Vegas. How many times can I say "fancy"?

Well finally. Here are the Vegas pictures. Someone asked my sister if we drink or gamble, when she said no they wanted to know why in the world would we go to Vegas. Good question, but I LOVED it! I loved seeing everything. I think the hotel has to be one of the nicest in Vegas--maybe the nicest! I felt like Ellie Mae so many times.

Here is the hotel. The Palazzo. It is brand new.

Blogger won't let me move my pictures and they are out of order. But here is the Vegas picture everyone HAS to take.

This is shopping. Inside. The ceiling looks like the sky and it freaks you out. It is beautiful.

Here is our hotel room. There were three TVs--one in that cabinet across from the couch, one across from the bed (and you could see both from the bed) and one in the bathroom. I do not have any pictures of the bathroom on here, but it was NICE. It had a marble vanity, a phone in the toilet room, and fancy bathrobes like on TV. (Notice my Ellie coming out there?)

Luke was allergic to the down comforter and pillows.

I took this picture from our window. Nice view even though it was not "the strip". We were on the 30th floor.

This is inside the hotel. It is like a fancy mall and it is part of the hotel. They only have stores that I can't afford. Barney's New York, Dolce, Dior, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, and Prada--places like that. Nice to look at anyway.

This is part of the mall where they have some restaurants. It is called St. Mark's Square. They have performances and even weddings here. We saw one wedding going on here right before we saw our only celebrity sighting. The Mario Batali restaurant we ate at was here too.


We walked up to see the famous fountains at the Bellagio. I loved it. I could have stayed there for hours. Except it was almost midnight. And it was still over 100 degrees and I had sweat running all over me.


See I look sweaty. It was 112 that day and I do not believe it cooled off ANY after dark.

We took one day to go to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. It was amazing. The lake is beautiful.

The dam is huge.

The mountains are ugly.



See. No trees. No grass. Dessert mountains. Ugly but awesome. God is something else isn't he? To make this and the the mountains in Virginia. So different from each other. I really need to see the snow capped mountains-like Colorado maybe. Talk about amazing--I have no pictures, but flying over the Grand Canyon on the way home was something I will never forget.

I really loved this whole trip. Vegas is pretty and strange and fancy and wild. The lake and the dam were awesome to see, along with some dessert. We stopped in Boulder City and I bought turquoise Indian jewelry. We drove across the dam into Arizona so I could say I have been there (Ellie again). We ate the best food I have ever eaten in my life (thank you Emeril!!), and spent more money on food that I ever imagined we would. I ate in an Asian restaurant that was the fanciest place I have ever been, complete with several waiters who would not let anything sit on the table empty for 5 seconds and refilled the water glasses so much we wanted to smack them--and with a lady in the bathroom to hand me a paper towel after I washed my hands (my very biggest Ellie moment). We watched one show but it was not that thrilling so we did not see any more even though we planned to. I got a manicure and a pedicure at the Canyon Ranch spa in the hotel.

We saw and did things I never thought I would see or experience. I realized how quickly you can get use to luxury and fancy living!! I had a rude awakening to that once I went to the bathroom in the airport after all the fancy bathrooms in the hotel and shopping.

Best of all was the fact that Luke and I got to spend time together alone. We have not taken a trip like this ever and the only time we have left the kids like this was when we came to Texas to find our house. It was nice and I am so thankful to my sister and both grandmas for watching our kids!!!!

As for that celebrity sighting, it was someone that Luke did not even recognize. I am not sure what it says that he did not know who she was but I did immediately. We started following her and Luke was taking pictures. Amy probably does not know who she is either. She has a show on the Vegas strip and she use to live in the playboy mansion. Any guesses?? Guess and I will show you a picture next time!