30th Birthday part 4 (FINAL) - VEGAS

Day 2 in Vegas:
I got such good bday presents from Jeff and Rachel (sorry, no pics cuz I'm an idiot).  Jeff got me a heart monitor/watch for when I'm working out!  Rachel, to even out the healthiness of that got me peanut butter cups from trader joes, which may be my new favorite candy of all time now!

After presents, we took our time getting ready.  Rachel offered to curl my hair, which turned out SO SUPER CUTE!  You can tell how much I liked it by how many pictures I took:

We then went to the Imperial palace to get breakfast at Hash House A Go Go.  Sadly there was an hour wait, so we decided to try again tomorrow.  Did I mention that there was a rodeo in town?!  We saw SO MANY COWBOYS.  Heck, even Caesar himself was wearing a cowboy hat!

Rachel, Jeff and I had tried to see the Bellagio fountains at night last night, but it was taking too long so we got bored and wandered off.  We did finally see them during the day time.  Sadly I was too busy watching the show to get any good pictures...

We took a quick eat-break at panda express:

...which turned into a technology break.  Turns out Rachel and I are total tech nerds.  Thank goodness for wifi!!

We had tickets to a magic show, but it wasn't for another 45 minutes.  We stopped at a fancy '50s themed store and HAD to have Rachel try on clothes!  While we were waiting, Jeff and I sat on this fancy car couch:

 When Rachel came out she looked stunning!  She was definitely born in the wrong era!

I also noticed that the same store had a "dungeon".  When I asked what that was, the lady said that it is currently just a storage room, but previously, if you bought a t-shirt, you could get spanked by the spanking machine!  Lol wut?!

We then stopped at a hat store.  I had Rachel take this picture before I realized there were signs EVERYWHERE that said "no pictures"!  Oops.

Next stop was the Magic show.  The magician, Nathan Burton, had been on americas got talent.  Honestly, his magic was pretty good, but his stage presence was lacking.  It was only 12 bucks, so, for the price I would recommend it!

After the magic show I talked Rachel into to going on the New York, NY roller coaster.  Jeff, took no convincing.  The roller coaster runs outside of the casino, which makes it all the more terrifying.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!  Rachel did not love it, but I think Jeff and I could have gone 10 more times and still wanted more!

To calm our stomachs we walked around a bit and eventually found ourselves in the M&M store.  Wow, they had every kind of M&M imaginable!  The only thing we got there was a free raspberry m&m sample

We tried going to the Paris Casino/Hotel Buffet, but it was packed solid with people, so we decided to go back to the Rio.  This is what our hotel looked like at night from the road:

When we got back to the Rio, the buffet line was non-existant, but it was also 33 dollars, so we decided to got to Burger King instead.  Wise and delicious choice.

The next morning we got up early to hit Hash House A Go Go.  On the entry way we saw NPH had been there!!

And one of Rachel's favorite people, Martha Stewart had been to Hash House A Go Go!

For Breakfast Rachel ordered the Mango Coconut Pancake:

Jeff ordered the (banana?) french toast:

And I got the sage chicken and bacon waffle tower:

The food portions were HUGE!  We had been warned,  but nothing really prepares you for the sheer amount of food they give you:

Rachel and I made it 1/2 way through our meals:

While Jeff was the only victorious one.  He SLAUGHTERED his meal.  There was nothing left but banana peels!!  He truly is his fathers son!

Jeff and Rachel left shortly after breakfast and an AWESOME Vegas vacation!  The rest of my trip was spent between buffets, walking around and going to Chippendales!  There is no full nudity in that show (did you know that), just a couple of bare boy butts.  They came into the audience a couple of times, and I got a kiss on the cheek once and a lap dance once.  By lap dance I mean a hugged my arms into my body and giggled awkwardly while he tried to grind on me.  It was awkward for everyone involved, but I got a good story out of it!

 I got home and KW picked me up from the airport.  When I got home, I found this note from Mitch and Dom (who had awesomely driven me to the airport and got my mail/checked on my condo while I was gone).  The note also came with  TWO Doctor who toys!!!  I have the best friends ever!!

Well, that's it.  I'm 30!  It was a great trip!  I wouldn't do it differently if I could!

30th Birthday part 3 - VEGAS

On Thursday when Jeff got home from work we left for St. George.  We were on the road by 8pm and in St. George by midnight.  SUPER BIG THANKS to Rachel's parents for letting us stay at their vacation home in St. George!

Jeff and Rachel got the main bedroom, while I had my choice between the 2 kids bedrooms.  Both had bunk beds.  I felt like I was 12 all over again!

The next morning we got up and went to the gym:

Then got ready for VEGAS!!

Jeff Rachel and I were staying at the Rio (for free!  Thanks comped room!)  The first thing we saw when we got to the hotel/casino was a big advertisement for Chippendales.  Jeff was not pleased, but we stopped to take pictures anyway!

We then checked in and went to our room on the 22nd floor.  The view was ah-mahzing!

Although the view into the bathroom was not as pretty:

Thankfully Jeffry plugged up the window with towels so we could shower in privacy.

We were hungry after our drive in, and I had a gift card to outback, so we caught a shuttle from the Rio to Harrah's (which was actually on the strip) and walked over to the Outback Steakhouse:

When then walked around and looked at shops.  The most interesting shop was the first one we stopped at. It was a candy store that had EVERYTHING!  It had 1 LB Reeses:

Harry Potter related candy (Bernie Botts Beans and Chocolate frogs):

Giant sugar daddy's and Rice Krispie Treats:

and then Rachel went on a bender:

I made Jeff and Rachel pose as a fork and spoon at another store:

Although they were much more excited to pose in front of the gondola at the Venetian:

Some of the stores were more, uhm, unique than others:

But of course one of our favorites had chocolate lolly pop amazingness in front (and free wifi!!!!)

I'm not quite sure where this was, other than on the strip, but it made for a cute picture:

One of Rachels friends had recommended we got to serendipity 3, which is based on the movie serendipity  and get a frozen hot chocolate.  They were HUGE and also quite delish!  Jeff and Rachel got the regular frozen hot chocolate:

While I got the Oreo Frozen Hot Chocolate:

There were a lot of walkways you had to use to cross from one side of the strip to the other.  Here's a pic of the strip from one of those walk ways:

By 5pm we were all tuckered out and ready to go home.  We went to the shuttle to catch a ride back to the Rio.  It's suppose to run every 1/2 hour on the hour.  We got to the shuttle stop around 5:20.  5:30 came and went with  no shuttle, so did 6pm.  While I was on the phone angrily talking with someone at the Rio, the shuttle finally showed up at 6:15.  It was so full that not everyone got on!

We went back to our room with some junk food and were sound asleep by 9pm!

30th Birthday part 2

In preparation for our Vegas trip, Rachel and I went to go get our nails done and spray tans.  The week before I had flown out to Utah, I had tried tanning in tanning beds and gotten 3 sunburns and NO color on my skin.  The spray tan turned out pretty good, although you can't really tell from the pictures.  Here is our before pic:

and our after pic

It was more noticeable in real life, but here is a pic of our sweet tanned faces:

We also got our nails done.  They used this "gellish" nail polish that lasts really long and doesn't really chip.  I finally took it off after having it on a week and it just peeled off!  No need for nail polish remover!!  Here's what it looked like:

Later that evening my best friend from college, Justin Abbott, came over for dinner.  He brought Glogg, which was amazing.  You can get it at IKEA, and it is super delish warm!

We had meatloaf (which was amazing), lots of laughs and just good conversation!  Of course I made sure I had pictures in front of the pretty Christmas tree:

Now on to the cutest part of the blog.  Forrest!  Rachel and Jeff have a pretty fancy fireplace.  While Rachel and I were talking in the kitchen, Forrest came in looking quite distressed and then showed us his hands, which were black!  I guess he had been playing in the fireplace.  So cute and horrible at the same time:

Forrest LOVED giving cuddles!  He cuddled with his aunt:

his mommy:

and his daddy:

He was also super smart.  He would play a puzzle game with his mom every night:

and he knew almost any animal sound you could name:

As we were getting ready to leave for Vegas  Jeff and Rachel decided to give Forrest an early Christmas present.  Forrest is a total Curious George addict.  I don't know how parents do it.  If I had to watch one more stupid episode of "George" I was going to go completely crazy!!  Anyway, he got a George doll for early Christmas and LOVED it: