Tea for Two: Trip

Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

One Last Time

Back in April, I found out that my high school band director was being forced out of his position. He wasn't fired, but he wasn't going to be working at Roseville High School anymore. It came as a shock to everyone. Toff invited alumni to come and play one last time for graduation. I knew that if I didn't go that I would regret it for a very long time. Jonathan supported my decision to go and made sure that I would have everything I need since he couldn't come with me. This was my first big trip on my own and it was great! Thanks to all of the May rain, Nevada was still green.

Zooming past the Salt Flats covered with water.

The following night was graduation. It was a surreal experience going back. I parked in my usual spot across the street from campus. (I only used the student parking lot after school during track session.) Then I grabbed my trombone and headed to the band room. I can't really find the words to describe what it was like being there again. It was my everyday life for four years and be there again felt like I was walking back into that time of my life.

I haven't seen most of my band friends since a year or two after we graduated. It was great being together again. We were able to pick up where we left off all those years ago.

Toff finally got a whiteboard!

I am so grateful that I could be there for Toff.

One tradition is for the seniors to write on the walls of the music library. I think I wrote the I <3 you Toff, but I'm not certain. I spent a lot of time in there trying to organize the music towards the end of my senior year. I don't think I even made a dent in the chaos.

Toff tries to deny the impact he had on me, but even my parents freely acknowledge that he helped me grow into who I am today. Toff's classes weren't just about music. Obviously, most of it was, but he was trying to get us to look outside of our cell phones to see the world. He tried to get us to think for ourselves and not be afraid to go against the norm. Toff pushed us and helped us see that we could do hard things. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be one of Toff's students. Good luck at Woodcreek!

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Surprise Weekend

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Jonathan and I surprised my parent's by showing up at my brother's house. They were in town for Thanksgiving and baby Ruby's blessing and were not expecting us at all!

The roads were only slippery in a couple of places which I was very grateful for!

The real highlight of the trip was meeting sweet baby Ruby! She is such a mellow and calm baby. We were able to take a couple of naps together.

Clara took a break from playing to snuggle with Grandpa.

Though to be honest, Clara's favorite part of the weekend was opening up their Christmas present from Aunt Amy and Uncle Andy. It's a cross between a waffle and a cookie maker. As you can tell by Clara's sweet face, they are delicious with a little Nutella!

On Sunday, sweet baby Ruby was blessed. This little girl is named after 2 of her great-grandmas.

Before we left, Chris had Jonathan and I try on a couple of his Giants baseball caps that don't fit him. The one that was just a little too small for him was too big for me. The one that was too big for him was given to him by our Uncle Jerry. Every time Uncle Jerry sees Chris, he gives him his Giants baseball cap. Even now that Chris is an adult, they are still too big for him. We figured that it should definitely fit Jonathan because he has a very large head. It didn't fit. Jonathan needs a BIGGER hat! Seriously, though. Jonathan's head looks normal, but in reality it is huge!

My dad had a bunch of mission buddies that were getting together in Utah, so my parents came back down to Utah with us. We stopped off in Salt Lake and found where my great-great-great grandpa James Davis was buried. It took awhile, but we were able to find him! He served in the Mormon Battalion after his father died in Winter Quarters.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Vegas Baby!

We finally made it down to Las Vegas to visit Hannah! We started planning a trip in August, but things got crazy until now. It worked out perfectly because she needed to come up to Utah for a job fair, so Jonathan and I went down and played and then brought Hannah back with us.

This was Jonathan's first time in Vegas and my second time. My first trip was a whirlwind trip with Sac State Marching Band. We didn't get into the city until like 3 am and had to check out of our hotel by 9. I literally only laid down for 6 hours in a 52 hour period of time. It was crazy!

My first Vegas experience.

The first thing we did in Vegas was meet up with Jonathan's trainer from his mission. This was the first time they had seen each other for about 10 years. It was great to see them catch up on all that has happened and remembering some great mission stories.

Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find more things to do in Vegas than just hang out on the strip. First thing we did was head over to Hoover Dam. It was amazing and overwhelming how big it really is.

This is the spillway on the Arizona side.

I love how you can see how high the water level can be.

Jonathan's in Nevada and I'm in Arizona. After this picture Jonathan said he didn't like long distance relationships and jumped back on to the Arizona side of the dam.

After being at the dam, we headed back into the city so Jonathan could visit Fry's. There aren't any in Utah and he has seriously been missing it. Then we visited Hannah's classroom. It is so cool that she is a real teacher! Jonathan was able to better align her projector. She showed us her favorite spot to watch sunsets on campus. It was so gorgeous!

Then we headed down to the strip for dinner and to see some of Hannah's favorite spots. She took us to a secret pizza place inside the Cosmopolitan for dinner. There's no signs for it, so we had to search for it for a little bit but it was worth it! After dinner, we watched the fountains at the Bellagio. They are magical at night. We walked around Caesar's Palace and then headed back home because Hannah had work the next day.

The three of us taking on Vegas!

I pretended to be Buddy the Elf moment with the moving sidewalk.

On our final day in Vegas, we went to Red Rock Canyon. The scenery was stunning! We drove through the loop to get an idea of what the park would actually be like. We thought that it was a closed loop, well we were wrong. We were back out on the highway and a little upset that we didn't get the receipt to show that we had already payed to get into the park. We were prepared to pay the $7 fee again because it would be worth going through the park to take pictures. We pulled up to the same gate that we had initially paid at and explained our situation. The man was nice enough to let us go without paying the fee twice. We stopped off in the visitors center to get a better idea of the park and then we took a lot of pictures.

We each took turns wearing bunny ears.

Thanks to the visitors center, we learned that various people that lived in the area and left drawings in the stones. We were able to see a grouping of hand prints.

There are 4 hand prints in this picture.

Sorry Ty! That rock was too big to bring home.

It was interesting to see the layers of stone.

This looks more like a martian landscape.

I love how it looks like these rocks were painted.

I am so grateful that Jonathan and I were able to visit Hannah before she leaves Vegas. After finding all of these cool places to visit in Las Vegas, I can't wait to spend more time exploring the natural wonders in Utah!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Fort Bragg Trip

I am grateful that Jonathan and I were able to take a relaxing trip to Fort Bragg last month. It was such a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to step away from our daily responsibilities and spend time together.