Viva Las Vegas!!!

Like I said before, our next stop was Vegas (this was the destination Brian was most looking forward too). Brian had been as a kid with his family, but it was his first time to experience it as an adult. As for me, I was excited about the pool, seeing shows, and looking at all the hotels with some gambling on the side. I was in the middle of a class and had tried to get my homework done prior to Vegas, but it hadn't worked out. When we got to our hotel, The Mirage, I was tired from our early morning and seeing the Canyon that I took a nap. Brian went downstairs to the casino and unfortunately had no luck. We walked around the strip and saw the Treasure Island show and volcano. I loved Vegas! I must admit driving into the city I thought it looked rather small, but once we were down there I felt like I was in a whole different world. It was strange when I looked out in certain directions because I could see the mountains. For the next two days we walked around the strip and went in each hotel/casino. I really liked Caesar's Palace. I enjoyed seeing Vegas with Brian, because even though he had been twice before, we saw things and did things he had never done before. We walked and walked and walked. We would go in each casino and put $5 in a machine. Once that was gone, we'd walk around and then go into another one. I love how each hotel has its own atmosphere. We ate at Cheesecake Factory (Brian had never been!) and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We ate at Outback too, but that was a mistake. We went down to the amazing pool at The Mirage and swam and laid in the chairs. The water was surprisingly cold given it was around 115 degrees. Before we left Vegas on the last day we decided to walk the strip some more and see The Venetian and I really wanted to take Brian to M&M World. I had been to it with Brian's family when we went to NYC but Brian didn't go on that trip. The two places were in opposite directions and I had carried my big purse. We walked and walked and walked and just when we thought we couldn't go any further, we finally made it to M&M world. It was further than we thought but nonetheless very cool. Vegas is expensive and next time we want to just go to Vegas. We had to remember that we were not even half way through our vacation, and had to stick to our budget. We didn't see any shows and although I was sad by this, I look forward to going to shows our next time there. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Vegas.

Outside our hotel

Soaking up some sun

Being me

In Caesar's Palace and can't help to think of The Hangover

Las Vegas was a blast and I see trips back there in our future. Next stop: California!

So...it's been awhile.

Starting this blog right before school started might have been bad timing because once school starts it's like running on a conveyor belt. The work never ends! I think about writing often, but don't have the energy from just finishing an assignment or some other task. It probably makes sense then that it is early Monday morning of Spring Break and I finally found time to write. :)

I believe in the power of writing for therapeutic reasons, fun, and as a way of chronicling our lives and will try to do better.

What's new in life?--Brian and I grow closer each day and I love him more and more. Might sound cliche' but I don't care. He is my best friend and the most important person to me. I'm soooo close to finishing my master's degree, but feel very far at the same time. I'm about to finish my 4th year of teaching. I can't believe it myself.

Last post I wrote about the beginning of our vacation. As we are beginning to think about this summer, I love that we were fortunate enough to take that vacation. Even as we were traveling, I knew I would look back and appreciate it more and more.

From Albuquerque we went to Flagstaff, AZ and stayed the night. On the way we drove through the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. It was so hot and the middle of the day! It was so funny because we had an ice chest in the back floorboard with bottled water. We would each grab one, chug it, and chunk it into the back seat. A few minutes later we were doing it again. Our windows were down, but the hot wind blowing in didn't do much to cool us off. We stopped at each stop to get a view of the magnificent petrified forest. I bought a book at the gift shop for my classroom. Brian didn't really want to stop and drive through it, but afterwards we were so glad we took the time.

At the first stop in the Petrified Forest National Park.

Nature is so pretty!

Look at all the colors!

A petrified log

We also stopped along the way to look at the World's Largest Crater.

It was impossible to get the whole crater in one picture.

Brian standing in front of the crater.

One picture I took of the left side of the crater. I think it took me about 7 pictures to get the whole thing.

After the crater we stopped in Flagstaff for the night. It is such a pretty town. Brian and I ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant and visited with the waitress for awhile. She was actually from Texas I believe. The restaurant was really neat too. It offered about 7 salsas, and it was set up where you go get your own. If I remember right, they had good margaritas. :p We went swimming in the pool and while it was cold getting out we had so much fun. We ran back to the hotel room. We went to bed pretty early because we wanted to try and get to the Grand Canyon before sunrise.

The next morning it was chilly and we got up super early! I was putting on my makeup in the car in the dark which resulted in this:

Oopsy! I changed though. Also as you notice it is daylight, which means we didn't make it for sunrise. The tire pressure light came on in Brian's car so we drove around trying to find a air compressor to fix his tires before driving up to the canyon. We did see the sunrise as we drove through the mountains to the Grand Canyon and it was beautiful. Once we got there it was still really early so we didn't have to pay to get in and there weren't many people there yet so it was really special. The view is more than anything I expected. I could of just sat there all day and watched God's amazing creation. It was so neat because on the right side of the road was the canyon, but on the left side was woods. There were signs to watch for elk. We walked down a few trails and stopped at every stop along the way. Each stop showed a different view of the canyon. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

This picture reminds me how small I am in this big world. It is humbling.

I love how you can see each layer.

Brian overlooking the canyon.

I don't usually post pictures of us kissing, but I love this picture.

That is enough for this post. Next stop was VEGAS!!!