What happened in Dallas......

Being from Las Vegas I am very familiar with the saying "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas". It is quite the little marketing slogan - however after a week with my crazy sister-in-law I think not only should some of the crazy things we did STAY in Dallas - but so should she! We had such a fun 6 days together - some things must be kept between us - but there was a lot of giggling moments that are worthy of a blog. For example - one morning after having breakfast with the boys at Original Pancake House we skipped out to do some shopping (for like the 3rd time that week). Our first stop was IKEA - a store poor Jordan had yet to experience. Well - was she in for a surprise! 3 floors of kitchens, bedrooms and 287 square feet set-ups to enjoy. As we were wandering around taking in the splendor that is IKEA - we stumbled upon a rather large coffee table that Jordan really liked - and even better it was only $50! (That's right folks - stick with us and you will find the deals). So we continued on our way, picking up various items ($10 clay pots for decor, $3 bag of 100 tea lights, $4 storage containers, etc. etc.). Then, we reached the mecca of all IKEA stores -- the marketplace. For you non-IKEA shoppers (I pity you) this is where you pick up "the goods" or the larger items you saw on display and are now neatly packaged in boxes ready for you to take home and your husbands to assemble. No IKEA purchase comes pre-assembled. So, Jordan and I made our way to aisle 22 bin 4 and found the table. Here's how the conversation went (and just an FYI we had driven our commuter car - a 2 door honda civic):

Ashley: um...this seems like a pretty big box - do you think we should come back with the boys and the 4Runner?

Jordan: It's not that big - I think we can get it - how heavy is it?

Ashley: lifting Not that heavy but I am not sure it will fit

Jordan: come on - the seats in the civic fold down right? We are strong women - we can do this ourselves! Besides - it's not heavy at all!

Ashley: Ohhhkaaay - if you think so. We better get a cart though

So - we leave our bags on top of the stack of tables and go find a cart. 2 minutes later we come back to NO bags! What!!! Our stuff that we had spent an hour picking out was gone!! This caused a slightly panicked few minutes of tracking down IKEA people and eventually finding our stuff in the go-back bins. Phew. So we loaded up our rickety cart and made our way out. When we got to the car we realized several problems - #1 the seats wouldn't totally fold down. #2 we were in too small a spot to manuever the now GIANT box into our TINY car. So, we shoved it into the passenger seat and Jordan squeezed in holding the door slightly shut while we found a bigger spot. (This was after 10 minutes of trying to fit the thing in the trunk, on top of the car, in the back seat). Upon find several spots to take up we proceeded to figure out how to get this thing home without calling our hubby's for assistance. Jordan refused to drive home trying to hold the passenger door shut while squeezed in with the box so our next best idea was to remove the headrests and slide the box in on top of the seats. Thus, we ended up driving home with a coffee table wedged behind our necks. But we made it! Much to the surprise of Danny & Ross - who were painting the garage floor. Look at their faces as we pulled into the driveway:

"Oh crap - I hope that's not for me.....those girls never stop"

Another one of our crazy jaunts took us to Cow Town Fort Worth on the hunt to find Jordan some cowboy boots. Unfortunately I was the only one who got some boots made for walkin' - are you surprised? We found these AWESOME cowboy boots with a 4 in. heel. CRAZY!!! I had to have them and even wore them out of the store (I know..I know...I am really spoiled - thanks Danny!!) see I am wearing them below:

Jordan saw a Twilight sign so we jumped out for a quick photo op

Then, we went down to the Stockyards to show off my new boots - we found everything from long-horn cow plaques to 10,000 alligator skin boots at the little shops there. It was quite the funny place. Jordan found a really cool cowgirl hat with a skull on it - but it was too big. I got the giant cow's head behind her just for your enjoyment.

Doesn't she just fit right in? She even has the big belt buckle to match!

We even found some real bulls to ride - though since the sign said "Danger - no touching" We decided to stick with some photos.

Overall we had a GREAT week shopping, laughing, eating and playing Harry Potter Uno. And of course - SKYDIVING!!! Stay tuned for that post......

That's ME!!!!