Taking Chance

This needs to be watched. Thanks for your time!

Mission Call!!!

So the day has finally arrived, I have been waiting for about three weeks for my mission call and it came in the mail today!! I called sam and diego over, and the family gathered around as I pulled the paper out of the envelope! To my great surprise, the Lord has seen fit that I will serve in the Great State of Hawaii!!! The Honolulu Hawaii Mission to be exact. This mission covers all of Hawaii, and 11 surrounding islands. I'm pretty darn excited. I leave 6 may, so not for a while. I have plenty of time to go on road trips. If you want more info on the mission you can check out http://www.mission.net/hawaii/honolulu/page.php?pg_id=1163
it's pretty good. There are a lot of random languages included in the mission if you head to those islands, but most of the missionaries stay in the honolulu area by the temple and visitor center! But you have transfers and stuff, so yeah! it's cool!

Inauguration thoughts

I returned from Washington DC this morning, and after sleeping through most of the morning I started to reflect on what I went through earlier this week.
Instead of boring you with the details of the trip, I'd like to focus on the people that I had the opportunity to meet with and see. To start out, the Marching Band was extended an invitation to march in the Inaugural Parade after the U victory at the Sugar Bowl. We needed $160,000 in two weeks. It seemed impossible. As the critical days went by, I waited for any news from our Band Director telling us that we weren't going to go, we couldn't raise the money. Instead, there were constant e-mails updating us about how much money we had, and various fund raisers we could participate in. Many of us were up at news stations to be on the early morning shows to tell people about our quest. There were radio announcements, newspaper articles, and I'm pretty sure Oprah mentioned us on her show. We were soo close to our goal, about $130,000, when USANA stepped up and donated the rest of the money. Not only that, but they gave each of the band members an Ogio backpack filled with free stuff (we call this "free-stuffing the band").
One of the reasons we could get away with raising less than the original desired amount ($180,000) was because one Virginia principle decided that he was going to follow the "still small voice" in his mind telling him that he needed to help the marching band he read about in the Deseret News. His first thoughts were similar to what most of us would think... "wow, someone should help them." But after days of mulling it over in his mind, he talked to his wife about housing members of the band. She thought he was insane. He sent the challenge to members in his LDS stake, who reacted so quickly and in such high numbers, he had to turn many of them down. 2-3 band members were assigned to a host family, who let us stay in their house for two nights.
My family, the Browns, were BYU alumnists. They had 5 children, all under the age of 12. Another tuba player, Katherine, stayed there as well. One of the funnier moments happened when Kory, the mother, came down to the basement to show me how to use the TV. Her 12 year old daughter madison came down with her. She turned on the cable, and it turned on to a rather riskay scene in my favorite show House. She quickly covered her daughters eyes, while madison covered her ears. I rushed to help Kory change the channel, the whole time thinking "yay, house is on. I know what I'll be turning it to when she leaves." I made sure I changed it to a Disney station when I left. I am so grateful for their hospitality, and their kindness. It was so comforting to be staying in a family that had the same standards as me, and they made it obvious that If I needed anything, they would get it for me.
The LDS stake there donated soo much time to make our stay in Virginia as comfortable as possible. Members were at the Stake House hours before us making us breakfast each morning, and then at night they were there prepping dinner and listening to us rehearse. It was so inspiring. As we realized the events that unfolded to get us there, I realized that the Lord really does work through others. It is up to us to follow the prompting of the spirit in order to answer the prayers of others.
On the other end of the spectrum, there were so many people in Washington who were completely out of their minds. Now I don't care if you voted for Pres. Obama, but when you love him to the point that it has become Idolatry, you need to step back and get a good look at your life. I was completely blown away by how many people WORSHIPED that man. There were women crying in the streets, children running around screaming his name, and everywhere you looked posters with his face stared down at you like "big brother". More fucus was put on the outfits worn by the president and first lady than the topics of his... not so extroardinay speech.
Regardless of what happened earlier in the day, we still had a job to do. After sitting in the bus for about seven hours at the pentagon, we warmed up next to the wasington monument with some of the other parade bands. The Virginia Military Institute followed behind us in the band, and about 1,300 cadets showed up. They were way nice.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

We started on Constitution Blvd, turned onto Pennsylvania Avenue, and marched about 2 miles before we were even allowed to play. We jumped on to the parade route and played God Bless America about 25 times. The last two were infront of the new President of the United States. I gave it everything I had and I have no regrets about how I played. My tuba had frozen twice along the parade route during the drum cadences. The spit and condensation literally froze my three valves closed. I had to blow warm air through my horn for about two minutes before they would move. I'm very glad that only happened on the way to the parade route, and not on the parade. When we finished marching, I was so numb I couldn't feel my face, hands, or feet. I also stepped in horse poop.

even more important....

So this will be quick, but I was listening to the radio on my way home from Marching Band rehearsal when the DJ on some country station started talking, I almost changed the station when he suddenly started talking about the Utah Football Team. I got all excited.... 13-0, yay for them, then the DJ said "Even more important than the football team, the University of Utah Marching Band has been invited to play at the Presidential Inauguration." Never in my 3 years of being in the Marching Band has anyone ever put the marching band before the football team, and for good reason. The marching band is there to support the football team, get the crowd pumped, and play their brains out. But for one time, all eyes will be on us. Instead of sitting in the parking lot eating pizza while the football team is eating a catered meal, we are the center of attention. We don't have to follow any crazy sports schedules, or sit around on a bus for 3 hours so the football team can take the plane home before us (good times in Texas...) I am so grateful for those who made this possible, and donated money. It is such a great honor to be able to represent Utah in front of the world.
For all ya'll in Salt Lake on friday, we will be having a parade to honor our amazing football team. It will start at 3:00 pm under the Eagle Gate on South Temple at State Street. We will be parading four blocks south where there will be a small pep rally! Everyone should come out to congratulate the football team. Go Utes!

Away we go!! again....

It's official, the Marching Band has accepted the invite to the Presidential Inauguration. I would really like to give mad props to everyone that put this together so quickly and professionally. And to everyone who donated, Thank you soo much!! This is such an amazing opportunity and I'm grateful to be a part of it.
We'll be heading out sunday (again probably at the earliest possible time of day) and spending the rest of the day exploring our nations capital. Monday we will be heading down to Gettysburg to see the battlefield. If any of you know me, you'll know that I am a HUGE history nerd, and I've never been to this part of the country!! I can't even begin to explain how thrilled I am about this.
What could make this even better? If pres. Reagan came back from the dead and it was his inauguration we were marching at. But since that's just not possible, and I'm really not a huge fan (quite the opposite) i'm just glad to be going!! I'm off to clean my marching shoes!!! Look for us on TV!

Home at last!

So blog is a compilation of what has been going on in the past week. I'm going to organize this so you only have to read what you want to. So i'm going to discuss 1- The Sugar Bowl victory 2- The marching band playing at the presidential inauguration, and 3- My mission papers. So here we go....
1- The Bowl game was amazing. For all of you that missed it, the Utes "Rolled" all over the Alabama Roll Tide in a 31-17 victory. The marching band flew out of Millionaire airport at 0630-ish on 31 january. The staff there are amazing, and check-in went pretty well. So touchdown in to new orleans and bus ride into the city. Our hotel ws right on Canal Street in the heart of the city. After arriving in the Hotel, I again realized that Bowl trips aren't the vacations everyone expects. Within minutes of dropping my bags off in my room, I was in Uniform and running down the the bus for the first pep rally. After loading the bus again we drove to the french quarter of New Orleans. Now at this point I had still not even seen my tuba, let alone played it, since rehearsal three weeks before. I wasn't worried though, we were playing the basic songs for about ten minutes. Easy gig!!!
After the pep rally, it was back onto the bus and over to the Super Dome. Even during all of this loading and unloading of my tuba, never one did I wish I played a smaller instrument. It may be a pain to take the tuba apart, put it in the case, then load it on the bus, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The Super Dome is amazing. We all stared in awe as we walked in for rehearsal. I threw my tuba on braced myself for a very long rehearsal. Four grueling hours later (and by grueling I mean that I hadn't carried my tuba for that long in a month, and my shoulder was hurting really bad) we loaded back onto the bus and headed back to the hotel to enjoy a night off. New years eve was fun, but I really attempted to stay away from areas where I knew there was a lot of partying. A group of us went out to this amazing cajun restaurant where I ate frog legs, gator, catfish tails, fried clams, and mud cake. Needless to say, I ate way to much. We walked over to Bourbon street, where all the partying was and ventured down a little ways till we agreed that we had seen a sufficient amount of New Orleans most famous street. There were live bands, lots of beads, and firework over the river at midnight.
day 2 was actually relaxing. We starting out with another rehearsal in the super dome, lasting about 1.5 hours. We had about 5 hours of free time before another pep rally, so a group of us went out to lunch. we walked around the french quarter and found Cafe DuMond, where I had Beingnet's for the first time in my life. They were so beyong good... I can't even begin to explain. I had 6....
Next Pep rally was in the Hotel in the Grand ballroom. Initially when we arrived I was worried that we wouldn't have enough fans, but after seeing this room filled up with thousand of utah fans, I realized I had nothing to worry about. We marched into the ballroom to thunderous applause, and formed up into the concert arc. The tubas stand in the back, and I was in the middle. We played a medly of our famous songs (utah man, u pep, don't stop believing, etc...) and oddly enough, the whole time I had cameras following me. I would turn around and someone would want a picture of me. I can't even imagine how many scrapbooks i'm in, or how many facebook pages i'm on. There were news cameras everywhere, and one followed me for at least 2 minutes while we played. It was scary!!
The day of the game started off with rehearsal with the Alabama band and the high school bands that were playing with us. The director that conducted the combined piece was terrible, and should be fired. that's all I'll say about that.
To keep this short... WE WON!!! GO UTES!!! back onto the bus, hurry up and wait, then flew back to snowy utah. It was the greatest band trip i've ever had the opportunity to go on, and I'm so gratefull for all my friends that made it worth all the hard work!!!

2- The band got invited to play for the presidential innaugeration. Why we aren't for sure going? I have no idea. If it's a matter of money and the university just doesn't want to pay for it, i'm goign to be extremely angry and they will get a nasty letter from me. Granted, I didn't vote for sen. Obama and I don't even like him, everyone knows that. But what an honor it is to be able to play for at a presidential inaugeration. How many people get to do that? So I'm really hoping someone makes the decision fast.

3- The moment i've been waiting for has finally come, my mission papers are in and my call will be coming in the next few weeks. The reality hasn't really set in yet, but it might when i'm lying on my bed in the MTC wondering what i've gotten myself into. But I know that I will be doing the Lords work, and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. If anyone has any guess of where I'm giong, i'd love to hear it!!! I'll post more when I find out where i'm going!!!