our bus but there were many others as well and they just kept on coming. The cool thing is there was only 1 guy working that night at Budget. Apparently there was some bad weather with delayed flights that caused a massive amount of congestion in the rental car line and there was no other choice but to weather the storm of people. So our record rep Jason (a.k.a. The Stein a.k.a. Frank) stood in line while we wondered around outside for 3 hours! That’s right, 3 hours! We didn’t get in the car until 2:30am and what’s even better about all this is while I was waiting out on the curb I got bit by a nasty nasty spider on my hand and my leg. How this little turd snuck up on me without being seen I will never know but he did some damage. I take my hat off to you Sir Spider however I hope biting me killed you:) OK so, now we are finally driving to the hotel and like a little child I keep asking “Are we there yet, are we even getting close?” These are 2 very dumb questions because for one “Are we there yet?” would only imply that we have arrived which clearly we had not. 2nd “Are we getting close?” is even worse considering that the car is moving and we are actually getting closer every second.

Ahhhhh finally in my bed for the night and it’s 4:30am. I lay, I think and think and think……..OMG I can’t shut up my brain! Oh and what’s this? My hand feels like it’s been put in a vice and bit by 100 fire ants. Holy moly it’s huge! Swelling out of control! Clearly there will be no sleep for me:( 45 minutes of sleep and a fat hand later was our 10:30am lobby call. We’re all just sitting there enjoying our Hilton Garden Inn breakfast and up walks Mike Ditka. So being the mature adults that we are we all get out our phones and tried to sneak a picture. Ditka vs. The Harters and I do believe Ditka won that round cause the little guy wouldn’t hold still long enough for any of us to snap a clear picture. After our dining with Ditka we climb in the minivan for our 3 hour trip to the casino where would be playing with AJ. It was pretty great to be staying at a casino for obvious reasons but also the hotel gave us $80 each for food and stuff!! So we go to sound check, go to dinner, get ready and sing our little hearts out. We had a blast and the crowd was awesome! We stuck around to watch AJ and then it was off to the casino. I go up to my room to change and noticed that my hand is twice as big as it was in the morning and its really painful and itchy. Being the smart girl that I am I take 2 Benadryl and head to meet Mike and Scooter at the casino bar. I only planned on staying for a minute but there were a couple fans from the show there that were buying us drinks and wanted us to hang. We hang, I’m having a good time and forgetting all about my hand. I stayed down there for about an hour then noticed I was getting pretty sleepy. So I said thank you to our new friends Bruce and Tyson for the drinks and slept walked my butt up to my room. Opened the door, took off my shoes and landed face first on the bed for a nice Benadryl filled night of sleep:) I woke with a swollen hand and a Benadryl hangover. COFFEE PLEEEAASE!!!! Coffee…check. Slim Fast bar….check. Making the boys wait on my late butt cause I had to have coffee…. check. 3hrs in a minivan with a swollen hand and a Benadryl hangover…..priceless:) We arrive at the airport 3hrs early, which is pretty awesome considering I could have really used the extra sleep but whatever better safe then sorry. We return the car and get on the bus to the airport with swiftness and grace just to be shot down by the fact that the escalator and elevator are not working. We wait for the grumpy tech to try and fix the problem then we realize we must climb the escalator with all the bags and gear. I was pretty useless considering my hurt hand so I’m sorry boys I owe ya one.

All in all we had fun at the show and made it home safe and sound at 5:30pm just in time to go to a family/friend cookout. My hand is still swollen and my leg itches like crazy but it was worth the experience of opening up for AJ. Thanks to all who were there and AJ:)

Leslie Harter

Last week while on vacation with the family in Destin I broke my ankle. Allow me to tell the story. It was our last night in Destin and we were off the next day for a show in Detroit so I was taking it somewhat easy. Had a bite and a glass or two of wine with my sister Brandy and boyfriend Zack then was off to bed. I made my way upstairs saw my kids playing and decided to get a quick wrestling match in. My daughter Grace, her friend, Zack and I were pretty much in a dog pile situation at this point on the bed. Some how Zack ended up on the floor with me and the girls on him. My foot was under him with all the weight of the dog pile on it! I heard a snap; let out a little yell and I knew then I broke something! Now I handle pain pretty good so I was thinking that I would be fine and the show would go on. Next morning I woke up to a baseball size ankle and couldn’t move my leg at all!! The bros took one look at the damage and said that’s broken go to urgent care now! Now they aren’t usually right but in this case they were:( So we ended up cancelling the Detroit show, renting a car and driving 8hours home. I’m not good at sitting still for to long so I’m back on the road dealing with pain rockin and rollin:) So if you see me around with a black boot that looks like a storm trooper boot straight out of Star Wars, please buy me a matching storm troopers helmet:) LH

Lets talk about the ugliest year of my life shall we? Now everyone goes through the ugly awkward period, and for me it was when I was 9 years old. Let me start by saying I apologize to anyone who may have a picture of me during this time…. this was not my fault!

At the beginning of my 3rd grade year I had beautiful long blond hair but my older brother Mike cut that short! Seriously, he cut my hair off in anger after I’d been making fun of him about his girlfriend:( So my mom being the stylish woman she is, cut my hair into a bowl cut type style. After it was styled and feathered to her liking it resembled a very aerodynamic bike helmet. A month later I broke my foot on the monkey bars at school and had to have this stupid blue shoe like thing on at all times.

Now just those two things alone are pretty unattractive but I had to go and make it worse. I had a big thing with Anne Of Green Gables at the time, so I was always wearing 1800s clothing. I may or may not have owned a cape…. I can’t say at this time. To top it all off this was the year I got braces!!

All of these thing put together make a pretty ugly person. Now that you know the truth, please no judging. Terrible year for me!

So i’ve notice, as Im sure you have as well, somethings say DO NOT EAT on them when clearly you would never eat them! Or there is always that little tiny package inside multiple packagings that say DO NOT EAT on it. Now Im not sure about you but I most likely wouldnt open up my new tv box and think…. Can’t wait to see whats in here to eat:) But Im not everyone so…… Clearly at one point in time some ding dong that had a craving for beef jerky thought that little tiny white package in the bag was a bonus treat. Maybe he had a flash back from his childhood and thought it was like a Cracker Jack thing, I don’t know but thank God he made the mistake 1st!!! It could have been anyone of us, thank you Sir cause now when we pick that little package up it reads DO NOT EAT!!!!! You are a hero:) Whats even crazier is the solid big objects that say DO NOT EAT on them. Who and why in the hell would someone eat a candle? Or lawn fertilizer? Or a vacuum bag? Now the 1st thing was pretty stupid but these little warnings take the cake!

So this is why when our album is released we will make sure that the little tiny package is in there and also the case will read DO NOT EAT!!! Or maybe we should make it edible and put the nutritional facts on the back! You will have to buy the album to see which one we chose.

Smile, happiness is contagious:)
Leslie Harter

Hello Peeps,

Today I’d like to touch base on 2 topics;
Putting on a long sleeve shirt when the sleeves are inside out & Putting on pants when you already have shoes on.

Let me start by talking about the long sleeve shirt and my recent run in with this issue. Today I got up and went about my usual morning, coffee, emails, and then getting ready for the gym. Now this has happened more then once which is what makes this whole topic interesting. Why do I continue to do things thats I know wont work and or are completely dumb ideas? I see a clean shirt in the laundry basket, grab it put it on but wait the sleeves are inside the shirt. Thats Ok no problem here i’ll just try and put my arms through the hole and push the sleeves through. WARNING! This is not as easy as it may appear. Sleeves will get stuck in a knot like form which makes this process almost impossible. About 2min of this battle is really all one can take without going completely insane. So I take off the shirt do things the right way and hang my head in shame and defeat over this war of the sleeves. I take my hat off to you Mr. Long Sleeve Shirt, you have won again:(

That brings us to my other topic, putting on pants when you have shoes on. This is boarder line crazy but like the sleeve issue I have also done this more then once! It starts with me putting pants on, then my socks and then my shoes. Then I notice, I hate these pants! They feel weird in the crock area or Oh S**T I forgot underwear! So I find some shorts to put on. Thought process; It took too long to put on these shoes and I refuse to take them off. Clearly I can put shorts on with my shoes already on but can I take my pants off with my shoes on? Yes I can! Here I go! Now we all have done this so I don’t need to get technical but this never ends like you hope it’s going to. This time I got one leg of the pants off so I was confidant that the next leg would be a breeze. Nope, no way, not gonna happen. This ended with my pant leg stuck around the shoe and now the sock is involved and it’s a mess. So I hop around on one leg for a bit impressed with my own balance, cuss quietly, then softly fall to the floor. I’ve lost again. All in all I’ve wasted about 10min when all I was trying to do was get things done faster. Stupid stupid idea but Im sure this wont be the last time. Till we meet again War Of The Wardrobe, till we meet again.

Leslie Harter

Our family has a cabin in Flagstaff AZ that we have had since I was about 6. Way back when, this humble abode was small with 4 bedrooms, but over the years my dad has added onto it a bunch of times due to the increase in Harters. It used to be just our little family of 7; Mom, Dad, Shannon, Brandy, Mike, Me and Scott but these days it seems #7 has turned into #17! My dad is always thinking about this ever growing brood and constantly ponders on where he’s gonna put everyone. Im pretty sure the older sisters are done making people but Mike and Scott haven’t even started yet and I can’t promise anyone that I’m done. Mike has always said he wants 5 kids (like our fam) and I bet Scooter will have at least 2. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll find Mr. Right and I’ll have 2 more. If this happens we are looking at 26 people in this bunch! This means our tiny 4 bedroom cabin, that grew into a 5 bedroom, that is now a 10 bedroom will need to be much much larger!!! My dad has thrown around the idea of building another cabin on the property (that would be his of course) just so he can escape the madness of this ever growing pack of people.

We just got back from our photo shoot in Flagstaff at the family cabin and it was awesome! We got the chance to shoot some pics in the one place on earth that the 3 of us feel most at peace We shot some pics at a junkyard, around the fire pit at the cabin, in a creek (which was flippin cold FYI), in Sedona, and in a place called Lockett Meadow. In all the years that I’ve been going up to Flag I’ve never been to Lockett Meadow and it is awesome! It’s full of these insanely tall aspen trees that are covered in carvings from over the years. We are so thankful that we got the chance to shoot pics in this place we call home, which all in all I think made each and every shot that much more special:)

LH:)