My fam member got expansions for his sims3 and I wanted to use them too, but he'll be leaving the country soon so I was wondering if I install them would I just be able to still have the expansion pack but still play it w/o the expansion pack cds? I have my own ver of sims 3 though... Do any of you guys have any idea bout this?

I'm fairly sure you would only need the original disc. PC games normally install all the game data onto your PC. The only reason you need the disc in the disc drive is to ensure that you actually own the game. :/

Sims!