EXPCON

 Curtis has been going to Real Estate Conventions for 20+ years.  I just joined him for the first time for EXPCON in Las Vegas. I thought it was better than expected (my expectations were low) and Curtis was disappointed this year.

We went a few days early for the BYU/Notre Dame game.  Curtis' friend Don, from Fidelity Title, is as big a Notre Dame fan as Curtis is a BYU fan.  Don lives in Phoenix and he has Notre Dame season tickets.  Since Notre Dame controlled most the of tickets Don hooked us up and we sat amongst his Notre Dame friends.  They were very kind to us.

Don and Curtis looking fierce in the fan gear

Notre Dame won, Curtis was bummed.  We had a fun time at the Raiders stadium.

"Before" the game pic.  Curtis was happier.

A true Notre Dame Fan. Sporting the Irish look.

We hung around Las Vegas for a few days then the EXP people started to show up.

Early EXPers that were on our flight

Curtis visited the Fabulous Las Vegas sign with me.  I'm wearing the same clothes and the same Elvis was there as when I visited in June.  Just add Curtis to the photo.

I went to a show Monday night with Kristi, she works for Curtis.  What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.

Getting ready for the Main event Wednesday morning

Curtis on the big stage interviewing Kenny Fast.

Curtis led a few panels and discussions.  He really is a celebrity in the Real Estate world, #8 in all of EXP 80,000+ agents. Everyone want to meet him and talk to him.

The Arizona Brokers Group had a party in the -5 Below Bar. It's pretty much -5 degrees and everything is made of ice, seats, cups and everything.

 I have walked past this place 100 times and I was never interested in going in.  I only went in because someone had bought me a ticket for this party.  It was actually more fun than I expected.   Pretty creative how it is set up. We didn't stay very long, maybe 20 minutes then my fingers, and toes started to freeze.  There were people with drinks in an ice cup.  That just looked miserable to hold in already freezing fingers. Had I known I was headed there I would have come more prepared with better gloves (they give you cheap throw away gloves) and ear coverings. They do give you a nice warm jacket.  Ear coverings are an up sell. Curtis had another meeting so he missed the Ice party.

Courtney in her Star Wars Dress.

Next stop we had the Awards Gala.  Curtis really didn't want to go to this, but there is a gal, Courtney, who is one of the executives at EXP.  Curtis has really helped her out a lot with Marketing and getting this event off.  She invited us to sit at her table, which was an extra expense and she paid a lot of money for it.  So we went.

Courtney's dress was something else. It is a Tom Ford, which aparently is a big deal, she saw this dress and she said she had to have it.  I kind of got the impression, that she rented it and didn't buy it.  Supposedly there are a very limited quantity.  When I pulled up the dress on line it was listed as $11,850.00.  I really hope Courtney didn't buy the dress, 1.  I didn't think it was that great, actually more in the wierd side, and 2.  that is a RIDICULOUS amount to pay for a dress.

My dress was $36 on Amazon.  

This violinsit was so cool.  She stood on a table with a super long dress draped over the table so she appeared svery tall.  She played contemporary music.

Here we are "Dripping in Diamonds"

The main room where the EXP events were held.  I thought it looked cool for the gala.  This was honestly the biggest room I have ever been in.   This pictures is only the first 1/3 of the room.

I went home the next morning, and I'm glad I did.  We both started coming down with the flu.  Curtis had to stay two more days.  I was coming home because I had stuff waiting at home, timing was good since I was starting to feel sick.  The flu kicked my butt for a few days. Aparently I missed a super fun party.  I don't think I would have felt like going anyway.  

Good Times, Maybe I will go again next year.

Christmas came early

 Life is better at our house.  After about a week of Trey seeing the new pediatric neurologist he started to feel better.  We were cautiously optomistic and a little giddy thinking we might be toward the end of never ending migraines. Little by little the headache started to improve.  I told Trey I was so excited to finally see improvement that I felt like it was Christmas. It was the best day ever when Trey told me his headache was fnally at a "0" which it usually hovered around a 7-8.  Finally, we are so thankful to Phoenix Children's Neurology department for figuring this illness out.

We teased Trey because he started to feel better during Fall break.  How convenient he was sick the entire 1st quarter of school, then as soon as break starts the headaches are gone.  We are just happy he is healthy and he went back to school this this week.  

Trey's 2nd "First day of School" since 1st quarter was a bust.

Trey was happy to be up and about, and getting back to normal. He had a warm welcome back at school. So many kids wondered what happened to him, and said there were a lot of jokes about "who is absent today...Trey is again."  unfortuanly it only lasted two days.  We had the flu running through our house, so Trey went for two days then the flu caught up with him.  Luckily we knew it would be short.

Anniversary Time

 This week the headaches continue, I realized it was time to fine a new doctor when Trey clearly is not getting better and she told me there was nothing else she could do.  I switched Trey over to Phoenix Children's hospital, which is supposed to be better.

We saw Dr. Eric Hastriter, he spent about an hour with Trey and thinks the problem is now a "Low-Pressure Headache"  he thinks when they did the spinal tap, it didn't seal up correctly and more fluid leaked out.  Then the Drs. continued to treat him with medication to reduce the fluid.  He believes that Trey has swung too far in the wrong direction, and he is way overmedicated.  I was starting to think that myself.  Every time we would visit the Dr. they would either double the dose or add another med or both.  

The new doctor cringed a few times as explained the past treatments.  He took Trey has gone from taking about 10 pills a day to one.  I really hope this works.  Trey is so sick of being sick, tired of laying down, and misses his friends, and just enjoying life in general.

Curtis went to the appointment with us.  He snapped this picture as we walked in. Trey is about to pass me up in height.

It was a difficult day for Trey as he had another appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist.  This appointment had been set up for a few weeks.  I took the soonest the new neurologist appointment I could get.  Both appointments were a bit of a drive.  The Neurologist was 45 minutes in Avondale, and the Eye Dr. should have been 25 minutes to Phoenix, but I had the wrong address and drove all the way to the Glendale office.  Trey was beaten up, exhausted, and felt awful by the time we were finished.

We went to the ophthalmologist because the Neurologist wanted to make sure his Optical Nerve was ok.

They did a test to check his prereferral vision.

Trey's eye in the upper left

Trey was so glad to get home.

It was our 27th Anniversary this week.  That is just wierd to me that we were 23 when we got married and we have been married longer than that.  We just went to lunch at BLD(Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner).  We are going to Las Vegas this upcoming week for EXPcon, so we will maybe do something fun there.  

I took this picture from our wedding day and had it put on canvas like a painting.

I bought gas yesterday.  Prices are creeping back up again.  It was $5.09/ gallon luckily with my Fry's card I had a  $.40 discount/gallon.  Makes me sick.