Back in the Saddle Again

Well hello! My absence from the Utah scene and the lack of blogging this past week was due to a much needed vacation!  My mom and I teamed up with Southwest and the Monte Carlo and headed to VEGAS for some sun, shopping and other adventures.  We had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Phantom of the Opera which knocked my socks off!! Even though we were a little far away, it was a superb performance!  We visited Madame Tussaud's Celebrity Wax Museum, which to be honest was a little creepy.  It was awesome how real they looked, but at the same time I half expected them to turn their head and wonder why I was pretending to kiss their cheek.  Either way, it was pretty cool kickin' it with Michael Jordan, J-Lo (who's booty is surprisingly far from large), Arnold Schwarzenegger yes I had to look up how to spell his name..., Matthew McConaughey and his, Will Smith, Eva Longoria and Marilyn Monroe to name a few.  We shopped our little hearts out and I came back with an overstuffed suitcase filled with goodies!  I added #9 to my Vans family and even converted my mother to her very first pair of Vans!  It wasn't even against her will either, bazinga!  We ate a large spectrum of great foods and sealed the deal with a Haagen Dazs Mint and Brownie Dazzler shake.  It's a good thing food there is so outrageously expensive or else I probably would have had to request two seats on our flight home.  Nevertheless my mom and I hit the gym a few times (testing out my bright new running shoes!) and soaked up plenty of rays by the pool.  Oh I told you that our hotel had it's own wave pool and lazy river right?  No? Well it did, and it blew my mind. nbd.  One of my favorite places though had to have been the Venetian hotel.  We went there for both shows and also to just look around the hotel/shopping center.  Inside the hotel it has a river/canal running through it with gondolas!!  It was a magical place with romantic restaurants, gondolas, fantastic architecture and the smell of somewhere fascinatingly foreign.  It was straight out of my dreams and I loved every second of it.  One day I'm going to go back and ride in one of those gondolas!  Little slice of heaven right there. 

Overall the vacation went really well!!  Most were curious why we were in Vegas if we didn't drink, gamble or attend clubs, and sometimes they had me wondering as well, but it turned out to be a really great time! Thanks mom for a fantastic week!!

Now back for some adventures in the (801)!