A Vegas Wedding

So…what have Jeremy, Sara and Diesel been up to lately?  Well, through out the month of March, I was busy traveling all around California, for work.  In fact, every weekend last month, I was out of town.  I was in: San Francisco, Sacramento, this past weekend Jeremy and I were in VEGAS!  Why were we in Vegas?  For the wedding of Jeremy’s good friend, Greg. 

Greg was in our wedding:

And now, Jeremy was in his:

Good times! 

We spent about 3 days in Vegas for the various wedding festivities, including the rehearsal dinner, wedding and brunch.  Plus, we got a chance to hang out with friends and relax.

   

The groom and his men.

Cake.

  

Friends.

The bride and groom.

Sadly, Diesel did not get to come with us to Vegas.  He went to “camp” instead, a.k.a his doggie resort and had a great time.   But he’s doing fabulous and hasn’t eaten anything, within the past 2 months, that has required an emergency trip to the vet!  So, that’s always a plus, right?

Where Did the Past 2 Years Go?

Hola friends!  I’m done with traveling for work for the year…yippee skippee!  Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled blogging.  Oh wait, my slaking started before I started traveling….hmmm.  Ok, well now I’m REALLY going to get back in the swing of things!  Promise.  There shall be consistent updates on Diesel, on us and on our adventures.  Plus, Christmas is coming up and it’s just the most wonderful holiday EVER, so you can bet that I’ll have a lot to Christmas related posts coming up.

Well, Jeremy and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary a few weeks ago on October 27th!  Whoop whoop!  2 years down…many, many, many, many more to go.   Let’s take a moment to reminiscence, shall we?

 

That was a fun trip down memory lane, wasn’t it?  Anyway, I was traveling for work on the day of our anniversary, so we planned a vacation for the following week.  Where did we go, you ask?  LAS VEGAS!

We spent about 4 days in “the city that doesn’t sleep,” and enjoyed various activities such as laying by the pool, making sports bets (Jeremy), shopping (Sara), watching the Lions in the habitat, eating, walking around The Strip and seeing a show. 

During our stay, we resided at The Signature at MGM Grand and I highly recommend it!  We were on the 37th floor (out of 38) and had an awesome view of the city.  Our room even had a kitchenette in it complete with a mini fridge, microwave, dishes, silverware, cups, placemats, everything!  It was nice because we brought a lot of snacks and if we had leftovers from meals, we could always re-heat them later. 

Not our actual room, but it looked just like this!

Our actual kitchen, complete with our snacks.

 

The view.

As I mentioned, we took in a show too.  We saw Cirque de Soleil’s Ka, which is showing at the MGM Grand.  It was a really cool show!  The performers do so many crazy tricks and jumps and the theater itself is pretty amazing.  The only thing that was a bit odd was the plot.  Of course, there was no dialogue and generally one could grasp the concept of the story…but there were moments where Jeremy and I looked at each and said, “Are we on drugs?  This is so strange!”  But ehhh, that’s Vegas for you, and we’re still really glad that we saw the show. 

All in all, it was an enjoyable trip for our 2nd anniversary!  Here are some additional pictures from the trip:  

  

Just arrived…it was 12:30am, which is why we both look tired.

Studying for his sports bets over brunch.

Mmmmm, coffee.

Feeding time at the Lion Habitat.

Hanging out.

   

Laying out by the pool.

     

About to go see Ka.

And before I complete his post, here is a picture of our Diesel.  No post would be complete without him, would it?  Stay tuned for my next post and a new segment on our blog, which could quite possibly turn into a weekly segment, called, “What did Diesel Eat Now?”

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...

"I Love The Vegas!"

Is it seriously July already?! Where has the year gone? Well, Jeremy and I just got back from our little vacation to LAS VEGAS! We had had this vacation planned for about a month and half and were definitely looking forward to getting away for a bit. Just like our trip to Vegas, earlier this year, we met up with our good friends, Greg and Britany, for our fun filled weekend.

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood during our three and a half day trip and enjoyed hanging out in "The Vegas." The Planet Hollywood hotel is still in the process of getting a "face lift" from it's former life as the Aladdin. The decor of the casino, lobby and pool were very modern; however, to our slight disappointment, our room on the 10th floor was still the Aladdin motif! Bummer. Maybe next time we'll get to see the modern and chic rooms.

On Friday night, we had a great time at Rumjungle in Mandalay Bay. Rumjungle is a restaurant/club with a fun atmosphere and delicious food. Plus, what club in Vegas would be complete without go-go dancers in elevated cages!

During the day on Saturday, Britany and I went to a beauty trade show, which was the whole reason this trip came to be. The trade show was fun and there were so many cool hair, makeup and nail vendors. While wandering through the show, I bought a curling iron for way cheap and we bought some very delicious, oven baked popcorn! While Britany and I were at the trade show, Jeremy and Greg entered a poker tournament in our casino. And a big congrats is in order for my poker-playing-husband, who placed 9th out of 112 people and won $118! Woo Woo!!

Besides all that, we spent the rest of the weekend laying out by the pool, taking turns showering in the bathroom with no door (kinda weird), playing in the casino, eating, and my personal fave...shopping (I got some new makeup and a cute new pair of jeans)!

All in all, it was once again another fun weekend in Vegas! Of course, Jeremy already wants to plan another trip back, and I'm all up for it as long as he keeps his promise that we can finally go see "Phantom of the Opera." :)

Viva Las Vegas!

Jeremy's 24th Birthday

As 2008 continued to fly by, it was Valentine's Day and Jeremy's birthday (February 15th)before we knew it! Since it was the birthday boy's special day, we decided to go to one of his favorite places...VEGAS. Joining us in the festivities were our friends, Greg and Britany, who flew out from California for the celebration.

We stayed at the Luxor for our three day vacation and enjoyed spending time hanging around the "city that never sleeps."

On Jeremy's birthday, Britany and I planned to take the boys out to a "fancy" dinner. Greg's birthday was a few weeks earlier, and what better time than to celebrate with his good buddy, Jeremy! We enjoyed our great meal at the Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian, where this cute photo opportunity occurred.

Another highlight of our vacation, was when we saw Phoenix Sun: Sean Marks, San Antonio Spur: Manu Ginobili and Golden State Warrior: Andris Biedrins! While perusing the shops in Caesar's Palace, we first came across Biedrins doing some shopping with his wife/gf/whatever. Then, as we continued on our way, we noticed two other extremely tall guys walking around the shops...before we realized it, Marks and Ginobili were walking right past us and Jeremy was completely starstruck! None of us had the nerve to go up and ask for an autograph, but needless to say, Jeremy spent the rest of our time in the shops searching for more NBA stars.

Overall, we had a really great trip, and enjoyed spending time with each other and Greg and Britany. I'd give you more details about our trip, but you know what they say...

What happens in VEGAS, stays in VEGAS! :)