A few months ago I got a call to participate on the new BYUtv show, Random Acts. The premise was this: you’ll be involved with helping Shelby, whose debilitating sickness took a turn for the worse a few years ago and forced her to give up her music scholarship, make her dreams come true by surprising her with playing with the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Chills up and down my body.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
In fact, the whole show is the opposite of Punk’d: pranks with good things, random acts of kindness as the title indicates. Yes, I’m all about this. The show premiered last night and it was so fun to see it all come together. We shot the show about two months ago at the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City for two days. Though the show whizzes by with other vignettes of pleasant pranks in addition to this main story line, there was a LOT going on behind the scenes.
I was put in charge of decorating the green room for Shelby. We prepped some musical note pinatas in shiny metallics for her, including a treble clef, and some notes. I ordered a TON of party decorations in her favorite color, purple and had to include a personalized director’s chair with her name on it, a handmade floral crown, and, of course, a huge bouquet of flowers and some smaller bouquets for her dressing room table.
Lucky me got to partner up with Leanne Barlow of Elle Apparel Blog and Abby Smith of Twist Me Pretty who were tasked with surprising Shelby with a new wardrobe and makeover to prep her for her Tabernacle debut. These ladies are so lovely and we had a grand time working together.
Shelby was told that she was attending a special concert of Music and the Spoken Word at the Tabernacle and that there would be a special guest. But she didn’t know SHE would be the special guest. She was whisked out of her seat in the audience, exposed to our tomfoolery, then placed in the orchestra. She was only going to play one song, but ended up playing along the whole time. She’s an amazing sight reader!
One thing I was super impressed with was her calmness. She later said that she can be quite anxious, but as soon as we met her in the green room she was calm as can be and made decisions quite easily and peacefully.
We worked with the two hosts of the show, Emily and Aaron, and they clearly put us to work 🙂 
Shooting the show was a kick in the pants and it was particularly fun because I knew a lot of the production people from the show. Here’s Steve Olpin shooting and Becky Kimball taking stills.
The director doing his thang.
Shelby and her parents. I love that her mom’s Instagram handle is @spikeyhairedmom ha! 
No show is complete without some awkward dance moves at the end.
We crowned Shelby Queen of the Day with the paper floral crown I made for her in her favorite colors.
Living out the dream.
Doing what we do best: Snapchatting, of course. 
One thing I could definitely get used to is having a production team at my every beck and call. And this team was the best! And hilarious too.
Thanks so much for having me! I had a ball! As a fellow musician (I’ve played the cello since I was a kid), I have to admit that playing in this orchestra would definitely be a highlight for me too. I was so tickled to be asked to play a small part in making this day happen.
NOW, you’ve got to watch the episode!
Photos by Becky Kimball and Justin Hackworth