Snow Snow, Go AWAY!

We returned from Vegas to a great surprise....WARM WEATHER! I have been craving those park days and been enjoying sitting out on the back patio watching the girls run around. Yeah...well...that didn't last long. Here it is, March 25th and we wake up to snow. I'm really trying not to be bitter, but I was really hoping to pack the winter clothes away soon and have already started to plan a garden. All I can say is it better melt fast! Oh...and I guess I'm grateful for the "moisture". BAHHH!

At least the girls found some fun in this unfortunate situation.

I sure am glad April is here. She played with the girls outside while I got some things done. What a great sister she is!

LAS VEGAS!!!

WARNING: This will be a super long post. You are allowed to skim.
We arrived in sunny (and warm) Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon and checked into our suite at the Luxor before going out on the town.

Our living room

Jetted tub and pyramid window

The first thing I have to say is...HOLY COW! I thought I was pretty informed about the filth in the world, but it was a big shock to me. It was a long walk up to Treasure Island and every block was filled with Men flipping cards and magazines with very explicit pictures and commercials on them. You couldn't even look at the sidewalk when you walked because it was just littered with the filth. I was SO not expecting that! Every statue was of a half dressed women, and all the billboards and traveling trailer billboards were also covered with pornographic pictures. If we ever ordered drinks (my fav is a virgin pina colada), people looked at you like you were crazy. But fortunately we managed to get a few while we were there.

Terrence with his virgin margarita waiting for the Sirens show at TI.

"Sirens" is definately NOT the show I saw when I was a little girl. Things have changed for sure. I couldn't believe they showed it on the strip where there were families hanging out. ( you can bet my kids will NEVER go there before adulthood!!!)

We walked past the Bellagio fountains and watched for a while. More because it's just one of those have to's in Vegas than anything else.
And of course the volcano at the Mirage.....
And at last we got back to our hotel with aching feet and eyes that could barely stay open. At that point, all the good food places were closed and we were famished, so we got a light dinner at a little cafe in the hotel. We did manage to stop by the ESPN zone for a while to watch the college basketball playoff games earlier in the night. USU and UofU both won so that was pretty cool. There were quite a few fans of those teams walking around all weekend.

We were somehow able to drag ourselved out of bed in the Morning for a breakfast buffet where they served unlimited champagne and mimosas (whatever those are) and Sparkling cider for the kids...oh and us too:)

My amazing hubby enjoying breakfast.

We didn't have any specific plans for the day, so we ended up going to a 2 hour Time-share presentation and earned ourselves tickets to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay (lame) and $125 in dining, spa, or gaming. We already had dinner reservations that night at Emerils Restaurant, so we went back to the room to get dressed up for dinner.

Casually posing for a picture
And of course Terrence had to get one of me too.
What a fun night! I have never had such an amazingly delicious meal in my entire life! I have been so disapointed in EVERY dining experience since we moved to Utah, so this was a definate winner. Terrence and I could be food critics I swear. We are very into cooking and are always looking for fresh original ideas for food. If anyone in Utah knows a good place to eat...let us know. I have been VERY disapointed so far!
So you may laugh at this picture, but we were so exhausted when we finally got back to the room at 1:30am. (2:30 Utah time). I was so impressed because they had turned down our bed for us and left chocolates and filled our ice bucket. I felt the bed calling out to me. I slept better than even a rock could that night. There is something refreshing about knowing that you can sleep in, and that you won't have to wake up to take kids to the potty, or wake up to them poking your face, or anything else.
The day we left was a nice 77 degrees so we took the last few moments there to do some souvenier shopping for the girls. We went to M&M's world first and bought them some girly colors of M&M's.

Then we captured some of the beautiful landscaping around the hotel. It was so hard to leave all of that green, and palm trees.
What a great vacation! I don't know that I'll be going back to Vegas anytime soon, but getting away without kids is a definate must in my future. I feel rejuvinated, and missed our little girls so much.

This is our last Vegas picture in the cab on the way back to the airport. Our girls had so much fun spending the weekend with Grammie and Papa. The second I walked in the door late Monday night, I raced up the stairs and took turns holding and rocking them. They were out like bricks and didn't even move, but it felt good to have them in my arms again. Couples trips are great!

Mini Update

What a month! Terrence and I were throwing around the idea of moving into a bigger place and in the matter of two weeks, we signed a lease, moved, sold his car, and went on a trip. We only moved a few buildings down, but we now live in a 3-bedroom townhome with a garage. It is SOOOOO much bigger and I am loving it so far. The problem is...I've had the same decor for almost 6 years and am pretty sick of it, so I haven't put anything on my walls yet because I'm gonna re-decorate....slowly....So you may eventually get to see pictures, but not for a while.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to drive to Denver with my sister Andrea to go to "Time Our For Women". All 6 of the Pabst girls were there to enjoy the experience and it was amazing! The photographer Mark Mabry was there and I absolutely had to buy his book and CD. His work has had such a profound influence on me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have seen it. You can find his website at http://reflectionsofchrist.org/ . Make sure you click on the multimedia link and select video to watch the slide show to "Come Thou Fount". I also was able to be there just in time to join Kathy in visiting our good friend Valerie and her new baby girl in the hospital. It's so nice to go back and know that I have so many friends there.

The last part of my update involves the picture above. Terrence and I have never had a night alone since our girls were born. We never went on a honeymoon, and haven't ever gone on a "real" trip together. On Saturday morning we will embark on our first trip as a couple. We're going to spend the 3 days at the Luxor in a deluxe spa suite in the pyramid. I am so excited! Now if I could just find my camera in one of these boxes I might be able to take enough pictures while we are there to make an interesting blog post! Thank goodness for a fantastic Mother-in-law who gets to watch our girls while we go!