D & M

What a month! I thought I had a lot to post about two weeks ago, but even more has happened since then. Here is a fun thing from this past Tuesday night. My parents were coming to town for a few days since we missed going up to Utah for the party. I thought it would be fun to do something out on the town and I knew my mom had been wanting to see Donny and Marie.

Luckily, one of our good friends from our USC ward happens to have an "in". His dad is the producer of the show! I texted Brynna and Austin and asked pretty please if they would be able to spare any tickets. As usual, she was super nice and hooked us up with four VIP tickets for Tuesday's show and a meet-and-greet afterwards. It was exciting and fun to look forward to, but I think we were all a little nervous about the meet-and-greet because it just seemed like it might be awkward.

So, we went to the show and it was fun! It was at the Flamingo and it was cool because all the seating was around tables and booths so it felt very intimate and personal (and a little old and tiny bit shabby if we're being honest - it's one of that last real theaters like that on the Strip). Donny and Marie would talk to the audience and come down a lot. In fact, there was one point in the show where Marie came down and was drawing lips on all the men with a tube of lipstick and I'm pretty sure she would have snagged my dad too if the song hadn't been about to end. Whew, missed a bullet on that one.

It was a good show and they work hard. My parents really enjoyed it and it was such a treat to go out and get the VIP treatment. In fact, when we picked up our tickets, there were supposed to be lanyards for the meet-and-greet with them, but they weren't there. I told the hostess and she was like, "Uh, can you tell me the name of who got you the tickets?" I gave her their dad's name and she immediately just got the lanyards with no questions asked. It's nice to have friends in high places!

After the show, we went to a little room and they had everyone line up to get pictures and autographs. We ended up talking most of the time to Austin's dad, though. It was nice to see a member of the Sperry clan again and to catch up on our friends. We are so lucky to have such generous and kind friends! Actually, I think the photos were supposed to cost money and only be hard copies, but Austin's dad again hooked us up. He told us to tell them our emails and they would email us digitals and if they asked any questions just to give his name.

Waiting for the show to begin. Showing off our fancy VIP lanyards.

Ryan fulfilled his family's life long goal and private joke of talking to Donny about their shared genealogy. Apparently, they're second cousins, twice removed. If that's hard to understand, Ryan's great-grandpa's GRANDPA is somehow related to Donny. So, yeah, way way back - which makes it all the more absurd to pretend that there is a close connection. We had lots of discussions about whether we should bring a fan chart with the common relative highlighted, whether Ryan should go up and hug him yelling "cousin", etc. In the end, Ryan did bring it up with a chuckle and they shook hands manfully saying "cuz."

My dad got a special hug from Marie since it was his birthday-ish. His actual 70th birthday was Monday and we went to the show on Tuesday, so it was like a little extra celebration.

A very exciting and fun night!