Celebrating 4 Years

For the past month I have been constantly talking{bugging/asking/consulting/wondering/thinking-out-loud} to Kevin about "what we should do for our anniversary".

Since we had just gone on our cruise,

I knew it wouldn't be anything big,

but I did want it to be a little more special because it would be our "last" one before we have this little boy!

However,

we finally decided to just head over and visit my family and do some fun stuff over in Boise.

We planned on taking Tank to play with Tashi,

and we were going to leave Thursday morning after Kevin took a test.

Well,

the Tuesday night before rolls around and we are driving home from the grocery store,

when Kevin turns to me and says:

"We're actually not going to Boise this weekend babe.....because we're going to Vegas!"

I was shocked and SO SURPRISED!

{i had been begging to go back to Vegas-where we went on our Honeymoon-for a while, and never thought we would!}

WOW!

Little did I know,

Kevin had planned this out about three weeks ago.

Our friends, Garen and Katie, are moving down there for PA school in June,

and happened to be going down that weekend as well to look for houses,

so we rode with them.
Because Thursday was our anniversary day,
I was kinda sad it would be spent all day in the car,
but it ended up being so fun!

7:30am the Blanchards picked us up and we waited in IF for Kevin to take a test.

We gassed up,

ate some breakfast,

and were on the road again by 9am.

Us girls rode in the back together {so Katie could take care of Lainee},
and the boys were up front.

The weekend before Katie had gotten Lainee potty trained,
and there was no way that all that hard work was going to go to waste!
Lainee wore her big-girl-panties and Katie brought her "mini" toilet seat to make it a little easier for her.
She did awesome!
{and i was glad we stopped frequently for her, because every time she had to go, so did i!}
There were some close-calls that resulted in Garen pulling off to the side of the road,
and Katie squatting with Lainee,
trying to hold her on her little toilet seat over the desert rocks.
Which was pretty hilarious.
Lainee didn't really enjoy that....

About halfway through our trip we stopped in Benjamin to eat lunch at Barry's!


{Kevin's fav}

Here's a little clip of us in the car:
You will just have to ignore my voice.
I guess when I get excited my voice becomes unrecognizably high,
and Kevin doesn't really care for it.
My bad.



We arrived in Las Vegas around 6pm {remember there was a time change-back one hour}.
After we found the hotel we all wanted to change into shorts,
which none of us except Garen was wearing.
Katie and I changed and then Kevin went over to the suitcase and started rummaging through his stuff.
"Babe, where are my shorts?"
Uhhhh
"Umm, there were shorts sitting on the bed in a nice pile, that I thought you DIDN'T want....so I put them away in the closet...."
So yea,
I accidentally didn't pack Kevin's shorts.
Luckily there was a mall right next to our hotel so we all went over there and got him some shorts.
Whew.
We then ate some dinner and went to walk around one of the big Casinos.





The guys found the sports lounge and we hung out in there for a bit,


until we were told that children were not allowed in the casino.
Whoops.
So we left and went swimming!



Big belly and all.



Some nice/creepy old man came out and sat and watched us the whole time....but he did take pics for us so that was great.

..................

Friday morning after breakfast Garen and Katie dropped us off at the airport so we could pick up our rental car,
and then they headed off to meet up with their realtor.



And we were off!



I think I was mostly excited to take pictures of everything because when we were here 4 years ago celebrating our honeymoon,
we took NO pictures!
{i know, what in the HECK was i thinking!?!}

After parking we started exploring and "remembering" all the fun things we did before.


One of our favorite things to do was eat Gelato {italian ice cream} in the 90+degree heat.
Oh that stuff is sooooooo good.




There is always tons of stuff to do/see on the strip,
and we never got bored.
Tired of walking though,
yes.

Towards the afternoon we left to find a cheaper place to eat {aka off the strip},
and ended up at IHOP.
I was in heaven,
and had been CRAVING their stuffed french toast!
It did not disappoint.

That evening we decided to go to KA because the other Cirque Du Soleil show {"O"} was sold out.
We were told this was everyone's second favorite.
It was awesome.
There were some insane marshal arts going on as well as some sweet technology!
At more than one point the stage itself was vertical and the actors were fighting and running up and down it!
After the show we left the strip and headed to my cousin Brittany's house to sleep.
It was fun getting to reconnect and talk to her and her hubby, Chris.
We talked till 2am.

.................

Because we were so tired from walking the day before {my foot had gotten a nasty blister},
we didn't wake up early and head out.
Instead we let ourselves sleep in,
got ready,
and then went over to say hi to Brittany's fam.





It was fun being able to talk to Dale{my dad's brother} and Cindy and see their new house!
We also got to see Kyle, Braden{who happened to come down that weekend for Kyle's mission call}, Mike and Tranylle and thier little baby Rowan.
Plus we got to see lots of Harley-Chris and Britt's baby girl!
{we did miss Tyler-who was over at a friends, and The Pilayo's!!!}

{Rowan = 10months, Harley = 6months}
They are such cute chunkers!
Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks!?



This is a pic I snapped of their backyard.....so cool!
Kevin and I decided that if we lived in 90+degree heat,
a pool would be required!
Haha,
it was SUCH a hot weekend!!


We met back up with Garen and Katie this day.



Katie's parents had flown down from Washington the day before,
and after some more sight-seeing,
they took Lainee so that the four of us could go to Mystere!



Kevin and I had gone to this Cirque Du Soleil show on our honeymoon,
not knowing what in the heck to expect....and ended up LOVING it!
It is still a favorite {yes, we both liked it over KA and totally recommend it to anyone going to The Strip}.
There is so much random crazy stunts going on at all times-we walk out of there just in awe!
After the show we walked out and got to watch the end of "The Sirens of T.I"....definitely a lot more promiscuous than when I saw it with my fam like 12 years ago.
Treasure Island was also the hotel we stayed in for our Honeymoon,
so it was fun to see it and "reminisce".
Haha.


Walking back to our car,
we passed the volcano going off in front of the Mirage:


and watched the Bellagio fountains:



After dropping Garen and Katie off at their hotel we headed back to Chris and Brittany's,
and even though I was dead tired,
we ended up talking til 1:30.
It really was so much fun catching up on what everyone is doing down there!

...................

Bright and early Sunday morning,
we woke up,
ate some breakfast,
and returned the rental car.
Blanchards met us there and we were on our way back to Idaho!


We had such a fun time and I'm so glad Kevin surprised me with this little Vaca!
Happy 4 years babe,
and to countless more just as awesome!