post script

down at the bottom of the page is my music player...
amber - listen to the first song. that's all i'm going to say. =)
chad - listen to the last song. i like it a lot and thought you might too.

A Tale of Two Cities

When I started reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens I never thought it would move me so much. Before I picked up the book I didn't know anything about it but the famous first line: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." All I knew was that it is a classic and I wanted to read it. I enjoyed the story very much. I liked how all of the characters were mingled together. I was crying while I read the last few chapters. Never did I think that I would cry like that while reading a book. I couldn't see the page! For a character that you don't see much in the novel, you grow to love Sidney Carton. He made a huge sacrifice for the one woman he ever loved. The last line says so much to me: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." He died for his love! I guess that is why A Tale of Two Cities is a classic! It has a man who willing gives his life for that which he holds dearest. He gave his life so that she could live...

Tag...your it.

A - Attached or single: single
B - Best Friends: Samantha and my family
C - Cake or Pie: cherry pie; chocolate cake
D - Day of choice: Saturday (I can relax on that day)
E - Essential item: my Josh Groban CDs; my purse (along with everything in it)
F - Favorite color: green (lime green); blue; white
G - Gummy bears or worms: worms
H - Hometown: born in Phoenix; live in South Jordan
I - Indulgences: Josh Groban; chocolate; sleep
J - January or July: July (it is not cold)
K - Kids: someday I hope to be blessed with some
L - Life is not complete without: Josh Groban music; family; friends
M - Marriage Date: unknown
N - Number of Siblings: four brothers
O - Oranges or apples: green apples
P - Phobias or fears: fear of the unknown
Q - Quotes: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya Angelou
R - Reason to smile: it is sunny outside; Josh Groban
S - Season: Spring or Fall: Fall
T - Tag four friends: the first four people who read this
U - Unknown fact about me: I want to learn how to play the piano
V - Very favorite store: Target; Barnes and Noble
W - Worst habit: sleeping to much
X - X-ray or Ultrasound: X-ray vision (like Superman)
Y - Your favorite food: chocolate; pizza; strawberries; water
Z - Zodiac: Gemini

Awake Live

I finally listened to 'Awake Live'. Here are my thoughts on the CD:

Mai - First, I thought it was strange to start off with the second song of the concert. But I guess it makes sense because it is the first song on the Awake album. I liked how they kept Josh saying hello to Salt Lake City. It made my stomach flip just thinking about that night.

February Song - I love when Josh plays the piano. He puts flourishes where there were none. This song is great.

In Her Eyes - This is the song where Josh walked through the audience. It's funny to tune Josh out (Gasp! A Grobanite tune Josh Groban out. A scandal I know...) and listen to he people screaming as he walks by them. They are crazy! That's okay because that's how I would be too. lol.

So She Dances - I love this song to begin with. And the live version is even better than the album version.

Un Dia Llegara - They kept in Josh's introduction. This song is so pretty. I love Tariqh's guitar playing.

Pearls - I love this song! Josh and Angelique sound so great together. I like the chattering at the end of the track. They have Josh reading the "Hug" sign. That's great.

Weeping - I think it is great that Josh's introduction to this song is still there. He is so great when he talks about Africa. I can tell that he really cares.

Machine - This is such a fun song! I love Josh's "ohhs" during the song.

Awake - This was an encore song! I am so glad it is on the CD! This is my favorite Josh song. I love the introduction too. He is such a joker. This was the very last song he sang. He played the piano again.

Lullaby - Fun! More great Africa stories! Josh's intros are so great. I love the synthesized Josh choir. The song starts out acapella and then Josh joins in on piano. There some beautiful flourishes in the song. This version is very simple and well done. I like it a lot.

You Are Loved - This is the first song of the concert. I love how the audience is restless and loud before we even see Josh. And then Josh starts to sing and we go crazy but quiet down again because he is not even on stage yet. You can tell when Josh comes up from the floor because we go so crazy you can barely hear Josh singing. There is so much energy from the audience alone that it makes this
song so much fun! Lucia's violin skills are great too.

Now for my thoughts on the Awake Live DVD:

The DVD is AMAZING! I loved it! The cinematography was awesome! I was kind of disappointed about not having 'Not While I'm Around' on the DVD. I thought that song was a lot of fun. Without it the change to 'Machine' is somewhat abrupt. During 'In Her Eyes' I think I recognized Chris Groban taking pictures. That's funny to me that Josh Groban's brother was there taking photographs. But he is an awesome photographer so I am not complaining. On the bonus features when Josh is talking about running from the stage to the back of the house it showed a clip of him out in the hallway. Josh said something about Principal Groban coming to inspect the halls. lol. That is material straight from FOJG. I about feel on the floor I was laughing so hard. Josh reads our random fun threads. That is so cool! I also think it is fun that Sweeney got to go on tour with Josh. They showed him running around and he looked like he was having the time of his life. Josh also mentioned that they never had any fun on this tour. Liar! There were clips of Josh on a segway going around in circles, riding roller coasters at Hershey Park, and some of Josh being his normal goofy self. I love goofy Josh. His smiles and laughs are so contagious.

Cruise Day #5

So we left Los Angeles today. The flight home was more turbulent than going to LA. My stomach got queasy again. I think I was nervous. When got to Salt Lake City we were all hungry because it was around 8:00 pm when we landed. And we had no food at our house because we have been gone for a week so we went to Arby's and got some sandwiches.

The whole trip was a lot of fun. I just wish I would have not been sick. The week before we go on a cruise I get a cold. Mom kept giving me cough medicine so I was always really sleepy. That's okay though because I still got to relax while we were on the ship.

Cruise Day #4

This is Mexican Zebra (aka: a donkey with stripes). He is kind of hard to see but I got a free picture. So ha!

This a blowhole in Mexico called, La Bufadora.

La Bufadora.

La Bufadora.

This towel animal is my favorite. It's a dog.

Cruise Day #3

This is our ship, Monarch of the Seas. I love this shot too. I took that one. It reminds me of the Royal Caribbean commercials.

That butterfly/moth was on Steven's swimsuit. When I took him off he wouldn't leave my fingers. So I just put him on me. He went up my shoulder and around to my other shoulder after this picture. He stayed with me for fifteen minutes before he flew away.

This is Avalon on Catalina Island.

The ship couldn't dock so we had to take a boat to shore.

This is a towel stingray. I think it is funny how the chocolate was used for the eyes.

I like this one. It is a crane.

At 11:30 pm there was a chocolate buffet. There were chocolate sculptures.

And carved watermelons. That must take a lot of work.

Even the "flowers" were made with food. They look so cool!

This was really cool! It is an ice dragon.

Cruise Day #2

This the pool that was on the ship. My brothers and I got up and went swimming at 6:00 am. That's why no one is around it. The picture was taken at 6:20 am.

This is San Diego from the top of the ship. We just got into the port.

We went to Balboa Park for the day. Here are some pictures of the flower gardens that we saw.

I liked this flower. It is bright orange.

This is a Zantedeschia aethiopica 'Hercules'. I thought it was very cool.

American Pitcher Plants. The information is interesting.

American Pitcher Plants.

American Pitcher Plants.

This cactus was really odd.

And now some pictures from the Rose Garden. I really like this one. It's a digital-macro shot. I think this is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken.

This is also a digital-macro shot that I like.

More roses.

Even more roses.

Okay, we are now at the San Diego Automotive Museum. (Which is still in Balboa Park.)

This is what the sign in the back window said.

More flowers. We saw these hanging off of a wall as we were driving here. They are very pretty.

Okay, back on the ship. When we went into our rooms we saw some animals. This one is a swan.

This one is an elephant. The boys don't think it is.

Cruise Day #1

Today we leave for our cruise. It is around 9:30 am. We are at the SLC airport at Gate D. Grandpa and Grandma Hall drove us to the airport. We already checked our bags and went through security. Now my stomach is a little queasy. Mom's is too. I'm nervous. I have never been on a plane before. There are some really big planes outside. This is fun! The airport is really full. Dad says it is busier than normal. My ears are plugged so I can't really hear anyway.

It is now almost 11:00pm Utah time. That’s midnight here on the ship. Today has been fun.

Our flight left at 11:30am (UT time). It was fun. When we took off I thought it was weird. SLC got so small all of the sudden. We went through some clouds. That was cool. It didn’t look like we were going very fast. But I guess we were because the flight didn’t take that long. We landed at 12:55pm (CA time). Because of the time change it didn’t seem long at all. We picked up our luggage and went outside to meet our shuttle. Because of my cold I couldn’t breathe properly and my ears were plugged from the plane ride. That made me sad for a few moments. When we were waiting Dad realized that he didn’t have his bag (which we found out later was actually Mom’s) so he went back inside to grab it. The airline lost it. They said that it wasn’t even in Los Angeles. They told Dad that they would try and get it to us before the ship left the port that day. If they didn’t get it there in time they would definitely have it to us in San Diego the next day. (It found us in LA.) When we were heading to the port we saw a sign for the road that Chad and Amber live on. We thought that was funny. Dad called Amber and told her.

We got to the ship and went through their security. When we were on the ship they had everyone put on their life jackets and they did a drill. That was interesting. We had to go to Deck 7 and stand in lines until they made some announcement and they let us go. Our crew lead, Josh, had a cool accent. And they had all the women and children in the front and the men in the back. That was funny to me. After we put our life jackets away we walked around the ship for a while. We had dinner at 5:30pm. The ship also left port at that time. I could tell when the boat started to move. It felt weird. We watched a show at 10:00pm. It was okay.

Surprise

So yesterday I got a package and was so excited when I saw who it was from. Warner Brothers! My 'Awake Live' DVD came four days before the street date. Awesome! I haven't watched it yet because I want to be able to enjoy it. I did open it and flip through the booklet. And guess what? Chris Groban, Josh's brother, was at the concert and has some photos in the book. I didn't know he was there. I knew that Jack and Lindy, his parents, were there but I didn't think about Chris being there as well. I can't wait to watch the concert. It is going to be so much fun. I was there. I can't wait to relive the greatest night ever!

I have been packing all day for our cruise next week. I am really excited. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures. We fly out of Salt Lake around 11. I'm excited for that too. I have never been on a plane and it should be fun.

I love these photos. Josh Groban and Michael Buble are so much fun. The photos were taken by Bryan Adams for a hearing awareness thing. Go check out the official website for other photos and more information.