So when you film for these reality TV shows, they do a really good job of moving you along and you don't get to hang out with as many of the kids as you would like too unless you have identical schedules. Olivia had 1 identical schedule with 1 other kid- Alexa! To top it off Alexa and Olivia were both 10 years old, they both did nippers (surf life-saving in Victoria), they both love to sing... everywhere they went they would sing really loud- the taxi driver kept talking about it (lol). Honestly, they were like two peas in a pod, and they decided after The Voice-kids, they would audition together as a duet to do Australia's got Talent (but that show just got cancelled so I hope they have a plan B).
Here are a few pictures of everything they did together:
Sydney harbour bridge climb. It took 3.5 hours- we barely fit it in before needing to be back at the studio to film the red carpet. Alexa's mum (Michelle) failed to tell me that she was terribly afraid of heights until AFTER I made the booking. This is no small bridge...you climb over water, the railing is thin and you can see though it to the ground (which is very far off) and you even climb through 6 lanes of traffic. It gets windy and when it rains the steps can be quite slippery. It is however a once in a lifetime experience, and the girls were just barely old enough to go (you had to be 10 years old AND Olivia met the height requirement- phew!) Michelle decided to go because it was something brave for her to do. She thought if my daughter Alexa can get up on stage and sing, then I can climb a bridge and so the whole experience was very inspirational for both Alexa and her mum. Here are a few pictures!
Getting ready to go- in the jump suits!
Climbing up!
Made it to the top of the bridge by sunset!
Here the girls are singing "sitting on top of the harbour bridge" to the tune of Delta's new song, "sitting on top of the world"
By the time we were on our way down the city was starting to light up!
The bridge climb was memorable and the girls were inseparable after that. Here they are at 3:00 am after someone set off the fire alarm in the hotel.
Here we are the night before the battle rounds film, getting pizza! The girls agreed that if either of them got eliminated before the other that they would support the other one and cheer for them.
All in all- we are so grateful to have made friends, and have someone to share this unique experience with! What fun- go Alexa, go Olivia and Go TEAM DELTA!
Six weeks later we were back up in Sydney filming The Battle Rounds! Aside from the stress of being on a reality TV show, this second trip I made a sincere effort to have some FUN with Olivia in between all the rehearsals. After the blind auditions, I realized it was much harder having Thomas and Mary come with me. I would have to hire a babysitter to stay in the hotel with them while I would go on-set with Olivia at Fox Studios. Some days were long and the kids didn't have much to do. So this time, I left Thomas and Mary in Melbourne and flew up with just Olivia to Sydney. Stan flew with Thomas and Mary the day before the competition so we could all sit together in the audience. It was so much fun to get to spend some one-on-one time with Olivia. Here are some of the fun things we did!
It started with morning runs on Coogee beach at 7:00 am. We were staying in the Zetlands serviced apartments so the beach was just a couple minutes away. We would take a taxi, go for a run, get breakfast and then head back to our hotel to get ready for the day.
Once on-set we usually did a wardrobe check and then hair and make-up.
We ran into Jack (our friend from Melbourne) who is on Team Madden over in hair.
Olivia & Jack
On one day we took promotional pictures for the adverts on the TV show.
Another day we filmed the reality TV interviews. Here they are shuttling us in the buggy! They asked us how we thought we would fair in the battle rounds and who we thought was the best. All the kids just said really nice things about each other even though the producers would plant very tricky questions in the interview (i.e. tell us what some of your team mates weaknesses are.... (not very cool for a kids TV show)). Whenever we would finish Olivia and I would try to do something fun together.
Here we are getting drinks at Bondi beach after getting off-set in the early afternoon
Olivia getting her first pedicure! We were getting her nails done to match her battle round outfit.
Another evening we dressed up and went out to eat at this restaurant that overlooks the water near Bondi beach.
And last but not least we got a couples massage- Olivia was in heaven and talked and talked- it was hilarious!
Aside from our time together the most memorable thing that happened while at The Voice was the fire alarm going off at 3:00 am the night before our battle round! It was a prank, but since all the contestants from all the reality TV shows were evacuated, everyone started taking selfies with people from 'dancing with the stars' or 'My Kitchen Rules' etc...it was hilarious!
Here is Olivia with her BFF Alexa (also on team Delta)- they came with us for pretty much everything above- I will do a post on just the two of them in a sec!
All in all, it was one of the funnest weeks I have had in my whole life- one of those moments when all the hard work taking care of a baby has paid off because you have a little friend!
Here is Olivia's performance for The Voice- Kids Australia! I love every minute of it and can't stop watching!! My dad from the USA was in town and got to be a part of all of this!
I am going to find the full episode- where you can see Olivia's bio. She does a plug for our friend Millie Flamm who recently died of cancer. Olivia busks for Millie and donates to the princess millie foundation- www.milliesprincessfoundation.org
Olivia recently said to me "mom- having a talent is like having a super power, but what is point of having a super power if you don't help someone?"
We will keep you posted, but for now- GO TEAM DELTA!!
So after 6 weeks we finally got an email from The Voice-kids. Cherine (Olivia's voice teacher had 6 kids get through the final round) only two were invited to the TV audition. Olivia was one of them and they wanted her to sing Roar- by Katy Perry. They said thousands of kids auditioned with the song, but they wanted Olivia to sing it. Olivia is tiny (size of an 8 year old) and the show is for kids from 8-14 years old. So Olivia had a really big song for a really small body. It was hilarious!
Cherine quickly introduced Olivia to Jack (the other student who got through). Jack preformed in Love Never Dies (Phantom of the Opera 2, as the little boy Gustav) he was so good he was invited to play Gustav for the filming of Love Never Dies with Universal studios. Here is a clip of him from 2 years ago- he has only gotten better!!
Jack since has played every lead role on Broadway which he fit the brief for, we were a little intimidated since Olivia hadn't done much. Once we met the family we fell in love with Jack. Jack is the most polite 12 year old boy I have ever met. Most of the boys a little older than Olivia are obnoxious and throw dirt and are sloppy. Jack makes eye contact with adults and is never doing anything obnoxious.
To get Olivia comfortable preforming on stage Cherine set up a few gigs with her and Jack. The first was a fundraiser for a bowling club. Olivia sang 'inescapable' by Jessica Mauboy, and got everyone to clap along. One boy with downsyndrom got up and started dancing and Olivia didn't know what to do. Jack started dancing with him when he sang his song, but Olivia just kind of stood there. It was a really good experience for Olivia to learn how to react to the crowd, and get more comfortable with people getting into her music, and likewise how to respond back.
After a couple months of practise, it was time to fly up to Sydney for the blind auditions. I was nervous juggling family and setting aside time for Olivia to practice, but excited to finally get to see what all her hard work would do.
Luckily (Thanks to Cherine) when Olivia flew up to Sydney to film with Fox Studios, she already knew one other contestant. She was on the same flight as Jack going up to Sydney. We stayed in the same serviced apartments and we hung out with them. Jack was to audition the day before Olivia and after his audition, he called her to walk her through everything (without sharing his results- everything had to be confidential). We were told not to take any pictures while we were there and I am sad I don't really have any.
Unfortunately for us, when my family came to visit my mom brought a head cold over from the USA winter. It went around the family with Olivia just barely recovering (or so we thought) in time for the live TV audition. When the family flew up to Sydney, Thomas was the last one with the cold, and all the other contestants wisely kept their distance from our family.
Olivia was on-set every day. She had pretty early starting times, but also had a few rest days scheduled. Unfortunately, on our first day with a late start, Olivia woke up at 6:00 am and threw up, then two hours later threw up again, and then again an hour before we were supposed to be on set. I didn't want her to get disqualified, but I had to call and ask if we could take a day off. They re-arranged our schedule and gave her a very early start for the following day (which was supposed to be her rest day). This meant she never got a day to sleep in the whole week.
Since it was a program dealing with kids, they have working restrictions which means they have to take a certain amount of breaks. This meant a lot of waiting around. There were games, lots of uno cards, movies playing to keep everyone's nerves down and every day the kids would film something different.
Every day the kids would do hair and make-up. Then each day they would film something different. They would film interviews about the kids, they would film interviews with the parents about the kids. They would film the red-carpet walk with the families, they did bio's on the kids and had parents submit pictures. They also had the kids practice singing on The Voice stage. They had workers in the chairs and had one scenario where the chairs would turn around and one scenario where the chairs would not. In both situations the fake judges would give the kids pointers and ask them questions.
Sitting in the audience seeing your kid preform with all the lights during their first sound check, is really nerve wreaking. It's not even the real show, and the audience is empty but my heart was pounding for her. We were worried about doing this show, once we saw which 90 second of Roar Olivia got to sing, (it was just the beginning with all the big notes cut out) we were worried she was getting set up to fail. We wondered if we should pull out. Not sure how it would go down if all her friends saw her audition on TV and not have any chairs turn around...would Olivia take that as a personal rejection from a celebrity or would she be ok? We tried to change the song around (with a little improv) and the manager said there were copyright issues and she need to sing it straight with no deviations.
The Blind auditions were easily the most nerve wreaking part of this whole TV show. Some kids came totally unglued (one went on stage and sang completely off key- apparently he had never done that EVER! He had to beat out 8,000 kids for that spot and singing off key would have weeded him out months ago). Another girl (both her parents work on TV) started crying and couldn't pull herself together before her audition and totally bombed it. Kids who made it through went upstairs to get debriefed by a psychologist and kids who didn't get through went downstairs to get debriefed by a psychologist. We knew half would get cut (it went from 100 to 45 kids (15 kids on three teams)).
When Olivia went up to sing they pulled our family into a small white room- we didn't get to sit with the audience. We all had microphones and we were told to speak our thoughts. We had 4 big cameras on our face, and then we stood there and watched 4 big TV screens. Olivia was on the top big screen, and then the three judges (Delta, Mel B, and the Madden brothers) each had their own screen so we could watch the judges reactions to her song.
Olivia right before she goes on to sing
I honestly don't remember anything- it was all a massive blur. Olivia walked out on the stage and you could hear her little foot steps and nothing else. Thomas decided now would be a good time to speak his thoughts so he broke out in the "Australian National Anthem".
By the time we quieted him down Olivia had started to sing. She looked nervous before walking out and then just pulled herself together and decided to Roar! She nailed it and the first chair turned straight away (it was Joel and Benj Madden, from Good Charlotte, in a joint chair). Next Delta stood up and started dancing and then slammed her button and before Olivia's 90 seconds were over Mel B (spice girls) had also pushed her button! SHE HAD ALL THREE CHAIRS TURN!! We were over the moon and I couldn't believe it!
When she finished they started asking her questions. We didn't practice this!! I was so sure she wouldn't get through- that we had been set up, but I was wrong. She introduced herself and then she needed to ask them some questions to decide which judge to pick. Most kids ask questions like "who is your inspiration, where can you take me if I choose you?" etc...
She asked the Mel B if she believed in Santa Clause...
All the judges said Yes- but then Mel B took over and said she KNOWS Santa Clause and she has been to the North Pole! This lead to a full on debate between the two judges. Finally, someone asked if anyone from the audience was here for her. She said "NO- none of my friends are old enough" (they had to be 12 years old to sit in the audience). Just then her Grandpa (my dad) stood up in the audience and said "I'm here Olivia!" He was her only audience member present (we got several tickets- but had no one to invite).The spotlight went on my dad, Olivia yelled "that is my grandpa"- (here she is pointing to her grandpa)
and he came down to the stage to help her decide who to pick.
Olivia ultimately chose Delta as her coach. Delta picked her up and spun her around and Olivia honestly fell in love with Delta from then on.
The next day we were on a plane back to Melbourne. Here is Olivia with three other contestants. Olivia was the only one who went through. We were told the battle rounds would be in 6 weeks and to wait to find out the song and who she was singing against.
So Olivia decided to audition for The Voice-kids (season 1) here in Australia. It's a TV show where celebrities listen to kids sing (with their backs facing the singer, and if the celebrity likes the voice they hear, then they push their buzzer and their chairs spin). If more than one judge pushes the buzzer, the kid gets to pick who's team they want. Once each celebrity gets a full team, then they do sing-offs until the final round where the public gets to pick who they want to win via voting.
Anyway, season 1 of The Voice-kids is coming to Australia, so they asked kids from the whole country to show up and audition. We had heard about it and were not sure about signing our 10 year old up for reality TV (if you know what I mean), but Olivia was keen so we let her.
We quickly found out, to audition you needed to fill out a form online and submit a YouTube clip of your kid singing. We had been pretty firm with Olivia about creating a YouTube account (it follows you for life so why would you want one?) but seeing that this was the only way to audition, we figured we would upload a clip and delete it after we found out if she was invited to come to an audition or not. Here was her clip!
You can actually see her pajamas under her dress- it is 11:00 pm and we need this song uploaded in an hour to meet the cut off.
Long story short, we heard back a few weeks later from The Voice, Olivia had been invited to come to the Melbourne auditions! We were thrilled. We needed to learn one song (I still call Australia home) and then prepare 3 songs in case she continued onto further rounds. Her time slot was 8:00 am...and that was the day after day-light savings time (spring forward). She needed to get there early and if she was late she wouldn't get to audition.
The two weeks before her audition were school holidays (usually kids just sleep in and play). Olivia started training herself to get up an hour earlier during this time. She would wake up at 6:00 am and then wake me or Stan up so she could go run for 30 minutes. She was so dedicated. Then sing in the shower for 20 minutes and then get ready. She cut out dairy for those two weeks and started practicing like crazy!
We had recently started singing with a new voice teacher. She is so far away (1 hour drive each way) and expensive, but so very very good. To give you an idea, when we sing with her we show up with the song learned. She breaks down breathing, pronunciation, louds and softs, and almost always changes the key. While Olivia sings, the teacher gets on her piano and records a backtracking, then sends the piano music to her computer where she transposes it to Olivia's key, and then records it on her computer and emails me the new backtracking before our lesson is done so Olivia can practice. She is from New Zealand (Kiwi) and can sing like a very powerful islander. She was on Broadway with the Lion King and also teaches acting and dancing classes while running her own agency. She is not our agent, but because she knows all the briefs that come out and she knows everyone in the industry, she is able to get Olivia further than her previous voice teacher who would just practice songs with her. Her name is Cherine Peck- google her, she is amazing!
Anyway, Olivia had only been with Cherine for a couple weeks when we learned of this audition. We needed three songs and we only had 1 that was ready. One of the songs had to be in the last 5 years and age appropriate...we looked hard and there is not a lot of age appropriate chart busters around for a 10 year old girl to sing. We ended up picking (1) somewhere over the rainbow (by Eva Cassidy) (2) Angels brought me here (by Guy Sebastian) and (3) Roar (by Katy Perry- that was our modern one).
On the morning of the audition, Olivia was ready to go. There were thousands of kids lined up waiting in lines and once you got inside there were TV screens everywhere with episodes of The Voice-Kids playing. Since The Voice kids has never been done in an English speaking country they had episodes form Germany and the Netherlands playing. It was really distracting and nerve-wreaking.
To top it off they announced that they were tired of hearing the song 'Roar' by Katy Perry and to have something else prepared. We didn't have any other songs and we were devastated. It was true though, every single 8-12 year old girl was wearing cat ears and we could tell they had prepared that song as well.
For the first round they would pull in a group of 20 kids and have them sing the song "I still call Australia home" in lines. The director would walk past the kids and tap 3 on the head and only those three would go through. When Olivia showed up, they were running late so they put the first and second group together in the big room (40 kids) and ran the song. Olivia got her head tapped and she got through to the next round!
In the second round, the three kids picked went into a room with one of the staff members one on one. She asked to hear one song (maybe two) and if she likes you she would let you go up to the final round. Only 1 of the three kids from this group would go up to the third round. Olivia sang 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'.
Then the lady asked her some questions. We did not practice interviewing- we didn't think too. The lady noticed that Olivia liked busking (street preforming) and asked her how much money she would make. Olivia said 'about $70.00 an hour' then the lady asked 'what she spends her money on' and Olivia said- 'I give it to my friend Millie, she has Cancer' then the lady asked if Olivia would sing one more song. She sang 'Angels brought me here' and the lady invited Olivia to go through to the third round. We didn't realize it at the time, but the interviewer was looking for kids with stories, and that question alone determined what Olivia's story was for the rest of the round. We never realized how busking for Millie would give back to Olivia months later but it did. Thank-you Millie!!
Once Olivia was at the third round she was invited into another room where she was video tapped. They asked to hear 'Roar'- Olivia was floored. Then they asked if she knew any other songs. When Olivia filled out her song list (required when you applied online) she put down a bunch of Disney songs and church songs. There were not many to choose from, but the lady found one. She picked 'walking on sunshine' which Olivia hadn't sung for about a year, and had never practiced with Cherine. The lady pulled up a back tracking from online and Olivia started to sing. She remembered the words and got through.
At the end of this round, they told Olivia that they would email her in 6 weeks and let her know if she would be 1 of 100 kids invited to show up at the blind auditions in Sydney. So the waiting game begins!
I very much wish I had a few more pictures to accompany this blog post. Mary had both my mom, my step-dad and my dad fly all the way from America to see her get baptised. Grandma Coltrin picked out Mary's baptism dress about 3 years ago (and I have had it in a closet ever since).
It was very special, I gave a talk on baptism and why it is important. Grandma Coltrin gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and grandpa Tengelsen gave the closing prayer. Mary had two friends from school come and support her. She was so beautiful and was such a good girl!
This January, we had the most wonderful visit from the Grandparents! Granny Joanny & Andre came for a week and then went to NZ for a week and Papa John came for his annual visit and stayed for 1 month.
One of my favorite activities is Berry picking up north, it is so pretty and the berries just fall off the trees. The best time to go is December because by January they are starting to get old. Unfortunately for me, I excitedly drove my family up to the berry farm only to discover it had closed THAT DAY! They still let pick what we could find but we didn't get to walk away with a huge bucket! We got ice cream instead and headed next door to the raspberry and strawberry farms- they were still open!
Papa John
Granny Joanney & Andre
Mary trying to get out of the sun- it was such a hot day (over 100F)
So Thomas has finally learned to ride a bike! He is 5 and our earliest rider. He began riding a few years back with training wheels, had a scare where he couldn't figure out where to stop (ran into a pole, fell off his bike) and then was not really interested in riding again. He was most afraid because his older sisters convinced him there were snakes in the grass so when he fell off his bike he was pretty freaked out. Anyway, two years later we have come back to the same place and he has finally mastered the two-wheeler!
Stan and I were married in 2002 and have three children. We met during undergrad at BYU in Student Government; Stan was working in public relations and I was the Executive Vice President. Both of us finished our degrees and I went on and completed my Masters. Stan went on and earned his law degree from GW in DC, passed the bar and then decided to go into business. He went on to do an MBA at Oxford. After spending 10 years in Australia, we now live in London, while Stan works as a Partner at Bain. We hope you enjoy!
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