Viva Las Vegas!!!

October 9 - 16 - Darren and I took a much needed getaway in Las Vegas for a week in October. Every year, there is an ADA convention in a different location and they offer lots of CE credits that Darren needs for his license renewal. They also have fun things to do and the whole trip is a write-off so it is a good way to take a little vacation. We went in 2008 to San Antonio and loved it, but haven't been able to go since due to new babies and nursing babies and other things. So, we were excited to go again this year! But, then we scheduled Darren's knee surgery and thought we might need to cancel. However, after having him down and me being sick, I REALLY needed a break, so we decided to still go. Poor Darren had to cruise around everywhere on crutches, but he was a good sport and it was a great break for me! I got to get lots of sleep, some shopping, read a book and lay by the pool and it was just what I needed! Darren and I also got lots of time together and ate at some of our favorite places, saw some movies and some really good friends that we miss! It was great!

We left on Sunday, October 9th. Darren's mom was great to come and watch our kids for almost the whole week. She stayed until Thursday. It was so nice to not have to worry about them and they had a great time with Grandma. One funny story from when she was here, was the 2nd night she stayed, Rylee was saying her prayers and said, "Please bless Grandma to be nicer to me." I guess she had been bugging Avery all day and Grandma had to get after her a little. She will do that quite often to us, too, and it makes you feel so guilty! My sister, Heather was nice enough to come and stay Thursday night and all of Friday. It is so nice to have family close to help us out!

Anyway - The drive down was not my favorite. So long and I got really car sick since I was already nauseous all the time anyway. Luckily, we made it with no puking and got checked into our hotel pretty late on Sunday night. We stayed at the South Point. It was great! It is pretty nice and has its own movie theater and a great pool and it was $45 bucks a night!!! Can't beat that! It was also close to where we needed to be for classes and not right on the strip. It was just about perfect!
Monday morning (Oct 10th) we had to get up bright and early to get to the morning speaker at the Convention Center. We were a little late (no surprise!) and so we missed the entertainment, which was Terry Fator, (the ventriloquist from America's Got Talent) and I was kind of bummed about that, but we were able to hear Condoleeza Rice speak. (That is what that picture above is of. It is awful but it was the best I could do...) She was AMAZING!!! I loved listening to her! I wish she would run for Pres! She really knows her stuff. After the morning speaker, Darren had a day full of classes. I was off to meet my good friend and old room mate, Mindy, for lunch. I only got to the door and realized Darren had the car keys so I had to go back and find his class and him and get them. In my wanderings, I ran into some Elvis impersonators. What would a trip to Vegas be without some Elvis sightings??? (If you look closely, you will also see that I found a GIANT brownie! I didn't get breakfast that morning...)

Lunch with Mindy was great! It had been way too long and it was so fun to catch up! We went to a cute little cafe. It was great, but I guess it wasn't the greatest idea. Afterwards, my plan was to hit the outlet mall for a few hours but I got SO sick when I got there, that I ended up back at the hotel. Later that night, I made it to the outlets closer to our hotel for an hour or 2 and found some great deals at Carter's. Then I picked up Darren. Since I wasn't feeling too great, we just got dinner at our hotel (it was gross!) and then went and saw the movie Dream House with Daniel Craig. It was AWESOME!!! We both really liked it!

Tuesday (Oct 12), Darren had no classes. Or maybe he just had one... I can't remember, but we had a lot more free time, so we hit the pool!!!
That night we hit one of the restaurants that we have been wanting to go back to for a long time - Roy's! When we were in Dental School, Darren's mentor took us there. He told us to bring our kids and we had no idea what kind of restaurant it was until we got there. Then we wished we hadn't! Logan was 2 and Rylee was barely 1 and they made a mess when they ate and there was some poor server who was assigned to constantly clean up their mess the whole time. I was so embarrassed! Anyway - we have always wanted to go back. I ordered steak and it came out totally burnt. They felt really bad and went to great lengths to fix everything for us. I got my meal for free and they brought us a free appetizer while I was waiting for a new plate and both our desserts were also free! We ate at this really nice restaurant for less than $40! Pretty good deal!
The whole reason I wanted to go back to Roy's was this baby.... Chocolate Lava cake! The other food wasn't my favorite but THIS baby did NOT disappoint!!! Pure deliciousness!!!
Wednesday (Oct 12th) Darren had more classes so I spent the morning shopping at the outlets (my FAV Vegas activity!!!) and found some great deals! I had an afternoon class (I was WAY late for it!) and then that night, we went to dinner at Mesa Grill in Cesar's palace. It came highly recommended by several friends and it is a Bobby Flay restaurant, and that is one of Darren's food heroes. I think we both agreed it was the BEST place we have EVER eaten!!! It was AMAZING!!! I had the veal and it was SOOOO good!!! We had some delicious corn and shrimp tamale appetizers that were delicious, too. It was pricey but totally worth the splurge! Outside Caesar's Palace - After dinner, we caught a movie. We saw Contagion. We both didn't like it. It was really long and boring!
Thursday Oct 13 - Darren decided to skip his only class and we had a great morning sleeping in and hanging by the pool. Then, we decided we REALLY needed some coconut onion rings, so we went to Bahama Breeze. Seriously, these things are worth the drive alone!!! They are AMAZING!!!
After lunch, we went to pick up our tickets for the show we were going to that night at the Mirage. We also realized we needed something to take home to the kids, so we did a little shopping and bought them some stuffed animals. We got Avery a cute little monkey, Rylee a Hello Kitty and Logan an Alvin. The girls LOVED theirs. Logan asked if he could have something else.... I guess you can't please them all!
That night we had dinner at BJ's with some of our very favorite people. The White's and the Wennerlind's! (I guess we have an exclusive "W" last name club....) Here are the girls - Jen, me and Karmann - I love these ladies!!!
And the boys - Ryan, Darren and Sandy
We really wanted to see a show while we were in Vegas. We had never really been to one since we were too poor for that in dental school. We had such a hard time deciding, but after a lot of advice, we saw LOVE. It is the Beatles tribute Cirque du Soleil show. It was AMAZING!!! We had a great time!!! The picture we had someone take of us going in didn't really turn out... So... we tried one of ourselves! The phone booth at the Love theater
Oct 14 - Before we left on Friday morning, we spent one last morning at the pool! I do miss this part of Las Vegas. The pool was fabulous and I was able to read a book during my time poolside. I read Matched. It is a lot like Hunger Games, only far less violent! I LOVED it! I couldn't stop! Then I found out I had to wait a MONTH for book 2 and I was bummed!
Getting ready to leave the hotel - I missed the kids a lot, but I really enjoyed some down time and some quality time with the hubby! It was just what we needed at a crazy time! Thanks Pat and Heather for watching the kiddos and thanks D for dealing with crutches all around Vegas so I could get a little rest!

Mom's Getaway

April 28-29 - In April, I did something I have never done before. I left the kids at home with Darren and went on a little girls' getaway with some of my dear friends from my ward. I was so excited! We went down to BYU Women's Conference and had a great time. It took me back to my EFY days - It was like EFY on steroids with grown women fighting to get into classes and saving seats like crazy people. It cracked me up that the speakers would ask repeatedly to please not leave early from the classes to get to the next one, and that half the audience would be dashing from their seats as soon as the closing song began. We had a great time - We ate some delicious food (including a BYU mint brownie!), were spiritually uplifted and had tons of fun and lots of laughing! I truly bonded with all these girls and love them all! They are great examples in my life and so much fun to be around! I came home feeling recharged and with a greater resolve to do more and be a better mom, which is what it is all about, right? It was something I truly needed. I felt the Spirit so strong down there and learned so much. Now that I teach Primary, I truly miss having great adult lessons and learning in Relief Society, so this was perfect for me! I am so grateful my husband worked things out so I could go and that I didn't have to worry about the kids at all. It was a great weekend!
The first night we ate at the Brick Oven. It was so yummy, but we all got sick afterwards! I think it was because we starved ourselves all day rushing to all the classes and then we stuffed ourselves at the Salad and Pasta Bar. After dinner, we went to the concert and all took turns dashing to the bathroom the whole time. The concert was great. Then we went to our hotel and did some girl talk and hit the sack. 8 girls in one room! It was a little crazy, but so fun!!!
Here we are at the closing session - Elder Bednar! He was FABULOUS! I love hearing him speak! He used the analogy of a drip irrigation system. He said we should be like that - focused and steady - rather than a sprinkler - sporadic. It was great. I also went to a class that day by Stephanie Nielson, who is the girl who was in the plane crash and burned so badly and has the Nie Nie blog that is so popular. It was her and her sisters and it was SO good! I think we were all in tears by the end.
All the ladies before we headed for home! Me, Barbi, Jill, Cheryl, Emily, Sylvia, Amelia and Marcie - We met a couple other friends there on Friday - Jenn and Stephanie, but they weren't with us when we took pictures.
And what would a girl trip be without a close-up picture that we took ourselves? My favorite kind of pic!

After we finished our classes that day, we headed to PF Chang's - my favorite! It was delish! We did a little shopping (but not nearly enough!) and headed for home. It was the perfect little break for me! Thanks girlies!!!