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.

Krissi's vist and a Pinterest Party

When Southwest Airline deals were disappointingly more expensive this year, we decided we could only afford one girl-time trip..me to visit Krissi. I went in February, for a relaxing week of Krissi time.

A few weeks later, Krissi called me and told me about a so-so deal that had popped up. We decided to book it, so she could come see me too. Yay!

Her time here was shorter than usual (from Wednesday to Saturday), so we had to pack in the most FUN possible. I decided that called for a Pinterest party! I invited my mom, sisters, and sister-in-laws and told them to bring a friend, if they wanted.

Each guest was asked to bring a treat/snack to share and a wrapped gift... that were both inspired from Pinterest.

 Pinterest tip: if you dip your chalk into water before writing, it will turn up darker on your chalkboard.

 Wreath inspired from Pinterest.

 A photo-op frame from Pinterest.

 I copy/pasted and printed off funny, cute sayings I found on Pinterest. Then I laminated them and put a magnet on the back. These served as favors for everyone to take home.

I made 2 treats. First, a salty sweet snack mix.

 The salty; popcorn, pretzels, Frito chips, almonds and sunflower seeds (what I had on hand).

 The sweet; white chocolate, milk chocolate and M&M's.

 YUM!

 Treat number 2; Pink Lemonade Cupcakes.
A friend made these for a baby shower, over a year ago, and I have been craving them ever since. They did not disappoint.

Mandy with Geneva Kate (Tawnya's baby)

We talked about playing a game or doing a project, but opted for talking and laughing instead. 

We did the gifts white elephant style..draw a number, pick a wrapped gift or steal a gift.

I used the Pinterest photo-op frame to take a picture of each person and their Pinterest inspired gift they received.

Amber M- picture frame ring holder (made by me). Wish I had taken a better picture of it. It's a place to put your ring, when you take it off to knead dough, wash hands, sleep, etc. I love this idea.. I bought another frame to make one for myself.

Tiffany (Karen's friend)- received a cute tile/chalkboard countdown (made by Amber M). She stole this from me! :)

Mandy- homemade gift bows (made by Mom-LoraDawn). A natural model don't cha think? :)

Tawnya- cloth snack bags (made by Karen). Good way to store your pretzels, crackers or Cheerios for church. 

Krissi- calm down jar (made by Amber M acting as Mandy's proxy). When one of your children acts up and needs some calm down time, shake the jar. When the glitter has all settled to the bottom, they can come out of "time out". 

Karen- Grandma Waite curtains, turned little girl apron (made by Amber C). So cute..I remember that print in Grandma's kitchen/dining room.

Chanel- JOY blocks (made by Tawnya). Very cute...very domestic of her. So proud.

Mom/LoraDawn- ombre french knot wall hanging (made by Chanel). Reminds me of a river/stream.

Amber C- homemade laundry soap (made by Tiffany). I had been wanting to make this, so was very excited to have it UNTIL... Amber stole it from me!

Me- dry erase note frame (made by Krissi). Thinking about using it as a pass-along note. When you find it by your bed, write a note and put it by someone else's bed.

I really had a good time..hope those who came (that were not family) had fun as well. Somehow we got onto the topic of "back in the day" and "what's your number? (of how many guys you've kissed). Amber M was just sure mine was at least 10... I'm happy to report (after thinking a bit) my number is 6...just 6.  :)

Sidenote: In the short time Krissi was here, she helped me to get a lot of things done;  free up space on my laptop (with the help of her husband Steve), get a new (under warranty) kitchen faucet, set up Microsoft Money and purchase a new cell phone and case. We even found time to go shopping, go out to lunch and watch a play too. 

Krissi's time here was too short, but FUN!

Easter 2013

Our Easter started in Utah. Teresa made eggs benedict for our breakfast, kids searched for hidden baskets (amidst getting ready) and then we headed to church for sacrament meeting. After sacrament meeting our family went back to Jared/Teresa's to pack up and get on the road.

Thank you Jared and Teresa for being such wonderful hosts. We were well taken care of and had lots of fun with you. So glad we're not only family... but friends. :)

When we were home and settled, we did our traditional Jerusalem dinner. This year we ate our "fish" on folded flatbread. It was softer and tastier than other things we have tried in the past.

Instead of doing our "Easter in an Egg" we tried something new. We started before leaving on our trip (I had originally wanted to do it for the whole week leading up to Easter) continued on our car ride home and finished after our Jerusalem dinner. 

We studied the "Betrayal, Trial and Crucifixion of Christ", that I got from here. It was awesome! It gave so many details and I learned so much. My kids did some eye-rolling about the time it took, but also had their moments of complete engagement too. 

I would like to study this again next year, but would do it slightly different. I would be more prepared to talk about the resurrection. This study guide lead us up to that, but didn't address the resurrection. In the moment,   when I realized we were leaving off at the the crucifixion, we quickly found some scriptures to read about the resurrection.

We had a different, but lovely, Easter. 

Hope you did too.

An egg hunt and a Jazz game

Saturday morning, the kids dyed and decorated eggs.

Jared and Teresa hid them and had the kids hunt them down.

In the afternoon, we relaxed while Jared/Teresa and family went to Teresa's sister's house for their family Easter party.

(Jason went to the movie "GI Joe" with Brandon and J.C.)

When they got back, we packed up our bagel sandwich dinner and headed to Salt Lake. The guys and kids went on the Trax, while Tereasa, Lynley and I traveled by car. (In case Lynley needed to come home early. Ok, also so we could make a quick stop into Teresa's favorite home decor store on the way there.). We met at the new downtown mall by temple square. We didn't have a lot of time before the game, but wandered around for awhile. Jade and Rylee bought matching red sequined shoes from the VANS store.

As we were headed back to the car for dinner, we noticed we were missing someone... Where's Carson??? We were more than half way back to the car, so Jared and Colton took off to try and find Carson. (I guess Carson is famous for getting lost/left behind. They told us the story of him getting lost at Disneyland several times.) We ate our dinner, at the car, while waiting to hear news of Carson.

Jared finally called. Carson was waiting for someone to find him, at the last store we had all been together...the Disney Store! (He, being an experienced "lost boy", knew to stay put.) Whew! Guess his reputation continues. This time, lost at the Disney STORE. :)

When we were done eating and all back together, we walked over to the Jazz game.

Treyson and Emma were the lucky ones that night. Treyson caught a ball they threw into the stands (made his night!) and Emma caught a coveted (by Jordyn) pom-pom. 

The kids danced their hearts out, trying to get noticed and put up on the big screen...to no avail. Still a really fun time together.