This past weekend was another first for Matt and I…his first time home alone. I went to Vegas for the weekend with my friends Jami and Gina and Matt bached it at home! We had been preparing for things for several weeks; figuring out strategies for him to do things he hadn’t yet done on his own, planning things for him to eat, and stuff for him to do. He organized a little guys’ night of his own Friday night; hanging out with Jay, Larry, Jay, Blake, and Chad. He had planned to maybe watch movies with the guys…but they ended up talking the night away in the garage, and then made their way into the house. I was so happy to hear how much Matt enjoyed time with his friends while I was gone. I know time with the guys means a lot to Matt and I was glad they were able to make it work. Sometimes I think he forgets how much these guys care for him, and the willingness they have to do things for him if necessary. I know guys don’t really like to need help…let alone ask for it…but it touches me to hear Matt talk about how helpful they were to him…getting him drinks, cookies, whatever. Those tiny acts mean a lot to Matt.
I had a great time with the girls in Vegas as well. It was good to get away and have fun!
Friday night we had tickets to the live stage version of The Price is Right game show. It’s a scaled down version of the TV show where members of the audience are chosen randomly to bid on items and play the pricing games. We had great seats right down in front and had a blast watching everyone play…and then my name was called to go down and bid!!! We all looked at each other – completely shocked!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure I uttered ‘oh crap’ about 10 times! I made my way down front to my microphone and watched as they wheeled out the item to bid on…a karaoke machine! I turned to look at Gina and Jami and they were frantically yelling and making hand signals at me…$75 was my guess. And the actual retail price was…$90…or maybe it was $99…I can’t say for sure - that part is a bit of a blur to me…because I was closest to the price and got to go up on stage and play a pricing game! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (oh crap, oh crap, oh crap) I got up on stage and the host, Young and the Restless’ Doug Davidson, greeted me and asked me what my favorite Price is Right game is…’must be Plinco’ I managed to say, while giggling and trying to take in all that was happening…the lights, the screaming crowd…’Randy, tell her what game she’s going to play’ Doug said to the announcer…’Must be Plinco’ he yelled in his booming announcer voice…the curtains parted to reveal the Plinco board and the crowd went nuts! Doug explained to me what I had to do…but I’m pretty sure I was dizzy with shock and excitement so I can’t say for sure what he said!!! I know he asked me what I did for a living and used it as a pun…’Emily is a Business Analyst, so Emily…analyze this’…and one of his ‘beauties’ showed me the next item…a frother. I’m pretty sure I said ‘frother? What’s a frother?’…’that’s weird’. I managed to get 3 of the 4 items correct and walked up the steps to the top of the Plinco board with 4 chips. I got to the top of the board and dropped my first chip…I’m not for sure the exact order…but one chip was a zero, one chip was $100, one chip was $200, and the final chip was $500!! YIKES! I just won EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
The audience, especially Gina and Jami were going NUTS! I couldn’t stop smiling…but I think more in a spacey, dazed, confused and somewhat disoriented way…definitely not a WHOOPIE I just won cashola way. I was stunned, for sure! I slumped back in my chair and just looked wide-eyed at the girls before we all began frantically texting people to share the good news!! Hilarious! I opted (much to the dismay of the girls) to take the cash equivalent of the karaoke machine…and walked away with $860 in my wallet! 
Matt’s text back to me said it best…shopping spree!
Saturday afternoon we wandered around the strip for a while, and then headed to downtown Las Vegas. None of us had ever been there before, so we were excited to see the light show, old casinos, and live music. I’d like to say we had fun checking out the old downtown area, but we got sucked into a night club and danced the night away without really even knowing it!
When we finally emerged it was so late that the live music was over, the crowds were gone, and we missed all the light shows! No regrets though – we had a blast dancing in the club! 
Sunday afternoon we wandered around the strip and some of the shops there…and I happily splurged and spent some of my Price is Right earnings!
It was another great day with the girls, just doing our own thing…no particular place to be…no time limits…just having fun and going where we please. It was hard to get up early to catch our flight yesterday morning, but it was good to get home to Matt!
Matt and I had discussed whether or not to board the dogs while I was gone and while at first I thought he could manage them just fine on his own…I did have to admit that just being on his own for 3 days was a big enough deal and agreed to board them. I KNOW he enjoyed not having to worry about them and I really wanted this first time alone to be a positive experience for him – and it really was. Saturday he had a pretty low-key day alone and I’m sure it was somewhat boring, but George came over for dinner on Sunday so he had visitors both Friday and Sunday.
Overall, I had a great weekend in Vegas with the girls, and Matt had a pretty good weekend himself at home. (We realized we hadn’t been apart overnight since he got home from China!) Being able to take off for a few days and know that Matt was A-ok at the house was HUGE to me. It really just reaffirmed for us both how great the house is and how lucky we are that he can do anything and go anywhere he wants to there…living there is just such a huge, huge blessing to us!!!
I had a great time with the girls in Vegas as well. It was good to get away and have fun!
Friday night we had tickets to the live stage version of The Price is Right game show. It’s a scaled down version of the TV show where members of the audience are chosen randomly to bid on items and play the pricing games. We had great seats right down in front and had a blast watching everyone play…and then my name was called to go down and bid!!! We all looked at each other – completely shocked!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure I uttered ‘oh crap’ about 10 times! I made my way down front to my microphone and watched as they wheeled out the item to bid on…a karaoke machine! I turned to look at Gina and Jami and they were frantically yelling and making hand signals at me…$75 was my guess. And the actual retail price was…$90…or maybe it was $99…I can’t say for sure - that part is a bit of a blur to me…because I was closest to the price and got to go up on stage and play a pricing game! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (oh crap, oh crap, oh crap) I got up on stage and the host, Young and the Restless’ Doug Davidson, greeted me and asked me what my favorite Price is Right game is…’must be Plinco’ I managed to say, while giggling and trying to take in all that was happening…the lights, the screaming crowd…’Randy, tell her what game she’s going to play’ Doug said to the announcer…’Must be Plinco’ he yelled in his booming announcer voice…the curtains parted to reveal the Plinco board and the crowd went nuts! Doug explained to me what I had to do…but I’m pretty sure I was dizzy with shock and excitement so I can’t say for sure what he said!!! I know he asked me what I did for a living and used it as a pun…’Emily is a Business Analyst, so Emily…analyze this’…and one of his ‘beauties’ showed me the next item…a frother. I’m pretty sure I said ‘frother? What’s a frother?’…’that’s weird’. I managed to get 3 of the 4 items correct and walked up the steps to the top of the Plinco board with 4 chips. I got to the top of the board and dropped my first chip…I’m not for sure the exact order…but one chip was a zero, one chip was $100, one chip was $200, and the final chip was $500!! YIKES! I just won EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
The audience, especially Gina and Jami were going NUTS! I couldn’t stop smiling…but I think more in a spacey, dazed, confused and somewhat disoriented way…definitely not a WHOOPIE I just won cashola way. I was stunned, for sure! I slumped back in my chair and just looked wide-eyed at the girls before we all began frantically texting people to share the good news!! Hilarious! I opted (much to the dismay of the girls) to take the cash equivalent of the karaoke machine…and walked away with $860 in my wallet! 
Matt’s text back to me said it best…shopping spree! Saturday afternoon we wandered around the strip for a while, and then headed to downtown Las Vegas. None of us had ever been there before, so we were excited to see the light show, old casinos, and live music. I’d like to say we had fun checking out the old downtown area, but we got sucked into a night club and danced the night away without really even knowing it!
When we finally emerged it was so late that the live music was over, the crowds were gone, and we missed all the light shows! No regrets though – we had a blast dancing in the club! 
Sunday afternoon we wandered around the strip and some of the shops there…and I happily splurged and spent some of my Price is Right earnings!
It was another great day with the girls, just doing our own thing…no particular place to be…no time limits…just having fun and going where we please. It was hard to get up early to catch our flight yesterday morning, but it was good to get home to Matt! Matt and I had discussed whether or not to board the dogs while I was gone and while at first I thought he could manage them just fine on his own…I did have to admit that just being on his own for 3 days was a big enough deal and agreed to board them. I KNOW he enjoyed not having to worry about them and I really wanted this first time alone to be a positive experience for him – and it really was. Saturday he had a pretty low-key day alone and I’m sure it was somewhat boring, but George came over for dinner on Sunday so he had visitors both Friday and Sunday.
Overall, I had a great weekend in Vegas with the girls, and Matt had a pretty good weekend himself at home. (We realized we hadn’t been apart overnight since he got home from China!) Being able to take off for a few days and know that Matt was A-ok at the house was HUGE to me. It really just reaffirmed for us both how great the house is and how lucky we are that he can do anything and go anywhere he wants to there…living there is just such a huge, huge blessing to us!!!
Comments