Orchestra Tour

So I went on an orchestra tour last week, and I wanted to post about it.  Amazing that I'm actually on top of blogging for once, right?  It didn't take me a whole year to get to it... thank goodness for General Conference!!!  :)  

Warning: This is a picture post, with a story below each picture.  You will need some time in order to read the whole post.

Also, if you would like to enjoy this post a little bit more, I would suggest that you get some good music going in the background( Youtube, anyone?  :).  Ed Sheeran, The Script, or Arcade Fire would all be good choices.  Music makes everything better, yes?

Anyway, enough about the preface.  Let's get to the story! :)

This is a picture of me and my roommates.  My roommates were seriously the best.  I loved getting to hang out with them.  I kind of knew them before, from orchestra, but when you actually are bed buddies with your stand partner, you kind of have to get to know them.  And I kind of liked my roommates.  :)

Most of our orchestra was wearing black and blue for Sunday clothes, so we got a picture with some of them.  Maybe some people thought that we color-coordinated, but I promise that we didn't.  

Story time:  Our packing list was the worst.  It wasn't specific at all.  It didn't say that you needed 5 shirts or whatever, it just said bring comfortable clothes.  Anyway, the packing list didn't mention Sunday clothes at all, so some kids didn't have Sunday clothes.  I, being the prepared person that I am, brought 2 dresses, and it was very lucky that I did.  I wore one, and one of my roommates wore the other, because she had forgotten her Sunday dress, and her concert black was pants.  Some of the boys also forgot to bring Sunday clothes, so they had to wear tuxes to Church and to the temple.  I love tuxedo's.  

I love the sky in this picture.  The white of the temple contrasts beautifully with the deep, clear blue of the sky.  

Lacey, myself, and Savannah.  The temple grounds were beautiful!

The St. George temple is wonderful.  It is very serene and pretty.  Nevertheless, I will get married in the Manti temple.  It is by far the prettiest.  :D

This is a picture of a Book of Mormon in a different language, in case you couldn't tell.  There were tons just sitting on a table in the Visitors Center, so I took a ton of pictures of all the different languages.

Seeing all of these Books of Mormon( The Best Two Years reference anyone?) really got me thinking about my own mission.  When President Monson announced the mission age change, I didn't really think about the repercussions.  Regardless, I started thinking about it 3 months ago.  I figured that I really needed to start asking whether or not I should serve a mission, because I need to start preparing.  Right now, I am planning on serving a mission, and I can't wait.  I know it will be hard, but I also know that it could be the best 18 months of my life.

I was trying to get a picture of the Vegas Stratosphere at night, while I was riding on a moving bus.  Not a good idea, for anyone who was thinking of trying it.  Learn from my mistake.

The Hoover Dam lake.  

The Grand Canyon.  Isn't it cool?  Seeing all of these different geological formations and then thinking about the scientists who claim that we came from evolution and little particles, it really make you realize that there has to be a God.  This Canyon couldn't have formed from a million years of erosion.  It's just not possible.  There really is a God, and he made these wonderful monuments for his children to enjoy.  When we claim that this is due to science, I wonder how much that hurts him.  I, however, know that God made this, and that makes it all the more spectacular for me.

Savannah, Jessi, Anne, and Sarah.  Sarah wasn't one of my roommates, but she was pretty awesome so we hung out with her a lot.  Every night, actually.

The Bright Angel trail, which goes down the Grand Canyon.  There is no way on earth that we could have made it all the way to the bottom in 45 minutes, which is how much time we had to hike, but we did make it a good distance before we had to go and turn around.  The hike was really fun!

Aaron, Parker, Allison, Joe, and Maren.  Hopefully you can tell who is who.  

Lacey and Savannah.  You can't see the sign, but it is telling people not to feed or pet the squirrels because the squirrels could bite your hand.  Lacey and Savannah decided to pose like the sign, which is where this strange pose comes from.  I like it.  :)

Best group of kids ever!!!  I made so many new friends on this trip, and I am so glad that I did!  Throughout orchestra this year, I've really only gotten to know the 1st violins, because that is where I sit.  On tour, however, I got to know so many different kids from so many different sections of the orchestra, and they are all amazing.  This past week, I learned lots from every single kid.  I'm so glad that I was able to meet and talk to these people.  They were such an inspiration to me.  They ARE such an inspiration.

A picture of all the guys in the orchestra.  Only a couple of girls took this picture.  I took it cause of Drew.

All the girls in the orchestra.  All of the guys took pictures of this.  It was hilarious!!!

More of all the girls.

All of our shoes were ridiculously dirty from hiking, so we got a picture.

                                     

We went to Walnut Canyon, a national park in Flagstaff, Arizona.  The reason that this park is so cool is because of all of the Indian cliff dwellings.  So, where am I right now?  In an Indian Cliff Dwelling.

At Walnut Canyon.

Another picture of me and my roommates at the temple.

Jessi, Savannah, Lacey, and Anne

Jessi and Marissa

A picture of me and my friends with Jaquelyne Jones, one of the singers on tour with us, and Frenchie, our bus driver.

Sarah, Jessi, Marissa, Savannah, Lacey, and Anne at Delicate Arch.

Jessi and Marissa.  

So this week, I found out that it truly is a small world.  I was talking to Marissa, and somehow we discovered that we both did Ballroom, and we started talking about dancing, and I  discovered that she knows my ballroom partner!  I love little coincidences.  

I will name them in line order, so hopefully you can match the name with the person.

Joe

David, Sarah B, Mike, Marissa, Josh, Nathan

Jessi, Sarah I

David, Joe, Ryan, Matt

Some of our orchestra all gathered together at Delicate Arch

Most of our orchestra gathered together at Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch is so cool.  I love it!

Sarah, Sam, Marissa, Anne, Jessi, Lacey, Savannah

Sarah, Anne, Savannah, Lacey, Marissa, Jessi

I'm not going to even bother trying to name everyone in this picture.  Too hard.

If you got this far, you deserve a medal!  Lots of pictures that you aren't even in, most likely.  I might post about each day.  I just needed to post the pictures. 

See you all someday,

Anne :)