Colors and This is the Place

If you know me very well, you will know that I am a Colors groupie. The first time I went to EFY, they played at a concert there and I've been hooked every since. I got a little shell shocked when my roommate Lisa had the guys come over my first year in the dorms after they got back from their missions. I was too shy to say that I had heard them play before and be more friendly. Maybe I was just surprised. Dorky, I know. I saw them at Acapalloza (I miss that concert - it was a good time) and several of their other concerts here in Logan. When they "broke up" (I think they decided to pursue other things like families and careers), I went to their farewell concert in Orem and not only that, but I went to the CD release party from their concert in Orem. I think I qualify as a groupie. Not that that's a bad thing, but it does make me a nerd. Imagine my surprise and delight when I got an e-mail last year saying that they were having a reunion concert in Sandy. I was so excited! I recruited some of my favorite people (Lark, Kathy, Shantel, and Jessie) and we made the trek to SLC. We made a day out of it with shopping and going to eat at the Gateway and finished off the night with a fun outdoor concert in Sandy with Colors. Last year, I talked to Amberly and she said that her cousin had married Russ (the last man standing). They had a guest guitarist with them last year named Skyler Nielsen. He was a lot of fun! He has his own band called Oh No Not Stereo and I listened to some of their stuff later on when I got home. I had such a great time last year and had resigned myself to thinking that would be my last Colors concert.

Imagine my delight when I got an e-mail saying that they were doing a repeat of their concert in Sandy this year. I recruited the same folks (who I converted into moderate Colors groupies - they will never match my level of groupiness) and we decided to head on down to SLC and spend the day and go to the concert.

I have been bitten by the family history bug somewhat. I really should spend some more time with it because it is interesting stuff. I found out some interesting stuff about my mom's side of the family on Memorial Day (tales of murder and intrigue). I was curious about my dad's family and being the Google queen that I am, I searched on my dad's side of the family. I found out about Levi Roberts who is my great-great-great-great grandfather (yes, that's 4 greats!). He was a basketweaver in England when he joined the church in England and emigrated to Nauvoo. He became a body guard for Joseph Smith. He came west with the Saints and settled in Kaysville where he built this cabin by a creek where the willow trees grew so he could weave baskets. His cabin was relocated to This is the Place Heritage Park which I found out online. His cabin was so well built that it didn't even need to be dismantled to be moved. I thought it would be fun to go see grandpa Levi's cabin and hang out at This is the Place for the day. My friends were amenable to the plan so that's what we did.

The last time I went to This is the Place was when I was in 4th grade and we went to Salt Lake for a field trip. All I remember was the monument where we ate lunch. My has it changed! It was soooo much fun. We started off with a train ride through the "town." We saw tons of houses and cabins and other buildings that had either been relocated to the park or replicas. Grandpa Levi's cabin is in good company! We had a great chat with the "barber" who told us that we needed to go see the milliner (a hat maker) to get up to date on the latest styles. We stopped at ZCMI and checked out some hats on our own with some interesting results! We then meandered up to the millinery and got some great fashion advice. She selected a hat for each of us. She did a better job than we did for ourselves at ZCMI. We had ice cream at the hotel and checked out the cabin. Levi's cabin was much larger than several of the others we saw. It's hard to believe that some of these cabins (some with the same square footage as my bedroom I think) housed an entire family. It wasn't open so we couldn't walk through, but we looked through the windows. They had some half-completed baskets in there and some old furnishing. It would have been cool to go inside.

Shantel, Lark, and Kathy on the train

Jessie and I on the train

Our weak hat attempts!

The milliner picked out this lovely tea bonnet for Jessie.

Levi Roberts Cabin

Inside the cabin through the back window.

Oliver the goat started following us at this point. We thought he was a she and was about to deliver a new baby goat any second. When we asked the sheriff who was working in the blacksmith shop about the goat, he let us know that it was a he and his name was Oliver because he was all over. So dorky, but it was funny. Apparently, Oliver wanders all over the place and eats pretty much whatever he can find and is extremely well fed.

Oliver the goat

Dinner followed at Johnny Carino's which is one of my favorite restaurants! We then headed up to the concert. Stephanie Smith opened for Colors. She was a lot of fun! Jessie bought 2 of her CDs which I am going to have to steal at some point. Then Colors came out. They had some new songs, but mostly it was the oldies but goodies. There is something about hearing old favorites played live outside overlooking the Salt Lake valley. They had Sky back with them on guitar. Sky sang one of his songs. No idea what it's called, but it made me giggle. It was about his "favorite 15th one in a row." We had a fantastic time.

I was walking out with Lark and we ran into some mutual friends from Logan. We were chatting with them and catching up when Sky walked by. Sheldon grabbed Sky and told him that he'd done a great job and that we had enjoyed the concert a lot. I introduced myself to him and then remembered that Amberly (my sister-in-law) had a link to Sky's page on her blog. I asked him if he knew Amberly and he said that she was his cousin. Small world! His sister was Amberly's cousin who married Russ. So now I guess I'm sort of related to one of my favorite bands. Does it get any more dorky? I gave him Amberly's phone number (he apparently has a hard time with phones) and luckily, they got to visit before he headed back to LA.

Colors. Sky is in the silver vest.