Let's Make a Deal

This post is a LONG time coming! Sorry the pictures are horrible, they wouldn't let us take a camera or phone into the studio, so these were taken from my t.v. when the show aired. Also, this post is going to be lengthy because it's still pretty surreal to me and I want to remember everything about this once in a lifetime opportunity!

So, to start off, I had been watching Let's Make a Deal on CBS for a while. It comes on at 1, which is when I am usually making lunch, so it became part of the routine. One afternoon on facebook, Cody's cousin posted that she was going to a LMAD taping in Vegas that weekend. Later on she posted that her Mom- Cody's Aunt- got to play for the big deal. Well this got me thinking that it would be fun to head down to a taping.
So I talked to my sister Kim (we are kind of game show junkies! haha...we stood in line to audition for Deal or No Deal for like 12 hours a couple years ago), anyways, Kim was completely in. She was going to be coming down for spring break, so we'd try to plan a trip then. Well I had this nagging in me to check the taping dates. So I pulled it up on the internet and realized they were moving the show to LA and this next weekend (now only a few days away) was the last Vegas taping. So I called Kim, she was going to make the trip down, but her husband couldn't come so we got my brother James to come.

The next couple days were kind of weird for me. On LMAD, I picked the "Big Deal" curtain and it was a trip to Rome. I told Cody that I would have won! Then the next morning on The Price is Right, one of the showcases had a trip to Rome and I was less than $100 off on the price. So I told Cody that one of us was going to get on on LMAD and win a trip to Rome. He said that would be nice, but he doubted it. He thought that if any of us would be lucky enough to get on, it would be Kim.

The night before we were leaving for Vegas, Rylee fell asleep on our bed and peed! I was sooo frustrated! I was talking to my mom and before we hung up she said "I'll be thinking of you tonight in my nice, warm, dry bed." haha.. so then I told her "That's okay, I'll be thinking of you when I am in Rome!"

My mom is really into "Things happen in 3's". so to me seeing Rome on the two game shows was 1 and 2, I felt I was going to be #3. Cody was thinking that when we got to Vegas I needed to play on a machine that had something to do with Rome. We actually found one, but it didn't "feel" right to me, and I didn't want that to be my #3. Also that weekend, the movie When In Rome came out. I felt like it was coming at me from all directions!

We had a lot of fun with my brother and sister! They are really some of the funnest, wittiest characters! We played some Bingo (thought for sure we felt like winners, but now luck =( We ate a good little Mexican restaurant and just had a lot of fun. Kim thought that for sure James was the lucky sibling!

Well the next morning we woke up VERY early! And thanks to me, were running late! We grabbed a quick McDonald's drive through for breakfast and arrived at the Tropicana. We were some of the first there. We kept thinking our odds looked good and then more and more people kept arriving! It was quite a lengthy process, you fill out forms, they take your pictures....
Then they taken 20 at a time into a room with the producers, where they ask you one question. Well when they got to the 4 of us, they spent more time than they did on everyone else. I was first and they asked what I did. I said I was a stay at home mom of 2. The lady said she bet that that was a busy life. I answered "Yup, from son up to son down." Then they got to Cody (the really didn't like him! He was dressed as a hunter). The lady asked if he liked to kill stuff! yikes! Then she asked if he left me at home with the kids while he went out hunting- yikes! He felt a little attacked! There were a lot of couples there, and the producer explained how they clap for anyone that has been married for more than 3 years. So before I let them leave Cody, I told that we were married for 5 years and wanted a good clap. So everyone did! Then they got to my brother James next after they talked to him (he was wearing onesie pajamas with drop drawers), Cody turned him around and pointed to the fact that his boxers were hanging out. The lady gave Cody and weird look and asked why he was touching James' butt. We then explained how we were all related. We got some good laughs. Then they talked with Kim a little and completely flew through everyone else in the room.

After that we were taken through security and into a big holding room where we waited forever! After a couple hours we were finally taken onto the stage. They had people taking you out of line and seating you. When we walked in they asked how many in our group and I said 4. They put us clear off on an edge! We were dissappointed. We never even made it on TV. When they aired the show I think I my arm once. So we felt a little bummed at this point, that we'd waited for so long, were starving and didn't even get shown.

Well after the taping, a producer came in and announced that they didn't have enough people show up for the next taping, so any of us who wanted to stay could. He explained we wouldn't have to go back through security, so it'd only be like a half hour wait. We decided we would. It took strength from all of us to stay! I was starving and so hot from sitting in a box for hours! Cody mentioned how the producers already had the contestants chosen so it wouldn't do us any good to stay. Good ole' Kim said it only take us an hour tops and when else did we have to do? Thanks for being strong sis!

Well as we were getting seated for the 2nd taping, Cody suggested that we split up into pairs. So we did, and they took Kim and I to some really great seats. Kim went to sit down on the edge and the producer told her to scoot over so I could have the end seat! I was feeling pretty good and anxious at this point. Well the show was practically over, and Wayne was getting ready for the Big Deal, when he said there was time for one more contestant. He walked around for like a full minute! (they edited it a lot when it aired!) Well he'd walked behind me and I turned to the front, and he grabbed my arm!! Let me tell you about an out of body experience! I was watching myself walk with him! So unreal!



He brought out a big box and told me I could have that or Curtain #2. He said the clue for Curtain #2 was Where the Wild Things Are. My mind immediately went to Africa. So I chose Curtain #2. He brought down another lady and gave her the big box- they were $3k dollar earrings. I was feeling a little nervous that I was going to get a ZONK. Then he said I could keep curtain #2 or take curtain #3, there was no clue for 3. So I kept 2. He gave curtain #3 to probably the coolest old guy I've ever met- he was 93! It was a ZONK! So I was feeling pretty good about 3, and sure enough it was a Safari to JacksonHole and some new cameras. It was worth about $7k. I was excited and sat down. Well then my sister informed me that I would most likely be playing for the Big Deal! That had me VERY excited! Cody and James were sitting a few rows back from us, and they had realized the same thing!

When another contestant didn't want to trade it their car to play for the Big Deal, Wayne Brady came to me! I told him I would play. During commercial break I was talking with my family. I told them I was going with curtain 2. Cody was yelling at me to pick 3. I was soooo set on 2 though. Just as they were getting ready to start, Kim told me to go with my gut- again, very set on 2. Then I asked Kim if she thought Cody had some priesthood insight? Then we were both second guessing. But no, I was going to stick with 2.

Well when Wayne was introducing the curtains, curtain #2 opened and revealed the vault. I don't know if it was by accident that it opened, or what happened, but to me it was divine intervention! I had only seen the big deal in cash once, and usually it was just a small amount, so after Wayne introduced the curtains and asked which I wanted, I said 3!


So he opened curtain #1 first and it was a nice living room Set. Then he said he's open the vault next and I knew I had it! The vault held about $1300. When I realized I'd won the big deal I was expecting to see a car behind the curtain, but it was a TV screen that said ROME! That's when I really almost died! haha.... By the time we got down there, there was also a BMW motorcycle on stage! WOW! Did that really just happen to me!

Here we are, 6 months later and it still feels sooo unreal! I can't help but thinking that there's a reason Cody and I are going to Rome. We had the motorcycle for about a week; very nice bike and then we sold it to help cover the taxes. Yeah, a whopping 33% of the winnings! yikes! So we won close to $24k.... that's a lot of taxes.... We leave for Rome September 5th! I am soooo excited! And I am now a FIRM believer that things really do happen in THREES! and I don't know if curtain number 3 could have shouted at me any harder!! Thank you Cody for strongly suggesting it, and thank you curtain #2 for opening! I can only imagine how upset Cody would have been if I would have picked #2 and missed out on the trip!