A Travel Log: Vegas

The National Carwash Convention was in LasVegas this year. Jason and I decided to turn it into a little vacation. We arrived at our hotel/casino Sunday evening (after going to church with our family in the morning).

We stayed at Harrahs, right in the middle of everything and near the casino that the convention was held. 

This is Buck and Winnie.

They were our landmark to get back to the elevators, that lead us to our room. 

Funny.

Monday- Jason went to classes in the morning. 

We met for lunch, then he went to the convention show floor, while I enjoyed HGTV in our room (we cancelled our Direct TV over a year ago and I've missed HGTV). I ventured out for a little shopping as well.  After the convention floor closed, Jason came back to the room to change and rest. 

That evening, we were invited to a FREE dinner sponsored by the owners of Eerie Brush. We had prime rib, roasted potatoes and rolls. Jason had a good time catching up with his "carwash buddies".

Tuesday- Jason went to class in the morning. Magic Johnson was the keynote speaker. Jason said he was STAR STRUCK (front row seat). He said he was a really nice guy..very personable. At the end, he was even willing to take pictures and sign autographs. Jason was bummed his phone had died..no pictures.

We met for lunch at Subway. After lunch, we went onto the convention floor together. Jason introduced me to more "carwash buddies" and checked out the latest and greatest carwashing equipment.

For dinner, we were invited to another FREE meal sponsored by Tommy Equipment. This time at the "Rockstar Restaurant". The food there was DE.LI.CIOUS! Jason says he still daydreams about the homemade flatbread fajitas. :) They were that good.

We met a father-son couple who were new to the carwash business. They were hilarious..and a little drunk. It was fun for Jason to share his carwash knowledge with them. They exchanged business card info.

That night, we did some touristy stuff. 

We caught the Mirage "volcano"  and watched the show at Treasure Island. 

By the way, if your in Vegas, skip the pirate show at Treasure Island. It was dumb. Hard to understand what they were saying and lots of scantly-clad pirate ladies having uhhh... dance off? ..with the other pirate ship of men. Weird and not worth the time it took to watch it.

We wandered around some of the other casinos and shopped a bit too.

The displays at H&M were eye-catching!

Wednesday- No classes for Jason, so we slept in.

We had lunch at McDonalds and then headed out to sight-see.

We wandered the streets of Paris...sort of. :)

After all the walking, my feet were tired and threatening blisters (even though I had put moleskin on the rubbing places). After seeing the "rainstorm" at Planet Hollywood (Miracle Mile Shops) and browsing some art galleries, we decided to just sit and wait for our show to start. We had probably a 2 hour wait, but my feet and body needed that break.

Jason had found a great deal online (before we left) for dinner and a show. First we saw the "Nathan Burton Comedy Magic Show". Nathan Burton got his start on "America's Got Talent". It was very entertaining and had some variety with 2 other performers in it as well. Jason and I were stunned by the magic...we totally had no idea how he did it. :)

After the show, we went to a buffet. It had a big variety with lots of YUMMY food.

Being rested and refueled, we bought a 24-hour bus pass and rode down to Fremont Street (older downtown Vegas). We met some very interested people where ever we went and the bus did not disappoint. We talked to a self-proclaimed prophet and chatted with a funny couple from back East. They told us about how they had gone to the famous pawn shop from "Pawn Stars" that morning and gave us direction on how to get there if we wanted to visit. (Wish we would have known/thought about it earlier, cuz we probably would have made that a part of our plan.)

The "Fremont Street Experience" was quite the experience. Soon after getting off the bus, we saw the crazy..that topped all crazy. 

--Jason and I played a game each day we were in Vegas, "Who is the craziest person we'll see today?" -- 

A gigantic buxom lady (like bigger than 2 beach balls large) won the prize for over-all CRAZY, that night. Her large chest was impressive, but the glittery pasties are what put her over the top!!! 

We had seen the runner-up the day before...Dominatrix Grandma (60+). She was wearing a leather bustier with dollar bills spilling out of the cleavage area..oh, and a whip! She was just walking down the sidewalk like it was just another normal day in Vegas. Yikes!

At Fremont Street, we saw an Elvis look-alike sing, a wacky DJ lady (with not much on) get the crowd dancing and jamming, a grungy band that screamed their lyrics and a street performer who did up-close magic. 

How DID he get that observer-signed 5 dollar bill inside the lime??? 

Dunno..it's magic!

The coolest thing about Fremont was the canopy that spanned several blocks.

On the big screen canopy they had a light show with music videos. 

Teresa, Can you tell who's singing here?

We ended our Fremont Street Experience with some souvenir shopping and then hopped back on the bus back toward the strip. On the way back, we passed by the "Pawn Star" pawn shop. Silly how excited we were about that. :)

The night was still young, so we decided to walk around more casinos. Jason played one of his favorite arcade games (Ms. PacMan) at New York, New York.

We also wandered around MGM Grand and then headed back to the hotel.

Thursday- We leisurely packed up and checked out of the hotel. On the way to the airport, we shared a shuttle with another interesting Southern couple. The woman noticed Jason's BSU attire and struck up a conversation. She told us a crazy story about on their way to Vegas, she had a heart-attack and they had to ground the airplane in Texas. She recuperated for 2 days, then got back on the airplane and continued onto Vegas. While in Vegas, they had several other weird things happen to them.. a fight/arrest in front of them as well as lost luggage, mixed up hotel rooms and more. Whew.

We arrived back in Boise with no incident..thank goodness.

And as I said to my weight-loss challenge group.. It's a lie! What happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas. I gained 4 pounds!!!

I'd say we got the FULL Vegas experience... minus the gambling and alcohol.

PS- Thank you to Grandpa Waite for hanging out with our kids, while we were gone.

Dinner with Grandma Ison

Grandma Ison's care worker was out-of-town for the week, so we took turns bringing dinner over to her.

Our family signed up for Monday evening. Candice and Dean's family joined us.

When we got there, it took several minutes for her to answer the door. I called on the phone, we banged on the door, we rang the door bell multiple times and Dean tapped on her bedroom window. When she FINALLY answered the door, she was excited and pleased to see the big crowd that awaited her.

We caught her without her wig on. The kids had a few questions, but mostly couldn't believe that she usually wore a wig. :)

She said, "Oooo, it's nice to see all of you. I was just about to go to bed."

It was just a little after 5:00pm.

We put ALL the extension leaves into the dining table and combined our dinner efforts; chili, baked potatoes (w/toppings) and cornbread muffins.
Dean, Levi & Candice
Abree & Lizzy
Jackson & Treyson

Micaela & Taylee

Rylee & Grandma

See any resemblance?

Grandma & Me

As we were eating, Grandma kept asking the kids their names/ages. Eventually we asked if she would like for them to be written down.

"Yes!"

"Grandma, do you want them in table order or family order?"

"Family order."

Candice wrote them down for her. She looked over the list and kind of said the names to herself. "Grandma, you say a name and we'll raise our hand."

So she would say a name and we would raise our hand. She would look surprised and make a cute comment and then move on to the next name. It became a game. She continued to call names over and over and we would raise our hands. She was surprised every time. :)

For some reason, she would skip over Taylee every time..and would call Treyson's name instead. Maybe it was confusing to know how to pronounce it???

Even Levi got the game. When she would call his name he started to say, "MEEEE!"

We finished dinner, loaded the dishwasher and then visited for just a few minutes. Because it was a school night, we needed to be on our way. It was hard to leave. We could tell she would have loved for us to stay longer. She verbalized her gratitude over and over..so glad that we came to visit.

Love you Grandma Ison!

Happy Anniversary!

On February 17th, Jason and I celebrated our 16th anniversary.

We took a little weekend trip to Twin Falls. We left Friday, after Jason got off work and stayed at the AmericInn. That night, we took advantage of the hot tub and just hung out.

The next morning, we enjoyed the continental breakfast and then headed to the temple.

After the temple, we changed and decided to "tour" TwinFalls... re-visiting places we remember from living there.
Rylee's old elementary school, the Harrison Huskies.

The first house we rented.

The other one.

Our old church.

Then we decided to go thrift store shopping.. one of our favorite past-times. The D.I. had lots of great finds that day.

We went to dinner at the Golden Corral... high class, ain't we. :)

In the morning, we attended a ward in our old church building... seeing a few familiar faces.

It was a nice little get-away.

Happy 16 years Jason... and many more!

PS- Thank you Grandma for staying with our kids and running them around.

New Do's

We took advantage of Tawnya's hairdressing skills while she was visiting from Arizona. We all lined up to have our hair cut, colored or both.

I got my grey covered and a new short do.

Rylee wanted "peek-a-boo" color and a choppy, shaggy new do.

Taylee got highlights for the first time and a nice trim.

Treyson received a much need haircut.

Thank you Tawnya for being a willing family hairdresser.

We LOVE our new do's!!!