Croatia For the Week

Well another great week of fun. We got back from Mexico on Saturday and had 6-8 people from Croatia come stay with us for a little over a week. They are here for the Springville Folkfest.

We had 6 wonderful young men (Ivan, Tommy-Tomislav, Jurica, Phillip, Z-Zdravko, Dominik) and gained 2 beautiful young ladies for the last few days.

The week was filled with touring, performing, and fun!

Sunday July 28th:

The group arrived at around 11 this morning… I had to pretend I knew what I was doing when I paired up dancers with host families… I got the left overs. Joking boys! We lucked out with such a great, fun group. I told them they were in trouble right at the beginning (for having to come into our home) and Jurica spouted right back, “No, you are in trouble!”… and yep, I think he got it right. 😂

After the boys settled in, we headed to the SF park for a pot luck dinner with the other host families of Croatia (37 members in the Croatia dance/musician group and 13 host families).

Monday July 29th:

I began my day with a 8 mile run (and I ended my day with a 5 mile run and hill strides). I quickly headed to cross country practice at the SF park. There we met up with the 4 surrounding HS’s to go for our Monday morning trail run. It was our last time gathering as HS’s for the summer, so us coaches made a pancake breakfast for the kids.

I hurried home, so I could take the Croatians to the stage for an interview with Big Buddha Fox News.

We came home, they changed and before we headed out, my dad stopped by. ❤️ (My parents are leaving today and wanted to hang out with the kids before they left.) Before my dad left with the girls, my Croatian boys sang us a song. It was wonderful!

And then finally we all headed up to Temple Square in Salt Lake. We walked around there for a while, had lunch and stopped off at a couple of souvenir shops on the way home.

Then of course just hanging out and relaxing at the home.

Tuesday July 30th:

I went out for my 8 mile run early this morning and then headed for the HS for the CC team’s practice. (I also went out for 5 miles in the evening… it was so hot!)

The guys were gone most the day because they had to practice for their performance with the other countries that are here (Russia, Netherlands, Poland, Mexico, Taiwan, Morning Star-USA and a clogging and dance group from BYU). We had downtime for a few hours and then left for their 1st night of performing (in Springville).

They did a wonderful job! They are beautiful dancers, singers and musicians!

Wednesday July 31st:

I had a speed workout this morning… it was a struggle the 1st half but then it came together the 2nd half. 15 miles total (4 min on/3 min recovery with a warmup and cool down).

And once again I ran over to the HS for their speed workout. My oldest comes out every so often… I wish she would come out more but I will take what I can get (she is in jr high, though).

Once the boys were up and fed, we (my mother in law and I… Corom had to work and my girls went and played with friends) left for the Meadow hot springs.

A storm came in so we left. The Performance was canceled due to bad weather so Corom, the guys and I went out to eat.

This was a typical car ride with these guys:

And this…

I actually looked forward to the car rides home from their performances because of their singing.

Thursday August 1st:

After my easy 8 mile run and coaching the HS cross country team, the host families met up at the HS this morning with Croatia, Netherlands and Russia to learn American football. It went really well and it is so fun to watch.

The football team taught them how to throw, kick, tackle, the plays, etc.

Tommy shocked everyone with how far he could kick! He kicked it over the goal post at college level… so we moved it back even further. Of course, I didn’t record any other kicks except for his last one and the only time he missed it.

It was great to see people from all over the world interact!

We went to Ross for a little shopping (and I got a 5 mile run in) before their performance. The performers tonight did not disappoint!

Friday August 2nd:

I went out for my 8 mile run, then coached the HS cross country team on their their run.

We took the guys (and Sarah’s crew) to the Bean Museum… they were a little tired or maybe bored. 😂 I didn’t care because I like this museum.

We then headed straight to BYU for a class the Croatians were teaching to one of the dance classes.

After the BYU class, most of us in our group went to another host families house (the Crockett’s) for a bbq. It was great to hang out with everyone… and I only got pictures of my kids. 😬😂

Croatia was being featured tonight so we had the privilege of seeing a longer performance from them.

This is just a short clip of their dance (I couldn’t get it all uploaded on the blog).

Saturday August 3:

My long run… I got up early and ran 16.1 miles on the treadmill in 1:50:00. It was tough and I was so tired but I got it done. My youngest ate something yesterday that upset her stomach. So she was up all night getting rid of everything. 😉

We took the Croatian group (well those that wanted to get dirty) to Mud Volleyball for our City Days. The Netherlands group met us there.

We normally enter the country we are hosting in the tournament but this year, they had to be somewhere earlier than the years past… so our city let us come an hour before the tournament and play.

I have never played because we wanted to give the dancers a chance… this year I did and it was a blast!!

We had to clean up and go up the canyon for a Picnic with host families and all the countries.

A little music before heading out…

They had their last Performance tonight… every country did an excellent job this week!

Sunday August 4:

Corom drove our 6 guys and 2 girls and 6 others from their group to Las Vegas this morning. They had the day off and really wanted to go. So they piled into the bus and headed on down. I’m glad it worked out for them… they had a great time.

The drive down was a little hot! 😂😂

After church, the girls and I hung out with family (on Corom’s side- Aunt Mary and her 2 nieces) that came into town.

Monday August 5:

They got in at 8 a.m. from Vegas. I was able to go on my 8 mile run before they got home.

The rest of the morning was packing and cleaning up. We had to drop our group off by 1:30. After lunch, we took off. 😞

We said our goodbyes and we headed back home. The girls hung out with cousins (and aunt Mary and g-goat) while I cleaned house.

I then headed to cross country practice. I had to get another 6 miles in with 10 x 15 sec hill sprints… so I ran with the hs kids. A mom came after and made us Orange Julius’s. They were so good!

Our city days started (on Saturday with mud volleyball) and goes all week long. Tonight they did music in the park… it was a nice and relaxing night. The kids played and danced on the lawn while Corom and I laid on the blankets.

King’s Peak Backpacking Trip

Corom did go on a 3 day trip to King’s Peak in the Unitas (while the Folkfest was going on). He went with some men and boys from our neighborhood/church. They had a great time!

Random videos/pictures of Croatia week: