How to do Vegas in 48 hours and 150 bucks.

As has been mentioned, we up and decided to hit the road and go to Vegas.  Our cutie friend was playing a gig there, we have other cutie friends who live there and let us stay, AND we had an anniversary that needed to be celebrated.  What we didn't have a lot of was time or money.  So, we snuck in a mid week get away thanks to wonderful grandparents and Auntie Julie, willing to watch the kids and good friends opening up their home.  Be forewarned, there are a lot of pictures in this post.  But, how the heck am I s'posed to to a travelogue and fill you in without said pictures?  I'll try to be concise and not to wordy, but  ::snort:: we know THAT is, for lack of a better term...IMPOSSIBLE.

With no further ado, I give you....Traveling with the VP's.

Jere was required to drive, 'cause I cannot stay awake to save my life these days.  We left around 10:30 Wednesday morning. Driving through the desert and sagebrush.

But there were some pretty mountains, and lovely wildflowers that I didn't choose to show you.  All in all it was a quick, easy drive, minus the HOUR we sat waiting to get over the damn dam.  (Oh really, I'm just to clever) I will say, it was nice to nap, to laugh with Jere about embarrassing admissions of our past, talk, listen to music and just ponder. We arrived just after 5:00, with barely enough time to put on some refresher makeup, iron my clothes and look presentable.

After a delish dinner at Panera (why the poody doo don't we have this in AZ, 'cause YUM!) we headed over to the concert site.  A random highschool somewhere on the outskirts of Vegas.  Which by the way, if you didn't know, Vegas is just one giant freeway.

Me, Jer, Kaitlyn and "THE" Jordan Bluthe

Because he can, that's why.        We waited for about 15 minutes and then the concert of goodness began.  For reals people, if you have never heard of Barrage before, look them up.  Then, if you EVER get a chance, GO.AND.SEE them.  They're amazing.

This pic was taken when Taylor did his concert here in AZ.  Sorry, didn't know I wasn't s'posed to take pics.  He's the boy in the vest.

The concert was of course FABULOUS! Taylor really is retardedly talented, as is everyone in his cast.  It was so much fun to see again, AND to just spend time with our rockstar friend.  Never you mind how totally fat I look in these pics.  Note to self, do not wear that shirt again.

Jer, Taylor the Latte Boy and Moi

(Mom, this is not negative self talk, just simply the truth as witnessed by me and the world.  I promise!)

After the show, Jordan, the newly minted Las Vegan was designated to drive us around to find somewhere to eat.  He chose "Raising Cane's" 'cause they had really good chicken strips.  And truly, they were really good.  We sat and talked and laughed and laughed for a long time.  Only leaving because we'd kept them open a 1/2 hour past closing.  We ended up at Taylors hotel room and laughed a whole lot more.  Finally at 1:30 we headed for home and some sleep.  I'm proud to report that I, Allyson, slept until 10:00 a.m.  If you know nothing of me, know this....I.NEVER.DO.THAT! Pre or post kids, I am just not really capable of sleeping late.  So yeah, we were definitely on VACAY!

Met up randomly with Jers cousin Aaron and his daughter, who were visiting from Illinois.  The cute older couple is Jers Aunts sister and her husband who are Vegas locals.  We had lunch at The Orleans.  It was ok, but the company was grand.  Do you LOVE how it looks like I'm totally wearing a showgirl headpiece.  Ah yah, that's right!  You know I could rock the outfit, right?

After parting ways with them we headed over to the M&M factory to get Julie a gift and then to find tickets to Lion King.  Sadly, Lion King was sold out, which made Jere pout.  So, then we hung out at the New York New York for awhile so I could fulfill my need to gamble, and by gamble I mean, play slot machines.  I'm proud to report that I put in a buck and almost instantly won $26.00 big ones.  And as that was a good gain, I cashed out, 'cause I'm just that hard core.  We wandered over to a couple other slots, Jer put in 5 bucks and won 10, cashed out and we collected our cash and went for a walk.  Upstairs we found this gem of a place.

This totally awesome Lady Liberty made entirely out of jelly beans.  All kinds of AWESOME!

But right behind the innocence of "the lady" is all kinds of kinky.  Right there in the entry to the freaking second floor of the hotel.  And so, I present you with:

Now THAT is sexy, I dare say SEXAY, No?

Seriously, what is wrong with people?

Do NOT be alarmed by the FIVE POUND gummy bear that you could purchase.  No, I kid not, FIVE POUNDS of gummy glory.  I know, I sort of wanted to barf too, but at least I look "hawt".  SNORT!

And then there were these "Gems".  Do click on the one where he's holding the mints, and put your lightning rod up as you do it.  WOW!

When we'd had our fill of the "devils" candy store, we headed for a quick potty stop and then maybe a touch more slotting.

Whilst Jer was stuck on the can, I won another 12.50, which we played on for a good 20 minutes more, on several different machines.  But in the end....

Damn that Hugh Hefner and his penny slot ho's.  After winning a "jackpot" of $10.00 we were reduced to a measley .15 cents.  And with that, we "cashed out" and went on our merry way.

Next we picked up Taylor from his "off the strip" hotel and headed back to Jordan and Kaitlyns for a DELICIOUS dinner that they'd whipped up for us.  We had such a nice time visiting and laughing.  Then K had to take J off to the airport, as he was heading to AZ for the weekend.  While they were out, we all giggled and looked through their dvd's and found their wedding video.  We had a grand time watching that.  Taylor was so sad he hadn't been able to be at their reception, so this was second best.  FINALLY at 10:00 we headed out for the strip to visit the Bellagio.  (May the chorus of angels sing now)

First we stopped for a quick look at Paris.  For some reason, Jere has an undying passion for Paris, and dreams of going there some day.  This is probably as close as we'll ever get.

Next, two fountain shows at the Bellagio.  A-May-ZING!  It was so worth going, just for that.  Well that, and the people watching...priceless!

Isn't Jere adorable?  Well, I think so.  He's all kinds of hot.

Next stop, worlds most amazing crepes (I ADORE crepes) inside the Bellagio.  (Thank goodness for our FAT $30.00 slot winnings, so we could enjoy said crepes and their ridiculous priciness.  Yeah, 20 bucks later we had 2 crepes. Whatev)  I'd show you the pics of me in my ecstacy, but they were hideously scarey and not good for public viewing.  Needless to say, the crepes were devine and the people watching was a true treasure trove of freak shows.  I mean really, who says it's ok to EVER dress like that.  I saw bums in all their glory, bigger, scarier boobs than I ever thought possible, people literally falling down drunk, cute old couples, wierd hippy peeps and P-lenty of hos.  But man, was it fun!  We made up stories about the people we were seeing, which makes it even more enjoyable.  Try it some time.

I WISH I could do the atrium justice.  The visual beauty, the smell, the amazingness of it all.  Suffice it to say, everything in there was flowers, and it was gorgeous and stunning in every way.  Alls I'm saying is, when I hit the mother load, and I ever go back to Vegas, I would ONLY bother to stay at the Bellagio.  Nothing else compares, I'm pretty sure.

Once finished with that we checked out some shops and then took a mini hike around the building, back up to our car.  By this time it was again, VERY late.  So, we took Taylor back to his castle and headed home.  By 2:00 a.m. we were asleep and then at 6:00 the hideous alarm sounded.

Isn't "butt freaking tired" so attractive on me.  We were such rockstars...we actually got in the car by 7:03 a.m. and were officially on the road by about 7:15.

We got our egg mcmuffins and all was well with the world.

A view of Lake Mead just before we got near the dam.  Good news, not a soul on the dam that early in the morning on a Friday.  We flew right on over it, only to be held up by blasting on the other side.  But, nothing so bad that we couldn't make good time.  I won't lie, I slept most of the way home, on and off.  I was too freaking exhausted to function.  I was so impressed with jere and his ability to stay awake and drive us safely home.  It was nice to have the quiet alone time, even if we didn't solve the worlds problems, we still got to just "be."

We drove into town and I literally dropped him off for his class and went to pick up the kids.  Maggie seemed less than impressed to see me, while Max was all a twitter with excitement.  Essentially he wouldn't let me put him down for a good 20 minutes.  As it turns out, Maggie did admit later that she missed us. HA, I KNEW it!

I'm soooo thankful to my Mom and Dad and to Julie for their help in making this possible.  It makes it so much easier to travel and enjoy ourselves knowing that our children are safe and well taken care of.  And a BIG thanks to Jordan and Kaitlyn for opening their home up and being so hospitable.  And thanks to Taylor for just.being.YOU!

All in all it was a delightful little trip that I'm so thankful we got to take.  And to Jer, thanks for making it 8 years, here is to 50 more.  Love you.

Showgirls and strip walks,

Allyson