Vacation With Friends

Last Wednesday, Chad & I headed to Las Vegas for vacation.  The morning started out rough by me forgetting to pack the boys lunches and having to send Chad home to get them, but then we had a mid-morning massage before getting on the plane and before we knew it we were in our amazing suite at the MGM Grand, checking out the mini bar!  Chad didn't realize that everything was weighted and quickly took out the bottle of Patron to ooh and aah over it and when I told him we just got charged $32 for that because he removed it, he had to call the front desk and explain he didn't drink it!

We had a low-key first night of dinner at Grand Wok, followed up by a bit of gambling.  I was super nervous about table play, but we found a table of blackjack and I was quickly up $155, so we stopped while we were ahead and went to bed early!

The next morning we were up before the sun thanks to the time change, but it meant we got to watch the sun rise over the mountains!  So pretty and then soooo BRIGHT!! (thanks again Blogger for goofing up the photo rotation.....)

We spent the first part of Thursday morning lazing around our room.  Chad went downstairs to bring up Starbucks and some pastries and he watched some TV while I blogged.  Later that morning Chad joined a poker tournament.

While I relaxed poolside.

I quickly ordered a giant pina colada, and before I knew it, I drank the entire thing!

Kate and Jason soon arrived in Vegas and we went in search of lunch and found some yummy food at Wolfgang Puck Grill.  Unfortunately, my tummy wasn't too happy about that giant pina colada, so I took some Pepto Bismol to the room and took a nap, while Chad, Jason & Kate roamed the hotel taking funny photos.

By dinner my tummy was feeling a bit better, which was a relief because we had dinner reservations at Craftsteak.  We decided on a Chef Selections tasting menu, where we got 3 appetizers, 4 cuts of steak, 3 sides and then 6 desserts, all served family style.  The food was amazing, I just wish I had felt well enough to eat more of it!  Here is what was left of our 6 desserts.

After dinner, we caught the 9:30pm showing of KA, which is such an amazing show.

The next morning we took a cab to The Venetian hotel to each breakfast at Bouchon.  It was so good and I am still dreaming of the apple croissant and the chocolate almond croissant.

After breakfast we took another cab, this time to the Las Vegas Convention Center to walk the trade show for for LDI.  I quickly learned that lighting conventions are WAY different than real estate conventions.  Talk about moving lights and blacklights galore!! 

Kate, Jason and I quickly tired of the convention and soon headed back to the MGM Grand to sit poolside.  Kate and I decided to share a giant drink this go 'round.  MUCH better decision.

Before we knew it we were at dinner at Fiamma, where I had the most decadent plate of spinich and cheese ravioli.  So good.

After dinner we had tickets to the 7pm David Copperfield magic show.  Here is Chad posing with the bust of David Copperfield (who looks NOTHING like this bust today.)

When we sat down we were right next to this really outgoing guy, who happened to be from TX also and so he wanted a photo with Chad.

The show was great and David Copperfield was hilarious!  I even got to go up onstage with him at one point and got this signed headshot for my trouble.

After the show, we took David's headshot gambling with us.  I have to say, he wasn't much good luck for me.  After being up over $200, I ended the trip, up just $105.  I think he was better luck for Jason.

After losing my money, we took a cab to the Bellagio and watched the fountains before heading inside and getting a backstage tour of 'O' with our friend Nathan, who works on the show.  The tour was awesome and a great way to end our trip, since we flew home the next morning.

While we were in Vegas, the boys had a blast staying with Grandmommy & Haha.  The first night they went to to the church to see the pumpkin patch.

The next day, they were Statues of Liberty on the front porch!

We called them a lot, and I talked to them one morning while they ate breakfast!  Carter's speech is just getting so amazing and he even talked to me on the phone multiple times while we were gone.

Riley even got to attend the TCU Homecoming Parade and help out with Kids Who Care.

We flew back just in time to attend Justin's wedding, my best friend from Jr High and High School.  Justin and I were Homecoming King & Queen together at WHHS our senior year and I was so thrilled to watch him and his beautiful bride Sara walk down the aisle.  It was even a mini reunion of sorts.  Not only did I see Justin, but I also got to catch up with Elliott, David and Amanda.  Great wedding and good friends, what more could you ask for?

There was a photo booth at the wedding and Chad & I had a blast dressing up and taking photos.

 

On Sunday we finally settled back into a bit of a routine and we spent the afternoon carving our big pumpkin.

 

Riley had some great schoolwork from the week:

A deer for Haha

A Flamingo for Mom and a Bear for Dad

Flower and Flowers

Left: Niki & Princess; Center: Riley Scott; Right: Mommy (Sarah)

The coolest bird drawing I have ever seen!!

Learning Garden has changed a bit and now Riley will only go once a month.  The school posted this photo of the garden in action on it's Facebook page.

Riley's school pictures finally arrived.  How cute is my kindergartener!!

His full kindergarten class, before some of the kids moved to the new 4th KG teacher.  Riley is in the second row from the bottom, third kid from the left.  Blue polo and khaki pants.

 

And one more sneak peek from Zuilma Photography.  Hopefully by the time I post my blog next week, I'll have a new blog header on this page as well.