An Easter to Remember (Ty on TV, Rach singing with Pros)

I've got to say, this year's Easter has been a memorable one. And No, I didn't go on any egg hunts, I didn't see the Bunny, or the Mesa Easter Pageant, or spend it with Tyler, my brothers, sister, parents, grandparents, or any member of my extended family for that matter! It was memorable because it was lacking these things, however, and for the reason that I was alone in Florida - making new memories... here's exactly why.

For those of you that don't know, Tyler is obsessed with golf. He played on his high school team, caddied for a "semi-pro" league, lived on a golf course in North Carolina, and loves to spend his free time at the driving range or playing a round if he can. Ever since we moved to Florida, the "Golf Capital of the World," the opportunities keep rolling in for him to get involved with golf. We went to the Bay Hill Invitational 2 weeks ago which was great, but it was nothing compared to what Tyler saw today -- the Presentation of the Green Jacket!

His boss offered him 2 extra tickets for Sunday @ the Masters. Even though it was on a Sunday, Tyler couldn't turn down this trip of a lifetime so he gladly accepted. But there were 2 tickets, and instead of taking me, we decided it would be more fun for him to have one of his buddies there. He immediately called up Tom Swapp and asked him if he was interested in going to the Masters for free ... and of course he accepted (see Tom's wife Ashley's blog about it here - http://tomandashley.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-left-my-husbandin-augusta.html)

We didn't realize until a couple weeks ago, that this day of golf, fell on Easter Sunday... for the past years I've been with my family

Exhibit A -- me with my sister and cousins last Easter, with the bunny himself!

Anyways, it was already going to be sad that Tyler and I would miss out on Easter traditions, but now Tyler and I weren't even going to be together...sad... But he was going to the MASTERS! So I guess it was ok!

Well, part two of the story came last week when I got a call from one of the few people I have met in Orlando thus far, Andrea, who I met at church. Andrea and her husband went to BYU and were musical theatre majors. Now they are in Orlando working at Disney World's Finding Nemo Musical. Yep, now even Nemo has been made into a musical! I haven't seen this one yet, but it's a new show they just opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Andrea plays Dorie and her husband plays Bruce the shark!

So, Dorie (I mean Andrea) calls me up and asks me if I could do her a huge favor... I never know what to say when some one asks me that, but I reluctantly said yes... Well it turns out she and her husband were putting on the Easter Program in Church and needed to replace an alto who had cancelled. Since she heard me sing the alto line at church for a 2 minute opening hymn, she figured I would be great. I didn't think it could be too bad, I had sung in several school and ward choirs before, so I agreed. She was very appreciative and told me she'd drop the music off at our house the next day.

Well, the next day Dorie came to drop by the music when Tyler and I were home one night. It was then, when I realized that this wasn't going to be a "ward choir" Easter song. First of all, this powerful musical couple had put together a program that would take the length of the entire meeting. And they were very difficult songs, seriously, as difficult music as I've seen in advanced high school choir. Second, I learn that it's not even really a "choir." There are only 8 people singing with us in this "ensemble" as it's better called. There will be some solos, duets, quartets, and one group number. Third, I learn that I will be singing one of these aforementioned solos. And lastly, the real shocker - everyone else singing with me was from their Finding Nemo Musical. They were all non-LDS professionals, coming to volunteer at the Mormon friends' church for Easter Sunday. Some of these performers are gay, and they have every reason to not want to be helping at a Mormon Church, but they're being nice and helping out their friends for Easter. Oh yeah, and there's one other random Mormon girl who will be singing along with them, me.

At this point I couldn't say no. She had thanked me dozens of times and explained how hard it had been to get someone to agree to sing.... well if I had been in the ward for more than 2 weeks, I probably would have known why! After she left, Tyler was speechless. He was dying, just getting excited to see me up on stage with these Disney Characters, until he realized ... oh YEAH, he'll be out of town! So sadly, was going to miss the performance...

Well, I guess this is going to be my first "you're not in Utah anymore" experience. Who knew it would even be in a Mormon Church!

To make a long stort short, I met with my "fellow singers" a couple times this week and practiced our songs. Then we sang today in church, and luckily it went by without incident! My solo was short, I sang quietly in the group numbers, and sat back and relaxed when the other singers sang solos. The other kids' voices were AMAZING! I'm not being modest when I say I didn't compare at all to their talent. But, for a couple reasons, after the meeting ended everyone came up and said "good job" but they thought I was a Disney Singer too!

First, since I'm so new in the ward, not that many people know me. I'm singing up there today with all these other unfamiliar kids in their 20's - so the natural thought would be that I was a non-LDS Disney kid too.

Second, there are some people who are aware that there is a new couple in the ward, Tyler and Rachel JENNINGS ... and this is how my name appeared in the programIt said "Rachel Christensen" - not "Rachel Jennings" - now some of you may know that my maiden name is Christensen, so that name actually didn't look too weird to me at first! But, the person who was typing up the program never got my last name, and actually just typed it wrong. It was totally unrelated that they put my old last name on there!

But even if they had heard about the new girl "Rachel Jennings" it sure didn't look like that was her, sitting with the other Disney kids on the front row, and there was not any husband "Tyler Jennings" in sight. Haha, well hopefully they'll learn who I am eventually, or they'll think I was converted by the beautiful Easter Songs!

OK, so back to Tyler and the Masters. He and Tom drove up to Augusta, Georgia yesterday. They went EARLY this morning, like 6 am early, so they could set up their chairs at the 18th hole and have good seats at the end of the day. Tyler told me he'd be wearing orange and Tom would be wearing pink and I was supposed to look for them! Well I didn't watch golf all day, but for the last hour I looked and I looked and I never saw them ... until the last putt of regulation, Angel Cabrera was going for a putt that if he made it, he would go to sudden death with Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell. It's pretty intense right, well I watch - he makes it and then the TV shows this --

,There's the orange and pink shirts! Tyler was there on TV at one of the most exciting moments of the tournament - classic Tyler. And an Easter to remember for sure!

Here's a video I took right after I saw them on TV (thank heaven for Tivo!) If you pause video after he makes the putt you can see them pretty good quality, front and center with Angel Cabrera, who ends up coming back and winning the tournament!

Happy Easter to you all, and I'm hoping Tyler will post in the next couple days and share his story at Augusta with you all!!