We lucked out at having a fair right down the road from where we live. They had fireworks that we could see from our lawn.
Misty and I hit up the shortest zipline i've ever seen!
Reid hated Elmo...if only he knew I used to be the people in those costumes :)
They had a petting zoo
We loaded up on all the free stuff at all the booths.
Reid loves baby keaton.
My favorite part was the Pat Benetar concert. I LOVE her. I wish i could have enjoyed the 80s. You know her stuff...Love is a battlefield, Heartbreaker, shadow of the night...She is still as good as ever!
Back in December, I looked into how to be on the game show Family Feud. There are auditions around the U.S. but none that were close to us. It also said you could send in an audition video. Just for kicks I sent in our family music videos. I don't think I even told the family that I did because what are the chances they even see them. A few months later I got an E-mail from one of the casting directors, saying
Hello Kesler family! We are so excited to have received these videos from you guys. We LOVE them. You seem like the PERFECT family for the Feud and we'd like to possibly get you down to Atlanta this upcoming season to be on the show. However, we'd like to hear you guys talk a little bit! Tell us about yourselves: what you do for work, fun, hobbies, interesting facts...anything at all really. You could even play a little "mock" game of the Feud together, we love that. Thank you again! Honestly, you guys are so fun and we can't wait to hear back from you.
Bryce & the Family Feud casting team
I was ecstatic! I think I ran around my small apartment a few times with a few additional dance moves. I immediately called every member of my family to tell them. We then started the works of creating an audition video. Which you can view here:
Once we sent them the video, we heard back from them a few days later saying they loved it and wanted us to start picking a team and that we could even pick 2 teams. They sent us the applications and we had to send them back with photos of each of us, and dates that we were available. We didn't hear from them for a while and I got a call in April from Carlos, one of the casting dudes saying we were picked for the show!! He told me the 5 that they picked and then continued to give me all the details. They flew us out to Atlanta on May 28th.
Brett, Misty, and I left from D.C.
Cameron, Cami, Landon, and Katie came from SLC
I flew first class, thanks Brett for the upgrade! Love flying with him. Then our driver Zackary picked us up in style.
As you can imagine at this point we are full of Adrenaline. We went to eat dinner at Cheesecake factory and all we could talk about was what we were going to say, what we would do with the money, how cool it was going to be. I'm sure we were annoying to the whole restaurant.
We laid out our outfits, tried to coordinate the best we could, ironed, and watched family feud all night!
Here we are all ready to go!
Stoked!!
We got to the studio and were in this room with all of the other families that would potentially be on the show. There were 10 families there...and they were only taping 5 shows. So 4 families went home not playing at all.
Theres Brett scoping out the snacks.
After they briefed us on all the info and rules they took us into the taping studio for rehearsal. Each family got a chance to rehearse up on stage but it was also another audition. From that rehearsal they chose the families that would be taping that day. We were the first family called up and we were so nervous! It went pretty good I guess! So after rehearsal they brought in the audience members. We had Cami and Misty supporting the Kesler Family. Loved having them there! We sat in the audience for the first 3 tapings. It was so fun to watch...steve harvey is hilarious! The tapings take about an hour and during breaks he just stays on stage and talks to the audience and keeps them entertained. Sitting in the audience is exhausting...you have to clap full time, make sound effects, and be on your best behavior. After the first 3 shows there was a lunch break. We were getting really nervous at this point...losing hope that we would even get picked to be on the show. There were only 2 tapings left and 6 families to choose from. Then they announced....the KESLER FAMILY was up next!! We were pumped! Then the nerves really kicked in.
Here we are with our name tags. Once we were on stage the nerves went away and we just had so much fun. So cool to interact with Steve and to just play the game for REAL! I can't wait for everyone to see it! They have never had a family from Idaho so we put it on the map!
Dinner after at Uncle Julios. All we could do was talk about the game and how flipping cool it was that we just did that! Still doesn't feel real.
I loved sharing this experience with my sibs. It is something we will remember and talk about for the rest of our lives. Glad we could make a fool of ourselves on National TV :) I wish our whole family could have been there.
We had the whole next day to just chill until we flew out in the evening. We hit up the mall and some other stores.
This is the Miller Family. Another family that was there.
The plane ride home...
It's one of those things that we anticipated for months with excitement...then it's over in a flash! I can't tell you the outcome of the game but it will most likely air in the fall they told us. They are also sending us pictures of our family with Steve and in front of our family name with our air dates. Can't wait to see those! We will let everyone know when it will be on!
Caleb and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on May 23rd. Why does time fly so fast? Preslee was so nice to offer to watch Reid and Cabe and I just spent the WHOLE day together. It was fantastic! We started off the day by doing sealings at the D.C. Temple...we were blown away by how beautiful it was! And it is HUGE. You HAVE to go there someday if you haven't already, the inside is even better. It was such a beautiful reminder of how special our day was and the covenants we made to each other.
This is on the backside of the temple...it is surrounded by beauty.
Don't know why i posed like that...
When you walk through the temple there are windows so you can see all the landscape...brilliant.
We went to Red Robin for lunch...it's one of our faves. Then we went to Ross to find caleb a nice shirt to wear...he didn't bring any out here...I think it's a good excuse to go shopping. Smart guy.
We headed over to the Arlington Cemetery. I never imagined it being so big...we didn't even have time to walk through the whole thing. We saw J.F. Kennedy's memorial. Very Cool.
Just as we got to the very top, we were hit by a torrential downpour. Luckily we brought our umbrella. But we still got soaked!
We then drove around forever trying to find the White House...I still don't believe it exists. It's impossible to get to! We got stuck in traffic forever it seemed like. We def got some good quality time in. :) We decided that we will take the metro from now on. So we headed back to Fairfax did a little more shopping then went to Cheesecake Factory. So Yum.
I sure love my guy. Loved getting to spend the day with him. Especially when I hardly see him at all with this job. And thanks again pres for watching the little guy even when he's teething...
The American Museum was pretty sweet. I loved seeing the original American flag. They keep it in a dark room in a huge glass case so that the light doesn't damage it. No pictures allowed...lame.
I loved pretending I was the pres...sheesh I'd sure be a good one.
Michelle Obama's gown.
We ran into Chinatown on accident...a bunch of girls from Idaho sure struggle getting around this place :) Some of the girls wanted some sweets so they found a store on the gps that took us to a really nice mall. Then we decided to go to the Pentagon since it was right by the mall...and we accidentally drove right past it with no way to turn around...we need help! haha but good times make for good memories!
We went to Party City to see if we could find decorations for Reid's Birthday party...I walked past the cinco de mayo stand and couldn't resist the thought of having a fiesta! I'm sure thats what Reid would have wanted :) So the girls were super helpful with bringing food and were so willing to party with us.
Seriously could the mustache be any cuter?? He looks like his Grandpa Reid :)
This is the winner face of the night haha!
The delicious finger food
We brought out just dance 3 of course
Reid usually loves attention but when everyone was staring at him singing the Happy Birthday song with a hot flame in his face...he couldn't handle it. He didn't attack the cake like I thought he would. Maybe because mom made her favorite banana cake instead of something more kid friendly. How selfish!
We played a little catch phase during halftime of the ball game...cant get those boys attention for too long! We were bummed we couldn't share his first birthday with family but Reid has lots of love out here in VA we are lucky to have such good friends that care enough to celebrate with us. Reid made his way around the crowd letting them know he is the coolest kid in town! Tied with Keaton of course :)
