Travel Pictures & Memories from Provo, Utah

Now that I've gotten to share with you guys the wonderful time we had at Vocal Point's concerts in March...
I'd like to share with you some of the memories we made on the way to, from, and in Provo!

Us in the terminal of the New Orleans airport. We could hardly believe that we were going to MEET VOCAL POINT IN PERSON only a few hours later!


Also, we flew Southwest. Best airline ever.


Skies over Texas




Two summers ago, our family took our travel trailer on a 6-week trip out west (click on The Grand Trip Out West tab up at the top of the page!).
It took us 5 1/2 days of driving just to get to the Grand Canyon, so it was really fun to fly only 3 1/2 hours over the same area!


On the descent into Phoenix


We were very thankful for free ice water. Also I was very thankful for coffee. I needed coffee.


Taxiing out of Phoenix - the weather was beautiful.


WE FLEW OVER THE GRAND CANYON AT SUNSET.

I almost cried tears of joy.


My face was glued to the cold airplane window almost the entire flight, trying to figure out where we were.


The South Jordan Utah Temple


We landed in Salt Lake City at the tail end of a gorgeous sunset.

It was so surreal. We couldn't believe we'd made it!


But the trip wasn't over yet.

We rode the TRAX to Salt Lake City, then took the Frontrunner train over an hour south to Provo.
The trip may or may not have seemed longer because there was this couple sitting in the same car
as us who had just gotten engaged...so we had to sit through about 5 phone calls...

"You wanna know what I did tonight?!"

-"No, what?"

"I got engaged!!!!!!"

They got off after a few stops.

Thank goodness.

(Also, the guy proposed in front of the Salt Lake Temple and played a Taylor Swift song on his phone and they danced to it. 'Nuff said.)


We were exhausted.
We had landed at 7pm, but it was past 9:00 before the trip was finally over.


Hallelujah! We made it to Provo, safe and sound.

Cody and Mikayla picked us up from the Frontrunner station and we happily chatted on the way to Orem (about 15 minutes north)...


Because we had a party at In-N-Out.

You should be jealous.

Left to right: Rebekah, Sarah, Jordan and his wife Zoë, Mikayla and Cody, Bryce, and Andy.

Even though we were dead tired at this point, we had the best.time.ever.
It was so much fun to be with all of them in person!!


Bryce arranged for us to stay with his dad's sister and her husband while we were in Provo.

It was literally the PERFECT situation.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam live in between the BYU stadium and the Missionary Training Center - mere minutes from most of the places we went that weekend!

This was the view out their front door to the west, towards the stadium...


...and to the east, towards the mountains.

It was beautiful.

We had planned on picking up our rental car at 9:30 the next morning in Provo, but Aunt Pam told us to go on ahead and sleep in,
and we'd pick the car up later that morning.

Well...we got to the rental place at around noon, and the girl at the desk told us,

"You're late. The only car we have out there is that Expedition."

And it wasn't just an Expedition.

It was an Expedition EL.

Y'know, the longer ones.

So yep. We drove this massive SUV around Provo all weekend.

:)


The first place we headed after picking up "the EL" was the Covey Center, of course.

Walking in the green room was such a fun experience.

We stood in the doorway and waved and quietly said, "Hiiii guys..."

They came and hugged us and told us how glad they were that we were able to come to Utah for the shows that weekend.
They had just taken a break from soundcheck to eat lunch and graciously offered for us to join them.

They were in full show mode, completely focused on what they'd been preparing for over the last many weeks, so they mostly just talked amongst themselves. We listened and laughed. They're a fun bunch and the inside jokes were flying.




The mountains were still covered with snow - it was the first weekend of March, remember - and the views were spectacular.


Bryce's friend Megan took us on a tour (in a golf cart!) of BYU that Friday afternoon.
It was so much fun to see - in person - places that we'd only heard of before, or seen in pictures or videos.


We stopped by Einstein Bros. Bagels mid-afternoon for a bite to eat and coffee because I needed coffee.


"Y" Mountain


We wandered down a hallway on the second floor of the Covey Center and happily freaked out when we realized
we were looking at the room where so much of ReMix Vocal Academy had taken place over the last couple years!

Okay. I gotta tell you guys a story.

Soon after we started running the VP Fans Twitter account last November, I noticed one evening that there were these two girls
who were Vocal Point fans named Kaylie and Kayla. I thought it was so fun that they were friends and had similar names,
so I asked them (on the fan account) if we could call them the Dynamic Vocal Point Fan Duo, or the DVPFD. They laughed and said yes.
But next thing we knew, their friend Dia was in on it, too. So, voila, it was the Tremendous VP Fan Trio - the TVPFT.
But not for long!
Callie and Madi joined in and there we had it.
The Fabulous VP Fan Five. Aka the FVPFF.
Y'all. The girls took our idea and ran with it and next thing you know they had FVPFF in their Twitter bios
and made FVPFF shirts and had become Vocal Point super-fans.
(They're all about 15, by the way.)

When we realized we were, indeed, flying to Provo for the Covey shows in March, we quickly decided that we were going to surprise the FVPFF.
They had absolutely no idea who ran the VP Fans Twitter, despite asking us multiple times.
And they really had no idea that we were coming. Our lips - er, thumbs - were sealed.
We were pretty bummed when we found out that Dia would be out of town that weekend,
and the other four girls wouldn't all be coming to the same concert.
But we decided were still going to surprise Kayla, Callie, and Madi at the Friday night show.
They got there right before it started, so we didn't have time to meet them in a quiet spot upstairs like we'd hoped to.
We found our seats in the auditorium and started looking around for familiar faces (of which there were many!).
"There they are!!!!!" Sarah told me, excitedly.
The three girls were sitting in the front row.
We made a split-second decision to go say hi before the concert started.
We ran over to them and knelt down in front of them, saying in hushed voices,
"We know you don't know who we are, but we know who you are!
How's our FVPFF?!"

The girls looked at us with confused expressions for a second or two before shock and joy spread over their faces.
"OH MY GOODNESS!! It's YOU!!!! You're here!!!!"
I'm not kidding about the shock part. I think they were so surprised that they could hardly say a word at first!
It was time for us to go back to our seats, but we went back to chat with them for a little bit at intermission.
Of course, after the concert, we hung out as much as we could!

Here they are: Madi, Kayla, and Callie!
They all looked so pretty!


So happy. :)


And here's us and the guys!
L to R: Devin, Bryce, Kyle, Rebekah, Cody, Andy, Adam, Sarah, Jordan, Parker, Scott, and McKay (their director)


(Hi, Jeff!)


Some of our favorite memories from staying with Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam are the mornings, when we'd walk upstairs from our basement guest room...the light would be streaming in the kitchen, and bowls and cereal would be sitting on the counter, waiting for us.


We really loved their kitchen. :)




Their 30th grandchild was born a couple weeks after we were there!


Before the Saturday afternoon show, we decided to go back to Orem, because obviously this trip wouldn't be complete without another meal at...


In-N-Out.
Duh.





Moving on... (Now that I've made your mouth water and you're craving In-N-Out...)



We drove back to the Covey Center...


...for the Saturday afternoon show!




The view from the parking lot of the Covey Center.
I told you Provo was beautiful.


I snapped this picture on my phone just to prove that we were in the same vehicle with Bryce Romney.


Renting an Expedition EL proved to be a very good thing, because Adam actually had leg room!! (He's 6'10". Nbd.)
Andy - the safest, best driver, according to the guys (after all, he spent a summer driving a 40-foot bus giving tours of the Yukon!) - drove us
to J Dawgs for supper.


We asked Cody's dad to take a picture of him and Mikayla and the two of us, but it took about 10 tries because his fingers were in front of the lens...
Then he cut off Cody's head (whoops)...


There. That's better. :)


So we met Kayla, Callie, and Madi on Friday night, but the funny thing was...Kaylie didn't realize we would be at the Saturday night concert, too!
So we surprised her!
We loved chatting with her and her mom while they waited to talk to the guys.


I'm not sure why I was bending down because clearly that was not necessary.


Scott's face makes me laugh every time.


They like to be goofy.




We love all of the guys so much, but we asked Bryce for a huggy picture since we know him the best.
(Sorry, guys, but he's on social media more than the rest of you, so we get to talk to him more...just sayin'...)


After a beautiful afternoon at Temple Square that Sunday, we came back to Jeff's apartment for dinner.
Here is Bryce, looking rather pleased with himself - as well he should be, because that chicken tortilla soup he made was sooooo good.


Trevor came over to visit a little later that evening, which we were absolutely thrilled about, because he's one of our favorite former Vocal Point members!
We were so glad to meet and hang out with him for a while.
Also, he and Bryce are both 6'5" and we're both around 5'4", so here are the tall twins and the short twins. :)


And, of course, we had to get a #trevorselfie.
(That's not a thing, yet, but we're determined to make it a thing, because that's how Trevor always takes group selfies.)


We were so sad to say goodbye to Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam. They were so kind and gracious to us all weekend.


We were also very sad to say goodbye to "the EL". We were emotionally attached to it because of the memories we made in it.


The sunrise in Salt Lake City was beautiful that Monday morning when we flew out.




We watched the mountains fade into sky as we climbed out over SLC and headed for home.
I have literally never been so sad to leave a place in my life - simply because of the people we spent time with and the memories we made.



We can't wait to go back.

See you in August, Utah.

:)

You might also enjoy:

BYU Vocal Point Concerts at the Covey Center

A Sunday Afternoon at Temple Square