Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Walking in Memphis

Jed and I haven't traveled anywhere, just the two of us, since our honeymoon almost four years ago.  It's not that we don't like traveling, it's just not something we do much of and when you have two little kids, that makes it a bit tougher too.  A few months ago Jed forwarded me an email from his boss with a nomination form filled out for an award at work.  He felt pretty honored to be nominated for as he would say, "just doing his job."

A few weeks later, he called me with awesome news that he was one of the winners!  Jed does not get overly excited about much, but I could hear in his voice that he was really thrilled.  The best perk of the award?  A trip to Memphis for both of us for the awards ceremony!

I blog about this not to brag that we went on a trip, but to brag about my husband.  That's different and okay, right? :)
I, for one, was not surprised at all that he won.  Out of 11,500 employees, 40 were honored with this award.  The nomination that his boss wrote him was full of praise and explanation of the hard work that he does every day.  I can't even tell you much about his company or specific job, but I do know that leaving Nationwide for Sedgwick was a great fit for him and he really enjoys working there.
So, once we got the dates and travel itinerary, we secured someone to watch the kids (thanks a million again Mom!), we packed and off we went.
We had some trouble with flights and spent waaaay too much time in airports on our way out but it was still fun just to be together!
The awards ceremony was really nice.  I learned a lot about the company listening to the CEO talk and do a question and answer session.  He had a lot of great things to say about the award winners.
We stayed at the Peabody in Memphis, which is a really historic hotel.  It was beautiful!

The Peabody is known for the Peabody Ducks.  They have a Duckmaster who trains the ducks.  They live in their Duck Palace on the roof and each day at 11 AM, the Duckmaster leads them from their palace, to the elevator, and down to the lobby.  The walk an actual red carpet from the elevator to the fountain in the middle of the lobby.  They swim there all day and then do the same thing at 5 PM to return to their Duck Palace.  People from all over come in to the lobby each day to listen to the Duckmaster and watch the "show."  It was quite a sight!
Maybe one of the biggest highlights for me, besides honoring my husband, was the food.  First, I didn't have to share.  Second, I didn't have to cut anything up into little pieces.  And it was GOOD!  Really good!

They had all kinds of things planned for us to do to enjoy some sights in Memphis.
We toured Sun Studio which is where Elvis was discovered and many other famous musicians, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. have recorded.

We ate dinner on Beale Street one night, too.

Then, we got to tour Graceland.  Whoa.
I can't say that I'm a huge Elvis fan in so many words, but it was still really neat.  I do appreciate his music and how he changed music history.  When I think of Elvis, I think of younger Elvis, "Blue Suede Shoes," and "Heartbreak Hotel," not so much sequin jumpsuit Elvis.  But, let me tell you.... Elvis wore a lot of sequin jumpsuits.  Actually, it was really cool.  They've preserved the house just like it was when he lived there and it was neat to see his airplane, fancy cars and all of the memioribilia too.


Thankfully, our flights home went smoothly.  I was more than ready to see my babies.  This greeted us when we got home! :) :) :)


Overall it was a great trip.  I could not be more proud of my husband and we had a great time celebrating for a few days.  Thankful that he's such a hard worker and a good example to our family!

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