I'll take "Matt is Awesome" for $400

Well friends, as you probably know by now, Matt was on JEOPARDY! this week :) It was a whirlwind of a trip (totaling all of 43 hours in CA for me), and not without its hiccups (see Amber almost missing the flight, Matt's folks almost missing their flight, my flight with Amber - once she made it - almost getting canceled in the oncoming snowstorm... I bet you can guess how thrilled I was to be sitting on the tarmac in a whiteout). But, in the end, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life!!

Obviously, it will be MUCH more fun for you to know how it all turned out by watching it on TV... so I won't ruin the actual outcome here (sorry!). Trust me, it'll be worth it! However, I can tell you a few things:

• The returning champ from the previous week was named Matt, so our Matt had to sit out of the contestant pool until he lost (they don't allow two people with the same name on the show at one time... that'd be way too confusing for Alex).  Thus, we spent several shows just hoping that the other Matt would lose.
•  Matt did not get on during the first day of taping (they do 5 shows a day for two days straight).  All those nerves/butterflies/knots in the stomach were to be repeated the following day.  
• The second day of taping was quite eventful - we walked by Justin Bieber practicing for the Grammy's (well, the set he was on anyway).  The sounds of pop music and a teenage girl singing clued us in.  It wasn't confirmed until his band came to the Jeopardy taping to watch a show (the one Matt was on actually!).  They asked Alex if he had Bieber Fever.  It was funny.
• Matt did get to finally play on the 2nd day.  His episode will air on MAY 30!  Mark your calendars.  Set your DVRs.  Come to our watch party.  I'll let you know where it is as soon as we plan it.  Don't let your Memorial Day weekend plans get in the way! :)

This may sound incredibly sappy, but I can honestly say that watching Matt stand at his contestant booth/box/stand in front of Alex was one of the most amazing feelings ever. (Maybe 2nd after marrying the awesome guy.) I was SO proud of him.  It was a long process getting there, but he never gave up.  And I was literally watching him live out his dream!  How often does that happen, right?!?  No matter what happened on the game, I knew that the experience was worth more than any cash prize.  Although a cash prize isn't too bad!  :)  (I can tell you that he did win at least $1000... because 3rd place is guaranteed that.  Enough to pay for our trip out there, which was on our own dime unfortunately.)  Anyway, back to the point: it was amazing.  I was beaming with pride and excitement for Matt.  And he did great.  But if you know Matt, he's been thinking about and dwelling on every second of it.  What if??  :)

So, there you have it.  We weren't allowed phones or cameras on the set, so sadly I have no photographic proof that he was on.  But, he did get a picture with Alex Trebec that they'll supposedly be sending to us at some point.  We couldn't even find souvenirs for the show! At least the memories in my mind have been burned in permanently.  I never want to forget how incredible it felt being there. 

Here are a few pics from the trip.  My awesome sister came to cheer him on (thanks for the support Amber!) along with Matt's wonderful parents.  Don't forget to mark your calendars!! Monday, May 30th :)

 

waiting to get in the studios on Day 1:

Well, at least there's a video

Life is whizzing by with very little time to actually think about any of it, and occasionally (well, often) no time to actually enjoy it. School has kept me occupied for what feels like 25 hours a day, and Matt has been traveling like a mad man for work (Indianapolis & Memphis most recently). Poor Lincoln is caught somewhere in the middle of it all. (I believe he is at least still receiving regular rations of food and water.) However, before much of the craziness really got out of hand, we headed up to the mountains for my big 30th birthday weekend bash. It was PERFECT (with the exception of a few friendly faces absent) and a fabulous way to spend time ringing in my 31st year with great friends. I am SO thankful for them, both new and old.

Here's a fun little video of our time in the mountains:

Ali's 30th Birthday Weekend in Frisco! from Ali Larson on Vimeo.

Michael and Bryan were AWESOME and flew out a day early - we made the most of their time here and had a blast. Sadly, Erin and Alok (who were equally amazing and decided to stay out for a whole week), suffered the brunt of my graduate classes starting up and thus didn't see me for but 1/20th of their time in Denver. But, I think they had a great time regardless :) We loved having them all here!

Here's a few pics from their visits:

 (Lincoln fell in love...well, in love with attention)

Anyway, I probably will be pretty bad at updating the adventures in Larsonland for the next few months, with the (hopeful) exception of our quick trip to LA next week.  (What is Matt is on a game show?)  :)  Hoping for a fabulous time with a great showing on Matt's behalf!!

Oh, and for the other things I've forgotten to post about, I promise they are of no less importance to us.  It's merely a time problem... I need to write a paper now and sadly, that trumps all.  Here's a quick recap of whatever has been uploaded from my camera:

Spending New Year's Eve at Kristyn & Andrew's place in Uptown:

Matt's company holiday party at Dave & Busters:

 More jamming at the Empire:

A fun dinner at my folks':

Celebrating the Chinese New Year at Evelyn's place (she had quite the spread, it was awesome):

 

Catching up with Dan Goettsch before he heads to Scottsdale for spring training:

Oh, and thank you everyone for all the awesome Christmas cards!  They were so fun to display all around the house, so I tried to get a pic of them all in one place (didn't work so well)...