Our American Idol!

We love watching American Idol! It is fun to text those in the family who aren't with us to see who they are cheering for. It's been a way of staying in touch with some of our kids! Since Idol was coming to Denver for auditions, Ryan decided to come and give it a go!

Here's Ryan and Ali signing up at Invesco Field in Denver! (It's where the Bronco's play football). We were so excited when we found out from Fox News that they were open for signing up all night long and that they didn't have to stand in line on Monday morning to do it. As soon as we heard that, we jumped in the car and headed to Denver!

Ryan was only allowed to bring one guest to the audition, so of course that was his sweet wife, Ali! Here they are in front of the Official American Idol sign! The signing up was probably the most fun part of the whole thing!

Orange for the participant and blue for the guest. Do you think they chose Bronco colors on purpose?

Here we are out in front of the stadium. They have a really cool water fall and horse statues that didn't really show up too well at night.

Pretty cool, huh?

You can actually climb up the walls of the stadium. Here are our little spider monkeys in action!

Ryan's excited groupies! We were so sure he'd make it. He's got the talent, the personality, and the look!

It turned out to be a not so fun experience. They had to get up very early on Tuesday morning and be at Invesco by 5 am. Once they got there they stood in line until they finally let them in at 8 am. Then they sat in the hot sun (the hottest day of the summer) for the entire day until finally at 4:30, he had his chance to sing---for 15 seconds! He was in a group of 4 people and they each sang a tiny bit and then were dismissed. He thinks one guy from his group may have made it on to the next round.

I had friends ask me what he thought of Simon and the other judges? The Four Judges weren't even there! The contestants don't get to them until they've gone through several eliminations. Some people were saying that the judges weren't ever even coming to Denver!! So, when we watch in January, we need to see if the Denver backdrop looks real or like a backdrop!!

Anyway, it was a good experience and we're glad he tried! We loved having Ryan and Ali with us for a few days. It was a lot of fun. Ryan, we are proud of you and you will always be Our American Idol!