Oot & Aboot (Canadian for "Out & About")

Confession: I'm a bit of a home body. So it may catch some of you by surprise that we've actually been out and done things this month. Crazy, I know.

Some of the first to drag me out of the house were The Wilkinsons, two of our favourite Provo people. We were really excited when they called saying they were in town at her parents' house...and even more excited when they invited us over for dinner :) Britt is one fantastic cook...
...and such a cute little pregnant lady. No, folks, she wasn't shoplifting a melon, she's carrying a bouncing baby boy in there, believe it or not. As for what Buddy's carrying, that remains to be seen. We love us some Wilkinsons!
Next, Buddy's sister Amanda and her new husband Mat came to Sin City looking for fun. They found us instead. We took them to our new favourite Thai restaurant, where we grilled the Vegans with a myriad of questions about soy & tofu.
Clearly we didn't see eye to eye on the matter of tofu.
Buddy tends to prefer bacon. See below:


(Thanks to The Rasmussens, we've been laughing at this video for weeks)
However, we all agreed that the BYU/Oklahoma Massacre was a beautiful thing.
Then, we went further out of the house to M&M's World and raised the roof there.
What's better than M&M's? M&M's in 3-D!...
...or perhaps a swirling vortex of the delectable candy coated chocolate.
The Richards siblings exercised their power-napping skills whilst spending time together this weekend. Evidently, Mat & I have some things to learn. We were very glad they made the trek and hope they do it again soon.
You may think this is too much fun for one month. Wrong! Tiffanie, Hilary, Anna & I got together for a Girls' Night Out and bonded over husbands in school/going back to school, funny kid stories and dealing with crummy waitresses.
After putting up with the World's Worst Waitress, we (read: I) felt entitled to a few more mints than is typically socially acceptable. ( I love Anna's face in this picture, I'm sure her kids look very similar when they know they're doing something wrong but are having so much fun doing it :) Thanks for a great night, ladies!
Last, but certainly not least, Buddy & I ventured out to our very first Vegas show this weekend: The Lion King. Four words:
NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA! (That's right, that's how you spell it!)
Even the elevator ride was thrilling! Actually, we weren't sure how uncouth it would be to take pictures in the theatre, so I tried to get it out of my system beforehand. (We don't get out much!)
Incidentally, there were no social repercussions for taking pictures in the theatre. I took this to show you that you can buy the cheapest seats possible, sit in the second last row as far left as you can and still see everything. Not bad, eh? So here's the view from the top:
Proof we were there. It really was spectacular, and we highly recommend it. Two thumbs up from Richards & Richards.
The adventure continued as we tried to make our way home. Held up in the garage because everyone was turning left, Buddy decided to go right. Turns out people went left for a reason. We ended up on the back street, parallel to all of the cool stuff (with no outlet for miles). We did, however, have the opportunity to drive right through the Bellagio sign that you can see from the freeway and are never quite sure which road goes under it. We still couldn't tell you, but we managed to drive under it...shortly after Buddy accidentally pulled into the Bellagio Employee Parking Lot and officially declared us lost.
Have no fear, we found our way out of the darkness and pulled onto the strip to this. Donny & Marie served as our guiding light and got us back to The Boulevard. It's a sign. I must see them before we leave.
Ending on a delicious note, we stopped at Capriotti's for a bite. Buddy's sandwich of choice: The Bobbie. Essentially, Thanksgiving on a bun: turkey, cranberry sauce & stuffing. I'm sure this sandwich will come up at the Thanksgiving table as something he's thankful for. What a man.
I'd like to thank all of those involved in getting me off the couch and making these outings possible. Stay tuned for plenty more shenanigans when Ma & Pa Richards stop by mid-October AND Mum & Dad Haw pop over the following week. If you think we're funny, you should meet our parents:
Excited? Me too.