Colorado snow...

Well, it's August 26th and we drove by some scattered snow on the ground here in Colorado. It's freezing...and I have no long sleeves...who knew that it could be so cold in August? Just yesterday when we were in TX, it was 115 and HUMID!...I think I need to get back to Tucson where the temp is always just right! :) The show at Western State College of Colorado went really well tonight! Everyone crowded around the front of the stage and sat down...it felt like a small acoustic venue, despite it being a ballroom. Well, we just got back to the hotel and my battery has only 2 minutes left, so I'm going to post this now before I lose it! :)

Who'd want to mess with Texas?

The show last night at Texas A&M Commerce went pretty well. They were great hosts and hooked us up with king suites at the Holiday Inn Express, chocolates, a delicious dinner, and cheesecake for dessert! Our drive today to Dumas, TX was through every small town you could think of...names such as 'Farmersville' and populations as small as 368 people! Luckily, we were able to add some excitement with more games of Outburst (Ryan and I are currently tied and need to do one more round to see who is the champion).
We go through a lot of states and I usually feel like I could live in almost any of them...but Texas....hmmm...this feels like the most depressed place I have ever been. Everyone seems as if they are just stuck where they are and unable to make any change with their lives. Other than wanting to go to Austin at some point, I don't really feel any desire to come back and visit TX.
Tonight we went to eat and ate the "salad wagon"...their name for a salad bar. And, then we played in the pool, hot tub, and sauna.
I think we are going to get ready for bed so that we will be ready for our drive to Colorado tomorrow morning! :)

TEXAS!

Well, we've made it to Midland, TX...tomorrow we drive 6 more hours to get to Commerce, TX for Ryan and Cameron's show. It was a fun drive...we played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition, a little bit of Tri-bond, and some Outburst. Unfortunately, I realized that my camera battery is dead, so the next few blogs are likely to be without any photos...but still some commentary. :)

posting comments

I think I have changed the comment feature so that anyone can post a comment without having to register with blogspot. I believe there will be an option to post "anonymously"...so just be sure to right your name at the end of your comment! :)

Grand Canyon and Sedona!

Ryan and I decided to celebrate our first anniversary camping in the Grand Canyon and at Sedona. It was an incredible trip...I'd dare to say it was our best trip together yet...even better than our honeymoon, which is a good thing...trips and time together should continuously be getting better as opposed to staying at the same level, right?

We live about 6 hours south of the Grand Canyon, so we drove there and spent our first night in a lodge just outside the canyon. There were super heavy rain, thunder and lightning for the second half of our drive and through the entire night. We were both starting to question how good of an idea it was to camp inside the canyon, but with the following day predicting only a 10% chance of rain, we decided to go for it.

Our first glimpse of the canyon...(we both held hands and ran to the edge while looking down so we'd see it all in full at the same time...I think Ryan cheated...but only because he didn't want to trip and fall into the canyon. :) )


We each carried a pack of about 30lbs with all of our camping gear, food, and water. We hiked down Bright Angel trail to Indian Gardens which is 4.5 miles.


We set up our camp at Indian Gardens...




(view from inside the tent)


Stretched....




Ate....


Played some cards...(we had to keep score in the dirt since we didn't have a pen)..


Then decided to hike another 3 miles (roundtrip) to see Plateau Point, which is said to be the best view in the canyon...we'd have to agree...




The view from Plateau Point on what we had hiked that day...(our campsite was in the middle of the cluster of trees)...


Cooking pasta over our little Coleman burner...


We woke up the next morning at 4:45 and started hiking by 6am. Our neighboring campsites (a couple from England and two guys from Ireland) started their hike out at the same time, so we were able to get to know them more and share in some laughs and cliff bars along the 4.5 miles uphill.

The start of our trek to the top...


We saw 9 deer that morning, and 4 the day before...


Ryan's Napolean Dynamite pose...


This is a view from the top looking down at our hike. The middle of the picture, where there is a cluster of trees is where we camped, and the dirt trail that ends in what looks like the middle of the canyon was were we hiked to, "Plateau Point"...


We had expected it to take us 5 hours, but it only took 3.5...which meant that we were ready for lunch at 9:30am, but had to wait until it was served at 11am!...some leftover girlscout peanutbutter cookies tied us over. :) My body was as sore and stiff as when I had finished my marathons...actually, my calfs are still recovering...I'm going to try going for a run in the morning to try and loosen up the muscles a bit more.



On our drive to Sedona, we stopped to see the Meteor Crater which is said to be the best preserved meteor crater in the world...


We set up camp in Sedona...


and then went out for a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant that is supposed to be known for their sunset views...it was nice, but I think we are spoiled by how great the sunsets are in Tucson...


Ryan making breakfast the next morning...yummy eggs and honey wheat pancakes! It was a little chilly, so he wore my jean jacket...he looked really cute in it, if you ask me!


Our drive home from Sedona...

Julie and Brent's wedding!

My cousin Julie and Brent got married! It was so great to be there with them and see Brent now become an "official" member of the family. The reception was fun and we got to spend a lot of time with Nichole (my sister) and Roger (her husband) and Travis (my brother). Unfortunately, I was so busy taking pictures with the disposable camera on our table, that I forgot to take many pictures! Here are some that I have...

Time in Michigan...

I was able to make it to a Brown Family Reunion...the first I've been to in YEARS...it was nice to see family that I knew and some that I had never met before. I took my aunt's grandson to the swingset to play for a while and laughed a lot at the honesty of a 5 year old: "I can't go to school until I learn to wipe my butt!"


I spent the night at my Grandpa Echelbarger's house. For those of you who haven't met him, he's the youngest 83 year old man I've ever met in my life...he goes to the gym every morning with his neighbor-friend, he loves to go out and have fun, thinks he's way younger than he is...etc...
Anyway, we went for a beautiful walk along the pier at Lake Michigan and then decided we should go swimming. So, we went home to get our swimsuits and went to the State Park where Lake Michigan's water temp was 79degrees!! After swimming and floating around in the water we laid out in the sun/fell asleep. Then woke up and went blueberry picking!





I visited my Aunt Alta, Uncle Rick, Tristy, Jason and Elliot...more swimming....more eating blueberries....so fun to see them! Tristy definitely outdid me in being able to swim the length of the pool underwater!


When I got home, Nichole and the kids came over and we made Blueberry Cobbler...


Alyssa broke her wrist at the park 5 weeks ago...Ryan and I got to sign the cast...


I got to go out for lunch with my friend Jessie from Albion...


I went out to dinner with Kelly and Kelsey from high school...so great to see them and have our "annual" big catch up and chat session! Kelsey (the one on the left) is pregnant and due in December!


Ryan and I babysat Alyssa, Lydia, Rog, and Emma and spent the afternoon at the park. Ryan told them tons of stories about the snakes and Arizona, and quickly they decided they no longer wanted to come to Arizona. But, we were able to reclaim the greatness of Arizona by telling them that we don't have tornadoes here...so hopefully they'll want to come visit! :)




We spent some good time at my parents' cabin. I jumped in and allowed myself to be the small town girl that I actually am, and went on the ATV/4-wheeler with my brother. My mom, dad, sister, Ryan and I played our new favorite card game "peanuts"...

Janna and Jovan's wedding!

We just got in from Michigan last night where I had spent a week and a half, and Ryan 5 days. My first stop while there was to go to Janna and Jovan's bon fire and wedding! It was a great time of visiting with a ton of friends from Albion, and of course witnessing Janna and Jovan's beautiful ceremony and reception. Both the ceremony and reception took place outdoors in a little country town...I couldn't have imagined anything better for the two of them.

Janna and Jovan Giaimuccio (the combined their last names of Muccio and Giaimo!)


All of the Albion Brits at the wedding...(sorry, I don't think the person with my camera had full attention when taking the picture...)


Okay...sorry that this is all I can post of our trip for now...Ryan and I are packing up to go camping in the Grand Canyon and hope to leave very very soon! I'll post a lot more when we return!

Time to cut that hit record!

The guys are in the studio this week recording their new record! I went out there with them on Sunday and flew back today. The studio they are in is pretty swanky, that's for sure. Here are some photos to give you an idea of where they're at...
Here's their lounge...

Their kitchen, which is continuously being re-stocked by mysterious little fairies with yummy snacks...

Their dining nook...


Ryan's recording room...


Cameron's recording room...


The drum room as seen from the control room (Ryan's room is in the glass just to the left of the drum kit and Cameron's room is just to the left of Ryan's...there are 18 mics on the drums alone!!)...


The control room (and their producer)...