What's your secret weapon?

If you read this, then I really want you to leave a comment. So if you have no intention of leaving a comment, then just go to your next blog. Thank you.

OK. I need a little help people. I used to get a certain kind of satisfaction from stain removal. Kind of like the same satisfaction you get from popping a pimple. It's gross, but it feels so good when you get it. You dominated that stain (or zit). Yes, I loved dotting, scrubbing, and washing. But these days, it is getting old. Oh so old. Anna will not eat if I put a bib on her and so of course she gets all sorts of food stains on her clothes. Plus now that she can walk, she wants to get down and run around everywhere. We were at the park today and she was having so much fun playing in the dirt, I didn't want to stop her. However now when I look at her clothes, I really wish I would have. It's just that I would rather spend my time doing other things than scrubbing out hundreds of stains. As much as I'd like Anna's stained clothes to be an excuse to go shopping for new ones, our budget just simply does not allow. Big problem.

In the past I've always used this green bottle of stuff that my mom would "import" for us from California. It's called Soilove or something. It's pretty good, but I'm too impatient to soak and scrub with so many items. I used to have the "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean" book (she's the royalty of stain removal), but it got ruined in the flood, so I threw it out. What is your secret weapon for battling kid stains? Is there one? Or am I destined to a lifetime of scrubbing with a toothbrush at the sink? Please tell me what you use, your tactics, strategies, etc. I need your wisdom and help! Many thanks!

AA?

I'm not sure if I should be concerned about Anna's recent "habits." She seems obsessed with anything that has alcoholic content. If you read her previous post about her favorite toys, you saw that she loves her some Listerine. I just thought she liked the bottle. Well, I hid that and her new obsession has become our mini purell bottle. I had a small empty one that I let her carry around. Soon she figured out to flip the lid and I caught her trying to lick the lid. Major tantrum when I took it away. Well, sometimes I forget Anna is a little hawk. When I think I find a good hiding place for stuff, she seems to know right where to find it. Guess I need to invest in more child locks. She found the Listerine bottle again tonight. She had not had a nap all day despite Grandma's multiple attempts while I was at work. So when I took away the bottle it was major tantrumitis. No diversion would work. I couldn't deal with it tonight, so I just emptied out the bottle, washed it out, and handed it over to her. I know, I'm a total push over. Well, it wasn't good enough to just have the bottle. She has discovered lids and she wanted the lid off! I gave in again and there she was, a happy little girl, staggering around with an empty bottle of Listerine. Lid in one hand, bottle in the other. Since she was so tired, she had huge red bags under her eyes. And every once in a while, she would try to suck back on the bottle. My poor little daughter looked like the drunk lady that used to walk around outside my office downtown! All she needed was a brown paper bag. I really don't want her to be an alchy. Is it already time for the Word of Wisdom FHE lesson? Maybe I should work on being a better Mom and not let her play with potentially hazardous "toys." And make sure she doesn't try to get a fake ID in the meantime.

Guatemala - Day 2

Here are the patients that Dave helped operate on today...

Warning: These are surgical photos. If you get grossed out, don't look! I used to get really grossed out, but after four years of Dave trying to impress me with his text book full of gross pictures, I am starting to become immune. Just want to warn you!

This little baby had a cleft lip...


This guy had something called a congenital hairy nevus. If you remember my post about my friend who was adopting a girl from China, she also has one of these on her face. These are usually cancerous, so it's not just a cosmetic surgery. They removed the skin and replaced it with skin grafts from behind the ears.

Here he is post-op. Isn't that amazing?

This guy is only 26 and he had skin cancer on his nose, so they had to remove his nose and skin above his lip. They'll operate on him again later this week to build a new nose with skin and muscle from his forehead.

Dave, Dr. Siddiqi, and the nice nurse that I don't know.

Helping Smiles

Dave was home for a long stretch of 5 days after his last interview last week. No more interviews, no studying. It was so great having him home and hanging out together. Anna loved it and she really loves playing with her daddy. All he has to do is walk in the room and she starts laughing. It was a fun week, but stressful as we had to finalize our rank list for residency programs. We've submitted our list, the schools will submit theirs, and then we just wait! We feel good about it, but don't ask us the order because we won't tell. We don't want to jinx anything! Plus, it's going to be a surprise for us, so it should be for you all too. Don't worry, you know there will be a post as soon as we find out.


Now Dave is on his next adventure and we are really excited for him. He left on a surgical service trip to Guatemala with the Hirsche Smiles Foundation. (It's like Operation Smile) When one of the pediatric plastic surgeons at Primary's invited him on the trip we were so excited because we've always talked about doing a trip like this. Too bad Anna and I couldn't tag along this time, but hopefully we'll have another chance one day. We are so blessed in this country to have such easy access to great medical care and I am glad that Dave chose a specialty where he can share his knowledge and abilities with those who are in need, but have no help in their own country.

I wasn't expecting to hear from him so soon, but he happens to be rooming with someone who brought their laptop. I was so excited to see these pictures of their first day! Today they screened patients and tomorrow they will start operating. (That is, if the rest of their luggage which holds the surgical equipment makes it there on time!) They plan to operate on about 70 people in 5 days.


Here's Dave in front of the hospital


And this is the hospital waiting room. Most of these families traveled for 8 hours or more to get here and they don't have any money so they will spend the week in this room while their children are operated on.


He also sent a few pics of a few of the patients they are going to operate on.
They are going to build a brand new ear for this little girl. With part of a rib. Incredible, huh?


I think this little girl is so adorable! I just want to give her a big squeeze! She has a cleft that affects her nose, so they will repair her left nostril.


This is a patient that has a cleft palate. You can see how it affects their nose and the inside of the mouth. This is probably the most common surgery that they will perform while they are there.


And here's the surgical team!

I am so grateful that Dave has this wonderful opportunity to serve while he learns. What a humbling experience. I can't wait to hear about every single case. I hope that Dave can continue these types of trips throughout his career. Next time you make a joke about Dave bettering the world, one boob at a time, remember that he does stuff like this too! :)

Anna's 2008 Toy Review

Hi. Anna here. My Grandma G used to go to the Toy Fair in NYC every February. The Toy Fair just finished up this year, so in Grandma G's honor, I want to give you a review of a few of my favorite toys or forms of entertainment so far this year.

1. Dolls!

I love dolls! Any kind and every kind, but especially baby dolls. I like to carry them around, push them in my wagon, use them as pillows, and give them loves. It's also fun to point at their eyes, nose, and mouth, but they don't say ouch when I poke them in the eye like when I do it to Mommy. Overall Anna Rating: A!

2. Dental Hygiene Products

Have you seen all of the varieties of dental hygiene products these days? I can't get enough of carrying around toothpastes! Full size, travel size, baby size, you name it, they're all fantastic and fit perfectly in my little hands. I also love to carry around toothbrushes. I once grabbed daddy's and played with it for a whole day and he doesn't even know it. Overall Anna Rating: A

The only thing better than toothbrushes and toothpaste is Listerine! Somehow I got my hands on this bottle and I never want to let it go. Mommy seemed to be a little worried and wouldn't let me sleep with it because she said it's toxic or something. Whatev! I don't care, I just like the bottle.

And this is how I would look if I accidentally drank Listerine. Overall Anna Rating: B+ (lost some points due to its toxic nature)

3. Einstein, Barney, SuperWhy, and the Spanish Channel

Every now and then I like to veg out in front of the TV. I highly recommend the following programs: Any Baby Einstein movie - especially ones with animals. Barney - only when you dance to his songs. SuperWhy - they've got the power to read and some snappy tunes. And when I can get my hands on the remote, I usually find a Spanish channel and watch the sparkly people and dance to the Latin rhythm. Overall Anna Rating: A-

4. Books!

If TV doesn't do it for you then as SuperWhy says, "Look, in a book!" I love to read and pull out all of my books. My favorites right now are the ones my Mom gets from the Target Dollar Spot. I especially like the ones that have the flaps that I can pull up. It's so suspenseful wondering what I will find underneath! I also really like my bedtime book called, "Good Night Train". It has the best pictures and the words are fun and make me tired. I keep a few books in my crib and before I call for Mommy in the morning, I always like to get a little reading in by myself before I start my day. Overall Anna Rating: A!

5. Psych!

This is not a toy, but a game I made up. All you need is a baby and a Mommy. If you're the baby, just get Mommy's attention and start to whine a little. Then reach out your arms like you want her to come get you. If she starts heading your way, wait right until she's about to pick you up...and then hurry and turn around and make that sucker chase you! It is SO funny! It makes me giggle and laugh so hard. I just can't get enough of it! Overall Anna Rating: A

6. And last, but not least...the tin can!

Most cupboards in the kitchen are off limits, but I have a few that I can get into and Mommy leaves special things just for me in there. My favorite are these tin cans. Have you ever played with one before? They are the best! I can bang on the top and play the drums and if I even want a louder bang, I just turn it over and the bottom makes a great noise too! Plus I can roll them around and try and chase them. They are minutes of fun! And all of this can be yours for free, with the purchase of some Stephen's Hot Cocoa! Overall Anna Rating: A+!

Ode to Mom

I saw the Toy Fair on the news this week and it brought back so many memories for me. If you don't know why, it's because my Mom owned her own toy store, The Red Balloon, and would go to the big toy fair in NYC every February to find the cool new exciting toys for the year. My brother Wes and I even got to go with my parents one year. We couldn't get into the fair of course, but I remember walking through NYC all bundled up and my Dad telling me to close my eyes when we were walking through parts of Times Square (that was before it was cleaned up from the nudey bars!) I remember going to the statue of liberty and my Dad counted every stair to the top with Wes and me. That was my very first trip on an airplane and I will always remember it. Anyway, I digress. It was always so much fun to see what Mom would bring back from the fair. Remember slap bracelets? I was the first one to adorn my wrist with one of those at Oakridge Elementary. Same with Koosh balls, Squiggle pens, and all of those other fun toys from the 80's and 90's. I loved going to the store after school and I could sit in the back and read some books, play with the train, or to my mom's frustration, I would pull out all of the stickers. Sometimes she would even let me pick something to take home. I really don't think my brother's and I knew how lucky we were. And then there were the dolls. Madame Alexanders, Ginny dolls, Gotz dolls, Corolle, and the list goes on. Can you believe I had access to all of this I would still beg for a Barbie? (My Mom never bought me a Barbie, not even one. I had to beg Grandma for those) I'm glad she did that though because now I understand and totally agree with her logic. I would rather have my daughter playing with cute little girl dolls instead of Barbie's where it's all about looking good for Ken and going to the Mall. I remember when Mr. Gotz came to my mom's store all the way from Germany. My mom did my hair in braids and I wore my dirndl and he signed my dolls. All of these memories bring back so much nostalgia for me.

The point of this post is not to say what a great childhood I had, (although I recognize how lucky I am), but it's to give props to my mom for creating something so great. She started this store from scratch by herself when they moved back from DC. She believed in high quality educational toys for children and did something about it. She brought brands like Brio, Playmobil, Ravensburger into Salt Lake for the first time. And with all of the stresses of being a small business owner, she managed to raise 5 kids too! I don't know how she did it! She had a great ability to recognize what kids would like and how it would teach them new skills. For instance those lace cards help kids learn dexterity and how to follow a pattern. Because of this, I'm always looking for the learning benefit from toys for Anna. Maybe it's kind of made me a toy snob, but I figure kids learn best through play anyway.

When I was in junior high, after 19 years of The Red Balloon, her kids were almost all grown up and it started to lose its fun. Plus, I think my family was ready to have a normal calm Christmas for once without worrying about the busiest toy season of the year. She wanted to just close up shop, but there were too many loyal customers. One customer offered to buy it off her and so that's what she did. And it's still going strong today and I think he even has multiple locations now. And it all started with my mom. I'm pretty proud of her for that! She doesn't give herself enough credit for this and all she accomplished.

After the toy chapter of her life was closed, she opened a new chapter that equally benefited our family. She got a job with Continental airlines so we could all get flight benefits. She HATED her job, but she kept with it for 10 years and because of that, we were able to explore parts of the world together as a family. I'm not going to list everywhere we went, but we went a lot of places! I was able to go to 4 continents! And my some of my brothers went to 5 because they got to go to Asia too. (The drawback to getting married young!) Sure, we spent a lot of time at different airports, got stuck plenty of times, and even had to get off the plane even after we were already seated, but that's all part of flying stand-by and now is just part of the memories. Although I've lived in Salt Lake my whole life (minus a few months away with friends) I feel like I have experienced more of what the world has to offer. Yes, I know I am still secluded in my own way, but because of the travels that my parents were able to take us on, I learned about different cultures, to experience new things, and to appreciate a different perspective on life. It is the one area of my life that I am actually adventurous! We wouldn't have been able to do this if we couldn't fly for free thanks to my mom. Everyone in our family has the travel bug and the in-laws are getting converted. Plus it created a ton of good inside jokes with our family that Wes loves to remind us of..."Look at me!", "Want to rent some bikes?", "I'm carrying the popcorn", and "transporting cookie crumbs" to name a few.

Although I would love to still have the wholesale discount on the toys for Anna, I am so glad my mom did what she did because with her new job, she was able to give our family the best gift ever. Priceless memories.

I'm not sure what spurred this whole post that started out on a trip down memory lane of toy fairs long ago. It's another testament to my randomness. But as I look back on all of this I am so grateful for what my parents gave us. Everything they have ever done is for their family. It's the memories that stick with us and I have a lot of good ones thanks to them. I hope I can do the same for our little family one day too. So thanks Mom and Dad. I don't tell you enough. Love you.

peace

Peace is hard to come by these days. Especially for me lately. I don't think I've ever felt so much stress and anxiety as I have the last few months. Actually I don't really remember when it began. It's just kind of been constant. But it is so nice to be able to be able to step away from it all every now and then. Tonight Dave and I went to the temple and I was overcome with such a feeling of peace. Everything will be alright. I know. And I love this feeling. I just want to document it before the fear and doubt creep into my heart again. But for now, I know I'm okay, we're okay, everything is okay and will be okay. It will all work out.

A January Flurry

I realized that I haven't posted much about January. I was busy catching up from November and Decemer, and now here I am trying to catch up a month later again. Well, you didn't miss much. January wasn't the best month for us. Dave was on the interview trail and stuck for hours in numberous airports, and I was going crazy with my full-time job which is supposed to be part-time. (and I only get paid part-time, might I add!) And then regarding my real full-time job, Anna got sick and on top of that had some tummy issues so she was wasn't her usual self. She's feeling better now and it is so great to have my old baby girl back! And then there was snow, LOTS of snow. It doesn't help that I have an extreme fear of driving in the snow. So that was our January in a nutshell. It wasn't one of our finest months, and yes, we did manage a weekend getaway, so I am not complaining. Just telling it how it is. Since my last posts have been pretty boring because they're about us and not Anna, here's a little "flurry" of January pics of Anna.

Bippity-Boppity-Boo!

Anna is such a girl. We ordered this set (the skirt, headband, and wand) online with a few other sale items and she was so excited to open up our package. We put this on her right away and she loved it and knew she looked special. She kept waving her wand and I was wishing that wand was really magic and that she could make all of the snow go away somehow! (The cell phone did not come with the set, but is still one of her favorite toys. She won't take any imposters. It's the real deal or nothing...or tantrum I should say)

Ritzy Girl

Anna likes Ritz crackers so much she can't help but smile when she eats them.

Just her size

Anna is a true Goldilocks. She likes to test out a few chairs at Grandma's, but she always ends up in this one. It's just right. And she loves it.

Happy Birthday Romey!

Anna was so excited to get to participate in her cousin Romey's 8th birthday party. Our house was the last stop on the scavenger hunt after a tea party and Anna had the important job of handing out the favors to all of the girls. The favors were so tempting for her to look at all day. The girls had clues for each stop and I stole the clue for Anna off my SIL Sue's blog because I thought it was so cute.

Clue #8
Romey has a special cousin who she loves a lot

lot’s of baby boys think she’s hot.

She just turned one

She’s a lot of fun!

She is very near

since she lives close to here.

If you visit her, she might be playing little bunny foo-foo

and she has a special treat just for you.

She was so excited to be with all of the girls and had fun handing out the treats. She kept skipping over Romey and saved her best for last! Sue always does an amazing job with birthday parties and we were happy to get to join in on the fun and celebrate this special day with Romey.

My Therapy

I love this picture of Anna, but it also makes me kind of sad. (And yes, that owie on her forhead is from one of her wild shopping cart rodeos) She looks so much like a little girl in this picture, not like a baby anymore! I wish she could be my baby forever, although I am realizing each day gets more fun with all of the new things she is learning to do. When I have a crazy day and I feel like I am going to loose it, all it takes is a hug or a cuddle from this little girl and I feel so much better. Yes, she is the one that is usually contributing to the craziness, but at the end of the day, she is truly my therapy.

Happy ASH Wednesday!

Happy Ash Wednesday everyone! This is to all of the Ashley's, Ashlee's, Ashlie's, Ashleigh's, Asher's, Ashton's, and any other Ash's out there! No gifts please. And I'm sorry to the rest of you who don't have a holiday to celebrate your name. Have a good ASH Wednesday!

* For the real meaning of Ash Wednesday, please click here.

daddy daughter cuddles

Yesterday morning I got up to get ready for work while Dave and Anna were still asleep in their own beds. When I came back in our room, I found this...

I think she's happy to have her daddy home. Even if it's just in the early mornings.

Viva Las Vegas

Well, I did it. I left Anna for the first time in her life. Last week Dave had an interview in Las Vegas, so I decided to meet him down there on Friday and we'd spend the rest of the weekend there. It was really hard to leave her and I could barely say goodbye to my mom when she dropped me off at the airport because I was trying to keep it together and not break out into tears in front of Anna. I was however ready for a much needed break and a weekend of relaxation. (Warning: Again, this is another boring travel journal, don't bother to read, but you should however scroll down to the bottom of the post for a funny picture)

The first sign that it wasn't going to be as relaxing as I thought was the 2 hour flight delay leaving from SLC. The airport was crowded with all of the Sundancers leaving town to head back to LA-LA-land and so I went and got myself some hot chocolate and a cookie and sat down for some good people watching. I think it's funny how cool some people think they are. I was admittingly jealous however of the bags of swag they were taking home. I love getting free stuff.

Finally I arrived in Vegas and Dave was waiting at the airport for me in his super cool hybrid Prius rental car. I would love for that to be our next car purchase (well, maybe for Dave, I might need something bigger once another baby comes around) It's awesome. You start the car with a press of a button and you can switch from fuel to battery any time. Anyway, we went to pick up 2 guys that Dave knows from the interview trail and dropped them off at their hotels to save them a taxi. We got a great view of the scorched Monte Carlo. That was crazy.

Viva Le Reve
For Dave's birthday, I got him tickets to Le Reve (the dream, in French) at the Wynn. It was amazing!!! The creativity and pure strength of the performers was exceptional. It's one of those shows where I am constantly wondering how they came up with this stuff? And where do they find these people that can do this? And how did they practice without dying? It was truly an amazing show. The whole time I was wishing my SIL Ashley was there to see it because I know she would love it and appreciate the choreogrpahy. Since I can't even begin to explain it, here's a little video that doesn't quite do it justice, but since we couldn't take pictures, it's the only way I'll remember.

Trump? Wynn? Palazzo? How many more hotels do they need?

We strolled through a few of the new hotels (new to us, we hadn't been there for 5 years) This is a cool waterfall inside the new hotel Palazzo which is connected to the Venetian. They are now building this giNORmous hotel/condo development called the City Center. It's basically going to be a city on the strip with it's own post office and zip code and everything. Condos start out at just a mere $600,000 for 600 square foot studio. Most range in the $1.2 million and one of the buidling is 90% sold out. Who's buying these?!?

Saturday
I was so excited to sleep in and get a good night sleep while we were Anna-less. Well, our hotel didn't exactly help with this goal of mine. We stayed off the strip in some (what seemed to be) nice condos, but having a nice kitchen and a flat screen TV doesn't matter when the bed and pillows are uncomforable and there are sheer blinds in the bedroom so the sun shines in as soon as it comes up. Isn't that illegal in Vegas? I am usually not a hotel diva, but I didn't want to toss and turn one more night, so we switched hotels and moved to the Luxor. After the hotel switch we strolled the strip and did a little window shopping and people watching. Vegas is by far the best place to people watch. It's facinating because I think people act different when they're in Vegas for some reason. Like they're all millionaires and really hot. We went shopping at the Planet Hollywood shops and we happened to be there the same night as Miss America pagent. That's some good people watching too! Pagents are just a whole different culture to me. Nothing against them, but it's just different and facinating to see all these 10 year old girls all made up and walking perfectly with their little crowns on. Maybe we would have tried to go to the pagent, but we had other plans...

Saturday Night Fever
The Plastic Surgery department planned a social for all of the interview candidates on Saturday night. Most schools generally do somehting like this for the students to get to know the residents and attendings a little better outside of the interview setting. Spouses (or signifcant others) are invited too, but this of course was the first one I could make it to. We had talked with some of the other guys that interviewed and we were all excited because the social was at this super posh restaurant at The Palms. (yes, very hip) So we get to "9" and after about a half hour of cocktails (virgin mojitos for me!) we realize that they are not feeding us. Lame! It's all you can drink, but pay for your own food. The $169 lobster was tempting, but we decided to pass. As the night went on, it got pretty boring talking to drunk people who kept saying the same thing over and over "You just got to be true to yourself, man" and so I was trying to look for someone famous. No such luck. I guess there was a pro football player there, I saw him, and of course didn't recognize him, and I can't even remember his name. Hmmm. Still boring. About 11:00 we were ready to try and sneak out, but then they said they had a hook up to get us into the club there. Now you know Dave and I are not the clubbin type, but we were curious. And from what I know about celebrity gossip is that the Palms clubs are the place to be. So we thought, we might as well stay to check it out. I didn't realize getting into a club was such serious business and frankly I don't get the whole process. I've only been to 2 real clubs in my life. This was one of them and the other time was when I was with my brother and his friends in Vegas after the WAC tournament. Both times we got the "VIP" hookup, so we were able to get escorted right in and get to sit in our own "special" tables. But the weird part is, you pass this huge long line of people waiting to get in. Don't they get mad when they see people go in before them? Especially if they're not famous? Anyway, obviously I'm not to hip on the club scene. We went to Club Moon which is on the roof of The Palms and it has a pretty cool view of the strip.

Here we are at our "VIP" table

I needed to use the ladies room desperatly after all of those virgin mojitos and so I left the balcony to try and locate the WC. As I looked around I realized that maybe I should have shared some of my turtleneck and long pants with some of the girls there. They weren't wearing much and must have been cold! I am pretty sure I was the only girl in the club in a turtleneck and I was proud of it! Anyway, here's the funny part, the ladies rooms were closed at club moon and so they told me to use the ones in the club downstairs. OK, so I go down there and realize this happens to be the Playboy Club! Oh my! What am I doing here? But I desperately had to use the loo, so I just look straight ahead and try to find the bathroom. I found the ladies room, but of course the line was a mile long. I waited for a few minutes, but after seeing 3 girls walk by in bunny costumes and lots of slimely guys, I decided that I could probably hold it and that I should just get out of there. I was totally laughing at myself. What the heck was I just doing in the Playboy club? I never saw that one coming. I went back and found Dave and I think he was disappointed that I didn't have a better description of what the Playboy club was like. Anyway, as I was standing there watching all of the "clubbers" around us, I definitely felt like I was in the large and spacious building if you know what I mean. We were ready to go and I think the residents were drunk enough that they wouldn't notice if we snuck out. That was our super cool clubbin in Vegas experience! I guess I'm just not cut out for that scene!

When we got back down to the lobby, I found the loo and there were no Playboy bunnies in sight. We were STARVING and it was about 1:00 am at this point. We had a gourmet meal at Little Ceasers and Nathan's back at the food court at the Luxor. Quite a departure from what we thought we'd be eating that night. And then, we finally got our celebrity sighting. After going to the hippest places in town, all we needed to do was head back to the Luxor and we find the beloved Carrot Top walking past us as we down our crazy bread. It doesn't get much better than that!

Sunday, time to head home

We had to hit the Paris buffet before we left. The crepes were delicious!

We got to the airport that afternoon to head home to find that our flight was delayed. It rained that morning, and I guess they don't know how to fly in the rain, so ALL of the flights were delyaed by at least 2 hours. The airport was so crowded, there weren't any spare chairs, and even the floor space was limited. We were bummed and I was anxious to get home to see Anna. After unsuccessfully trying to get on an earlier flight, we went on a quest to find a seat. We found one on an end and so Dave suggested I sit there and he'd sit on the floor next to me. I'm about to sit down when the guys next to me quickly tell me that the seat is taken. Okay, whatever. We start walking away and some ladies start calling me over telling me that, that was Mike Tyson's seat that I almost just sat in. What? Mike Tyson? No way. His posse would have for sure beat me up if I would have sat there. So Dave said we are for sure sticking around if he's here.

Here's the Iron Man champion in his prime:

And here is now. Flying Southwest. Stuck at the Vegas airport. With a bunch of annoying people asking for pictures.

Dave went up to him and said, "Hey Mike, my wife is a big fan, do you think she could get a picture with you?" Yep, I'm a really big fan. I love boxers who abuse their girlfriends and bite off other peoples ears.

He was actually really nice, and so Dave got a picture with him too. It's a shame we weren't on the other side of him so you could see his tattoo. Seriously, Mike Tyson? How hilarious is that? Now that's the way to end a weekend in Vegas!

My only wish is that what smells in Vegas would stay in Vegas. When you get home from Vegas, laundry is priority #1!

After our exciting weekend in Vegas, with lots of people watching and exposure to the rest of the world, I was most excited to get back home to our sweet baby girl. Just like that Lonestar song, the view I love the most is my front porch looking in.