Eight Isn't Enough: Choir Tour

Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Randy were so sweet to take us in for 2 weeks while we were busy in Utah. They are the most delightful hosts and always take such good care of us. We love them and are so grateful for their generosity.

Richard, Daniel, Laney and Susanna played and hiked while I was with the older kids on our MCO Tour. The next post will be about their adventures with Dad.

Tim, Sara, Andrew and Freddy were able to perform in 6 sold out concerts in the Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The whole week was exhilarating, uplifting, hot and sweaty (during concerts), SO MUCH FUN and exhausting. Everyday was packed from early in the morning to late at night. We did get two days to sleep in a little bit, but the rest we were out the door by 6:30 or 7:00 am and not back to Marilyn and Randy's until around 11:00 pm, hungry and tired, but wired with excitement.

The first day we had rehearsals in the Assembly Hall and also recording sessions in the concert hall at the University of Utah. We traveled back and forth and had a lot of fun with friends.

This is the entrance to the basement of the Assembly Hall. We were able to go in the basement there and at the Tabernacle. It was pretty awesome! There is a tunnel that connects the two as well. So Cool!

We had over 2000 choir members in the assembly hall for rehearsal. It was pretty amazing! The sound was absolutely heavenly. MCO has choirs in Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona and Texas and this tour was a mix of all of those groups. Each location has five choirs, Young Singers, Children's Chorus, Youth Chorus, Concert Choir and Grand Chorus. The ages range from 4 year olds to adults. Because the group was so huge, it was split into two casts, each cast performing 3 concerts. The only choir that was not split was Concert Choir, the high school kids. They performed all 6 concerts, two per day, Thursday through Friday.

This was during one of the recording session in Libby Gardner Hall on the U of U campus.

Sara with her choir besties, Madison and Madison.

We were able to find Emma Klippel who is serving her mission on Temple Square. She grew up one street over from us in our neighborhood, but moved to Ohio and then Texas, so it had been a while since we had seen her.

The Concert Choir, all the high schoolers, were in the side balconies for a good portion of each concert. It was so hot up there! But the sound was mind blowing, especially when the organ was playing. You could even feel the organ shaking the ground outside of the Tabernacle as we waited for our cue to enter. It was AWESOME!

The 150 Concert Choir guys moved around the most during the concerts. They were crammed into all the stairs and hallways under the organ and choir loft. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I love managing that group of young men. They are so well behaved and kind to each other and the adults who are helping out. They all call me Mom and I love it.

Because of the historic and spiritual importance of the Tabernacle, we had to get pictures of the kids on the conductors stand as well as at the pulpit. So many church leaders through the years as well as US Presidents and other famous people have stood in those same places. It was pretty cool.

We couldn't find Andrew so he's not in these pics.

Freddy

Tim

Sara

Tim

Freddy

Sara

I got to attend one of the 6 concerts with Richard and the younger kids as well as Randy and Marilyn. It is always fun to watch people who have never been to an MCO concert before. It is unlike anything else. It really feels like the heavens open and concourses of angels are descending in song. Randy and Marilyn were blown away and loved every second!

The Sara and Tim watched one of the concerts on Friday evening and Freddy and Andrew joined us for one of the Saturday evening concerts. They loved seeing it, since they are always in the choir and not the audience. They said it was hard not to sing along, but that it was cool to hear how it all sounds together from the audience.

After the Saturday 5:00 pm concert

We had about 30 minutes in between concerts to eat something really fast.

Andrew and his friend, Aleah

Madison, ?, Freddy, Leah, Caiden, Ali, Tim, Becca, Sara

Ali, Freddy, Becca

Madison, Sara, Madison

Freddy and Tim became friends with Leah, one of the girls from Utah. They didn't realize she was one of the directors', Prof. Mendenhall, daughters.

Tim and Leah

Tim, Caiden and Freddy

They were doing a prom pose. Silly boys!

Ali, Tim and Leah

Freddy, Ali, Tim and Becca

This was the best I could do in trying to get a picture of all the Concert Choir guys. We were missing ton of them, but it was hard to wrangle them all together for a picture.