Mo Tab, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli and Me!

Kent and I recently were invited to watch the Mo Tab Choir sing with Andrea Bocelli and David Foster. (Thanks to Julie's friend Jaymes). We were able to invite a few others so along with the eight of us there were about 5 other people in the tabernacle as invited guests. Andrea Bocelli and the Mo Tab sang a version of the Lord's Prayer that was utterly amazing. At one point between recordings Andrea just sat down at that old Tabernacle organ, began to play and then sang Ave Maria a cappella! What a thrill for everyone there.

After the recording with Andrea finished, the choir sang a hymn followed by "God Be With You Til We Meet Again". David leaned over to us after and said that Andrea has sung with choirs all over the world and that this song really moved him. We felt it too.

As a surprise to us, David then recorded his song "The Prayer" with the choir for their CD coming out in January. I love that song... He was very cute and comical with the typically somber choir.

Paul and Julie - Scott and Pat - David Foster - Tom and Darlene - Kent and LuAnn

What a weekend!

I then traveled to CA to the taping of David Foster and Andrea Bocelli's Christmas Show, where the choir song will be televised. The show will be aired on December 1 on PBS.

It was quite interesting to be in the audience for taping. By now the excitement had worn off

about seeing them, so I just enjoyed the music. My favorite was when Andrea sang Jingle Bells with the Muppets.

Watch the show everyone! You will like it.

The Most Expensive Lake Powell lunch!

Over the Labor Day weekend, Kent and I visited Lake Powell. When we woke up on Friday morning we had a great idea to go to Antelope Point. (For those of you who don't know Lake Powell it is 100 miles away in a boat)!

We had such great water to glide on, it was like butter. We refueld the boat in Dangling Rope

and then headed for Antelope Point. People are right, it has changed. We had a great lunch of pizza and salad (very fresh) and then got back in the boat to head for Bullfrog.

Once again it was butter-water... seldom found in Lake Powell, especially in the channel.

I got hot and wanted to swim. We stopped the boat, swam, layed in the sun and had a nap

for a short while. We had trouble getting the boat to start. Kent did some things and got

it going and I was so happy because we still had 50 miles to go. All of a suddden we hear ZINGGGGGGGGG!!!!! NOT A GOOD SOUND! Our out drive or as we later learned, our gimble

ring went out on us, we were stranded.

We tried to get someone to tow us back but all we were offered was food and water. Do you know how many people we haved towed on the lake? Our karma was not working. We called in for help and they said the park service would come and get us but not the boat. So we decided to stay the night in the boat and wait for help to come in the morning. We had almost everything we needed, a flashlight would have been nice but we had a candle, and we were able to use our camper enclosure for the 3rd time in 12 years. By morning all I really wanted was a toothbrush and wa-la we had bought a small shaving kit for Kent at the store at Antelope Island and it had a toothbrush!!!!

Finally morning comes and our tow arrives.

So far lunch has cost us about $1,050 but we are not done. For your information the going tow rate is $276 per hour.

We did enjoy staying in the houseboat at the slip Saturday night and Sunday before heading home on Monday.

We really thought we could just fix our boat but we found out the best way to fix an old boat is to buy a new one. Do I regret our trip to Antelope Pointe...naw, the pizza was really good!!

Celebrating Dad's 85th Birthday

85 Memories attached to $1.00 Bills!

We all enjoyed the great Memories!

Making a Wish.....

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Positano, Italy

Positano is where we celebrated our 30th anniversary. This will always be a special place to us. This was a great finish to an a fantastic 3 weeks in Italy.

Even though we were there off-season, the charm of Positano showed through as we walked through the small and steep streets to the beach. The summer must bring a totally different buzz to the town but we were kind of glad to have the place to ourselves.

You will see why so many call this the most romantic place on earth.

Sorrento, Italy

Everyone who takes trains from Florence to Sorrento should know that getting first to Naples is easy. But from Naples to Sorrento is 32 stops! Spend the extra money and get a driver to take you to Sorrento.

Sorrento is nestled quietly on the sea where the breeze feeds every sense with lemons and oranges. It was so cool to see them growing everywhere. The town is small but it is worth every minute of a couple of days. Sorrento offered a nice change from the northern part of Italy.

Hope you get the feel of Sorrento in this short video...

Florence, Italy

We were so glad to get rid of the rental car. Italians drive like they live life - with complete gusto!!

We absolutely loved Florence - the statues, the food, the coziness of the city, the people - we just had a great time!

We can't wait to return someday - even if we have to take all of our kids next time :). Here is a taste of what we enjoyed ...

Tuscany, Italy

From Venice we made our way to Florencia and rented the most amazing car. It was the biggest car in Italy and came with its own dents. We also found out that it attracted police traffic cameras everywhere we went ($$ - parking tickets that still keep coming)!

We drove immediately to Siena - one of the largest hilltop towns in Tuscany. On each of our four days, we took the "amazing" car and drove a different direction to see Tuscany. Kent enjoyed the countryside more than LuAnn did but we both enjoyed all of the hill towns.

LuAnn had to see the tower of Piza because someone said it was falling over. We took the long way to get there and then went back to Florence. In Piza, we met a very nice owner of a pizza place. We were of course a bit lost so LuAnn asked if the "tower of Piza" was good. He replied, "Of course! our pizza is good!" This became LuAnn's favorite saying of our Italy trip.

Enjoy the video!

Venice, Italy

Well we made it to Venice.  It is a place you hear everyone talk about and it's amazing that we're here.  It isn't quite that easy to get to, you know, trains, boats and walking to the hotel, but we're ready to see it.  During our stay I didn't love Venice, but looking back at the photo's I really enjoyed it. I think maybe it was the time of year, not alot of people around (I like people) but everyone say's that in the summer it is a mob scene and that it really stinks, so I'll just remember it happy.  Venice is bigger than I thought and sort of a maze to get around  but I had Kent to navigate.  One of my most favorite things was the pigeons, Kent really liked the city except the sales guy in Murano. (Couldn't believe we wouldn't buy a glass statue for 5.000 euros.)

All in all "been there, done that", as Phil say's. 

Lake Como 2009

After a flight from SLC to San Francisco, Paris and Milan, we trained about an hour

to a place called Saronno.  We then caught another train to Como a had a choice of $125 taxi

ride or a bus ride... I choose the bus trip up the winding rode, about another hour, standing up. At one point Kent almost barfed in my pursed.  It was a long day and we were so happy to arrive in Bellagio. Once we had dinner of caprese salad and pizza  and a good nights sleep all travel headaches were gone and we were ready to enjoy Italy.   Kent loved this town, I had been there before but didn't remember the mountains. (the back of the Alps)(they look different in the summer). 

We had great food and ferried around to Menaggio and Varenna  just relaxing.  If you are ever planning to go to the Como area please contact me and I will tell you the best way to get there.

Enjoy the 2 minute movie! - LuAnn

Welcome!

We're finally blogging...
Though we've traveled to many parts of the world and wish to share our adventures with you, we will also share some of our experiences from our own little corner of the world we call home.