Vegas 2011

The Sleeping Lions At MGM


A Pirate On The Strip


M&M Factory


Michael Jacksons


Halo Guy


Every 3 years Brandon has to go to Las Vegas for work at the Con Expo Show. This year our 12th Anniversary fell on the weekend he was suppose to come home.So Brandon decided to fly me out on Friday to spend the weekend with him and celebrate our Anniversary. I was so excited and nervous at the sametime. This was the first time in 5 years that I have left the boys to where I couldn't be back to them within an hour if needed. I have such a hard time putting faith in others to take care of Logan's diabetes. However Logan is growing up and has learned so much about his diabetes and how to manage it on his own. So I put all my faith in my in-laws to take care of my boys and went off to Vegas.

I was flying stand-by on Delta and was worried it was going to take a couple tries to get on a flight. I got to the airport at 9:30 in hopes to get on the 11:10 flight. Of all the days for mother nature to resort back to winter. It was snowing so bad it delayed the flight by 30 mins. I was so excited when I was cleared for the flight 10 mins. before boarding. That excitment all changed once I was on the plane. The pliot came on and annouced that there was a small crack in the windshield and that were having it checked out. Well needless to say two hours later of sitting on the plane in Salt Lake watching it snow they cleared us for take off. It then took another 30 mins for them to de-ice the wings. We were finally in the air YEAH!!!! The plane ride was not my favorite, we hit major turbulence and by the time they got to us to give us a drink and peanuts it was time to collect them!!! I had not eaten since 7:30am that morning and it was now 2:40 Salt Lake time. When we landed everyone on the plane was so glad to finally be getting off the plane. We headed to baggage claim where we waited another 30 mins. for the luggage to start showing up. Lucky for me mine was one of the first to come off since I was a stand-by passenger. I then headed to get a taxi where I waited yet again for 20 mins. I was so happy to get to the hotel until I saw the check-in line. Oh YEAH another HUGE line!!!! I waited another 35 mins. to check-in. I went up to our room to clean up and wait for Brandon to get off work. I was so hungry I went down to the gift shop and bought a cheap sandwhich to hold me over. I had hope that this day was going to get better.

Brandon got to our hotel around 6:00pm Vegas time. It was so good to see him after him being gone 4 days. He cleaned up and some of the guys from work came and met us for dinner. We went to the MGM Grand to have dinner at the Fiamma resturant. We had to wait yet again, surprise surprise. However at least this time the wait was entertaining. Lady Gaga was performing that night at the MGM, so we watched all the crazy costumes as the were headed to the concert. I so wish I would have had my camera!!!! Dinner was great and helped the night end on a positive note.

Saturday we walked around and went into the different shops and casinos. Later in the afternoon we went back to our hotel and went to the pool. It was such a nice change from the cold back home. The pool was so great and super relaxing. That night we went out to dinner to a Mexican resturant in Planet Hollywood, the food was fantastic!! After we headed to a Vegas show. We had so much fun, it was a great night. After we headed back to the pool and went off to the hot tub. I was sad that our weekend was coming to an end. The next morning we got up at 4:30am so we could be to the airport by 5:30am. My flight was at 6:45 and Brandon's wasn't until 9:45am. I was still flying stand-by but had hoped I would get out, boy was I wrong!!!! They people at the Delta counter told me there was NO WAY I was getting out on a plane. Well Happy Anniversary to me!!! I wanted to cry, we started frantically looking at other options. We called other airlines to try and purcahse a ticket one wated $385 and Delta wanted $185 for the last flight that night. So instead of spending the entire day at the airport we decided to change Brandon's ticket to Monday and stay one more night. At least we got to spend our anniversary together!!! We went back to the Tropicana and got another room and took a nap!!! We ended up having a great day all in all. I think the hardest part of it all was telling the kids we weren't coming home. The ended up having to go home to our house where my mom spent the night with them. We took lots of pics for the boys with our phones and sent them to them. It helped a little, but the kept telling us how much they missed us and wished they were with us. I was so disappointed I hadn't played one slot machine the whole weekend. So when we were walking back through the Luxor I talked Brandon into letting me play. I put $6 into a penny machine, I won a little then lost it all within 5 mins. I was sad because it wasn't even my favorite kind of machine so I blammed my lose on that. Bradnon asked me what my favorite on was and so we found one. It was a quarter machine, which I usually only play penny machines. Brandon said you can play $5 then your done. I happily sat down put in my $5 and started doing the max bet. I won and ws up $2, then I went down to $3. I hit the max bet and spun. I hit a win and the machine kept paying out!!! I couldn't believe it, we couldn't add it in our heads how much I was at. When the machine finally stopped I cashed out and had won $218.25!!!! Needless to say it paid for the xtra night we had to stay in Vegas.

Luckily the next morning we headed to the airport again at 5:30am, where I was able to get on the first flight home. This flight was much better then the one going down. It was so nice to be home even if the weather was crap. Happy Anniversary Babe thanks for a great adventure!!!

The Hard Rock


Brandon On Our Bed


Our Room



New York New York


The Strip


The Tropicana Where We Stayed


The Waterfall At The Tropicana


The Excalibur


The MGM


A Fountain Inside The Luxor


My Winning Ticket


The Luxor