Travel Initiative: Choir Tour 2015 Seattle

While not necessarily part of the Official Travel Initiative, we did go to Seattle on the Alta High School Choir Tour.  All the kids survived.  So I guess it was a success.  As for more specific details, I can't go into them. It's still too soon.

The Travel Initiative: Disney World December 2014

Remember like forever ago when Adam and I decided to start what we're calling The Travel Initiative? Well, I've got photographic proof that it happened.  Our first big trip was to Florida, specifically Disney World, in December 2014.

It was beyond magical.  Even though it was super crowded, it was an amazing trip and we're both so glad we did it!

We loved Epcot! As an added bonus to the trip, we got the Disney Dining Plan for Free.  That means we ate SO MUCH. It was fantastic.

Yeah.  A LOT of food.

In addition to Disney World, we also went to Universal Studios. And that means HARRY POTTER WORLD!  Also, very magical.  In fact, we went to Ollivander's Wand Store and I was selected to go through the wand picking ceremony. My Wand CHOSE me!  It was seriously beyond magical!

It was such an amazing trip! We had so much fun and it was great weather.  We're Disney World converts and we can't wait to go back!  It was really hard to leave.  In fact, we're already thinking about our next trip there.... 

What can I say? We're Disney Addicts. But you know, there are worst things to be addicted to.

Colorado

Some of you might remember a dark time when I lived in Colorado.  Grand Junction, CO, to be precise.  And I wasn't a fan.

Back in the spring, we found out that Adam needed to go to a conference in Denver. Since all we had to do was pay for my plane ticket, we thought it would be a fun little adventure.

It was...something.

It rained the whole time we were there, which is apparently unusual for Denver.

The first day, I had Adam drive himself to the conference because he had to be there early and I wanted to sleep.  Then I had a leisurely morning and wandered over to the nail salon and got a mani-pedi.  It was fantastic.  And then I took a nap.

When Adam got back that afternoon from his first day at the conference, we went to dinner and did a little shopping at the Outlets at Castle Rock.  There, I found a Vera Bradley Outlet.  And it was amazing!!! Seriously!  Everything was 50% off.  I got myself a new bag!  And I love it.  Afterwards, we drove around downtown Denver.

The next day, I took Adam to the conference so I could have the car to run some errands.  I had to go to the American Girl Store in Denver.  I had a birthday coming up for my niece.  Pretty much I went in, got the present and then got out of there.  It was a little overwhelming to be honest.  Lots of dolls.  Lots of people.  Lots of kids wanting their parents to spend lots of money.  Then I drove around a bit.  That evening, we drove out to Boulder to see what it was like.  It took us an hour to go 10 miles because the freeway flooded because of all the rain.

Boulder was lovely, but kind of disappointing after all the time it took to get there.

On Wednesday, I got up early and drove to Colorado Springs to visit my friend, Miranda.  She was one of my best friends in High School.  Her husband is in the military, so they haven't spent much time living close by.  But it was great to spend the day with her.  Since we're both UBER responsible control-freaks, we really get each other.  I really am so blessed to have such incredible friends! I'm glad she's closer than she has been, but I wish she was even closer!

That evening, Adam and I were tired of the rain and went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  It was awesome!  We both loved it!

Thursday I had to be out of the hotel at noon, so I joined Adam in the afternoon at the Conference.  Because what wife doesn't love AP Music Theory discussions?  Wait.  You're saying most women wouldn't have wanted to do that?  Hm...

Basically, we couldn't do much in Denver because it was raining and most things there are outdoorsy.  They do a lot advertising for beer too.

But it was nice to get away and Adam really enjoyed his conference.

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!