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Rachel meets World

Ashley Meets World

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Bellagio Gardens








Wednesday, the girls and I went with my MOMS Club to Bellagio's Garden. The Bellagio changes their garden out seasonally. Since it's summer it was summer themed. They had butterflies, large ants, mushrooworking watering cans, and mushrooms. The ladybugs, snails and bees were made up entirely of flowers. Rachel wouldn't look at me for a picture. Ashley couldn't stand still, I blame it on the new desire to walk. After the garden we checked out the world's largest chocolate fountain.

After the Bellagio we headed to the MGM Lion Habitat (I'm pictureless because of the crowd). It was certainly a walk but Rachel enjoyed it while Ashley slept. There were 2 guys in the lions playing with them and keeping them from fighting with one another. Before we left Rachel told me she wanted to pet the lions. Another mom who was quicker with a response, told her she could when she got really big and went to college and was really smart. In my opinion if you're really smart you wouldn't touch a lion! Let alone lock yourself in a cage with them, that sounds smart to me.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Hoover Dam

Having Brooke stay with us was great because we got do something we had been meaning to do but hadn't made time for. We went to the Hoover Dam.

Sister Weekend



Brooke and I got a room at Mandalay Bay on Friday night. We took Rachel and Ashley to the Shark Reef before Mike picked them up leaving just Brooke and I.
I wasn't a mom or a wife for a whole 24 hours! It was a wonderfully needed break.
Rachel was so excited to be going to see sharks, but half way through she was done.

She actually told us, "no more sharks." The shark reef is pretty cool they have 2 tunnels you can walk through that have sharks swimming over top and all around you.

After Mike picked up the girls we headed up to our room and found it to our liking.
We had a strip view, a phone in the bathroom and a jacuzzi tub. It's a shame we were hardly in the room long enough to truly use any of it.


We got ready and made our way over to the Winn to see La Reve. It was really cool. It takes place mostly on a water stage that would vary in depth. One minute people would be running across it and then the next scene people were being dropped from the ceiling. People would appear from under the water out of nowhere and the synchronized swimmers wouldn't come up for air.

After our show we went looking for forward since it took us too long to get ready we didn't get anything before hand. But there's not much open after 11:30 even in a casino. So we walked and walked all around Mandalay and into the Luxor, which was attached and has a food court that was open. We really wanted an ice cream but thought we should go get real food, so even though we found an ice cream place open (and no room service didn't have ice cream) I thought I probably should eat real food first, so instead of eating something at the Luxor food court we decided to walk clear across the Mandalay to see what they had at their food court. It didn't matter because it was closed. So back we went to the Luxor and grabbed a slice of pizza. After we finished we then headed to go get our ice cream- They were closed! The closed up while we were sitting there! We laughed so hard and were just in disbelief that we headed back to the casino. Not thinking that there was a McDonalds that does McFlurries, Sundaes or cones until the next morning.

Brooke insisted that we play a buck in the slot machines. She couldn't believe that I had never played so she gave me a buck and I lost my first and only dollar to a slot machine. She played for a little while and "won" 35 cents, but then kept playing until it was gone. When I insisted that we go to bed being it was after 1:30am and I'm not usually up later than 10pm.

Saturday morning, we woke up and got breakfast at the buffet which was delicious. Checked out of our room and headed to the pool for a day of sun.
The Mandalay has the best pool in Vegas. The pool is the whole reason we stayed there. It has a beach, a wave pool, and a lazy river that we enjoyed.


After getting a significant amount of sun (read sunburn) we reluctantly packed up an headed home for dinner.

Battle of the Bands




Thursday night found us back at the Rio. This time we went to the 52 floors to the Voodoo Lounge to listen to 4 local bands compete for 1 spot to open for Veritical Horizon and Crash Kings on August 19th at Voodoo Beach. It was fun and the band we liked the best won- OffSet Season. There's a great view from the balcony of the strip.

Rio's Voodoo Beach









Brooke came for a visit and no sooner did she step foot of the plane and we were off for fun. We got breakfast at IHOP and headed to the Rio Casino for a morning on swimming. When Ashley started yawning it was time to head home so all of us could take a nap.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The many reasons to love Saturday

Mike had the camera out a couple weekends ago and had fun taking lots of pictures of the girls and I playing. I love pictures it captures the simple moments we would forget sooner than we'd like and creates a memory that will never be forgotten all because of a quick click.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Pioneer FHE

For Family Home Evening on Monday I wanted do to something pioneer-y since Saturday is Pioneer Day. So we told a story, sang a song (twice), and then "made" bread and actually made homemade butter. How do you make homemade butter? Just follow along...

1. Get bread ready for your butter


2. Pour some heavy whipping cream into a baby food jar (we added a marble to help it churn).

3. Shake it! Shake it!


4. Drain the buttermilk out.


5. Enjoy! It's really yummy if you add honey.