My AMAZING American Idol Experience!!

As most of you know, yesterday was the big day! It was so awesome... better than I could have imagined! Everything fell into place and worked out great! The story is really long so I apologize in advance. (You may even have to take breaks!) Let's start from the beginning...

A long time ago I signed up online for American Idol tickets. I was put on a wait list and I completely forgot about it. On Thursday night, the 13th of March, I checked my email and there it was - tickets to American Idol!!! (And on the week that I had no school!) I was shocked and excited, to say the least. However, they weren't exactly tickets, they were vouchers. Which means it wasn't guaranteed that I would get in. That lead me to worry constantly (big shocker, right?) about what I needed to do to ensure I got admitted. So I desperately searched on the internet for tips and suggestions from anyone who had previously gone to an AI taping. That didn't really lead to much help, but it did lead me to finding a girl's blog who was going to AI on the same night as us (and who happened to be LDS!). So I introduced myself and we started talking. We decided to meet up while waiting in line for the show and this ended up being the key to our successful day of American Idol bliss. (Thanks Hilarry!) More on that later....

So after getting my vouchers I needed to find someone to go with. Jeremy didn't want to go with me so as I was going over other options (such as flying family out to Cali) I realized that Rachael was going to be in town for Spring Break with her family! It was perfect.

So after five LONG days of anticipation and worry, the day finally came! I was so excited the night before I couldn't sleep! I woke up on Wednesday at 6am with my stomach in knots, got ready and left to pick up Rachael in Anaheim. After about 20 minutes on the road I realized I had left all the directions and the tickets! It was the worst feeling ever. I knew there would be horrible traffic on the way up to LA and I wanted to pick up Rachael by 8. Things were not going according to plan. Luckily, the people at Rachael's hotel were willing to let us print the tickets and directions there. However, since I didn't have the directions to get to Rachael, I got really lost on the way and it took me forever to find the hotel. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't too bad and we got to LA a little after 10 am, which was when I wanted to be there. So after picking up some food we headed over to the studio and found a sweet parking spot just down the street. When we got in line there were only a few people ahead of us so we knew we were in!

While waiting in line we got to know Hilarry and her three friends. They were all really cute and we had a lot of fun. We made our signs - well, Rachael made her beautiful sign and one of the other girls made a really cute sign, but I was so nervous about messing up that I didn't get started on mine for a while and never ended up finishing it. That's because while we were waiting we found out that we could go to the pre-show called Idol Tonight which started at 12:30. (It's a show on the TV Guide channel where they interview previous contestants and talk about the show.) We were excited about going to that instead of waiting in line for 6 hours and I did get on TV (if you have that channel check it out - it's on all week and you see a lot of me!) but it was SO long and boring. I guess the experience was cool though.

When the taping of Idol Tonight ended it was about 3:45, which gave us just enough time to get something to eat and be back for the show. After we ate we had no time to go to the car and get our signs, in fact we barely got there in time. We showed up as they started letting people in and we were numbers 9 and 10! It worked out perfect, I was just bummed that we didn't have our signs. Oh well. Anyway, once we got through, they took us to a holding area where we waited for them to let us in the studio. Since we got there so early that morning and went to the pre-show, we got to know Mike, the guy who was in charge of placing people in the audience. And since we were a big group of fun, cute, well dressed girls who happened to be good at flirting :) we had our "in" and ended up getting an awesome spot in the audience! They even had a code name for us! We were being counted as we went into the studio and they stopped us right after Rachael went in. So I yelled, "NO! Rachael! She's with us!" because I didn't want to get split up. So the girl counting said, "Ok, hold on." and got on her radio-walkie thing, or whatever they call it, and said "The Group is here." (Can you believe it? We're "The Group!") So our friend Mike came over and ushered us in and gave us the best spot ever! It was awesome. We were standing right next to the judging table by Randy. So we got to meet all the judges as they came in. Shook their hands, talked to them, etc. We also met Nigel Lithgoe, one of the producers of AI and executive producer and judge on So You Think You Can Dance. We had a conversation with him and he is really nice! We told him that we loved the show and asked when it was coming back on. We also got to talk to David Archuleta's dad. Before the show started I yelled over to him and told him I was from Murray. So he came over and we talked. He was really nice too! During one of the commercial breaks (after they announced Carly was in the bottom three) we all yelled our slogan to Brooke (which was on the sign, back in the car) CHOOSE THE RIGHT PICK BROOKE WHITE! She smiled and waved and after she sat back down she pointed over to us and said how cute we were. Then during another commercial break I yelled to David Archuleta "GO SPARTANS!" Which is Murray High's mascot. He looked over and smiled and said, "Oh Cool." I didn't go to Murray but most of my brothers and sisters did so I'm kind of a spartan at heart! I also talked to Ryan Seacrest during one of the breaks. He's pretty cute and I like him even though Jeremy thinks he's gay. And last but certainly not least (I saved the best for last) I met JPL - Jon Peter Lewis!!!! He was a contestant on Season 3 and he is my absolute favorite! I loved him so much when he was on the show. I even made a shirt with his picture on it and wore it while I watched American Idol. So here's how it went down. Before the show started I spotted him across the room and almost died. I couldn't believe my eyes! JPL was actually here on the same night as me! It was my lucky day! So I yelled out to him and we had a conversation across the room with a lot of yelling and hand movements. Then after the show he walked by so I yelled, "Jon!" and he came over and talked to me and gave me a hug! I told him that I really enjoyed watching him on the show and the night before he left I voted for him like 100 times (which I did - ask Megan) and that I was heart broken when he left. He said thanks and told me to take care of myself. It was absolutely amazing! The whole thing was so great. It was really fun to be there in person and experience how a TV show is made. I was just in awe of everything the whole time. I'll never forget it.

And to top it all off - I was on national television!!! For those of you who didn't watch &/or missed my Big Debut, as I like to call it, shame on you. Fortunately, you get to redeem yourself! Below is a video of the Kellie Pickler performance from last night. At approximately 4 minutes 30 seconds, as Kellie is walking down the steps, you will see me for about 2 seconds in a bright red long sleeved shirt. The video isn't the best quality so you may have to watch closely. Enjoy!