The Price is Right!

OK, so you all know I was BRIEFLY on the Price is Right.

A little bit of back story. Spence and I were there with Spence's family celebrating his parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The folks, all 8 kids and their spouses gathered from the four corners of the earth (or the USA) for a week in Newport Beach Marriott condos without kidlets. Woo hoo! Can't believe we pulled it off. Anyway, we played, saw the sun, went to Disneyland, the temple, LA fashion district, Trader Joe's, the beach, etc. We also went to the Price is Right. If you have 15 or more in your group, you can get guaranteed seats. We got there early in the morning, then proceeded to wait for about 4 hours. The men all had on "Flanbros" t-shirts and the women all had on "Flisters" t-shirts, courtesy of Mom Flandro. After they check your ID and issue you a name tag, you slowly get filtered in to where they BRIEFLY interview you. They take a group of around 10-12 people and a producer goes down the line talking with each one for 5-10 seconds, just asking a couple of basic questions. He asked me "what do you do?" I answered, "I'm a mother of five, and I'm a portrait photographer, so I get to make people smile for a living!" With 17 people in our group, we knew we had a pretty good chance that one of us would get called up, as they want lots of excitement in the audience, and we'd all be yelling and screaming.

Anyhoo, I was so excited to be there, I was bouncing around all morning with excess energy. I'm sure they noticed and decided the tall blond might make for a laugh or two.

Once we finally got inside, it all went very quickly. They get you all whipped up for lots of cheering and clapping. It was so loud! You may have noticed how my voice was hoarse when I bid. They hold up a poster with each name they call so you can see it because you can't really hear it. It was fascinating to watch all of the production people at work. Everything moves very quickly. During the commercial breaks, Drew Carey would talk with the audience and interact. At one point he was over by us and I was desperately trying to get his attention to bring up the 50th anniversary stuff, but he completely ignored me. We think it was because someone was telling him not to talk to me because they knew I was going to get called up.

After the 18 year old won $10,000 (yes, the girl from Lehi who won the showcase showdown in the end), Drew gave her some sound advice. He told her to get a book about setting goals. He told us that he was a multi-millionaire, and it wasn't by chance. He said, "most people spend far more time planning their next vacation than they do planning their lives." I've never been a big Drew Carey fan, but I was impressed by what he said. He was very genuine.

Out of the nine people that got to "come on down" for that show, three of us were from Utah. Drew cracked a few jokes about the "Book of Mormon" Broadway play he had just seen. Nothing too bad. The announcer guy called him "Elder Carey" to get a laugh.

Me flapping my arms? That was Bro-in-law Nate's idea (you can see him egging me on...). He thought we should summon our Eagle Powers (like in Nacho Libre?). I've never felt such a surge of adrenaline as I did when they called my name. Unbelievable. It took all my focus just to come up with a number to bid. $899 just stuck in my head. The family was trying to tell me to bid $1,300 or $1,400, which would have been so much better, but the 13 and 14 they were telling me didn't make any sense, as my brain was mush. Anyway, I was kinda playing along with the lady that beat me when she was going for the car. I wouldn't have won it, but I would have had a chance at the wheel. That is my only regret, really, that win or lose I didn't get the chance to take a pull at that iconic wheel!!

The kisses? They were for my kids. I won two prizes, totaling a little over $600, but neither is useful to me. I might be able to sell the reference library for something to help me buy the new camera I've been saving up for.

Drew came down and talked with each of the three of us who didn't make it on the stage. He was kind, and really talking with you, not just distracted and on to the next thing. Nice guy. Right after the show was over, they brought all nine of us behind a little curtain at the back of the auditorium and sat us down in a hallway on folding chairs. It took about five minutes to sign some papers saying that we wouldn't disclose the results of the show until it aired, and giving us the chance to decline any prizes. Then it was all over!

What a rush. So much fun. The real prize, however, was that immediately after the taping, we all went to the LA Temple, changed into nice clothes at the visitor's center and went in to a session. All of us. It was my first time in this temple, and I was overcome with gratitude for my parents being sealed there in 1967. I finally got to see the room they were sealed in and it brought such joy, along with a few tears. I'm so grateful to them for all they've done and taught me, and for the Flandro family for their goodness and example as well.

Maybe I didn't win much on the Price is Right, but boy-howdy I am one lucky girl.