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!