Vegas Baby Yeah!

In morning, we were able to both sleep in, which hasn't happened in a long time. Dan & I usually take turns getting up with Bella so we knew this trip was going to be different for sure. 3 days of pure fun. I handed Dan his card that let him know what shows that we were going to be seeing that night.

We looked at the things that we wanted to do that say and where we wanted to go first. So we were off to Caesar's Palace to eat at our best friend, Bobby Flay's restaurant, MESA grill. It was sooooo good.

BIG TUNA

We did some sight seeing of the different hotels and then we took the Monorail to the MGM grand where we saw the Lion Habitat and walked around the block to go to M&M World. 4 floors m&ms chocolate, in every color, and tons of souvenirs. We got Bella a cute little pink backpack, a cup, and some ornaments for our awesome friends.

It was time for us to get going to our first show...THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Dan had seen the production before a few times in San Fransisco, but I never had so we had to see it. Which I'm glad we did because Dan said it was the best Phantom he has ever seen. They have this show in The Venetian where they built a $40 million opera house that is staged just for this show. AMAZING!!!

The Phantom's Box

All of these people were wax!

After the show we walked around The Venetian...

got some gelato, very good by the way, and got ready for our next show...sitting in the poncho section for the BLUE MAN GROUP!!!

This was an awesome show. Dan was hit with jello and some banana. Then he was also spotlighted to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the show. Just a bit they like to do. =)

We got to meet them after the show and also some of the band.

The day was ended by getting room service, TV, and sudoku....good day!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...unless you have a blog!

While trying to figure out how to tell Dan all of the stuff that I had planned for us to do in Vegas, I came up with the idea of making 1 card for each day that would tell him what we were doing or seeing for the day. Dan has never been to Vegas so I thought this was a good way for him to not have to worry about what we need to do next or where we need to go. I printed off maps of the strip, the monorail stops, what stuff was located in which hotel and so on. It helped us decided what we wanted to do during the day since I had our night pretty well booked.

The first card I handed to Dan while on the airplane telling him where we were staying in Vegas...




THE PARIS


CHECK-IN


THE ARCH


WHICH ONE DO I USE?


Because they had no non-smoking rooms left, they upgraded us to their luxury suite. This room normally goes for $600 a night! The bathroom was as big as the room. We had a quick bite at Le Cafe, got some sleep and got ready for the next day.

Let the Vacation Begin!

After Dan's party, my parents took Bella home with them so that Dan and I could go on our trip to Vegas. I was emotional because Bella has only ever stayed one night away from me and that was back in September. It was hard to leave her (that's what she said) but I knew that we were also going to have a lot of fun. So we went to Utah, saw an amazing 4 hour set of Bret Dennen, Colbie Calliet, and JOHN MAYER at Usana Ampitheatre. That was Dan and I's birthday gift to each other... Or so he thought until his birthday card.

Dan's Birthday book that is family did...



After cheering for John Mayer!
The place was packed and it took us almost an hour to get out of the parking lot!


This was the perfect way to start our trip out right. This was only the first of many shows to come.... =)

Surprise Daniel !!!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DANIEL !!!


The Surprise!

Daniel turns the big 3-0 on July 25th and I just couldn't let it go by without doing something big! So after 5 weeks of planning, getting family involved, printing invititations and hiding them until I got the envelopes I needed, and trying to cover it up when his Mom called and said that they were coming for his birthday party on the 19th...it was finally the day of surprise.

My Mom and Dad, Aunt Janet & Uncle Jim, Heather and Aaron, Scott and Sarah, and Spencer all helped pitch in to make this surprise party a success and I thank you all right now for that!

The plan....get Dan out of house by 4:30 pm

Have help arrive at 5 pm to help set up tables and finish some of the prep for the food

Keep Dan distracted at mall and Target while the party is getting set up

Arrive back to house at 6:20 pm and have Dan greeted by a display of decorated tables, balloons, food and friends as we pull up to our house!

We had a ton of food...with the help of our guests and myself...Dad & Uncle Jim were in charge of the grill...

Scott, Sarah, & baby Dallas, Aunt Janet

Food, friends, and family

The fabulous wife that planned it all :)

The cake...the gifts, and one more surprise!!!

The card said...Today you are here...but on JUly 22 you will be here...VEGAS!!!

Vegas fun to follow...

Utah's Hogle Zoo - Happy 4th!

After packing our day bags full of snacks and water, getting lost on our way to the zoo, thanks a lot MapQuest for your crappy directions, we finally got to the famous Hogle Zoo for the 4th of July. We really wanted to make it a family weekend and that is exactly what we did. It was fun to see Bella react to all the different animals. Here is just a taste of what we did...

A rare white alligator...the first animal of the day.

Bella's life size Ellie the Elephant

Picture perfect Zebras :)

My favorite animal in the whole world!

Look how close they got to us!

A Meerkat staring right at Bella...she would follow the glass up and down when it moved up and down.

The carousel...Bella wanted a bench, not an animal.

The last thing to do...the train ride.

The Beginning of the Day...............The End of the Day

The girls were awesome, we loved the whole day. The only thing left to do was naps and fireworks!