Train up a child in the way she should stalk

Last night the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance came to Vegas to perform. Sadly, thanks to Dave Ramsey, I am trying to live within my means. This did not allow me to purchase any tickets for the show. Dang, financial limitations.

Happily, thanks to Facebook, I saw that my cousin went to the show in Utah last week. She was kind enough to let me know that you don't have to go to the show to go to the meet and greet. All you have to do is just show up and wait outside for the dancers.

I anticipated that with the show starting at 7:30 the dancers would be out by about 10:00. Diana and I headed over to the Orleans Arena about 9:30. The security people told us that it would be closer to 11 when the dancers came out.

It was ridiculously cold and we were not prepared for that kind of weather, so we went home and bundled up. We got back about 10:45 and joined the others waiting in line.

I know that it wasn't snowing or anything, but it was really windy. The Las Vegas kind of wind that cuts right through you like a knife. We ended up waiting for about 45 minutes with all the other crazies. I kept asking Diana if she was too cold and if she wanted to give up, but she was determined.

After what seemed like forever, they decided to move the free meet and greet inside out of the cold. We were right at the front of the line and we were ushered into a room with all of these people we had watched week after week. It was so amazing.

Here is Jeanine, the winner, with Diana and I. She was so pretty.

Here we are with one of our favorites, Evan. I am afraid I am suffering from an extreme case of hat hair as I value warmth over beauty. Also I wish I was wearing something other than my thermal shirt, but it did help me stay warm.

How cute are these two? We told Jeanette how sad we were when she got voted out.

Diana took this shot. Jeanette looked great in her turquoise shirt.

Kayla was next and no one was available to take our picture, so we have this one I took by holding my camera out.

We did find someone to snap our shot with Phillip. When we first came in, there was a group who had a very tiny baby with them, like two months old. This mother asked Philip to sign her baby. How odd is that? Well, I might do that if I had a baby, so perhaps it is not that strange.

Here Jason is signing Diana's book. Before it was our turn, that same group with the baby let Jason hold her and he was so cute with that baby. Jason was truly one of the nicest people.

Group shot with Jason. People were nice to snap shots for us, but next time it would be nice to have your own photographer.

Diana and Randi, she was so nice to talk to Diana and even help her get to the front of the line when people kept crowding in front of us.
One group in front of us took the classic "Butt" picture. So funny.

Here we are with Kapono. Another self shot, good thing my arm is so long.

The line to see Melissa was so long, we kept coming back but it never got shorter. Finally at the very end we got our turn. I am sure that Melissa hears all the time about how her breast cancer dance impacted people. I added my story to the others. As my mom was in the middle of her treatments, I remember sitting on the couch with tears streaming down my face, as I watched Melissa and Ade portrait so much of what we were feeling.

Cute shot of Brandon signing Diana's book. Look at all her autographs. She managed to get one from everyone who was there. Ade wasn't there, I am not sure why.

At one point they announced the five minute warning, we hurried to get the last shot with Brandon. He is shorter in person than he looks on TV, but he was really nice. Diana is so dang cute and photogenic.

It was midnight when we finally were encouraged to leave and go home. Diana loved all of it. I was so proud. I wonder how many other such opportunities we have missed out on? I will need to be more diligent in scouting out such fun. And the best part was that it was absolutely free. If stalking is wrong, I don't want to be right. Just sayin.

Can't Touch This!!!

Just in case you missed the Halloween edition of the Bonnie Hunt show, I thought I would share this highlight. All of her crew dressed up in different 80's characters. You know you are old when a time you lived through is now considered an era worthy of a costume. Bonnie was Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. The whole show was hee hee larious, but the best, for Diana and I, was this clip of one of her employees doing his MC Hammer impression. Check it out unless you are too young to remember this.

Candy Corn Witch

This year's costume drama, involved a long long wait in a line at Party City to try on this costume. It was actually her second choice because she had chosen a Pirate costume on line. I of course procrastinated purchasing it, not realizing that it needed to be ordered online in advance. Hence we were left with this second choice, which I think is adorable. I attended my last Halloween parade but my camera was out of batteries, so pictures.
We went to Utah for the weekend to attend a baptism and a baby blessing and it just happened to be Halloween. For the first time ever, we got to go trick or treating with our cousins. Here is the group shot. Diana was especially thrilled that she ended up holding the newest cousin, little Tiger. Check out Little Bo Peep in the front row, I made that costume for Diana 8 years ago.

Here is a picture of me and Lizzie up close. Too bad you can't see the bloomers on the costume. They have 10 yards of lace and ribbon on them. It seems like a different life when I used to actually sew.

Here are the three little witches. So cute. The witch with the blue pumpkin got baptized earlier that day. Kind of cool to get baptized on Halloween.

And here is the completely satisfied Candy Corn Witch with her loot laid out for the choosing. Love the orange stripey socks. Maybe they can be recycled into a Pipi Longstocking costume.