I Spy..TY

Earlier this week I got an email that said Extreme Makeover:Home Edition was going to be in Keller and that they needed volunteers. A chance to meet my (wanna be)brother-in-law Ty Pennington.. SIGN ME UP!

Oh I mean a chance to help a family in need.. SIGN ME UP!!
When I continued to read the letter I realized the family's house was a house I drive by almost on a daily basis and they have been unable to live there for over a year. And one of their children was born 10 wks premature. The mom is a professional photographer. She works with March of Dimes to give her time and talent to preserve precious memories with the families of those who have Lil bitties like our Megan. The husband works with Habitat for Humanity and spent all last year building homes for the homeless while he and his family were homeless too. Talk about a family that gives back.
Despite the friggin' freezin' temps Doug and I decided we wanted to volunteer. We signed all the waivers and release forms and were in line to get our blue(home makeover)shirts when the lady in charge told us that they had everyone they needed this week. Volunteer coordinator say what?
Funny story...I did not give up on trying to get to volunteer. You could say I was persistent at best. The second time I attempted the lady greeted me and I handed her my volunteer slip. She asked what my name was (I guess so she could actually cross my name off a list..who knew they actually kept track of their volunteers) so I replied "Pennington, like TY Pennington" The whole group laughed in a way that would kind of subliminally suggest that I should pick that name up off the ground that I just dropped and be on my way.

Needless to say we snuck onto the site and spent several hours posing as press/on lookers. As long as we didn't get in any one's way we seemed to not be noticed. We watched all the taping for demo day. We saw lots and lots of TY cam shots. Since this is Texas the crew really played on our cowboy heritage and there was a gun show that had to be taped a couple of times to get it right.
The producer gathered up all the blue shirts and had them all scream non-stop for 5 minutes so that they had plenty of material to splice in the final edit.
(I would like to enter a lil' fact right here...our butts are numb, our ears are numb, our hands are numb from holding the camera, and our legs are numb. All this in the name of FUN) It is amazing what you will put your body through for a photo-op or celebrity sighting!
Funny story #2... TY was up on the bulldozer filming another video to the fam and he had to do it so many times. His hard hat fell off at one point and the whole audience giggled. Then he got all tongue "TY'd". Finally he was done and just hanging on top(see picture) and I decided since I was less then 20 feet away and the only person wearing something white(remember the whole crew is in blue) that I would wave. And he waved back..isn't he just so sweet??
Right before the demo we saw the cowboys lasso the chimney and rip it off the roof, then a championship bull rider got on top of the "bull" dozer and rode it into the home. The demo took no time at all once it started.

As the week goes on I seriously doubt there will be these chances again to get that close unless you have a blue makeover shirt. They are really strict up there and as of this afternoon had a separate spectator area set up so that "we" can be controlled. If you are in the area and want to stop by to be a spectator they welcome all those apparently. Go to this website for info http://www.extreme.wall.com/faqs.html it has all the directions and specifics you will need. Happy TY hunting.
Now friends let's be honest...you all came here just for the TY shots. So I will gladly give them to you.

P.S. I need to thank my husband for being willing to take the camera a smidge closer to get the best pictures. Me, being the rule follower in the family was too weenie-ish to move past a certain spot to get the best shot. He really deserves all the glory for the pics. So shout out to Doug...my very own Pennington hottie!