VEGAS BABY!

So...I have had a lot of people wondering how our Vegas trip

went and so I wanted to jot down a little bit about it.

On the 14th of January, Jeff and I took flight to Las Vegas together. This wouldn't necessarily be my destination of choice, but Jeff had a business trip there and so his part was paid for. It was very inexpensive for us to go there for this reason and so upon my mom and dad offering to take care of our children (ever so graciously-I might add) we went without hesitation! Jeff has gone two prior years and hasn't enjoyed it at all and so I promised him that I would go at sometime and this year was the year. We stayed at the Excalibur with the other Press-a-Print employees and this was the view from our 28th floor room. We were at the very top!

Jeff said that he enjoyed this trip much more than years past-but the majority of his time was spent presenting for Press-a-Print and rubbing shoulders with distributors and Press-a-Print Operators. I on the other hand had a marvelous time the entire time! It was precisely the break that I needed to recharge my batteries to tackle the rest of the snowy-dreary winter.

The first night that we got there we walked the strip of coarse. I hadn't ever been to Vegas and so it was the thing to do. We tried getting some last minute tickets to a show and upon failing to do so-we just went shopping. We hit the 4 floors of the M&M store and had a great time picking out gifts for the kids and a couple of other things for family. I was a little shocked by all of the wild and crazy things that you see and hear on the strip-but Jeff had forewarned me and so I was okay with it all.

The next couple of days, I spent with my dear friend Leslee whom I love dearly. She and her family moved from Boise to Vegas a year ago and when I knew that I would be coming to Vegas, I thought of her immediately and we hooked up right away! Jeff was working and so it was a perfect outlet for me to do! We shopped a lot! She knew the great places to go and find some Vegas treasures for me to indulge in and she knew the right places to eat and to sip our Diet Cokes (or Pepsi). We talked a lot about our families, shopped, solved all of the worlds' problems, shopped, ate, reminisced of our times in Boise and the people there, shopped, I got converted to Bare Minerals (Thanks Leslee!), I got introduced to fried cheese on a stick, we talked some more, shopped, got to see her children and see how amazing they are doing, and then without taking one picture of us together (the shameful scrap booker that I am) we had to say goodbye. I had a blast with her. I needed her right now. What a strength she was to me at this moment in time. She said all the right things and touched my life in the right way that I needed right now. Thank you Leslee for the time we shared and for the memories of those two days I will treasure forever!

After my shopping was through, I could focus on my scrap booking. I had brought some scrap booking supplies so that I could get some stuff done. I was doing a "31 pages in 31 days challenge" and I was already behind-so what a more perfect time to do it while away from my home, children, work, calling, the telephone, etc. I knew I would have enough down time with Jeff being busy all day. One day, housekeeping came and knocked on my door while I was busy scrap booking and through her broken English asked me if I was here for a scrap booking convention. I probably blushed as I said no and explained that my husband was here for a PPAI show and that with the down time I had-I chose to scrapbook. She then told me that all week she has been looking at my fun pages that I had spread out on the beds and tables. It was fun to chat with her and cute that she noticed. I got so much done and had a great time watching what I wanted on TV or listening to my iPod music. It was heavenly!

In the evening, Jeff and I would take off when he was done and go eat Dinner. A couple nights we went simple and just did Pizza or whatever, but one night he took me to The Cheesecake Factory which I love! YUMO!!! I loved it! So did Jeff. We also ate at the ESPN restaurant one night where there was even a TV at each table to watch your favorite sport. Jeff of coarse mostly paid attention to me and the Nachos and dessert that we shared, but I am sure it was a bonus that he could check scores every once in a while! We did lots of walking and casino hopping-just to check things out. We went into the large F.A.O. Shwartz toy store which was incredible. The only show that we went to was the Tournament of the Kings that plays all the time at the Excalibur hotel. Jeff has always wanted to go and so I told him that I would go with him this year and it was a lot of fun. We were seated in the Spain section where we ate (without utensils) a full Cornish hen, some potatoes, broccoli, and a roll. We cheered for our Spain king to win. He didn't win, but he sure gave a valiant effort and it was quite entertaining with all of the horses, fire, sword fighting, beautiful maidens dancing around, and the typical cheesy performance that any Vegas show has. It was a lot of fun. We kept thinking that Mack would just love it because he is so into knights, and castles, etc.

The last night that we were there, we got a call from one of Jeff's coworkers saying that she had some extra tickets to a Chris Daughtry concert that we could use if we wanted. HECK YEA!!! So we went that night to that and it was a blast. I felt a little old at the beginning because I was thinking that it was rather loud and I couldn't understand what he was saying, but then he softened up a lot and ended up having an enjoyable time. The people there were just as entertaining as Chris was. It was fun to go see him in concert because Jeff and I are such American Idol fans. We probably wouldn't have gone out f our way to see a concert of any of them-except for Chris. We both really like him and that doesn't happen very ofter where we have similar taste in music...

On the 18th we flew home to see our little family who had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa (Thank you soooo much G&G!!!!!). All in all, we had an amazing time. It is nice to get away and to spend that time together. I already want to do it again soon.