Summerfest

As I mentioned last week, we got word last Sunday that there was a need for Bountifulites to open their homes to host some of the people that were coming to Bountiful for Summerfest.  Roy and I talked about it and I said, "I'll just call and see what it involves..." Of course, by making the phone call I was committing myself and Roy.  I asked, "When do they arrive?"  The response.  "They're here!"  I told them we really needed a rest and to clean up a little before we picked them up, so she (Debbie Beauregard) told me that would be fine.  She would take them to her house and we could pick them up as soon as we were ready.
We ended up having just one couple from Lithuania.  They were very nice and we enjoyed getting to know them and some of the others from their group throughout the week.

Monday I joined with a couple of other families that were hosting people from Lithuania, and we drove up to Park City to see the Olympic Park.  I have never been there, although we certainly must have been nearby when we went to watch the Cross Country Ski event during the 2002 Olympics.  I won't tell you that I got lost and so was 1/2 hour later than the other hosts.  I am positive that Debbie told me to take the Kamas Exit, not the Kimball Junction exit.  Oh well...  We still had time to look around, watch the skiers jumping into the pool, and try out the simulator (Jolanta and Renates treated me to a Bobsled ride, a downhill ski experience, and a parachute skiing trip--all from the comfort of a ski lift type chair.

 We then went to Main Street and let everyone shop, arranging to meet up in an hour.  They enjoyed the shop that had Buffalo, Elk, and Bighorn sheep heads hanging on the wall, as well as a Buffalo skin and other interesting western artifacts, although they weren't very impressed with the pricing in the area.  I left them after this store and bought a smoothie because I was starving and they weren't hungry.  After we met up again, they were hungry, so we went to Zupas and I bought us each a small bowl of soup.  I found out early that they weren't huge eaters, though they enjoyed everything I fed them.

After main street they were interested in some more affordable shopping at the outlets, so I let them off by the Nike store (all the Lithuanians seemed interested in Nikes), and after a quick trip to Bath and Body works to use some coupons I had with me, I laid the seat back and had a nap.  When they returned to the car they couldn't see me.  Luckily I heard their voices, got their attention and we were on our way.

We ate dinner in Rose Park at another host family's home.  There was some discussion about what to do on Tuesday, and a trip to Antelope Island was decided upon.  After a little more discussion, we decided to take the boat out with our guests and their good friends Denora and Andrus, along with about 7 teenage girls and another host mother.
We had a wonderful time at Pineview with them.  They all had fun tubing, and many of them even "tried" to wakeboard.  We didn't finish on the water until 6:00.  Thank goodness we have a son living so close to us.  We called Nick and asked if he was available to pick up pizza from Papa Murpheys and have them ready for us when we got home.  He willingly obliged us, added some vegetables that they had already cooked, and we had a great dinner hot and ready when we arrived home.

Wednesday, Jolanta (pronounced Yolanta) & Renates had to be on Main Street by 11:00 for the street dance.  I dropped them off and went home to get something done.  After wasting an hour or so, I decided I should have gone to the street dance--it would have been a lot of fun.  I guess I just didn't want to go alone.
Luckily we had plenty of opportunities to watch their performances over the weekend.  They were one of the best groups, along with Chile and Georgia (the country).  My favorite of their performances was on Saturday afternoon when just the musicians performed.  They did a fabulous job on their Ancient Lithuanian Instruments.

 Renates on his instrument (he had several instruments, all of which had names that I am unable to pronounce or remember!) 

The girl on the drum (2nd to left) was called Samona (spelling?)  She was probably my favorite of the girls, though you could see she had a bit of a sassy attitude.  I liked her because she befriended Caitlyn where none of the others made any effort that way.  She was cute when she performed--she had a slight smile that never varied and she looked like she had a secret.

Wednesday night was the swim party.  As soon as  the Rec center "closed" for the night, they opened it up for all of the international guests and the host families.  I don't think my group was too excited, because they said they only wanted to stay an hour, which was fine by me, but they had a blast.  They loved the slide and went down it several times.  We didn't get home until 11:00.

Another fun thing at Summerfest was Jieun's booth.  She had rented a spot to set up a booth and sell some of her art.  She actually did fairly well, paying for the rental of the spot, the tent she had to buy, and some of her supplies.
She learned a lot, too.  She learned which of her drawings were the most popular, that she needed extra paper to be able to reprint the items that sold out, and she needed more originals.  She said she didn't have many originals because she's given them all to her in-laws.
Her business cards were darling.  Each of them had one of her water color prints in tiny form.  They were a big hit with the younger crowd for sure.

Here are a couple more pictures of our friends from Lithuania at Summerfest.

Caitlyn, Erica, Greta, Veronica, Akvila, Goda, and Oshra

Andrus; ? on her name.  She was 25.  The director of the group, /Denora (wife of Andrus),  Renates, Jolanta 2, Husband or Rasa; Rasa; and Jolanta 1 (wife of Renates)

The highlight of our week with our Lithuanian guests was the Tabernacle Choir Broadcast.  We live so close and rarely attend.  I don't think we go even once a year.  It was an awesome concert.  As we were leaving, Renates told us "That really affected me."  It affected me as well.  There was a really strong spirit there.  We also had the opportunity to show them around Temple square for a short time before we had to get them to their hotel.  We gave them a Lithuanian Book of Mormon with our family picture and our testimony.

Although our life was completely centered around Summerfest.  We still saw some of our family during the week.  Nick sent us this picture.  I assume he was tending Dan's children.

I showed this picture to one of the other host mothers and she couldn't figure it out.  "Has he been married before?" she asked me.  I explained that only the blond one belonged to him.

We got a couple of pictures from Elise, also.

Andy and Max on Andy's new bike :{  Be safe Andy!  He needs a small vehicle for getting to medical school and avoiding high parking fees.  I'm not quite sure what Max is up to here.

Crista and Ruby

Juggling contest Sunday night at our home.

On a sad note:  One of Nick and Dan's friends and co-worker lost one of their twin sons.  They walked into their bedroom and one of them had passed away.  They think he died from Croup.  The other twin was also sick and they took him to the hospital.  Keep this family in your prayers.  We never know how long we have to spend with our loved ones on this earth so we need to cherish and love each other.  Life is Fragile.  I want you all to know how much I love you.  Have a wonderful upcoming week.  Nick--good luck in your new job.  Andy-- good luck in Med school.