American Idol or Bust

It is absolutely true, the Ostlunds are huge AMERICAN IDOL FANS! Even Jonas can tell you the top 10 American Idols by name... "I'n going to vote for dabid archuletta."

So when we found out 2008 Idols were coming to concert in Indianapolis, we were sold. My parents are also BIG FANS, and since they were going to be in town, they wanted in on the scene too (Glenn wanted to be there, but he had to be in Singapore at the time boo hoo).

And, because I am all about being FESTIVE, I knew we needed matching FAN T-SHIRTS. I found the American Idol symbol online and then printed it onto iron-on patches. Shailey added an additional line on hers that read "especially david a." (you best believe she is in love, L U V).

On a funny note, my first t-shirt design had "American Idol or BUST" written across the chest... ummm maybe that wasn't the best idea. Anyways, our shirts were a big hit and tons of people stopped to ask us where we bought them (if I were an entrepreneur I would have jumped on that, but alas I am not... as a kid I hated selling girl scout cookies... my idea of pure torture).




The concert was amazing. This year's top ten idols are so musical... in concert, they played, piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and even the ukulele. We had pretty good seats, when we were actually sitting in them and not dancing, singing, and shouting with the idols.
This was Shailey and Emma's very first concert. I was pretty stoked that I got to share their first concert experience and know that it was one we were equally excited about. The audience was largely comprised of mothers and their kids. It was a perfect "first concert". The girls were sooooooo jazzed to be there, and kept saying "thank you mom for taking us!!!" This was definitely a big highlight of the summer.

David Cook was an amazing performer who knew how to work an audience. He was very candid and even stopped during his performance to tie his pants string. He laughed and while he tied he said to the audience, "talk amongst yourselves" (Saturday Night Live Mike Meyers reference).

But I have to say... we were the most excited to see David Archuletta..... I thought Shailey was going to burst while waiting for him to appear on stage. And she was not the only one thrilled to see him either....Grammie also had grins from ear to ear!

What can we say, the boy has talent... and he is only 17 for pete's sake... what is he going to do with more experience? Two words, wow and wow.In case you did not know, David Archuletta is Mormon (belongs to our church) so Shailey screamed during his performance, "I LOVE YOU DAVID ARCHULETTA!!!!!! MARRY ME!!!" She is 11 and he is 17 so, technically speaking, its a pretty good match.

After the concert was over, like true fans, we waited around for autographs and were not disappointed. Shailey got all but one of the idol's autograph. It was crowded, so I handed Emma my camera and put her up on my shoulders to take pictures. Emma had a system of snapping her fingers and calling the idols' name... "Jason Castro, look up here!!" It worked like a charm.

You can see just how crowded it was, tolerable, but crowded.

Michael Johns is a total hottie, and very sweet too. How can you not love that Australian accent? Michael, you can sing me a Queen song anytime.

Ramiele Malubay was more difficult to photograph because she is such a shorty.

Syesha Mercado was the most appreciative of the fans... she gave us so much attention. She really is this beautiful too.

Chikezie Eze was fun to watch perform... he is such a happy guy and was probably the idol who danced the most on stage.

Carly Smithson got kind of ticky with the fans... she was annoyed with the pushing and shoving.One woman got ticked at me too... accused me of stepping on her daughter while I tottered around with Emma on my shoulders. I looked down and saw that I was clearly not on her daughter. She was just panicking in the crowded setting. I told her "hey, this is what it is... we are all crowding around to see our idols. This is what fans do." She did not appreciate my observation and asked me if I was drunk (yeah, mother with 8 year old daughter on her shoulders... clearly I was drunk... oh brother). I finally got sick of her fussing and said firmly "it seems like this is too much for you and maybe you should choose another activity for your daughter." She left in a huff.

David Cook was completely mobbed. One kid took off his grimy Converse sneaker and handed it to David to sign.... David looked at the ratty shoe and said "you are kidding me right?" The kid was not kidding and with good humor, David signed his shoe.

This smile was for me.... Emma caught David's attention to look at the camera, but my camera battery started to die so David looked at me like "how long am I supposed to hold this smile"... I laughed, and just when he looked away, the camera finally clicked. He thought it was funny too.

David Archuleta is just as darling in person as he is on TV. With fans squeezing in everywhere, Shailey was having a difficult time getting her book to David to sign. David's dad saw her struggling and so he took her book and personally handed it to David.... Shailey was on cloud 9!(this is David's dad next to him)

And last, but not least, we managed to get both girls in a picture with Brooke White, our other favorite idol, who is also Mormon... the girls were elated.

After waiting for hours mashed in mobs of sweaty people suffering the hot and humid Indiana night, after crying tears of fatigue and frustration when I thought my shoulders were going to give out, and finally after all our trials, reaching our goal and meeting our idols, we realized without a doubt, we were truly modern day pioneers. After all, it was AMERICAN IDOL OR BUST!