[MUSIC]
Holy bananas.
My eyes were frozen.
How was your day?
I have nothing nice to say about that.
Question mark.
I have a bit of a brief adana too.
It feels like an eternity.
I would have hated that.
Talking directly to hundreds of people.
Oh, that's probably on the high side.
I totally agree.
I think it's still a
very real thing, I think.
You never know.
I still feel so much younger than we are.
We're way too down.
It's the mirror that
checks me every time.
It's honestly torture.
Or is that just Texas there?
Maybe you knew me so
well, you just finished my--
It's the undertones.
Overwhelmed by the roles that we hold,
whether that's at work
or whether that's at home.
How'd you sleep?
Were you good?
Sleep okay?
This is so much fun for me.
I must be the world's
most approachable person.
There's T-shirts for that.
Like 3 million people
that have a podcast,
and we're 3 million in one.
I still feel like I'm 25.
I don't know, I'm just going to talk
until the answer comes to my mind.
Natural self-confidence.
And you have a really
good, I think, strategy here.
And this is cheesy as heck, but--
Well, I might cut that
one out, but it's like--
Gosh, made it.
Lighten my eyes.
And I'm going to go into battle.
I mean, obviously you kind of graduate
into that over time.
You just--
Foster syndrome is part of it, and--
And I would just be like shaking.
I don't know a big word.
And maybe I would control me.
Black out.
So you are.
Embrace things.
And that always blows me away.
I might have these wickets not.
Keep it stupid, simple.
No, keep it simple, stupid.
Yeah.
Or keep it stupid, simple.
Not a mile, sorry.
Yeah, OK.
I mean, I am
embarrassed to say this out loud.
It's amazing.
I've got a great day going, don't we?
It is not a beautiful morning.
So I just-- wow.
So shocked.
People watching bears.
Incredible.
It's all about me.
The only one of us is down to earth.
Did I get that one right?
Yeah, no.
Dang it.
I said--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh my gosh.
Cut.
Bear what?
[LAUGHTER]
Welcome to the Mr. and
Mrs. English podcast.
I'm Megan.
And I'm Sean.
We're here to talk about
the wild ride of raising kids,
growing careers, keeping life together
in the middle of all the chaos.
So buckle up, because we're all in this
crazy journey together.
[MUSIC PLAYING] So you can see it's synced up.
It's mind synced up.
Mine looks like it is synced up as well.
Well, you're looking
at a live feed of you.
I'm talking about when I'm editing it.
I got to line up the audio and the video.
In real life, you're synced up.
Well, I was confused why
you were trying to sync up.
It's been a day.
All right, well, we're rolling.
So that was kind of
our soft intro, I guess.
A little behind the scenes action there.
Yeah.
Well, we could kick
this off with a welcome
to the Mr. and Mrs. English podcast.
We have the intro that does
that, like the video intro.
Oh, man, I'm out of ideas.
I think we just say, hey, welcome back.
It's good to see you guys.
OK, you could do that.
OK, I just did it.
I can do it again.
Do it again, yeah,
because this is official start.
Official start.
Cut.
All right, cut.
Well, welcome, everybody.
This is episode three, correct?
Three.
Yeah, correct.
I don't know why I do that.
I know it's episode--
it's just this
self-deprecating life I live.
You can be self-deprecating.
All the time.
I know it's episode
three, but for whatever reason,
I decided to throw in
there, is it episode three?
I don't even know.
Like I'm an idiot, I'm sorry.
So here's how I think about
that, because I do that too.
More in a work
setting, but a lot of times,
it's more to give people
that sense of approach--
you can be approachable by instead
of being so sure of
yourself all the time.
Sometimes inserting that
little bit of self-deprecation,
if that's a word.
I must be the world's most
approachable person then.
[LAUGHTER]
There's t-shirts for that.
I feel like I constantly
am just undercutting myself
just to be an idiot.
For instance, I remember when I used
to work at Wells Fargo down in Chicago.
And it was one of my
early on in my career.
So I was still younger, in my 20s.
Maybe early 30s, I can't remember now.
But still early on, I wasn't--
the long and the short of it is I feel
like I never matured
until I was 25, 27.
I feel like I came into my own.
But even at 30, my first professional job
in the Towers, downtown
Chicago financial district,
I still felt like I was a
little bit of the Joker.
Even though I did
underwriting of $200 million
deals and all this kind of
stuff, I had the work side.
But I still felt like I
was a little bit of a Joker.
And there was times
when I know I left Wells
and I went to the next bank after that,
I remember telling you, I
want to reinvent myself.
I don't want to be the Joker.
Yes.
Yeah, we talked a lot about that.
And I think a lot of times, especially
early in your career, you're trying--
that imposter syndrome is part of it.
And you're like, oh, I have
this big job and this big title.
But I still feel like I'm 20 years old.
I don't know.
Maybe other people don't feel that way.
That's how I feel or I felt.
So I think that may have been part of it.
I sometimes still feel that way.
Yeah, I think it's natural
for people to feel that way.
Because even when I was researching,
doing podcasts and whatnot, I mean,
luckily, as far as I know,
there's only like 50 or
so of us doing podcasts.
Oh, that's probably on the high side.
Legitimately, there's
probably like 3 million people
that have a podcast.
And we're 3 million in one.
But they talk about a
lot in there that, well,
why am I going to do a podcast?
They're trying to convince people,
you have your own angle.
You have your own experiences.
And because of that, you have something
to provide to the world.
So people buy stuff, I'm sure.
There's all kinds of stuff you
have to do to be on platforms
and get the podcast up and going.
So it's all economic.
But they talk a lot about
imposter syndrome and that.
Well, why would anybody listen to
anything I have to say?
And it's the same thing.
So I think you're right, where it comes
across through life,
not just in this, but even
this is 25 years later almost.
Oh, yeah.
People who I work with as
mentor-mentee relationships
actually talk a lot
about imposter syndrome.
I think it's still a very real thing.
I think sometimes, even myself, we
get kind of overwhelmed by the roles
that we hold, whether that's at work or
whether that's at home.
And maybe inside, it's
that insecurity of like,
I don't know that I'm good enough.
I don't know that I'm good
enough to be a great mom.
I've never raised a teen or
I've never even had a child.
So I don't know how to do this.
I don't know how to be a good wife.
I don't know how to be a
good accountant or a doctor,
you know, fill in the blank.
But I think that might be pretty common.
Yeah, it's got to be to some degree.
It's a little bit of that fake it till
you make it type stuff.
I mean, we've talked about
that a lot in our lives where--
and maybe it is that
confidence as you're growing up
in your career to some degree and you're
looking at other people that you view as
just so much smarter
than you or they've just
been around longer than you.
Or, you know, in over time,
as I matured into the role,
I found out that there are
people that are incredibly
smart that do know everything.
Oh, yes, yes.
And that's not me.
Nor I.
But I would say, in my experience,
there are few and far in between, right?
A lot of the other people,
although very smart and very
intelligent and hard
work ethics and all that,
they've made it there for a reason.
But I think a lot of them--
and myself, not excluded here either.
I think you do kind of fake it till you
make it at some point.
I mean, I remember a time where it was
like, well, I don't know.
I'm just going to talk till
the answer comes to my mind.
And then later in my career, it was like,
I think I know this answer.
I'm just going to go straight to it.
And that's why you're
just better at your job
when you're older.
I think that's true.
I think you have a little more just
natural self-confidence.
But I think, to some degree, we all still
feel so much younger than we are, right?
We've seen our whole journey.
At least, maybe this is just me.
I still feel like I'm 25, and it's
the mirror that checks me every time,
and not necessarily my own
brain going, yeah, you're not 25
anymore.
But I'm kind of stuck there.
And 25-year-old me,
15-year-old me, pick a time.
I was never super self-confident.
But yet, sometimes we
have to pretend that we are.
My phrase-- so when I
know I have something
that I'm not looking forward
to or I'm intimidated by it,
I have a phrase in my head.
And this is cheesy as heck.
But it's always, I'm
going to lace up the boots.
And I'm going to go into battle.
For whatever that
battle is in that moment,
I literally tell myself, I'm
going to lace up the boots.
Really?
Yeah.
I've never heard that before.
I mean, I've never heard
you tell me that story before.
So that's how you get
yourself through those.
Because for those of you that don't know,
at Megan's job, a lot of the time,
she's up in front of hundreds of people,
one of five people on the
stage or one of less than that
on a stage, talking
directly to hundreds of people.
And it's not something--
I mean, obviously, you kind of graduate
into that over time.
You just didn't get to run into that.
But even-- I mean, I
can't imagine doing that.
I have never had to do that.
I probably could to some degree maybe.
But I can see where you'd
have to have something--
some safe spot to find.
And that's my phrase.
And I think a lot of people probably
have something like that
that gets them mentally ready
for a moment that, in reality, feels too
big for me, at least.
Yeah.
I don't have that.
I'm trying to think.
Maybe that's why--
[LAUGHS]
As an introvert-- people
are picking up on themes here.
But as an introvert, I do remember
being young in my career at Wells.
And even now, there's
times-- and it's not nearly as bad.
But when people are going around the room
and introducing themselves--
and you have a really
good, I think, strategy here--
I figured out later in life by myself.
But I remember just
watching one by one by one.
People would go, and I
would just be shaking.
My palms would be dripping sweat.
And I'd be just sweaty, just shaky.
And all I really had to do sometimes
was give my name and where
I'm from and my position.
Whatever.
It wasn't even like I was giving an
actual presentation.
Sometimes you have
standing up and put on the spot
and coming up with things.
And I didn't have anything like that.
Even now, I get nervous
in those things sometimes
when I know it's coming to me.
But I stole your
thunder there a little bit.
Your strategy is to go first.
I think that's right on.
Oh, yeah.
Because the second I don't go first,
then I'm judging myself,
comparing myself to someone
else.
Oh, gosh, they said that really well.
Or, oh, they picked a
really big word there,
and I don't know a big word.
All of that.
I get nervous if I don't.
And so I try to take control.
Yeah.
Maybe I'm a control freak.
I mean, that's probably--
You're a little bit of
a self-described one,
living with you for 20 years.
I think I'm much more of a
control freak than you are.
Yeah.
We're both type A. Weren't we
having this conversation just
this week with a friend of ours?
We're both type A. But I'm an A minus.
And what are you?
She was her blood type, right?
I'm my blood type.
And you guys are both A minuses, right?
We're both A minuses.
And you're your blood type, which is?
I think I'm A positive, right?
Yeah, you are A plus.
So you're an A plus.
I don't wear that proudly.
That comes, I guess,
naturally in my jeans.
But I'm well and tight sometimes.
There's no doubt about it.
Hey, and so you are.
Embrace it.
So one of us has to be a little bit of
the person who gives.
But you know very well after
being with me for 20 years,
there are certain
things that you're like,
I'm just not going to do that.
Meghan's just going to
go and do it because she
has control of that one.
I do think it's interesting
that you've got that term,
that phrase.
And I'm just turning over in my head
I don't really have that.
In my mind, it's kind
of like game time, right?
You got to go.
It's game time.
You got to do it.
But for me, it's almost like
closing my eyes and diving in
because I just have to.
It's like pointing the skis downhill.
You just got to go
and then you black out.
And then when you get
to the bottom of the hill
and it's done, you take all these classes
when you're in a certain profession
and they teach you how to make speeches
and how to get presentations
and all this kind of stuff.
That's always hard
because that's not real life.
Oh, you need to-- don't
point with the pointer.
You're trying to
remember all these things
and talk about what's on there.
And it's ridiculous.
But I remember the one
thing I've consistently
got feedback on is
that they said, oh, you
seem so confident when you speak.
And that always blows me away because to
me, I'm always like,
oh, is my voice shaking?
I'm so nervous.
I feel like I'm searching for words.
That kind of thing.
But apparently, at
times-- and I'm sure I've
bombed plenty of times.
But more often than not, especially
in a professional
situation when I'm locked in,
I can really get through it.
Oh, for sure.
But for sure.
One of the things that
helped me was that one class
that I had to take on presentations.
And we were on video all day.
So maybe--
Done that one.
And that is so intimidating.
But when you actually
watch yourself back,
because your mind is racing, but if you
watch yourself back,
that pause actually
felt relatively natural,
even though I know in my own head
I was searching for the word.
Yeah.
They always tell you the best speakers
are able to be
comfortable in that silence.
In that silence,
although it may be brief,
it feels like an eternity.
Eternity.
Yeah.
One of the things I love, though--
our kids come home and talk to us
about what they did in their day.
And our kids are up in front
of their class quite a bit,
whether it's group
presentations or whatever.
And they're fifth grade,
seventh grade, and ninth grade.
So I gave my first
presentation seventh grade.
It was my very first one.
But even in fifth
grade, they're getting up
in front of the class and talking,
or getting up in front of the class
and singing for
different parts and things
like that in music.
I think that's a great way
to start getting into that,
because you will have to
push yourself later in life.
Yeah.
I do like that they throw
them into that fire a little bit.
I would have hated that.
But I'm glad they do it now.
I don't remember doing speeches.
I'm sure I had to do group
presentations and whatnot.
I think it's very well
documented within our relationship
that my education was lacking.
District 11 didn't
quite have the standards
that maybe you grew up with.
Yeah, I am always
surprised at classic literature
that you didn't read in school.
I may have been assigned
it, but I didn't read it.
And I wasn't a bad student.
Don't get me wrong.
You are National Honor Society.
Well, again, we've talked about that too.
And that was only one or two
years out of the four years
or so that you're measured on it.
So I don't want to be
myself as a straight A student.
I wasn't, but I did get
an academic scholarship
along with an athletic
scholarship going to college.
My hubby's wicked's not.
That's not true.
No, we have different
kind of smarts though, right?
Oh, yeah.
You definitely have not only the IQ.
You're very smart.
I know.
Yeah, there's that counter of
how much we gush on each other.
Yes.
But you're also very savvy
socially and common sense wise.
Yeah.
And I sometimes don't
have the common sense.
And I think you're
just a little more heavy
on the intellectual savviness.
And that common sense side for you is
there's just not enough room.
Your brain's so big for
just some of those easy things.
Honestly, you overthink the easy things.
You overthink it.
Very much so.
And I'm dumb enough that I'm
like, well, let's just do that.
You know what I mean?
It's like the stupid thing makes sense.
It's the kiss philosophy.
Right, right.
Keep it stupid simple.
No, keep it simple, stupid.
Yeah.
Or keep it stupid simple.
I think either works.
But they are kiss.
Either one is kiss.
Yeah.
Now, you definitely
have more common sense.
And I do overthink it.
I overthink a lot.
Yeah.
But then what's crazy, though, is that
oftentimes I overthink
in the dumb situations.
But I turn my brain off
a lot easier than you do.
Yeah.
So maybe our brain just rests at
different intervals.
I don't know.
Yeah.
There's definitely more
than two types of humans.
We are definitely our
own types, for sure.
We rest different ways.
We think different ways.
We do a lot of things different ways.
But the good news is we do a lot of
things the same way, too.
That's what helps it work to
some degree over the long run,
I think.
Yes.
We have a lot of similarities.
And over 20 years, we've
really learned each other.
And you know when I'm
going to overthink something,
because you often are watching me.
And you're like, that should
have been a simple response.
She's clearly turning a lot
of wheels over in her head
right now.
You kind of just expect it.
Yeah.
No, I don't-- it's funny you
say that, because it's like--
after so long together-- and I don't know
if other people feel
this way, too, or not--
but after so long together,
I don't think of you as separate Megan.
Yeah.
I think of you as me.
So it's like, if I'm on
the run, and I'm moving,
and I don't got time to talk to you,
you should understand
that, because you're me.
You know what I mean?
We're just the same thing.
Yeah, we're just an
extension of each other.
I forget to stop and remember
that you are living your own
life, and you are
having your own thoughts,
and you have your own
feelings, God forbid.
And I need to take those
into account more often.
I think that's pretty
normal, though, to do that,
especially when we're, I think,
exceptionally close.
And we've been together--
I mean, there's been
times in our relationship
where we lived, I don't know, 15 hours
from the closest friend
or relative, we were self-employed.
So we were really each
other's only true coworker,
other than the people who worked for us.
I mean, we were all we had.
And so I think through all of that,
you do just become an
extension of each other.
And then you're like, well, why aren't
you thinking of this?
Because that's the
way I'm thinking of it.
And so you do, now and again,
need to hit pause and be like,
totally different
person, different views,
different background.
But I do view that as
we're just totally interwoven.
Even though we're--
I wonder if anybody else
thinks that way about that.
You've got to be.
I don't know how else you--
maybe people think of
it totally different.
But from my
perspective, I just don't know
how else you would think of it.
And that's why
sometimes it just gets so--
that's why when we talked
two weeks ago or whatever
about date night, and make sure we have
those times that we can
just not be just
tunnel vision on the path
that we're on.
And it's like, come on.
I know you're right next to me.
We're both-- whatever it is,
just flying down this tunnel
vision path at Mach 7, and
that's that pull out moment
where it is like, well, how was your day?
Yes.
Just this morning, see, this is why we
love morning cereal.
So another shameless
plug for morning cereal.
But it's not.
These aren't planned.
They're really not.
Actually, we haven't
even touched on the topics
that we have in front of us.
But Carnegie, Dale Carnegie was talking
about-- the author of the book was
talking about a stockbroker
and how he decided to smile at his wife.
So this morning, we
actually took a moment
to smile at each
other, not in a cheesy way
because it was still kind of early.
We were doing the morning routine.
But it was really nice
just to smile and get
a hug in the kitchen.
Yeah.
That made me think of two stories.
And I don't know which one to tell.
I'll stick with the sweet
story first, where-- it's right.
I actually-- you smiled
at me, and I walked by you
with maybe an eyeball
raised because it was still
7.20 in the morning.
It was early.
And I stopped literally
mid-stride, backed up,
and said, I'm going to
give you a smile this morning.
And I hugged you.
Right?
And it was because of that reading.
So it's like implementing-- anyways,
it's just implementing
these real-world type skills
and things you can put into practice
that we talk about on morning cereal.
But I was also laughing at
it too when it was literally--
I want to be careful because I
don't want to always just talk
about my bad things
on here because we all
have our bad things.
But those are some of the
funny things to talk about.
So take it with a grain of sand.
Salt.
Dammit.
I was going to say salt too.
Well, I might cut that one out.
But take it with a grain of salt when
I tell some of these
stories that I'm not that bad.
Oh, gosh, no.
But I do remember telling
you a few months ago that--
I know exactly where
you're going with it.
When we get up, we're up
at like 5.30 in the morning.
It's early.
I'm not a morning person.
I am a morning grump.
I'm not a morning person.
I'm not a grumpy.
I'm just not morning person.
And after-- you're just
so thoughtful and so nice
all the time.
But there's two things I was like--
Gush meter.
Yeah, there it is.
I said, one, would you mind just dimming
the lights in the
bathroom a little bit when
you're in the shower?
Because when I come in
from our dark bedroom
and I open the doors into the bathroom,
it's like I'm looking at
the sun from 10 feet away.
And I'm like, yeah, it blinds me.
And it immediately almost
is like a negative feeling.
You know, like, god, now
I got light in my eyes.
Even though I'm walking with my eyes
closed most of the time
at that time in the morning.
But then secondarily-- and I'm almost
embarrassed to say--
I mean, I am
embarrassed to say this out loud.
But maybe in hindsight, it's funny.
But the second thing I asked, in addition
to dimming the lights,
was could you please
not smile so big at me
and ask me if I slept OK?
Because I literally just rolled out of
bed, fell out of bed.
I'm just mad that I--
because I want to go back to sleep.
And all of a sudden, I'm
blinded with this huge light.
And then your beautiful smile is 100--
how do I want to say this?
OK, so I'm going to
defend you a little bit.
So yes, we had this conversation.
I like to think that I put
all of these into practice
because I now dim the light
in the bathroom every day.
Super culturable.
But then I get what
you're saying about, OK,
don't overpower me in the
morning with positivity.
And it feels like energy.
I'm also a little bit
slow in the morning, too.
So I get it.
You're just waking up.
And it's too much to be like--
It's a tsunami.
It felt like a tsunami.
And I think that's--
Blasting me away.
That's fair.
That's one of those things.
I'm at least coachable.
And you did get feedback.
I know you're being so thoughtful.
And that's why I was like, I feel
horrible telling you this
or asking you this.
But would you just
mind giving me 15 minutes
to kind of wind myself up for that?
So the smile and the hug this morning
was after we had been up for a while.
It felt appropriate.
Yeah, we were up.
We were just showered.
We were going--
It was actually really natural.
Yeah.
Like, yeah.
But maybe not--
yes, a smile in the morning is great.
But maybe not the 100 watt smile.
Like, it's amazing.
It was fair.
Yeah.
I think I referred to that
as the full 10 level smile
on morning cereal.
Yeah.
Smiling robots.
Yeah, the smiling robots.
And I think that's good.
I'm kind of like you.
Most people are--
some people are like that.
But I do think that a lot of people
take some awhile to warm up.
Yeah.
You should test that one
morning and get up before you
and just hide in there
and just blast the lights.
And when you open
those doors, just nail you
with the biggest smile ever.
How'd you sleep?
Were you good?
Did you sleep OK?
You got a great day going, don't we?
After 20 years, if you did
that, I would be so shocked.
If I just-- wow.
Just straight punch
to the face because you
have no idea who it is.
Yeah.
I'm going to like Ferris
Bueller kick you, you know?
Like, yeah.
That would mean I was up
all night on illegal drugs.
Right.
So this isn't going to happen.
Well, you mentioned it in there.
And the first item on our
list, you mentioned us being
in Vegas working together.
Which was funny because--
so we were in Vegas last
weekend with the youngest
in his soccer team.
And I could tell you a
little bit about that.
But Meghan was talking about we--
you should tell the story of
just how dumbfounded I was.
And you quit your good corporate job
to come work for ICS.
See, this is--
I didn't really know that
you were so dumbfounded.
I thought you were just excited about it.
Yeah.
Did we already cover that?
I don't want to repeat things on that.
I think we did.
Like a little bit in the first place.
Yeah, we may have.
So ICS was a
construction services company
where we worked with
like Pulte Home Builders.
And we would provide cleaning services
over the different phases of the build.
Put our dumpsters out there.
Our garbage trucks would
come empty them and all this.
Started it from scratch,
which was a crazy experience.
And honestly, that was
a really good company.
Unfortunately, I was not aware of 2008
and all that would come with that, the
crash of the housing
market and the
financial markets to follow,
that would put a quick end to that.
It wasn't a mature enough
company to get us through that.
But point being, that was a
long tangent to get to the fact
that I went back by there in Vegas
because we started in
Colorado and we moved it to Vegas
because Vegas was booming.
And so I always tell everybody, I
feel like we built or
helped build half of Vegas
because we just put up track
homes of 500 homes, 200 homes,
400, just tons of homes because it was
growing like crazy there.
But I went back and I went and tried
to find some of the old
neighborhoods that we built.
And this just changed so much there.
Vegas has built up a ton.
No, but it was fun.
So we were out there
with the soccer team.
And generally, when we
went out there last year
for the same tournament, we
stayed on the proper Vegas.
We stayed in the Aria.
And what was the other hotel?
We stayed at the Trump Hotel.
Oh, that's right.
Because it was the
only hotel on the strip
that didn't have gambling in it.
Right, right.
Yeah.
There's an age.
There's a club rule
around gambling and young kids.
So you're not supposed
to have a casino on the--
Yeah, so we stayed there.
And I think that's
changed because this year, we
stayed at the Golden Nugget.
And let me tell you, that was different.
Because we stayed at
the Bellagio after that.
And you and I, when we lived there,
we stayed in a lot of places because
locals get discounts.
Yeah.
It was always great.
We always got these really nice suites.
And because we lived
there, we were residents.
So we'd get this huge discount.
So we got to live it up a
little bit when we lived there.
But yeah, the Golden Nugget
is not quite the Bellagio.
Oh my gosh.
The parents were having a
good time talking about it
on the sideline saying, how do we end up
at the Golden Nugget?
And you walk out--
I think it's Fremont Street, right?
That's covered.
Yeah.
So it's the closest place to go for food.
And of course, you kind of
want to show the youngest who's
been to Vegas, but the
main strip by the Bellagio
and all that, Paris and everything.
And so we walk out there.
And I haven't been there for 25 years.
I honestly don't even
know what to expect.
I wouldn't either.
I know that it could be a
slightly questionable, maybe
at some spots.
I'm just kind of be aware of that.
So we walk out.
And it honestly wasn't that bad.
But it was fun.
I mean, I think Liam just--
the whole thing's got a dome on it.
There's people--
I mean, the people
watching there is incredible.
Yes.
And I did just the smallest of little
Instagram-type things
to show Liam and I's trip out there.
But Liam got to see all
these street performers,
this guy that was big and tall.
He fit himself into this little box.
Liam got hugged by
this huge 10-foot gorilla.
And we had this zip
line that we want to do.
We did a lot of really cool things
and saw some really neat things.
He never asked about the
Showgirls, which was good.
And he never asked about
the pasties, which was--
Even better, I guess.
Probably his first
experience there, if you noticed.
But Vegas was fun.
The soccer team, unfortunately, one
of our good friends on the
team and part of the car pool
that we talked about
sometimes on this show,
his son had the flu, unfortunately.
So he missed the entire weekend.
So they literally flew to
Vegas to sit in the hotel room
with the flu.
Oh my gosh.
And at the Golden--
The Golden Nugget.
Well, and one of the other things--
first of all, I feel so
terrible for that family.
I did reach out to the mom to ask
how he was doing, the poor kid, poor dad.
I mean, who brought him?
Like, just wasn't not a great experience.
But I mean, you told me--
I didn't hear about the Showgirls,
but you did tell me
about-- because you called me,
and you're like, can you
hear this in the background?
There was like a full-on rave going on.
And can you imagine if
this poor child with the flu
had to listen to the rave
all night long like you did?
Yeah.
No, I think--
hopefully they were on the other side.
I'm guessing they were,
because there's two sides, I guess,
to the hotel.
And I know there's only one other dad
that I could confirm was
on the same side as us,
because he knew just how obscenely
riotous the rave music
was for seven hours straight.
Literally-- I called you
to see if you could tell it,
but I took a video of it.
It was shaking my wedding
ring on top of the heater.
It was so much bass.
And if you're on the other side--
they gave you earplugs.
Like, that was to make up for it.
I mean, it's like I put extra
money into the vibrating bed
all night, because it was just so crazy.
But anyways, that was half
the reason why I didn't even
make it out to see
some of the dads at night,
because I know they went out and did a
little bit of gambling,
did a little bit of drinking.
And hopefully nobody's offended by that.
But I mean--
Hey, be more--
People are just having fun.
We're in Rome, right?
I mean--
No judgment.
But I was on zero sleep
after two nights of that.
Oh.
And if you're on the other
side, you couldn't hear it.
You could hear it a little
bit, but it wasn't literally
shaking the room.
I mean, it was--
I don't know how it's--
I just don't know how it's
possible that you could have
a hotel and allow that.
Yeah.
See, and this is one of those things.
Sure, I said I still feel like I'm 25.
And I said that the mirror
was the only thing that told me
I wasn't 25.
Oh, no, no, no.
Experiences like that tell
me I'm not 25 anymore, too.
But I wasn't there to experience this.
Yeah.
No, I've always needed to sleep.
So that was not a great experience
as far as that was concerned.
But we had a good time there.
The youngest, we went back to Paris,
where he loves having
some Paris hotel, where
he loves the breakfast there.
So that was fun.
Messy was in town, which was
really cool, with Inter Miami.
So we were on the lookout.
You never know.
We might run into him.
Hey.
Probably not at the Golden Nugget.
But you never know.
You never know.
We went to the Luxor.
He could have been checking
out Carrot Top or something.
He could have.
Is Carrot Top still at the Luxor?
Yes.
So is the Blue Man Group.
Yeah.
They were there when we lived there?
Yeah.
Seven, 18 years ago.
Yeah.
Wow.
You actually played basketball with
Carrot Top, didn't you?
Oh, I almost forgot about that.
Yeah.
There was one cool thing about Vegas
there's celebrities all over the place.
Saw Andre Agassi there.
Yeah.
I played basketball with Carrot Top.
I mean, that dude is roided out.
I couldn't tell.
He was huge.
I don't know if he's
still that big or not.
But yeah, I was laughing.
I thought the same thing, that I cannot
believe these same acts
are still here.
Clearly, they're coming up with new
material, I would hope.
I mean, talk about longevity.
But maybe not.
We just went and saw "Oh" again.
Last year.
True.
Yeah.
"The Cirque du Soleil."
Yep.
And how much did that change from when
was the last time we saw it?
It didn't change at all that I remember.
No.
And we saw that.
It was our fifth wedding anniversary.
So 15-ish.
Yeah.
Yeah, more than 10 years later.
Wow.
It didn't change.
Although I'm kind of
glad it didn't because "Oh"
is my favorite Cirque show.
It was great.
Is the Michael Jackson one still there?
I always wanted to see that one.
Yeah.
Well, maybe you can go see
it when you go back to Vegas
because you're going
back to Vegas this weekend.
So--
Yeah, so heading back tomorrow morning.
That's why we're
recording this late tonight.
Yes.
Yeah, we were early last week.
Now we're late tonight.
But that's all right.
Was there anything else about Vegas?
You know, I don't think so.
I mean, I think it was a good experience
except the non-sleep.
I think our youngest had fun.
Well, it was cold too.
Oh, yeah.
A little bit.
I mean, you think
it's fun to go to Vegas.
It was cold.
I mean, numb toes at night.
It got down to 26 or
something like that at the night game.
And we had two of those.
So we had two teams out there.
And we went to watch one team.
And then we'd play our game.
So we were outside for
three, four, five hours straight
at times.
Wow.
Maybe not that long.
We're close.
Although was it as cold as the game
that you and I went to the
other night for our oldest son?
No.
Holy bananas.
We sat out at a soccer
game on Tuesday night.
I don't even remember now.
My eyes were frozen.
I don't know.
That was, we say, the second
coldest game we've ever been on.
Yeah.
And then we were sat there wondering,
why did we pick our kids?
Why did our kids pick outdoor sports?
Yeah.
I remember thinking that.
I mean, I never talk about it.
But I played basketball.
That might be the
first time some people ever
knew that, listening to this, honestly.
But I was always happy
that that was an indoor sport.
Yeah.
And I remember my hands being cold.
I remember when a gym was cold.
I would warm up with those
little black stretchy gloves
sometimes.
So my hands would get cold.
And that was cold for me.
So now we're sitting out.
Last night was the second coldest.
And thank god there was no wind.
Because if there was wind, I mean,
it's honestly torture that they make
these kids play this.
Because soccer down here is year round.
Year round.
And so we played last night
when the real field temperature
was 17.
And the real temperature was 26.
Something like that.
And that's not the first time.
That's not like that's an outlier.
That happens all the time.
We play.
If we can play, we play.
And gosh, there's two ums in a row.
Sorry about that, everybody.
I've gotten good at not uming.
But I'm uming right now.
However, we also play in the summer.
And thank god now we
started getting July off.
But for the longest
time, we didn't get July off.
And the kids would play in 100.
And what's the highest we played in?
I think it was 112.
I was gonna say 112 as well.
Yeah.
Regularly 107.
Right.
And they gave the kids,
instead of just half time,
they would split it up and give them
like two water breaks per half or
something like that.
And you're like, that isn't enough.
We're literally just
bathing in our own sweat.
Our poor children were like, hustle, run.
And you're like, I can't.
And good conscience even say that.
That's here in Texas.
I mean, I grew up in
Colorado, which we played in cold.
We played in snow.
I don't know what you did in Minnesota.
I mean, I didn't play soccer.
But no, there were plenty of games
where it was freezing
because it's Minnesota.
But they didn't play
in the dead of winter.
Right.
Negative 30.
Right.
I mean, it's just common sense.
That's hockey weather.
Right.
Hockey players are out there.
But yeah. That's a good point.
So we were just saying like, so what
would you rather do?
Would you rather sit
in 112 or sit out there
at the real feel of 17?
I think we were unanimous.
Yeah.
I was questioning for a
while, but after last night,
was it just last night?
It was just last night.
It was last night.
I'm still falling out.
After last night, I would rather be hot.
100%.
We've got some listeners I know
that are on the East Coast,
and it's hot and humid where they are.
And I'm curious, because
their kids are grown up now,
but I'm curious if they played sports
that were hot there,
because it would be hot and humid there.
Luckily, it's not that humid here.
So at 112, it's not incredibly humid,
which saves it a little bit.
I don't wanna say it's a dry heat.
It's not really a dry
heat, but it's also not humid.
It's kind of a nice in between.
Yeah.
But, yeah.
I mean, we came from
Vegas, we know dry heat.
That's true, that's true.
So heading back to Vegas
tomorrow morning with the oldest,
and our game on Friday
morning is at 8 a.m.,
and it's supposed to be 28 degrees.
It's gonna be lovely.
Lovely.
I mean--
But we're staying at
the Mandalay Bay, so.
Hopefully no raves going on.
Yeah. Like--
Apparently I'm a
little bit of a prima donna
when it comes to where
I lay my head at night.
It's okay, own it, I am too.
And distance between raves.
Well, yeah, I think that
I'm with you, like, but again.
(imitates chomping)
We're very similar like that.
Well, I was there, and you
were getting some quality time
here too, I think, right?
Yeah, so I got quality
time with the older two.
I also got quality time with your mom,
who thank you, thank
you, thank you so much
for coming to help out,
and it was just so good
to have another adult in the house,
and I do say I have the best
mother-in-law in the world.
She's fantastic, so
got to hang out with her.
But we had a bit of a girls afternoon.
Our daughter went to go buy,
she wanted to buy her dress
for the very first dance
that she's gonna be going to
in a couple weeks, so.
I don't know how I feel about that.
It was a little
tough, and dress shopping,
your mom and I would exchange looks like,
you know, we'd pull
out dresses and be like,
oh my gosh, like we
can't have our, you know,
our daughter wear that, no way.
Our teenage daughter now.
Our teenage daughter, yeah.
So dresses are a lot shorter
than when I was growing up.
We did find a dress that was a length
that was appropriate,
and she can wear shorts
under it, so I was happy.
But it was so fun to pick things out,
and I think Cece was
actually the one who kind of found
the dress that she ended up getting,
so it was a really--
Yeah, she looks beautiful in the dress.
She does, she looks so grown up, so.
And I do love that
she's comfortable enough
to dress it down, you know,
she's put it with some tennis
shoes, so I was like,
sweet, we still got a little bit
of the tomboy look to
the really glitzy dress.
Yeah, yeah, and she's just
going to that with friends,
right, to the dance?
Yes, yes.
So, and it was fun, we
actually ran into one of her friends
while we were there, so then the girls
could show each other
the dresses they were trying on.
That's kind of a great
little girls afternoon,
so it was fun.
The listeners could pick
up on a big sigh of mine
right there, I probably edited out,
but if you heard a big sigh of mine,
I was literally
thinking of what's coming,
you know, with homecomings,
when they get to high school,
and even with our oldest.
Whatever those stupid,
huge ribbon things are
that they do here, I mean,
do they do that everywhere,
or is that just a Texas thing?
It's called a mum, and
I always have to go back
and be like, for
someone who is not from Texas,
I absolutely loathe those things,
they're absolutely hideous,
and I have nothing
nice to say about them,
but a mum is actually a flower,
and so I'm from a place
where you actually grow mums,
it's a fall flower.
My mom is a big gardener,
she loves to have flowers
and everything, so
that's how I know that.
Very educational, thank you.
Yeah, yeah, but I come down to Texas,
and everyone's talking about mums,
and I was like, oh wow,
where are they getting
all these flowers, you know?
And then I see these
big ol' ribbon things
that are quite literally the size
of the girl that's wearing
them, which is a teenage girl.
It's atrocious.
If you're from Texas,
you know what these are.
Yes.
And I just don't know
if it's a national thing,
it was not when we were younger.
It is not where I'm from.
I'm gonna guess and say it's a Texas,
or maybe a Southern thing,
because neither of us
grew up in the South, per se.
Could be, could be.
But I guess this is one of those things
where Texas really embraces the,
everything's bigger in Texas,
because these mums are
usually about five feet.
They're probably like two
feet wide by five feet long.
And they wear them on
their dress or something?
I don't know, around
their neck, I don't even know.
Question mark.
So our listeners who know about mums,
I will be hitting you
up on how to make them
in case our kids go to
homecoming in high school,
and I'm gonna have to do this,
but I'm gonna die a
little bit inside when I do.
How about just the good
old fashioned wrist corsage?
Yes.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Classy.
Just classy, exactly.
Like understated.
We're nothing if not classy, hun.
Anyway.
But yeah, so it was a nice,
it was actually a quiet
weekend here at the house,
and then you got home a little early,
so we could have a full family day.
It was kind of a PJ day.
Got a couple things
done around the house.
Yeah, it's freezing outside,
so it's a great excuse
just to sit around the house,
and I think we're a big movie family.
Yeah.
And we haven't even done
as much as that lately,
this last six months.
Yeah.
There haven't been very many new movies
that have been put out that have made it
to your home yet.
We've gone to quite a few in the theater,
but I think that's probably why.
Yeah, streaming, we
don't have too many new ones
that we haven't seen.
So, generally, our idea of
having a good family in-day,
especially on a cold day like that,
with chocolate, sitting
by the fire or whatnot,
is either watching sports, depending on
what sports we're on,
but watching a movie and putting that on,
and putting a Lego together.
Yep.
We've got so many Legos out
in the movie room right now,
and we're missing a bag in one of them.
I know.
I don't--
I literally spent an hour on Sunday
looking for bag 27.
We all did, and we
still can't find bag 27,
so we're gonna have to call Lego
and say you're missing a whole bag.
So the Eiffel Tower is being delayed.
Yes, which is really
gonna upset our youngest
because he wants to
build the Eiffel Tower,
and we can't go past
bag 27 at this point.
And it's my turn.
And it's your turn, yeah.
The big Legos, we do take
turns, and it is your turn.
Yeah, well, I called it,
and Bear started working on his big Lego
that Santa brought him.
Yep.
So that's fun.
So we have a lot of Legos.
Yep.
And I know, I can't blame it on the dog
because she can't eat a whole bag.
Honestly, the bag's
about the size of the dog,
so I don't think that's our culprit, but.
Yeah.
I know, so we're a little bit delayed,
but it was a really,
really nice family day,
a way to cap off what was a weekend
that was filled with some excitement,
but then get back to
just hanging out together.
I think another reason
why we haven't watched
as many movies lately is
our kids have really been
asking for more family dinners,
and they've been asking to
sit around the dinner table,
which warms my heart.
Yeah, and I didn't finish that,
or we'll do like a family game night.
Yes.
We'll do that a lot.
Yep.
In the game room there, so.
So yeah, just anytime
we get some family time,
and I do feel bad,
because there's a lot of times
when some of our sports families,
you know, will get a practice canceled
or something like that,
and somebody will
want to set something up
to replace that practice.
Yeah.
And, you know, I don't know if it's,
you know, maybe they have less kids,
maybe they have more kids,
maybe they're just
more dedicated than us,
but there's times where we're like,
if we're canceled, man,
we want to take advantage
of the family time.
Yeah.
And even if it's just
watching a movie together
or hanging out, whatever it might be,
being all together, all five of us,
it just doesn't
happen that often anymore.
Right.
And so, a lot of times,
we'll choose not to do that
extracurricular with the team
or with somebody else,
because we're trying to
take advantage of those times
that are fleeting, sadly.
They are, and not only are they fleeting,
they're just so rare.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so, we try to protect
that as much as possible
and, you know, kind of any excuse.
Like tonight, we
actually had a free night,
we had a family
dinner, and it was fantastic.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, a couple
kids are sick on teams,
one of ours is sick, so, you know,
we didn't have practice tonight.
And that, to have one of
those nights on a weeknight,
ooh, that is rare.
Yeah, and it's still cold out,
so I'm happy to stay inside.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think it's getting that time.
I think so.
Well, I mean, I think we actually did get
to everything on our list.
We took a huge detour on a couple things,
so hopefully that was--
I like the detours better.
Hopefully they're more interesting.
Yeah.
You know, when you get into these things.
Well, I know I enjoy them.
Yeah.
Hopefully others find them.
That's all I'm thinking.
Right, it's all about me.
Didn't you say only one
of us is down to Earth,
I guess that's right.
(laughs) If the hat fits, did
I get that one right?
Yeah, nope.
Dang it.
If the shoe fits.
(laughs) That's two tonight.
I know, I know, but--
With a green sugar?
Back to the very beginning,
do I do want a
purpose though, just to be--
I thought you did.
So approachable.
I love what you did there.
You brought it back around.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you're very approachable.
I thought maybe you knew me so well,
you just finished my--
Sandwiches.
All right, there you have it.
See you next time.
Bye.
(laughs)