Brian & "I Believe in Music"

I realized that I never said exactly why we went to Tucson last week , so I decided that I would include that as part of this post since it all kind of goes together. (Aubry, I hope it is OK if I take some info from your blog since you know more about the history than I do.)

When Brian was in Jr. High at Magee middle school in Tucson, he was in a singing group called Pioneers of Music. Robert Gabriel, or Mr. G was the teacher. "The Pioneers of Music was the advanced performing group... the theme song was "I Believe in Music"."

In a newspaper article, Mr. G. and Ms. Bell said the following about the group:

"This was a very experimental group originally," Gabriel said. "We wanted to find out how advanced a junior high group could get in just one school year.

We were doing very heavy classical works."

"At first, we were totally extracurricular.

We met after school, during study conference, at lunch," Bell said.

"It was kind of bad; the kids would gulp down a bite,

look up and have to hit a note.

We told the students they were pioneering in this.

We were doing things that everybody said junior high kids couldn't do

because they didn't have the discipline,

they didn't have the self-control."

Mr. G is the reason that Brain teaches Jr. High. He made a huge impact in Brian's life, as I now understand he did in many of his students lives. On February 21st he passed away from the same heart problems he had over 20 years ago.

In our 12 years of marriage, the only viewing or funeral that I have been able to get Brian to go to, was his own dad's. It was so important to Brian that he go to Mr. Gabriel's memorial service, that we went. Fortunately for planning purposes, the family did a memorial service a month after his death in anticipation of all who would attend.

While making plans for the trip, Brian got on Facebook to find a few old friends. One of his friends, Aubry, had a lot of information, and in the whole process, invited us to spend the night at her house for the one night that we were going to be in Tucson. She married a guy from Brian's ward in Tucson, so he knew them both. Because Aubry's grandma helped Mr G. with the choir group, she was given several pictures by the Gabriel family, and shared many with us.

It is through these pictures that I realized that my husband was a ladies man in junior high and high school. In the several trips that we have made to Tucson over the years, I have only met one of Brian's friends that is male. All of the rest are girls. In fact, this is the only trip that we haven't gotten together with his old girlfriend! (Don't get me wrong, I love them all. They are all cute, and I don't mind letting him get together with them. It is all that he has left of his nearly 20 years in Tucson.)

Monica, Aubrey, Leah, and Brian (they even got matching hats!)

Just to humor myself, I thought that I would share some of his pics, mostly from trips that the Pioneers took, but also some with the girls that he was such good friends with at the time!

Brian & Aubry during one of their shows.

This is one of Brian's favorite pics. Every time he sees it he says, "We had SO much fun that day!"
Monica, Leah, Brian & Aubry

I am so glad that we were able to go to Tucson for the service, and that I was able to go with Brian. We had a great weekend together, and I truly did enjoy learning about a part of Brian's life that I knew very little about. We had a great time with his sister Angie and her family (Jordan too!), and I know that Brian enjoyed catching up, reminiscing, and just seeing old friends again with Aubry & Chris. And most importantly, he had the opportunity to sing I Believe in Music with members of the Pioneers of Music for what may be the last time and in honor of Mr. G. at the service.

Kartchner Caverns, AZ

On Saturday, Brian and I went to Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona. We have been two other times to the caves, but have never been able to go on the "Big Room" Tour. The "Big Room" is closed for 6 months of the year because a colony of pregnant bats moves in to have babies. In order to keep the caves as natural as possible, they close it down.

The most breathtaking features in the cave is in the "Throne Room" that we didn't see this time. It is an enormous column of flowstone. They have named it Kubla Kahn. If you look at the picture below, You can see a man standing at the bottom of the 58 foot high column. Definitely a sight to see.

This flowstone is surrounded by stalactites, stalagmites, & soda straws. This is more like the formations that we saw this time.

The "cave bacon" draperies are also amazing in the caves. Some of them are 50+ feet long. They have beautiful colors, and you quickly realize why the call it "bacon". It was amazing to think how it is formed, and how many million years and droplets of water created it.

Mineral-rich water dripping from a high ceiling splatters in a wide pattern, forming a flattened, "fried egg" stalagmite.

As stated by one of the discoverers of the cave, "The quality and diversity of the formations in the cave are unusual. There's a little bit of everything in there, including a 50-foot-high column, a 30-foot-high stalagmite, and some rare formations called shields." There's also a 21-foot-long, 2-inch-diameter soda straw hanging from the ceiling of the Throne Room, which, until a slightly longer one was found in Australia, was the longest formation of this type in the world."

Kartchner Caverns, is for me, one of the most beautiful places on earth (or in the earth). It reminds me that God's hand created all that is on this earth, and that he put amazing things here for us to remember his hand in all things.

To see the history of the cave, click here.

Arizona part 2

Well, the Honda dealership in Tucson was able to get the truck in immediately on Monday morning. They were driving it in to start on it less than 5 minutes after we pulled in. The problem was with the ignition switch, and sometimes it would just cut out while we were driving down the road. We had no warning signs at all, just dead instantly. The first 2 times it happened, it started right back up, but the more times that it happened, the harder it was to get started. We found the problem by googling the symptoms online, so the dealership had a good idea of where to start looking without having to make it do it themselves. Fortunately, the part was a recall part that we never got fixed, so after about 2 1/2 hours wait, we left with a fixed truck and no charge to do it. What a relief and a blessing.

We got on the road about 6 hours later than we should have to make it all the way home at any reasonable time of day or night. But the truck worked perfectly, and we made good time. Because of the car repairs, we didn't have any time at all to stop to see anything on the way. This is what we saw of the Grand Canyon. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the bottoms of the clouds were pink from the reflection of the red rocks.. Amazing.
As we continued on the trip, we got just through Kanab as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful site. Again the picture in no way compares to what it actually looked like.
We arrived at Greg's house to pick up the kids at about 1:00 in the morning. Brian had to be back to school today, and the kids really needed to be also since they missed Friday, so we loaded them in the car and drove the rest of the way home. We got here at 2:00, so I told the kids that when they were ready for school, I would take them even if they were late. They only missed the first 20 minutes.

Thank you Angie & Dave & family for the place to stay. It was so fun to spend some time, and see you again. Also thank you Aubrey & Cris & boys. It was fun to get to know your family and learn a little more about Brian's life in Tucson.

Arizona

On our way to Arizona, we passed this place called Cliff Dwellers. It is a place that they built houses around some big rocks. Interesting...different.

Today, we went to Karchner Caverns state park to see the Big Room that we haven't been able to see before. It is closed for six months of the year for the bats that roost in it. We have been to the other parts twice before. I wish that I had some pics to post of the cave, but there are no cameras allowed. When I get home, I'll have to pull some pictures off their website. It is an amazing place.

I love the desert. I only wish that the cactus were more in bloom. They are just starting down where we are, but as we drove through Phoenix, it was an amazing site. We wandered through the park, and I took a few pics. Enjoy!
A Yucca Spike
A barrel cactus
This is where you enter the cave, and the hill that the cave is in.

Us! in front of a mesquite tree

Prickly Pear, & Ocotillo The butterfly & hummingbird garden, we didn't see any hummingbirds today, but while I was taking this picture, another group of people were watching one 15 feet away.More Prickly Pear
And I think this is an Agave.Tomorrow we head back up to Tucson for a memorial service for a good friend of Brian's that died. We are having car trouble, so pray for us and Brian's CRV. UGH.

Brian...Hard at Work

This is what Brian does when he is "working."

Friday night, while he was working security at the rodeo, Brian went "Bull Riding!"
(sorry the picture is bad, he took it with his cell phone)