vegas bowl

on monday morning tanner and i left very early to head to vegas. the reason for our trip was because my sister who is living in santa barbara just turned 16 and needs a car. we had a family car that my sister lauren used for a little while, then my brother used if for a couple years, and now i guess the torch has passed to shannon. so my sister, jordan, and her husband drove the car to vegas, and then tanner and i drove the car back to california. we decided to make our trip fun and went to go see byu play.

tanner and i got their early monday morning, and jordan and matt didn't arrive till late that night. tanner found the best deal on travel zoo for our hotel. for two nights at mandalay bay we paid $150 dollars. With that, we got a $100 gift card that we could use anywhere in the hotel. we could use it at any restaurant or store, which worked out perfectly. so essentially, we paid $25 dollars a night for our room, and had $100 to use on food. oh, and did i mention we stayed in a suite? thank you travel zoo for hooking us up once again.

so when we got in we got breakfast and were able to check in early to our room so we could get showered and ready for the day. tanner had to work for a little while so i found myself quite comfortable on the bed watching tv. we then walked the strip (and remembered all the really annoying things about that) to a discount ticket place and to the big mall to do some christmas shopping. we ended up getting a good discount on tickets to go see the blue man group so we were excited to see that, especially since they asked tanner to hold a prop for the show that one of the blue men came and took from him in the middle of the show. it was probably cause we were so tired but we both kept falling asleep during it (with all the loud noises i'm not sure how that was possible) and i honestly thought it was going to be better than it was. but still, it was entertaining and i'm glad i was finally able to see it.

we then used our hotel credit and went to a wolf gang puck italian restaurant that was yummy. we dropped things off at our room, and went and met jordan and matt for about an hour right when they arrived and then called it a night!

the next morning we used our credit once again and ate breakfast at the house of blues. i devoured my omelette, hash browns, and few pieces of toast and don't think there was a scrap of any food left on my plate. yum.

before we left for the day we had to document our tummy's. my sister jordan is pregnant with baby #4 and is finally getting a girl! we are all so excited we are getting a baby girl addition to the family. i am due april 26th, and she is due may 27th so we are really close and its so fun to be pregnant at the same time.

we didn't plan our day very well, and walked over to try to see avatar to realize we didn't have enough time to watch it to make it to the game on time, so we walked all the way back to the hotel and got in the car. we tried to go see invictus at at theatre closer to the stadium, but tanner's gps apparently isn't the best and took us a round-about way so we ended up getting there really late. luckily cheesecake factory came to the rescue so we were able to have yet another filling meal with red velvet cheesecake for dessert. my arteries felt a little more clogged after that meal and boy was it delicious.

we were at a cute shopping center so we stopped at rei to get poncho's since we thought it was going to rain, and walked around for a bit. we then headed to the car to get to the game. we were way early, just how the boys wanted it, but it was so insanely cold that jor and i stayed underneath the bleachers and walked around a bit before the game started. and when i say insanely cold, it seriously was so freezing. jor and i left at the fourth quarter and went to the car to de-thaw, and once byu scored again and the boys were left assured we were going to win, they joined us and we finished listening to the last couple minutes of the game on the radio. we ended our night at the espn zone for a late night snack. i personally ended my evening in the tub watching tv. seriously, a tv in the bathroom is the best thing ever. finally i felt fully warm again and rested very well that night.

the next morning we used the remaining credit of our hotel money for a huge breakfast, got packed up, and tanner and i dropped jordan and matt off at the airport for them to fly home. we then continued on in the car making a stop at the outlets to finish up our christmas shopping, stopped for a little while back at our apartment in santa monica to re-pack/avoid traffic, drove through valencia to give carly her christmas present and picked up some presents from her, and then carried on to santa barbara. that was a lot of traveling with stops in one day!

we loved seeing eli the next morning. he stood up in his crib (way too early in the morning) and he got so excited to see us that he cuddled with us in bed for about an hour. he kept looking at us with the biggest smiles and then would give us hugs. i love and feel so blessed that i have so many amazing options of family members to watch eli while tanner and i try to get some time away to keep the sanity in our lives. we really are so lucky.

the next day was christmas eve ... but i guess that can be the next post!