Sunday Working Girl

This house is going up so fast. This is what is looks like when we left for the night.

Callie and her Dad

Family photo

Callie outside the VIP tent. House in the background.

Callie at the kids party.

Callie with the Make A Wish people.

Callie drawing her art work to be auctioned off.

Callie meeting people I don't even get to meet.

Simmons builders introducing Callie to friends? family?

Clowning around

Callie filming with Eduardo

Callie preparing to enter filming with Eduardo (Take 2)

Callie and Eduardo

Callie and Kristin Cunningham (professional designer ~Rachel Ray Show~)

Callie already making friends from Tulsa. They followed her everywhere.

News photographers at the construction site

Paulie trying to get on Callie's good side

Callie and Paulie having a stare down. He made fun of how bright her coat was. He's coming to find her if the power goes out!

This is the house when we arrived this morning. Not even 24 hours after the slab was poured.

Callie at the door of her trailer.

Today is Sunday the 31 of January. It doesn't feel like a usual Sunday. We were up and on our way to the set (the house) and didn't come home til 6:00PM.

We loaded the shuttle today from the hotel and we had someone else on with us. Her name is Kristin Cunningham. She has done a couple of shows on HGTV and she just recently has been working with Rachel Ray. I recongnize her but wouldn't know her name. She is helping design for this house and talked with Callie about design school and told us about her career. COOL!

The shuttle took us to Callie's trailer where we were able to stay warm. The weather is still in the low 30's and icey roads. We had fog when we woke up and a little snow throughout the day (nothing that accumulated). They came in and put a mic on Callie for the day and had us all wear our EXTREME shirts. They asked for Callie, Mom and "Callie's personal Photographer" Grandpa Chad. The local paper Tulsa World wanted Callie to come down to the house for some pictures. They asked us a few questions and took a lot of pictures. I will google and give you the links if there is anything there. They had then had Mark, Karla and the kids come to the VIP tent for the kids party. Mark was standing outside the tent and heard others asking "Who is She?" Mark heard people say I think she is here as part of the design team, she is a 9 year old from UTAH. Mark didn't say anything but was very amused to hear what people were saying about our little girl.

They took Callie, Mom and Photographer to the Art Design Tent where Callie and Eduardo filmed a scene. Callie was unprompted or unaware of what she would be asked. Eduardo talked her through everything and what I could hear, I think she did great. They discussed some of the room designes and made a shopping list.

We were then escorted back to the VIP tent for the kid party. There were so many people in the tent it was over crowded. They had candy, balloons, clowns, princesses and disney characters. Zoe was in seventh heaven with Snow White. It was totally fun. They had people that weren't with the Make A Wish leave. They had a table of Make A Wish kids that were drawing art designs. They will be auctioned off tomorrow at a benefit dinner. TY PENNINGTON came in and personally met everyone at the Wish kid table. They only had to do 3 retakes of the filming. It was awsome. After the party we went to the dinning hall for linner (lunch-dinner). Callie finally had time to go to the bathroom but couldn't. She couldn't figure out how to get her mic off that was attached to her tool belt. It was the funniest thing, we had to go find TIM to adjust her. He told her "It's hard to be famous" she told him "I just want to pee". She loves thinking she is famous.

We waited around till 6:00 when they told us she wouldn't be needed the rest of the night. She was supposed to do another take tonight but things got pushed back again. That will just mean a early morning tomorrow. Back to the hotel we came. Went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. Jordan asked me while eating, "Why do we have to break the Sabbath?" I told him it was already broken early this morning. Mark is now back at the hotel swimming with the kids. That is all Zoe wants to do. If you tell her she is "Ariel" she thinks she rules the pool.

Another early morning. I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight.

Saturday Our First Day Off!

Callie and Ty it is TRUE.

The family at the Oilers Game.

The refs just watching these players beat the livin' **** out of each other.

Karla and Callie at the Game.

This is the new BOK center in Tulsa.

This is what happens when you eat cheetos and drink orange crush.

Zoe and Dad playing Whack a mole.

Karla having too much fun and Brody dying that they have to go so slow.

Callie with a vengence. Chasing Grandpa!

On your mark get set go!

Brody and Jordan ready to race. (Jordan won Brody.)

Bowling at Andy B's.

New coat for Callie. She truly acts like a movie star.
SCARY

We were supposed to have Callie ready to go by 2:00. They called right before and told us everything is getting pushed back. We had the afternoon off.

So we started the day with a sleep in till 9:30. Chad and Karla slept till 10:00 (unbelieveable). I think we are just wearing them out. We had breakfast and did our treatments and needed to go shopping. We went down to the mall. Callie needed a pair of boots. There is so much snow and mud that Ty was teasing her about her bling bling shoes. We found a pair of slicker boots and a darling rain coat that is PINK. Paige will be jealous. We were rushed thinking that we had to get Callie back by 2:00 or I could have shopped all day.

We decided that since we had the afternoon off we would have some fun. Make A Wish had given us suggestions and tickets for things to do. We went to Andy B's for some bowling and played a couple games. Every one had fun. They also had go-karts and an arcade. They couldn't get the electrical stuff working so they let us go a second time. It was competitive. Just look at Callies face as she is trying to pass Grandpa Chad.

We then went to the Tulsa Oilers Hockey Game. We got some dinner there and stayed until after the second period. Oilers were up 5 to 2. The game started with a major fight and the refs did NOTHING about it. I don't get all the rules but I do know they don't blow the whistle on a fight but they do blow the whistle if someone hits the puck to far. (iceing?) Whatever!

The kids went back to the hotel and wanted to swim. It was closed because someone had left a SUPRISE in the pool. (Gross!) Tomorrow Callie is supposed to have time with TY 12-2. That will be the blog for tomorrow. We will forsure have lots of pictures if all goes well. Here are some pictures from today. ENJOY!

Found on Ty Penningtons blog a picture of Callie. You can get to his blog at: www.typenningtonstyle.com/blog/ here is a picture for Callie's claim to fame.

Friday January 29, 2010

Today was another awesome day. It started with somewhat of a sleep in and then catching the van to go to the build site at 10:30 AM. When we pulled up in front of the house, the street was loaded with trailers, tents, construction equipment, camera crew and other paraphenalia. The street was closed off except for security and authourized personel. We were driven right up to a private trailer and told that "This is Callie's trailer". It was exclusively for her and the family. I don't know if she fully understood what it meant to have a "Star Trailer". Mark and I just looked at each other with eyes wide open shaking our heads in awe. We had 3 different crew members at our beck and call. They came to get our signatures for employment, dissclosure, and "Braveheart". They took me to another trailer to load up with snacks and food. They were very concerned with what Callie could eat because of her Ciliac Disease. I took a whole grocery bag full of snacks food and water bottles back to the trailer. They came to put a mic on Callie and then would come back often to check on us and update us with schedule changes.

Mark and Chad were able to participate in "Braveheart". It is the part of the show where you see the crowd of volunteers and builders walking towards the house. The kids could not be involved because you needed to be 18 or older to participate. Callie was being preped to join "Braveheart" as they arrived at the house. They filmed the crowd and introduced Callie as a special guest for this episode. She was kind of nervous but when they pulled out the TY cam, she loosened up a little. In between takes, Callie and Ty got into a snowball fight, it escalated to involve other cast members. It was COOL. It was fun to see that TY is just as friendly off camera as on. The whole staff was very good with Callie and I was impressed.

Following the take, they could tell that Callie was getting cold and immediately had crew take us to the VIP tent where Karla and the other kids were able to watch the whole take. The whole time all of this is going on it is like a blizzard. Snowing and blowing over a sheet of ICE. The builders, SIMMONS BUILDING, have included Callie as part of their team. They have asked her and the kids to attend a party for the Simmons Builders on Sunday. We waited in the VIP tent until demolition time. Callie and the rest of us were taken to the front of the crowd to watch the tear down. It was amazing how quickly they got the house down.

We then were taken to the dining area to have lunch with the crew. We met and talked personally with many of the "behind the scene" crew. Paulie came over to Callie at the table and told her some of his designing ideas and asked her opinion and told her to be thinking of more.

We were then told we could meet TY PENNINGTON. They took us out to THE BUS where we (the whole family) met TY. We were able to go in the BUS and talk with Ty. Callie gave him a Make A Wish hat and he was greatful to have her here to help. He seemed genuinely glad to meet her and excited to be working with her on this house. He asked her about her ideas for rooms for the house and told her she's got to find some "fish". We had our picture outside the bus with him and then headed back to the hotel. The ride was a nail biter. The roads were a sheet of ice with 6 inches of snow on top. We made it!

Most of the day we could not have a camera with us because of being filmed ourselves. Simmons Builders has a blog that they update hourly. You can keep up on the status of the home on: www.extremesimmons.com. Also it gives a background on the family and gives pictures. Also Callie will have an article in the Tulsa World paper tomorrow. There website is www.tulsaworld.com . There are many more suprises to come and a lot of go here, go there and Callie is up for the challenge. She is tired tonight. Tomorrow we don't start till 2:00. We are supposed to go to the hockey game tomorrow night we'll see how the taping goes. It might be a late blog tomorrow. I'm trying to figure out how to do a slide show of all days pictures. We'll see if it works.

Each night we get our script for the next day. All the crew from EM:HE are very welcoming and go out of their way to introduce themselves to us and include Callie with everything possible. We are in the same hotel that the crew is staying at and we get the view of the bus out our room window. We found an article in the Davis County Clipper about Callie. The web site is www.clippertoday.com. Also Mark and my dad, were part of the news tonight here in Tulsa. The website for the news here is http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0110/700764_video.html?ref=newsstory

We will keep you updated as more is to come, and so far we feel overwhelmed with emotion when we see Callie's wish coming true everyday. It is AWESOME!

We hung out at the house till it was pretty much over and we were all ice cubes. Then we came back to the hotel and all went to lunch at TGIFridays and then more swimming for our little princess "Ariel". We had a much needed nap for all and woke up to our car frozen shut. There was a sheet of ice on everything in Tulsa. They advise us to stay at the hotel until production time tomorrow. At 11:30 tomorrow Callie officially arrives (for the shows sake) and will film meeting TY and the team.

Today was a early morning. We met with the producers and Make A Wish in the lobby. We had breakfast and then we had a gathering with the designers, builders, producers, security, and "CALLIE from Utah here with her family". Everyone introduced themselves. When Paul, Paige and Eduardo introduced themselves the all said " I'm ---- I will be Callie's assistant this week". It made Callie feel like she was the star of the show. We loaded up in caravans and headed to the fair grounds to gather and head to the house. Here is a picture of the Extreme Train of equipment, producers, staff, builders and Callie. We were the second van followed by 30-35 more vehicles behind. At the fair grounds they put Callie and Mark in the production trailer and we headed a mile further up the road to the house. Callie and Mark got to watch and listen to all the build up and arrival of the bus. The family came running out when they heard TY on the mega phone and it was an awesome sight.

The Limo dropped us off at the airport where we met Kelly and Debbie. We got our luggage checked in and headed to security. Kelly and Debbie said there goodbyes. MAKE A WISH VOLUNTEERS ARE AWESOME!

We landed in Tulsa, the flight was good (no turbulance), got a rental car and headed to the hotel for dinner and swimming.

I went to Chad and Karlas hotel to start blogging and Mark called and said "The producers wanted to meet in the lobby in 15 minutes" I went back, got in the elevator to get back to the room to get everyone ready and TY walked in the elevator with me. I noticed who he was and he tried to be very descreat. I said to him "I'm going to meet you, soon" he gave me a funny look and I told him I was Callie Londons mom and he said "I've heard of her". I tried not to let my excitement show so I told him I would see him soon and I had to get off on the 3rd floor and he kept going on to the 7th. Too bad I wasn't on the same floor I could have had some more one on one time with TY.

The meeting with the producers was good. We met with the executive producer, Brady (who we had the telephone interview with last Friday) and met Steve the assistant producer. They did ask us our schedules because they may get put behind a day or two. There is supposed to be a ice storm that could be bad. Tomorrow they are doing the door knocking and we all get to go. They ask that we not drive and that they would caravan us where we needed to be. The safty of their staff and our family is of high importance.

I was worried we didn't bring enough to keep us warm so we headed to walmart to load up on coats, hats, gloves and an umberella. Now we are ready! We've got an early morning, we need to meet the Make A Wish in the lobby at 6:55 and then with the producers at 7:30AM. I promise to keep you updated.