What happens in Vegas....

What an awesome trip we had! Thanks mom and dad for the fabulous time in Vegas...I think it should be a new tradition every year!

In the car on the way to the airport...all the excitement!

Turns out my drivers license was expired so I'm lucky they let me go. I just had to go through all the extra security. We arrived in sunny Las Vegas...I mean RAINY Las Vegas on Wednesday the 26th. We got checked in to our hotel room (at the Tuscany...SUPER nice place and just a block off the strip!) and proceeded to find a place to eat. We ended up at the Rio for the buffet and it was delicious! After dinner we decided to go check out Fremont Street in downtown Vegas. It was pretty fun with the light show on the ceiling but not much going on because of all the rain. After walking Fremont St. we headed back to the hotel for some Black Jack. I LOVE this game!! I think Blair gets a little worried when I walk into a casino. He's not a big fan of gambling so all my gambling balances us out. But I actually did pretty well and ended up coming home on top of what I started with.

Dad and Jenna enjoying the rain on Fremont Street.

On Thanksgiving Day we got up, hit the casino again, and then headed over to the Mandalay Bay for the Shark Reef. It was so fun. I was so excited to go because I was watching the Discovery Channel during Shark Week and they said that the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay had one of only two Hammer Head sharks in captivity. So I'm all excited to see this hammer head shark and what do you know...it died!! Bummer...but it was still really fun and I would recommend it to anyone hitting Vegas.

We stayed there at the Mandalay Bay for Thanksgiving Dinner and I swear I've never seen more crab legs eatin' in all my life! Dad, Chad and Blair did a number on those things! After dinner we went back to the hotel and changed so we could go to the show that I couldn't wait another minute to see....PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a special place in my heart for this show. My Grandma Dalton took me to see it at the Capital Theater when it came out from Broadway and I've loved it ever since! Well, this show at the Venetian did not disappoint. Even though I'd already seen it before it was still AMAZING!!! I'm in awe of all the staging. It's beyond imagination. I haven't stopped listening to the soundtrack since I got home. So needless to say it was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip for me!

Friday morning we headed out to see the Hoover Dam. We took the "Dam tour" and spent lots of time looking over the "dam" side. Well, I don't like bridges very much and I did pretty well on this "dam" one for the most part. After a half hour looking down and hoping that some crazy didn't come throw me over the"dam" edge (being vulnerable like that makes you watch all the peeps around you to make sure they're not going to do something crazy!!) I was feeling the panic/anxiety attack coming on...so we took off to do some shopping at all the outlets. Ahh, shopping...it always seems to calm me down. :)

So we did a bit of shopping and then we went down to the Stratosphere to ride the big shot. I've done this before and thought it would be no big deal doing it again. Well, on my way up in the long elevator ride I was beginning to second guess this decision. Lucky for me we got to the top and waited in line for about 5 minutes when the ride was cancelled due to HIGH winds. I mean HIGH winds...I thought I might blow right through the fence and off the top of that thing. So they refunded our money and we headed to New York, New York to ride the roller coaster. Before we got there we ate and I wasn't feeling great so I decided to bypass the ride since I'd done it before anyway. So Dad and I went and hung out in the Harley Davidson shop so Dad could drool and say his prayers that he would get a motorcycle someday!! Basically we spent the rest of the evening bumming around the strip and hitting up the casino.

After flying back to SLC on Saturday we went to see the lights on Temple Square and they were beautiful as always. But there were way to many people so we made our way back to the hotel. We stayed at the Little America Towers and this is by far my favorite hotel! It's super fancy so it's fun to stay there every once in awhile. Sunday morning we ate way to much at the Sunday Brunch at Little America. Super good...although I vowed I was never eating again after this trip and I would be spending the rest of my life on a treadmill!