Are Ute an American Idol?

I sing, as many of you know. Way back in 2005 I drove to Denver to audition for American Idol, and didn't make it very far... so why not try again if it's in my own back yard? When my brother said he wanted to go, and Thunder offered to work from home for the day, how could I resist? Now, in the last 3 years I have determined that pop music is not really my personal style for singing, but despite that, it still seemed to be a fun way to pass an ENTIRE day, right?
We registered earlier and arrived this morning at 5 AM. Yes, you read that right. Then we sat and WAITED, until about 7:30 when they opened the doors to the Energy Solutions Arena and we found our seats. Everyone had been given a seat ticket and a wristband. And they took all our outside food when we checked in! Once everyone was inside, we were taught "Ain't No Mountain High" and "Get Ready" for our crowd song. After over an hour of crowd camera shots with their long-armed jib camera (we were in a great spot, look for us in January!), they set up several tables on the floor of the arena.



Groups of 4 people were brought up to each table, with each person given 15-30 seconds to sing a song a capella. They started auditions around 10 am, and went for about a half hour, when all of a sudden they stopped, because the Man of the Hour had arrived:
This required another hour of camera shooting... at this point we were still only 1/5 through people who needed to audition. So we thought, since they confiscated our food (except for the contraband fruit snacks we snuck in) why not get something to eat? 2 HOURS later, we had managed to scrounge up a $3 churro. But boy, did it taste good. So back to waiting for our turn. Around 2:30, it was finally time for us to rise from our seats and descend to the arena floor. We turned in our release form and seat ticket and got in line. Now everyone was practicing their songs and tension was high in the air. We got to our judges table, ready to go.

All of a sudden she said she had to take a minute to text her family because there was a big earthquake in Los Angeles. My eyes snapped open, because Grandma and Grandpa Boyd live there, as well as several aunts, uncles and cousins. I asked how big, she said it was around 5.4 (our family is fine by the way), and then I had to sing my song! My brother sang after me, then all 4 of us in our row were called up to the table and given the standard schpeal letting us go. I wasn't that surprised. In fact, it was nice to get out of there, honestly. I have other music things I am pursuing anyway, and this isn't my style... but still an interesting day!