Seriously?! It's 2009?!

Happy New Year everyone!  I can't believe that it's 2009 already!  The years are just flying by these days, aren't they? 

Well, Jeremy and I just got back from our whirlwind trip through 3 states in 3 days...and we're exhausted.  Our trip started on Monday morning at 7am.  Jeremy works the mid-shift Sunday night to Monday morning, so once he got home at 6:30am and got his stuff together, we hit the road for Orange, CA.  We got to Cali around 12:30pm, had lunch with Jerm's family and then went to see a movie.  We saw the new Will Smith movie, "7 Pounds," and I do NOT recommend it.  I won't spoil it for those that haven't seen it, but it had potential to be a good movie; however, it just turned out to be a bit creepy and odd.  Oh well.  After the movie, we came home and had dinner, then opened our Christmas presents!  Next came dessert and bedtime because we had another busy day coming up.

  

 

On Tuesday, we left Cali around 10am and headed to VEGAS!!  If you refer back to my post, Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary, you'll remember that Jeremy got me tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera in Vegas on December 30th.  For our quick little trip to Vegas, we stayed at the lovely Mirage Hotel.  Our room faced the Strip and we had an awesome view.

The view of the Strip.

The Mirage's volcano show, right below our room.

Before heading to the show, Jeremy placed his sports bet (which he won about $52 on!) and we ate dinner.  We tried out a new, yummy burger restaurant in The Mirage called BLT Burger.  They had delicious burgers and excellent shakes! 

  

After dinner, we headed across the street at the Venetian to see Phantom.  The show was AWESOME!  I saw Phantom on Broadway a few years ago, but I loved it so much and I knew that I had to see it in Vegas.  It is a bit shorter than the Broadway version and it's "Vegas-ified" with elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics.  To quote the website, "By incorporating special effects and enhancements made possible today by modern technology into the timeless music and story of Phantom, new audiences and loyal fans alike will be awed by and all-new Phantom."  Though I think I'm a bit bias to the Broadway version (just because I saw it first), I still loved this one.  Oh it was so good!  The actors had amazing voices, the music was incredible and as always, the Phantom won me over!  If I were Christine, I definitely would have chosen him over Raul.  Plus, even Jerm was humming some of the songs when we left!

The Phantom of the Opera.

In line for the show.

On Wednesday morning, we departed Vegas for the fabulous city of Scottsdale (oh, I love home!), to have Christmas and New Years with my family.  My parents made us a delicious dinner and then we opened presents. 

   

 

After presents, we played a board game that my parents got us, Clue.  But it's not just any Clue...it's quite possibly the BEST Clue ever...it's Harry Potter Clue!

  

As the night went on and our game of Harry Potter Clue finished, we had about an hour to spare before ringing in the New Year.  At this point, I was so tired and getting goofy, that I would have gladly went to bed at 11...but we stayed up.  At midnight, we toasted sparkling cider and popped a bunch of party favor poppers in the backyard.  Fun, fun!

Then, this morning we left Scottsdale around 10am, since Jerm worked today at 2pm, and as I said before, we're pooped.  So, our whirlwind trip has come to a close and it's quite possible that we'll never do it again.  Maybe I should do the holiday planning next year and not leave it up to Jerm. :)

As for presents, we both got some great stuff this year!  Jerm got a bunch of Blue-Ray DVDs, some much needed clothes, ESPN magazine and some other great stuff.  I got a ton of stuff, but I am particularly excited about my peanut butter variety pack (yes, I am a nerd and I asked for peanut butter for Christmas) and my blanket/wrap/snuggie thing (I wearing in the picture above)!  There will most likely be blogs about these to specific items in the near future, so stay tuned.

We had a great Christmas and New Years and we hope that you all did too!  Hopefully, 2009 be a great year for all our family and friends!

 

Our first picture of 2009...we look a little tired...