My cute sister and I trying to figure out what to sing...Amy picked songs for everyone as a "grab bag"--you had to sing whatever she picked, and hopefully you knew it!
Despite the fact the fact that I LOVE to sing, until the night before Amy's wedding, I had never done karaoke. This might seem surprising until you remember that, underneath it all, I'm super shy, and a pretty big chicken. Add that to the fact that I haven't sung in front of people a whole lot recently, and that means no karaoke for me. But now that my family is joined with the Merrills, there's no avoiding it. And turns out, I love it! Once I get over my shy, chicken self, that is. Let's just say I've sung karaoke 4 times in the past 2 weeks. No joke.
Anyway, knowing that April and a few other friends would be in town and we all had limited time in Vernal, Brooke (who was a co-conspirator in my surprise) and I planned a karaoke party. It was an interesting event to plan, since certain people couldn't know I would be there (and so probably would be confused that my friends were going to be there), we didn't really know who would be in town and who wouldn't, and we didn't really know how to get in touch with many people to invite them in the first place. Nevertheless, we persevered, and the party planning was set into motion.
Apparently Pam's not the only Merrill who takes her karaoke seriously! Brooke plays a mean air fiddle while Sterling and Wayne give us a little "Devil Went Down to Georgia."
After pie on Thanksgiving, Brooke decided it was time for us to practice, so we went downstairs and the three of us (Amy, Brooke, and me) serenaded Sterling while he slept on the couch. :) It was fun. The next night, we had a little get-together with a totally random group of people, but it was really fun!!
Amy even managed to get our mom to give it a go! :)
There were people there I haven't seen in ages (Amber Wilkey and Jay Haslem!), and people I hadn't yet met (Amber's husband--who is a total sweetheart, by the way, even if he wouldn't sing!). April and her hubby were there with their adorable little Kelsi, who totally stole the show. I think the best song of the night happened when April, Amber, Amy, and I relived an old shared HiLite memory and sang "Tell Him." To be honest, none of us TOTALLY remembered all our parts, but between the four of us, different people remembered different harmonies throughout the song, and everyone agreed it sounded AWESOME--even if it has been 10 years or so since any of us had sung or even heard the song. Take THAT, Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand! :)
My darling best friend and her adorable husband!! Seriously, April got an AMAZING guy when she got Jeff. They are lucky to have found each other. (And I bet you can't even tell they were both feeling like complete crap that night--aren't they cute together?!?)
Anyway, the party was definitely a highlight of my Thanksgiving trip to Utah, and I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Val couldn't make it because she thought she might be having a baby, and we were sad to miss her and J.D. (but totally understandable!), and we were hoping Renee and Brandon would come, but they missed out, too. Bummer. It was great fun!
This kid must take after her parents!! Seriously, the first time April sang, Kelsi saw the extra mic lying on the ground off to the side, and she wandered over, picked it up, and you couldn't take it away from her the rest of the night! It was ADORABLE! And obviously she's a little ham--check out that cheeser grin she pulled out as soon as she saw me with the camera!
So, yeah, Thanksgiving in Utah was a blast. I got to see Jan and her family, April and her family, and Amber and her hubby, not to mention Brooke and the Merrills, my sis and Ster, and my folks. I even saw Andrew Bentley when we were walking down the street! It was a GREAT time, and a fantastic trip, overall. :)
And like I said...karaoke has apparently since become a way of life for me, because after I got back, my friend Deborah called and asked me to go do karaoke with her (it's all about a boy, but that's a story for another time), and we went back again the next week with her sister and another friend. And it was a blast both times!! So karaoke is apparently my new-found love. Good thing I have a Portland friend who likes to go, too! :)
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