Vegas baby!

Matt and I attended a friends wedding on 7-7-07 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was our first time to the city, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Although we spent forever in the airport, we arrived in time to do everything we wanted. This is me in the McCarren airport with a gigantic Horny Toad.

We met up with my parents Saturday morning, and we all headed out to breakfast and then to the Mirage. We went to the "Secret Garden" where the new baby dolphin was. He was so cute, and we also got to see a few other dolphins in the aquarium. This is us with "Lightning".There were also huge white tigers and really pretty lions. They are the performers from the Sigfried and Roy show. Oh, and here we are with them :)

We walked around the hotel a little, and went shopping in the "Beatles" store. Here is my goofy family posing in one of the hallways.Vegas was 115 degrees the whole time we were there. Even at night, the coolest it got was maybe 110. So, needless to say we spent as much time indoors as was possible. But, we did get a few pictures of us around the city. Here we are outside of Ceasar's Palace.

We were lucky to have my parents there, since they had been to Vegas before, to tour us around. They took us shopping in the forum shops, and bought us tickets to the Cirque De Soleil performance of La Reve. It was amazing! The stage was water. I cant even explain half the stunts that they did.

While we were in the mall, Matt found this really cool flying plane at FAO Swartz that he HAD to have. It was so cute watching him with it. When you throw it, it flies back to you like a boomerang. Sometimes, this man of mine is such a kid!

When the sun finally went behind the buildings, offering some shade, we headed over to Ryan and Stephanie's wedding at the Flamingo. Ryan in a co-working of mine, and it was a really nice service. Because it was 7-7-07, there we hundreds of weddings in Vegas that day, and we saw more brides than I could keep track of. It was so busy around the hotels.After the reception, we went back out into the city and looked around at all the lights at night. It is such a crazy place!

We drove over to the "Old Vegas" to watch the "Freemont Street Experience". It is a large road with a video screen above it that puts on a show every hour. It was pretty cool, but we were all a little hungry, and ready to eat. So we bought our very first "In 'n' out" burgers and headed back to the hotel for dinner.My parents had to leave Sunday morning, so the rest of the time was just Matt and I. Sunday morning we spent all the time we could laying out at the pool. It was so great. I haven't been that relaxed in a long time.Then, one of Matt's mission companions, Josh (who lives in Vegas) came and picked us up to drive us out to the temple. It was beautiful. Josh came to our wedding, so it was really good to see him again. Matt and him have stayed good friends since they left the field. Josh then drove us up to the top of a hill that overlooked the city. The sun was just beginning to set, so everything turned orange, and it was so pretty.After getting dropped off back on the strip, Matt and I walked around a bit. We watched the water fountain show at the Bellagio and gambled a little in the hotel.

We only bet with $20, and Matt made 25 cents right off the bat! But, the house always wins, and Matt and I left with empty pockets, and a lesson learned. Gambling sucks.

After walking around the city some more, we ended up over at NY NY for some dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant, and it was so good! I never get sick of tomatoes and basil.

Since we had an early flight in the morning, we decided to go back to the hotel and swim for a little bit before turning in. With only a few hours of sleep we headed into the airport at 5am so that we could get a flight back. Matt and I fly standby because his dad works for Alaska. We could only get a flight in to Portland, and from there we got 30 seater shuttle home to Washington. It was a short vacation, but we had a great time, and got to see a lot. Good bye Vegas!