David Archuleta

Part 1:

My brother, Andy, works for Coca-Cola and with that job comes many fun perks, like going to Coke sponsored events, etc. So, recently he sent me a couple of photos of him with 2 of this year's American Idol contestants from the Top 13 post show get together that he got to go to. I thought, "Hey this will be a fun thing to put on my blog...thanks, Bro for helping me spice things up a bit." About 20 minutes later, my brother called me up and told me, "By the way...don't put those on your blog." How could he know?!? I told him, "I can't even live vicariously through you!! You ruin all of my 45 year old fun!" He did not budge. That stubborn gene runs through our whole family's swedish blood.

Part 2:

This past weekend we had our semi-annual Stake Conference at church. We were told Sunday morning that the special speaker for the youth fireside that evening would be David Archuleta. I admit that my first thought wasn't how fun it would be to see David Archuleta, but of my brother, Andy, and my previously lost blog opportunity. Does it surprise anyone to know that a great majority of the audience was girls? It was fun just observe their enthusiasm for his imminent arrival. He finally came in a little after 7 p.m. sandwiched safely between President Robinson and President Wright, our Stake president. He looked like such a little guy. He IS a little guy! He seemed young and a little nervous. He was very cute. He sang 3 hymns, "I am a child of God" (lucky me-one of my favorites), "Be Still My Soul"(one of his favorites, when asked) and he ended with an a cappella rendition of "How Great Thou Art".

In between the songs he answered questions that had been submitted ahead of time. My favorite question/answer had to have been, "What do you look for in an eternal companion?" Little snickers from the audience and then he proceeded to give his own personal philosophy on dating a lot before you can really know what it is you are looking for in an eternal companion. You have to know what's out there. He used the Pizza Analogy: "If you had only ever tasted the little personal sized pizza you can get at 7-Eleven, you might think that that is the BEST pizza in the world and might not venture to look around any more, but if you tried Little Ceasar's or Papa John's, you might find a pizza that you like even more. You might even one day, go to Italy and try a real pizza." It was a very lengthy response and very humorous, but I think the point was, "He's not ready to find an eternal companion now, but when he is he'll probably go to Italy to get a really good one." :-)

Knowing that ALL of those people in the audience wanted their picture taken with David, they set up a reception line of sorts in one of the adjacent rooms and filed people through...quickly. He was a good sport. It took over an hour. I went through with my little group, took my two little friends home and went back to take pictures of everyone else who was still left in line. He was a very nice guy. He seemed like he was still a little shell-shocked by all of the fuss and attention, but very sweet.

I loved how he was introduced; not as a famous person, but as an Eagle Scout, a young man who, roller-blading through his neighborhood, would often stop and help someone in need. He was especially loved by the widows in his ward because he would go over to their house and serenade them. What a refreshing role model.

Here are some of the photos from Sunday...The rest can be found here.

Ben was just in front of us.

Someone grabbed my camera and must have turned on the "gravity" function by mistake based how droopy my eyes look in all of these. Funny thing, though, it only seemed to affect me. Hmm...so strange. Oh, hold on a second...I'm not immune to that anymore, I'm in my 40's!

I promise that I am NOT goosing him. I do not know what happened here...hurry go on to the next one. It's the most normal.

The one below made me laugh. When I saw it, I thought, "Yeah, if I was an 18 year old boy, I would ignore the "MOM" standing next to me, too!" That's o.k., David. I understand. Gabi is pretty cute. :-)

Below is Adam. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that Adam made it look like he was the main guy!

Adam is also an opportunist. Early on, they asked David to stop doing autographs in order to keep the line moving. That didn't deter Adam. He managed to go through the line FOUR times! I guess you can get away with that when you're little. I finally stopped including him in the group photos, cropping him right out of the picture. Sorry little man. He was a little man on a mission, however...an Autograph Mission. Here is Adam making his move...

Way to be persistent, Adam. Mission accomplished: 7 autographs for his friends.

Last but not least...One last shot of David. Thanks for a fun evening and most of all for your beautiful music and good example and thanks for bringing a little excitement to our little corner of world here in Mesa.

Post Script: O.K., little brother, I guess I don't need your American Idol photos, after all.