A Honeymoon

After my go at being a single mom for 2 1/2 months last summer while Derek was doing out rotations, I decided I needed a vacation.  Derek got a bit of spontaneity and booked some plane tickets to Vegas.  A month or two ago we planned the activities we wanted to do while there.  We weren't planning on a vacation before residency.  We planned to use any extra loan money for a new washer and dryer or moving expenses or something important.  But the trip was booked and nonrefundable.  By the time our trip came we had decided to buy a house and other expenses came up.  Neither of us were excited to even go anymore.  But we couldn't do anything about the money we could have saved so we just went.  Tried to have fun.  And fun we did have.
So after 7 years of marriage we finally got a honeymoon.  When you get married the last weekend of Spring Break you don't get a honeymoon.
We left our kids with Brooke and Mikel. It was so nice to get away without kids. When we got to the airport Derek noticed a bunch of missionaries who were getting ready to leave and I was looking for lunch. After we ordered he pointed out the boys in black and I turned to see. Oh my heck! That is David Archuleta! Derek didn't believe me. But it totally was. There was a lady getting her picture taken with him. I was a little star struck, but not enough to go get a picture with him, in the middle of the food court, a bazillion people watching. So I just took a stalker picture and posted it on facebook:)

Flying isn't my favorite thing.  The take off and pressure change reminded me of my forever long dizziness and head aches.  That was a bad time in my life and I don't want any reminders so our 1 hour flight was about an hour too long.  It was perfect that our plans for the night were to stay in and relax.

The next day we spent the morning at the temple.

That night we went to Mystere by Cirque Du Soleil.

We stayed off the strip to save some cash and avoid the torturous stench of the casinos so we decided to walk to the show and explore on the way. Only one block away from our hotel my feet started hurting. Yes I chose cute over comfort. And now I have officially become an adult because cute is so not worth it. Not after you walked 7 blisters into the bottom of your feet on the first day of your vaca. Ouch! But the show was AMAZING! Derek really wanted to go to another show the next night but they don't come cheap.

We played tourist for a bit.  

I barely made it to the hotel on my sore feet.  At some point I took off my shoes.  It didn't help and it turned my feet black.  Derek carried me for a sec but that was almost equally as painful.  I just limped all the way back and found some ice.  Stupid shoes.

Luckily I had some band aids in my purse. The next morning I bandaged my feet and put on some comfy flip flops and we were off for another fun day.

We went to the Bodies World Exhibit.  It was pretty cool.  I'm sure Derek appreciated it more than me because he spent the last 4 years with his head consumed with studying the body.  All that education came to life for him.  To me, it just looked cool. 

Then we headed to Hoover Dam.

That night we ate at a buffet.  Derek was super excited to eat sushi.  I'm not a fan.  But it was nice to eat real food and not fast greasy belly ache food.

We walked along the strip for a while and stopped at the Fountains at Bellagio.

That was fun.

Our last day in the city was nice and short. We walked through some of the cool hotels and shops.  Took some more silly touristy pictures :)

And we found the roller coaster at New York New York.  We I thought about trying the rides on the Stratosphere, but decided I wanted to live to see my children again :)  Besides, the New York New York was stinkin scary awesome enough.

When we finally walked off the dizzy we headed to the airport.  It was a great time away together, without kids.  It was a long awaited honeymoon.  It was super stinky smoky.  And it was time to go home.