The Price is Right

Remember the time that Grandma Ruth was on "The Price is Right?" I frequently share this story with people when the famous game show comes up. Why? Because it's an AWESOME STORY!!!

For those that have not yet had the opportunity to hear:

Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Larry were on a trip with several friends in California and made it into "The Price is Right". When they said "Ruth Nelson, Come on Down!" She went running down with her arms up in the air. On one of the bids, Grandpa got all of his friends and the people around them to chant "Ruth Ruth Ruth Ruth" which got Bob Barker talking...and then Grandma bid $1 and the guy next to her bid $2, so she turned and punched him in the arm...especially because he won that bid!! Well, grandma's turn came when she won the tennis ball machine, and went on to play a game and win a washer/dryer and the lazy-boy recliner that we all remember as "Grandpa's Chair" in their Bountiful apartment. Grandma didn't quite make it to the showcase showdown, but she won the hearts of thousands of americans, not to mention Bob Barker.

WELL, last night I had the opportunity to walk in Grandma's footsteps at the Colonial First ward Activity: The Price is Right in Colonial 1. They had a few different rules:
1. All contestants will have one opportunity to bid, and if not chosen for the game, they sit down and let others come up on the next turn.
2. Contestants will be in pairs (one boy and one girl) so as to encourage dating in the Singles ward. (I could go into a rant about what these randomly chosen pairs would feel like for the couples in the ward, but it worked out (keep reading) so I won't complain about the lot of dating couples in a singles ward just yet).
3. We didn't REALLY win the prizes.

So. It's the LAST game. Neither my number nor seth's has been called. They called the first two pairs of people. Then they call my number. True to Nelson form I Jumped up, did a little dance, and ran to the front with my arms in the air. (I think Ruth would have been proud!) They called the last pair. I looked to my left...the person they had called up to be my "partner" wasn't there!!! I quickly turned to "Derek the announcer" and um...made the appropriate arrangements...and lo and behold, they called Seth up to be my partner!!!

We bid on the item and won!(interestingly enough, the person that we outbid by a dollar was Eric Lewis, whose grandma was ALSO on the Price is Right, so we really outdid another family legacy). We ran up on stage and all my friends started chanting "Jane Jane Jane Jane Jane" Then they announced that we were up to win a luxury cruise for two (with separate bedrooms, of course). (AWKWARD!!!) ANYWAY, we played the game (it was the hiker one, where we had three items that we had to guess the price on, and for each dollar we were off the hiker climbed the mountain, and if he went over $25 total he'd fall off the edge of the mountain and we wouldn't win the cruise...

Well, this is where the story ends sadly. We lost by $1. If we'd just said "$56" or "$37" or "$60" we would have won. BUT, we were given a twix bar and a mini basketball hoop as compensation prizes, so all was not lost! I enjoyed the twix bar today in between sacrament meeting and sunday school.

If I can scrounge up any pictures I will post later, it was fun!