The Travel Initiative: December 2014

As the big kick-off for The Travel Initiative, I am pleased to announce our Christmas Adventure.

DISNEY WORLD!!!  We looked into several possibilities for the Christmas season.  With Adam having 2 weeks off at Christmas, we thought it would be great to go out of town then.  Plus, it's close enough to our anniversary, that we're going to count it as our 1 Year Anniversary Celebratory Trip.

Before I hear all about how I'm obsessed with Disney, let me explain that Adam LOVES Disney too.  And that, in so many ways, this was the best trip for us at this time.  We have many other non-Disney-related trips in the preliminary planning stages.

It worked out that we are going to get the Disney Dining Plan for free while we are there.  This is a HUGE deal!  Eating out on vacation can be pricey, as everyone knows.  This dining plan is going to enable us to eat an much fancier restaurants than we otherwise would.  This was a big incentive for planning this particular trip.

We've booked our trip and have started making reservations for dining.  I'm super excited!  We're doing 8 days at the Disney World park.  And we're going to Harry Potter World for a day!  I can't wait!

Seriously we are both so excited!  We know it will be busy because it is Disney World at Christmas time, but I can't wait to experience all the magic!  And it will be a very happy way to celebrate the holiday together!

And it's a very exciting way for The Travel Initiative to get started!

Camping 2014

When I was growing up, we used to go camping with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We had many adventures at Flaming Gorge. I don't think any of us will ever forget the time we broke all the oars on the inaugural rafting trip with Pa's new raft.  It was pretty epic.

These are the kinds of adventures my family has been wanting to introduce to the new little ones.  Now that the oldest grandkids are 4, we decided to give it a try.  I mean, there will probably always be a baby we'll have to worry about.  And the sooner we introduce the kids to camping, the sooner they'll learn to love it.

So over the last few days, we embarked on our first camping adventure of the next generation.  We packed up and went to Currant Creek.  I'd say, for our first excursion, it was pretty successful.

We had to make sure we knew where to trash was.  We were in Bear Country!

 Little Adam is pretty adorable.

 Big Adam and Little Adam

 One of the best ways to entertain this girl is to get her to pose to have her picture taken.

 Their legs got "tired" a lot.

 When I take pictures, it means the world never sees me first thing in the morning whilst camping.  Unfortunately for Kristin and Kristie, that means everyone else is fair-game.

 Taylor prefers muffins over pancakes.  Silly.

 Grandma hangin' out at the Kids Table.

 Tyler got to come up for one of the nights.  But had to leave early to go to work.

Aunt Wendi is magic and can get Zoey to nap even in an awning on the beach of a lake.  She's so precious!

All-in-all, the kids were pretty good.  I mean, it's definitely different entertaining kids in the wild, without the fancy electronics and movies to plop them in front of.  But we found ways.  We went on lots of walks to explore.  And we played glow stick horseshoes (Aunt Wendi is always prepared).  There were plenty of snacks.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. And Aunt Wendi and Uncle Adam spent HOURS (seriously HOURS) telling stories of princesses and their princes and wicked witches.  And we fished.  Grandma and Grandpa brought up the canoe and pedal boat.  We even caught 3 fish, which Scott fried up for dinner Friday night.  They were pretty tasty!

The kids struggled a little the first night.  Sleeping in the tents was a bit rough for all of us.  But the 2nd day, they were so exhausted, there were very few incidents.  Even Baby Alyssa did pretty well.  To be honest, she was so good most of the time, I forgot she was there.  

It was a lot of work, and there was a lot of dirt and I'm super allergic to living things (and smoke from fires), but it was a lot of fun.  Hopefully it will be a tradition we keep up.   

The Travel Initiative

"I had an apostrophe."

"I think you mean an epiphany."

"Lightning just struck my brain."

"That must have hurt."

(SIDE NOTE:  If you don't know this movie reference, I don't know that I want you reading my blog anymore.  Just kidding....sort of.)

Recently, I experienced a moment of clarity.  I realized that I can't actually control everything.  For a self-admitting control-freak, this was an incredible break through.  I know that I can plan and study and plan some more and work as hard as possible toward certain goals, but there are some things I do not have the power to actually achieve, no matter how much I want it.

Even more impressive than this epiphany, is the fact that I've actually accepted it.  Acceptance is the final stage of grief.  I suppose I just had to appropriately grieve for the loss of my control.  And now I've accepted it and I'm ready for the next phase.

My new plan (Hey, there's nothing wrong with a Plan B), is called The Travel Initiative.  

I have to admit, I'm really proud of the title I've given my new plan.  It sounds so official!

Allow me to introduce you to The Travel Initiative:

Now that I've realized I do not get to control everything, I've decided not to let the things that might fall into this category consume me or my life.  

The Travel Initiative comes into play here.  I figure that Adam and I are still young (at least he is, and I haven't gone completely wrinkled and senile yet), and should be having new adventures and experiences.  So...while we continue to hope for things to happen that might be out of our control, we are going to travel.  As much as we can.  And when we're not traveling, we're going to find new and exciting adventures to have around Utah.

The Travel Initiative is underway.  To help fund this, I'm hoping my voice and piano studio starts to expand.  And I'm back behind the camera with Moments That Click.  We've already got our eye on some festive holiday plans this year.  I'm so excited!  I'll definitely announce it when it's official! (although if you follow me on Pinterest, you've undoubtedly had sneaking suspicions.)

If anyone has suggestions for various locations we should go as part of The Travel Initiative, comment away!

A New Blog

Recently, Adam and I have been getting life organized (budget, clean house, dejunking etc) and now that the crazy season of various festivals and competitions is coming to a close, it's much easier to handle life.  Between school festivals, region festivals, choir auditions, NATS competitions, and a spattering of other concerts, it feels like we've barely been home.

Our life clearly revolves around Music just a little bit.  And then we got to thinking, "Hey!  We've got all this experience and knowledge in the music world, wouldn't it be nice if we could impart our wisdom on other struggling music world nerds?"

So we are happy to introduce you to our new music blog:
Voice Your Experience

I'd love for my "many" readers to go to the new blog and take a look and give some feedback!

Thanks!  I promise that new and exciting posts (with pictures) will come soon.

So It's January Now...

Somehow I haven't blogged in...well, a long time.  And lots and lots of things have happened since then.

For example, I got married.  That was pretty cool.  Adam proposed in Disneyland in September.  I'll do a whole post on that eventually.  And then we got married on November 27th.  Again, I'll do a separate post on that later.

And we just got back from our belated Honeymoon to...of course... DISNEYLAND!!! 

Now we're back and with my pass expiring on February 4th (I'll be crying that day), we're trying to find some fun and exciting things to do around Utah.  If you have any suggestions, we're open to them!

In the mean time, Adam is working super hard at the school.  He has a fundraising concert this weekend for the music program and then he jumps right in to Festival and Solo/Ensemble season.  He's even lucky enough to get to host his Region Solo/Ensemble.  I'm pretty sure that's some kind of hazing ritual.  Poor guy.  It's been really stressful, but I'm proud of him for how he's handled things.

I'm still at IMC in the infusion clinic.  It's a really great job and I'm blessed to have it.  I've also started teaching piano and voice lessons again.  I really do love teaching.  I have 3 students right now and am looking to increase that number.  So if you know of anyone who wants to drive to my house in Sandy for lessons, give them my info! 

We've had, what feels like, more than our fair share of illnesses and fatigue the last few months.  But I think we're finally coming out of that.  You know, except that we live in the Salt Lake Valley and, like everyone else, we're getting the smokers cough that comes with the icky air quality this time of year.  I miss California.

Our new ward is great and we're looking forward to new opportunities and callings here. 

With the new year we're attempting to be healthier, just like everyone else.  We got a Wii Fit from Amazon the other day and we're really excited to add that to our other health plans.  Thanks to Pinterest, I'm working on meal planning.  And Adam wants to learn how to cook more.  He's training to be my sous chef.  Hopefully someday we'll have a kitchen that is big enough that both of us can be in there without me getting irritable. 

We're also working on a few personal goals.  I got Adam a midi keyboard for Christmas and he's been really excited about getting some of his compositions published.  Hopefully we can get a piano solo book done by the end of the summer.  He's just so talented and I'm so amazed at his focus. 

That's kind of our life in a nutshell. We don't know what the future might hold for us, but for now, we're doing the best that we can with what we're given.

5 Months

So 5 months ago, yesterday(it was a really busy day yesterday), I got picked up by a really handsome man who took me to Paradise Cafe and then the Aquarium, where we saw awesome animals like the Black Crappy and a very inappropriately named fish in the Super Hero section.  But the Otters were my favorite.  I kind of want an Otter at my house.

And the rest, as they say, is history.  The last 5 months have been the happiest I can remember.  Everyday I find new things to love about him.  And even though sometimes he dresses like this...

I'm just glad that he's so happy.  

And then sometimes I get to see him do things like this...

Right?  

Yep.  I'm a very blessed and very happy girl.  And in two weeks, I get to go experience Disneyland with him.  It's going to be Epic!

And I can't wait to see what the next 5 months have in store for us!

UPDATE: My Favorite Things

I'm not gonna lie, I like the "My Favorite Things" posts I do.  Hopefully someone out there likes them too.

1. My new cleanser

I went to Sephora a few weeks ago.  I've been having breakout AND wrinkle problems.  It was time to get some professional help.  This cleanser smells awesome!  My skin is still adjusting completely.  It takes 6 weeks for your skin to cycle and adjust to changes.  Good story, huh?

2. Ponds Cream

So in the process of summer AND trying to get some of my breakout issues under control, I have some dry spots on my face.  Ponds changed my life last week when I picked it up.  It's the only thing that has halted the scales on my cheeks.  And it was less than $5 for a big jar.

3. Sushi

I. Love. Sushi.  Seriously, I could eat it all the time.  And it's really pretty good for you.  So at least it's not like "I could eat cheesecake all the time."  Granted, I could probably do that too.

4. Sara Bareilles

I really love her music a lot.  And this is her newest album.  I'm listening to it right now.  It's good.

5. This Guy.

He's my MOST favorite thing.