Nashville

Westley and I were able to make a trip to Nashville at the end of May after he got home from his mission. I have always wanted to go and we both love country music. Since it's the country music capital, we thought it would be a great place to go.

The trip itself did not start out well as the morning we were supposed to leave, a severe thunderstorm swept through DFW and our flight was canceled.  We got stuck at the airport trying to rebook our flight.  After we finally took care of that, we weren't able to get home because Corey was gone at work.  We tried to take the train home, but the trains were not running because of a power outage.  I posted on Facebook about being stranded and Liz Loveless saw it and was able to come pick us up and bring us home.  Our flight left the next day.  I had to rebook everything out a day because we were only going to be in Nashville for a couple of days.  

We got to Nashville and were staying at a hotel in Franklin.  Westley had met this girl Megan, sister missionary also going home, (don't remember her last name) on his flight home from his mission who was from Franklin TN.  We were able to meet up with her and go to this huge Used book and music store and just explore.  We also had breakfast with her.  We spent a day walking around on Broadway and listened to music and checked out shops.  We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the print shop, Hatch Show Print.  We also went on a tour to the studio where Elvis recorded, RCA Studio B.  We also drove out to the Grand Ole Opry and walked around.  I'd love to try and go back for an actual show there. 

We went to the Nashville Temple and we also went to the Nashville Parthenon.  On the last day, our flight was delayed by several hours so we decided to go on a drive outside of Nashville in the countryside for a few hours.  That was also pretty fun.  

The trip home was pretty crazy too--the flight got delayed again and the scanner wouldn't read my ticket at security so I had to go back to the ticket check-in and print a ticket.  When I came back to security, they didn't even look at my ticket, only my ID!  It was crazy!  We got to listen to a performer in the airport too while we waited for our delayed flight home, which changed gates about three times.  We were almost to the point where we were going to rent a car and drive  home.  But we ended up making it home on the flight.  It was a great trip and I love Nashville!
 

 

Baseball Fun

Nathan ended his baseball season with a fun tournament that wasn't affiliated with the league. His coach found this tournament for the team to participate in. It was in McKinney and it was one of those all day things where if they won or lost, they played again and then if they lost, they were out but if they won they played again Sunday. Unfortunately, they lost the first, won the second, so the final game was on Sunday. He will not be playing in Sunday's game. But he had a great season with a great coach and team.

 

Allergy Testing

Jonah's allergies have been bothering him for a really long time, so I finally contacted an allergist and set up a testing appointment to find out with his biggest allergens are.  Turns out he is very allergic to tree pollen and certain grasses, but not ragweed.  

Allergy testing is certainly very interesting to watch.  And it looks miserable and itchy.

End of Second Grade for Nathan

Nathan had a great second grade year. He had a great teacher, Mrs. Michelle Simmons. He made it in the Principal's club a few times during the year. He had fun with the kids in his class, and it was fun for him to have his buddy Luke Walker in his class. Here's to third grade!

 

Miscellaneous May

Eliza and Mom had an orchestra concert and Jonah had his final band concert of 7th grade.  He made the top band, Wind Ensemble, for 8th grade.

Travis had his spring football game.  This is when the next year's varsity team plays the rest of the football team in a scrimmage.  Travis will be playing on the defensive line for varsity his senior year.  

Jonah and Annmarie were having fun singing karaoke, so I had to document it.

 We had an open house for Westley for people to come say hello to him and talk with him.  

Choir Banquet

Eliza and Travis went to the end-of-the-year choir banquet.  They hold the banquet at South Fork ranch.  It's nice that they were both in this together and could both go.  I love that they get along most of the time. 

Jonah's Art

Westley celebrated his birthday shortly after coming home and Jonah drew him this picture as a gift. 

Junior Prom for Travis

 

Travis took his girlfriend, Allison Pardon, to Wylie High Prom.  They didn't have a group.  Travis asked me to cook a nice dinner, like I did the previous year for Caleb's prom.   

Parent Orchestra and Voice Recital

Westley came and listened to my parent orchestra play in a contest that our director found for us to take part in.  We got a good rating, but I think they were being generous. It was fun anyway.

Eliza had her final voice recital from her voice lessons with Mandie McMurdie.  Of course, she did amazing!

 

Final Choir Concert

Eliza and Travis had their final choir concert of the year.  This year Eliza was in the all-girls varsity choir called Bel Canto and Travis was in A'Cappella.  Travis enjoys singing in the choir with his friend Josh Ausborne, who also plays football with him.  Hyrum Talbot from our ward was also in choir with them but he is graduating.

Temple Again

When Westley got home from his mission, one of the first things he wanted to do was go to the temple since he didn't have a temple in his misison and was never able to leave his mission to go to the nearest one (Chicago). Well, the Dallas temple was closed for several weeks when he got home. So Corey and Westley drove up to Oklahoma City to attend the temple there.

2024 Theatre Banquet

Eliza got to attend the theatre banquet even though she did not take a theatre class this year because she was in the Beauty and the Beast musical. One thing she loves about the banquet is that they announce the musical for the next year there. The musical for next year will be Matilda.