VEGAS Girls' Weekend

On March 10th, Emily, Jamie, and I drove to Las Vegas and arrived just in time to pick my mom up from the airport, who flew in from her one-month visit to Arizona. We picked up Dan from the hotel and ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe with Jake, Carrie, and Lila. Afterwards, we all conked out pretty early at the Stratosphere and slept in the next morning.



Dan and his two friends, Nate Curtis and Scot Bayles, were in the hotel room across from ours. They spent their weekend mostly separate from us, watching BYU basketball. We actually only saw them twice the entire weekend: Once for breakfast at the hotel diner (for the record, WE got there first) and then for lunch at this Thai restaurant called Lotus of Siam. It's been credited as one of the best Thai food in the nation, and one of the top 100 restaurants (in general) in the country. Dan and I were treated there a couple times last summer by one of the law firm attorneys, and we will continue to go back in the future. It's that good!

The highlight of Friday night was watching Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian.



We had front row seats! I've had to give Dan a lot of praise and thanks for getting us those amazing tickets. We were content to sit up in the balcony, where Dan and I first watched it a few years ago. But through entering some promotion codes, Dan eventually landed our front row seats for the same price. Like last time, I was mesmerized by the way the stage maneuvered and flowed from scene to scene, as eloquently as the music and all the performers. But it was even more amazing being close enough to see their expressions and make-up, and the details of their intricate costumes. All four of us were enthralled by Raul and felt just a little more romantic by the end of the show. *Big Sigh*!

Afterwards, we grabbed a late dinner and walked along the strip for a couple hours. I've seen it before, but I have yet to tire of the spectacular lights and entertainment that never rests, and all the interesting characters we met along the way.

This guy was my favorite. He posed as a sculpture and would move once you put some money into his "tip bucket".

Jamie went first. He came to life by making some robot-type noises and stiff movements. Then he gave her a little ticket with writing on it about how "precious" she is, right before mussing up her hair!

Then my mom took a turn! I wasn't going to go, but then Statue-Man turned to me, pointed his finger and motioned with his index for me to come to him. I couldn't help giggling at this point in front of all the curious on-lookers.

As he did with the other ladies, Statue-Man whispered "sweet-nothings" such as, "Hey there, sexy. When are we having babies?" I, of course, mentioned my husband and baby-to-be. He apparently wasn't deterred because as I was walking away, he made a noise to get my attention and then made the gesture "call me!" Lots of good laughs that night.

Emily took her chances with Woody instead, supposedly for her "nephew" but we knew the truth. (It's okay, Emily. We all have our secret crushes. = )

...and that does not exclude Michael Jordan. (We didn't pay to go into the Wax Museum but they had a couple wax statues outside the entrance that were fun to grope. )

We had a couple hours at the pool on Friday and Saturday morning. We loved the sun! -- and so did our pale winter skins, to varying degrees . . . obviously, the Thai genes had a bit of advantage. The water was too cold to swim in, but we just enjoyed relaxing under the warmth anyway. Plus, we had a great view of the Sky Tower where people were jumping from! They're so crazy. I'm too terrified of heights to even imagine considering it.

We went walking during the day, also. We found a great parking lot but found ourselves trapped inside of it with fencing. Being too lazy to walk all the way around and out of our way, my mom's ingenious idea was squeezing through the fence! She paved the way first, and then I widened the gap considerably by the time belly and I passed through. You're welcome, Emily and Jamie!

Saturday morning, we enjoyed sleeping in, at least until 9:30am. Then we were rudely awakened by a knock on the door. My mom was the first to venture out of our beds, where the rest of us were still wrapped in the covers, in denial that it was daylight. (We'd had a very late night previously, feeling so young and adventurous in our street prowling!) Apparently, it was one of the hotel workers, coming to see if we were checking out. My mom explained that we had until 11am to check-out, then shut the door on her. A minute later, furious and fuming, she opened the door and called down the hall to the hotel employee to come back. "Who are you?" she asked, with what I could only imagine was with a look of death accompanying the venom in her voice. She let her have it, telling her that we were still sleeping and how very rude it was to wake us up. We would check out at 11am as required, when we were good and ready!

Fully awake by now, Emily, Jamie, and I laughed from our beds. The entertainment only continued when my mom called the front desk to formally complain, rewarding us with a later check-out of 1pm. Nicely done!

Wanting to have a little bit of everything, we ended our trip with a short hike through Red Rock Canyon. We could have spent hours there, just exploring and playing. We didn't really follow a trail at all, but just stopped and took pictures in funny holes in the wall.

Buddha-Belly!

Adventurous climbers. I stuck to the low-ground and played photographer.

She-Women!

Amazing wall of rock, huh? Okay, I'm just kidding. It's the same hole that we took pictures in separately. This is what happened when I tried to make a collage. Turned out cooler than it actually was!

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend. Great food, comfortable hotel room and morning sleep-ins, a fantastic, unforgettable musical, sparkling night-life, and even delving into a bit of nature. I couldn't have asked for a more fun, relaxing weekend with such wonderful company. Happy times, just like I was hoping for!