VEGAS BABY!

Around Thanksgiving time, I informed Josh that our anniversary in the up coming year was on a Saturday, and that it would be fun to leave the kids with Nannie and spend the weekend in Billings! So he took me to VEGAS....ok that works too ;D Yeah...my hubby is pretty awesome like that!!! We do a lot of celebrating in a weeks time! First my birthday on the 24th of January, and Josh's Birthday on the 1st of February, with our Anniversary right in the middle on the 28th of January!!! So it was lots of fun to get away during this time and go spend some time together as a couple!!!! And with the kids being as sick as they have been, it was a very much needed break for me! It was still hard to leave them, and Josh was not sure I would be able to but I did! Other than the nights I was in the hospital when Jordan was born, I have only been away from Tay 2 nights since she has been born, and I have never been away from Jordan! So I was a little bit excited to be able to sleep really well for a few night! It seems like after you become a mom, your nights of sleeping really good are over! I always have one ear listening at all times, and wake up at the slightest little noises! But unfortunately even being away from my babies, I still woke up through out the night thinking and worrying about them, even though I knew they were in the good hands and care of Nannie! Josh and I did miss them like crazy, and were so excited to see them when we got home, but we had soooooo much fun...just the 2 of us! This was also the first trip Josh and I had ever taken together, besides all of our trips to go visit family!

My beautiful flowers from Josh on my birthday!

So we flew out to Vegas Friday night (Jan. 27th)! By the time we got there and got all checked into our hotel it was about 10pm (Vegas time)...and we were starving! So we ate at this Mexican restaurant in our hotel (by the way we stayed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel)! It was good, but Josh and I just aren't the fancy gourmet type. We prefer just some good ole chips and salsa, tacos, and burritos :)

So when you come from a little bitty town like Buffalo, Wyoming...it is amazing how huge all those hotels are! We did a lot of walking around our hotel, and I am sure we didn't even see a 1/4 of it! Pretty sure you could fit our whole town of Buffalo in just that one hotel...for sure all the people in Buffalo could easily fit in there :)

The next day we took a tax to the other end of the strip to a big outlet mall! I really wanted to find a cute pair of Puma's that I wanted ...but we didn't find them there :( But we had lots of fun shopping around! From there we headed to the strip to go to the Fashion Show Mall, where my search for my shoes continued...and still no luck! But there did happen to be a fashion show going on that we watched for a few minutes! The rest of the day we walked around that end of the strip, because later that night we went to the Terry Fator show in the Mirage Hotel! This is one show that we would highly recommend...yeah it's a must see!!!! SOOOOO Good! So for those of you who don't know, Terry Fator is the ventriloquist that won America's Got Talent 3 years ago! And he is AMAZING!!! He sings and does impersonations and is hilarious, and very touching at the same time! You will laugh you will cry...you will love it! His opening act was this DJ that did this dancing through the decades type thing...too funny! We could have watched him all night too!

Sorry the picture is blurry...but this was hilarious! Terry picked this guy out of the audience and then put a mask, wig, and dress on him and turned him into one of his puppets! He actually dressed him up like Dolly Parton and had him singing and dancing!!! Sooo dang funny!

And this is one of his main puppets (he had a ton)! Anyways if you go to Vegas...go see Terry! Did I tell you he was AWESOME?!?! :D

We had fun walking the strip and checking out all the crazies! And boy did we walk! We walked the whole strip like 3 times (and that does not include all the walking around hotels, shopping centers, and other attractions! By the end of the second night we were both sore and stiff!!!

Josh with Woddy and Buzz Lightyear!

Of course you gotta see the water fountain show in front of the Bellagio...which we happened to hit just right as we were walking by!

Something else we also hit right on was the show in the shopping mall in Cesar's Palace...so we got to watch that too!

And then we took a quick trip inside the MGM to see the lions...that happened to be taking a little rest with a trainer :)

We had to take a couple pictures of the Excalibur for TayTay! We both could just imagine how excited Tay would be if we took her to stay in a castle some time...although we both agree that we would never take our kids to Vegas...at least not when they are little :)

So many of the hotels and places were decorated with all the Chinese dragons, in celebration of the Chinese new year!

New York New York

Some beautiful gardens and waterfalls outside the Wynn Hotel!

Another picture for the kids

And I had to take these ones for TayTay too! She LOVES Hello Kitty now days!

We found a store in one of the malls that only sold Hello Kitty stuff...so we got Tay a few fun things there...and she loves them, and has hardly set them down since we gave them to her!

We saw a guy on the strip dressed up like Johnny Depp in Pirates...he was awesome, looked just identical to him. I told Josh if we saw him again we were getting our picture with him...but we didn't :(

We checked out the M&M (huge..like 4 floors) store!

The second night we were there we went to the Blue Man Group Show...which was lots of fun! But we both agreed that we liked the Terry Fator show much more :) No pictures of the Blue Man Group though...because no pictures allowed during that show! After the show we walked over to the Bellagio and ate dinner at The Buffet (this was actually the only buffet we ate at), and it was sooo yummy and totally worth it! There was crab, shrimp, prime rib, turkey, sushi (if you like that), and so much much more...plus all the yummy salads and sides, and desserts! When we stood up to head back to our hotel...we both were so sore (from a good 2 full days of walking) .... and we still walked a couple miles to the hotel!

On the last day we were there...I was still empty handed with my shoe search...we had looked at every puma and shoe store we came across! And many of the stores had the shoe I wanted, but the shoe on display was the last one they had and it was too small :( So before we had to head to the airport, we took a taxi off the strip to another big mall! We checked out another Puma store and other shoe stores and NOTHING! So I gave up and decided I would just order some online! Then Josh comes across a shoe store and we go in and finally they have my shoes!!!! I was so happy...Josh also found some shoes too, and they were having some good sales...so even better! By the time we left that shoes store we had to hurry to a taxi, get back to the hotel, grab our bags, and head to the airport...but as we are walking out of the mall to catch a taxi...there is this big ole Under Armor outlet store...so of course Josh and I being the big Under Armor type, we have to check it out!!! As we are walking into the store Josh says, "if we miss the shuttle to the air port, it's not the end of the world!" We wish we would of had more time to spend at that mall...it was much more our style then all the really high end stores on the strip :) So a quick stop there, then we were off to the hotel, grab our bags, and off to the airport! While sitting in the airport we were both sad our trip was coming to an end, but we were excited to see the kids!

Me and my best friend and amazing hubby (who turned the BIG 3-0 yesterday)!!

I am so very thankful for him! I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him for eternity :) I am so grateful for all he does for me and the kids! He works so hard to provide for us and allow me to stay home with our kids! He also works hard so that we can do fun stuff like this! Thanks Joshy for taking me to Vegas...it was a blast spending 4 whole days with you!!! Love you so much!

And a BIG thanks to Nannie for coming over to stay with the kids! They really enjoyed spending time with you! Sorry you got sick :( And also thanks to Amy for helping out with the kids when Nannie got sick!

And did I mention that we missed these 2 while we were gone?!?

This is a video that was on our camera while we were in Vegas...and yes Josh and I watched it a few times while we were there! What can I say we kinda missed them!

These are our baby duckies....

Oh and by the way...after we got home, on Tuesday I had to unpack our bags right away...I couldn't stand to look at them any more, it made me too sad to see them sitting there with our fun trip being over :(......tear!