Utah - July 2010 part 1

Utah

July 2010
part 1: Stadium of Fire Concert

So clear back in July, my mom, youngest sister {Lizzy} and I took a girls-only road trip back to Utah {if you'll recall, we were all just there in April} to visit my middle sister {Christine} for her birthday and to go to the Stadium of Fire concert!! I came down to Oregon, as usual, for my Wednesday/Thursday work gig and then we hit the road early Friday morning - arriving in Bountiful {where we were staying with my aunt and uncle} late that night. The next day, Saturday, we drove down to Provo for the day and met up with the uber-tan Christine. She did not even look like she belonged in our family! Oh my heck! {Utah talk} The rest of us were all various shades of pasty white next to her. Eventually we ended up at the BYU library because there had been some miscommunication as to how my concert ticket was to be procured and I needed to print it up. {Christine is printer-less.} At the library we met Christine's friend, Matt, and his brother {who shall remain name-less because I don't recall it at this time and don't feel like calling Christine}. Later, we ran into them at the mall where we had gone to Chick-fil-A {pronounced "Chick Fill A" even though in my head I always read "Chick Fill UH"} for dinner. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, Lizzy opted for chicken strips and mom and Christine both had chicken salad sandwiches. It was a first for all of us and I think we agreed it was "OK" but not out of this world. It was also determined at this time that Matt and Lizzy both have awesome aviator sunglasses.Then we "raced" {read: crawled-back-at-a-snail's-pace-because-there-was-so-much-traffic} back to Christine's apartment to get dolled up for the concert. Lucky for us, the concert was at the BYU stadium which is essentially right out Christine's back door - about 2 blocks away.

Here we are chillin' before the concert. Mom and her 3 girls.

I loved being surrounded by the mountains. I love the green-ness and trees-galore that is the Pacific Northwest, but there is great beauty in mountains like those. We had some time to kill before the show, so I braided Lizzy hair into a fabulously chic over-the-top-of-the-head french braid. Stylish? I think so! We saw several other girlies with the same look. Just wish I was talented enough to braid my own hair with such precision!

Did I mention this was my first-ever concert?! Yeah, I was super excited. And in my head I kept hearing little Gretel from Sound of Music saying, "It will be my first concert!" except in the movie she says "party" but whatever. I was excited! Did I say that already?

There were several opening acts, including The 5 Browns {doing a medley of John Williams Star Wars music}, the Osmonds: 2nd Generation and a dance troupe number. All were pretty cool.Also on the program for the night, was the largest-ever Eagle Scout Court of Honor because the Boy Scout organization was celebrating 100 years. Wow! That's a long time. Anyway, all of this led up to the star of the show.... drumroll please.....

Can you tell who...??

[picture courtesy of carriefans.com]
It was Carrie Underwood!!!

So the highlight of the pre-show was when she did the National Anthem. Holy Moly!

I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes. The beauty of her singing, the perfectly timed fireworks and the jet fly-over were awesome!! Her opening number was Cowboy Casanova and she also performed All-American Girl, Jesus Take the Wheel/How Great Thou Art, Undo It and several others with Before He Cheats for the finale. {For highlights, click here for a youtube link.} She is an amazing performer and it was a great show! But it wasn't over yet! The grand finale was a spectacular fireworks display and it did not disappoint.They played a wide variety of music from American composers and then got into the hard-core fireworks!After all was said and done, we hung back while most of the rest of the crowd dispersed and had ourselves a little post-concert photo shoot. I mean, we were all dolled up and everything!Christine did most of the picture-taking {I had left our camera at home since I knew the boys would be having their own adventures and especially for the 4th of July} so we each took a picture with her. I really like the one of her and our mom. This is my favorite one of Christine and I though:

Classic Zoolander face!!

See?! We all like to do it!

Ok, fine. Normal smiles!

Lizzy

Christine

The sisters.
Top: With our Oregon "O's"
Bottom Left: We each live in a different state now... me in WA, Christine in UT {her "U" is a little funky} and Lizzy is the only one still in OR. Hence, Bottom Right: She is the only one happy because she is still in OR and we've all moved away.

My favorite sisters shot!

It was an AWESOME concert and we had an AMAZING time! We've already talked about going again next year... depending on who is performing. Now, can you believe that whole post only covers Saturday, July 3rd?! That's right... there's still more to come from this trip, so check back soon!
Over and out.