Las Vegas: Part 1

Viva Las Vegas!!!

This trip was such a blast and the most fun I have had in a really long time. Spencer and I have been wanting to go on a trip after his semester ended and this seemed like the perfect window of time for us. The weather was perfect, almost a little too hot at times, but it was sunny skies all week!

Luckily Spencer had some vacation days saved up at work, and I got all my hours in at my job before we left, so we were guilt free to spend 5 days down South! It is a nice feeling to have everything wrapped up before you leave on a big trip. Our first destination was Meadow, Utah where we journeyed to some beautiful hot springs. Some friends of ours told us about them and we couldn't pass it up since they were right on the way. We had directions from google maps but we still couldn't find it for like 30 minutes!

 If you ever decide to go give me a call and I'll tell you the easy way there because there are roads all over the place and it's easy to get confused.

We were about to turn back but I said "no let's keep going" and magically we found them! The sad part of this story is that I lost my camera there. I don't know how it happened, but I think it fell out of the car when we got out. I was so upset but it was about time to get a new camera anyway.

Luckily I had my new I Touch to take pictures with and our grandparents let us use their spare camera so we still were able to capture some good photos of the trip.

There were two hot springs that we found. The first one had a few people in it and was kind of murky. The second one was all by itself and had a lot clearer water. I hear there are a few more around this area too that we didn't check out. It felt a little weird though because you never know who has been in the water and what people do in the water! Not to mention if there are diseases in the water. I think we are safe though because we're still alive :)

So beautiful! And fun too when I have my best friend with me!!

We arrived in St. George at about 7:30p.m. and went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Ruth Ann and Carl Harper (the grandparents), and Ruth Ann's granddaughter Mallory with her fiance Wes. WE LOVE Texas Roadhouse! Spencer always buys the full rack of ribs...some things never change.

The next morning we left around 10:00a.m. to head down to Vegas!!!

I was so excited I packed WAY too many clothes and shoes.

I wanted to make sure I had enough clothes for every occasion. I am such a girl sometimes! Anyway, this was Spencer's first trip to Vegas so I was even more excited for him to see everything. Here is a picture from inside the car of The Mirage.

Ruth Ann drove us up and down the strip before we stopped at our hotel so we could see all the buildings. It takes too long to walk the entire strip! It's incredible how much money they put into making Vegas such an entertainment hub. I couldn't believe how fancy everything is and how expensive everything is EVERYWHERE. We stayed the first and only night at The Venetian. Which in Italian means a resident of Venice. So for one night we were Venetians! Here we are checking into our hotel room. The lines to check in were so long...they reminded me of checking in to a flight at an airport for how long the lines were.

Before we got to our room we went and picked up our tickets for

The Phantom of the Opera!!!

 I was so excited and couldn't believe we were just feet away from the stage. I had so much excitement I could hardly wait for the show to start later that night.

Here is our room! It was the Luxury Suite...so cozy and big! The bed was so comfortable. They even had a bath robe that I of course used, and a full mini fridge full of beer, wine, and chocolates. If you moved any of the food or drinks the sensors would go off and you'd have to pay for them. I didn't know about the sensors and picked something up. $5.00 for a bottle of water is NOT WORTH IT!

Such a fancy bathroom. I told Spencer that when we own a house someday I want to have a bathroom just like this one with a big bathtub, two sinks, a vanity, and it's own private restroom.

But in mine I want a jetted tub :)

We took a long walk down the strip and through the malls. It got up to 100 degrees that day so water bottles were a must. The streets are so packed at all hours of the day.

This man walked up to this spot on the stage and just froze there. Very creepy.

HI!!!

There were a lot of statues like this all over the city. Say hi to Grandpa Harper!

Carrying his wife's purse. How sweet!

Donny & Marie are performing at the Flamingo, just FYI

Inside Ceasar's Palace is an aquarium. Check out how huge this sting ray is!

Feelin' the HEAT outside of The Mirage

BE SEDUCED

Spence was such a good sport. He took a lot of pictures with me. I figured out the trick of getting him to take a lot of pictures. Just don't take too many at once.

If I spread them out throughout the day then he doesn't notice how many I'm taking!

Genius, I know! (don't tell him this though hehe)

After our long walk around town we came back to our hotel, exhausted, and took a little nap. We then headed down to the pool (which was our view from the room). This pool was packed with people. Right next to it was the TAO pool area which I think is the party beach area where only adults are allowed.

We decided we wanted to stay away from that stuff whenever possible, and just had fun competing with each other in the pool to see how long we could hold our breaths. I think Spencer beat me. I'm not a huge swimmer like he is.

After the pool it was time to get ready for THE PHANTOM! It's so much fun staying at a hotel where you don't have to worry about making the bed and cleaning up too much after yourself. Anyway, here we are right before the show started. We had our pictures taken professionally but they cost $45.00 so we decided to pass. They looked so good though!

For those of you who know my brother Dustin, he LOVES this play and did his senior project by acting out and singing scenes from the play. Because of that he listened to it ALL THE TIME and so I got to know the music really well. I too fell in love with The Phantom and have always wanted to see this play for many years. Everyone in my family has seen it except for me, so I was so grateful to be able to see it with Spencer. It makes it that much more special that I was able to see it with him. He loves the play too and saw it once when he was 8 years old, so it was time for him to see it again.

I was seduced.

I cried out of excitement. The acting and singing was incredible and the chandelier scenes were shocking! We were on the top level balcony so we had an excellent view of the chandelier. If you haven't seen The Phantom, go see it! The music is fantastic.

Later that night we went and walked the strip and found some dinner at Chipotle. We had two people chat with us the entire dinner and they were obviously really wasted. They went on and on about how if you have kids you will waste your life and you will never get to do anything for yourself ever again. So funny and interesting to hear the world's view on marriage and children. I for one, disagree!

I had to show Spence the Bellagio lights and fountain show. We walked and walked and finally made it just in time to see it! He really liked it so it was worth the effort.

Such a cool engineering feat!

Hopefully this isn't the closest I'll ever get to seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Here I am, after a happy and fulfilling night! The next day we woke up, ate breakfast, and then headed to the Vegas Temple and then to Hoover Dam. Those pics and stories will be up next! I had such a fantastic time it was such an fulfilling vacation.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Harper for such a wonderful and fun time!!!