Football in Vegas

This past year in the Arena League off season a new team came into the picture....the Las Vegas Outlaws.  The team was rumored for awhile because it had a major player in ownership. Vince Neil.  Yeah, the one from Motley Crue.

Over the off season the team became official and the decision to make a road trip there to see C's team play them was made.  I was excited to see exactly how they did things, knowing that the previous years new team, the LA KISS, owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS, went pretty far over the top during games.  Girls dancing in cages above the field, rock star hair band half time shows, electric guitar National Anthems, you know, the usual family football fare.

Well, C's second game of the season, and first road game, happened to be against Las Vegas.  My momma and I packed our bags and headed out on a Friday afternoon about 2 weeks ago.  Yeah, a Las Vegas road trip at 33 weeks pregnant.  Totally normal! Also, I was a terrible blogger and took minimal pictures....so sorry about that!

Normally, the drive there is about 4.5 hours which is quite do-able.  Unfortunately, there was a huge accident the day we left that closed down both directions of the two lane highway that is the one major road to Las Vegas.  What a bummer.  Reports said the roads were going to be closed for about 4 hours, so we had to make the decision to take another route, which added about an hour and a half to our travel time.

We cut it waaayyyy to close on an empty gas tank which made for an interesting portion of the ride.  Us girls just got to talking and totally spaced it!  We finally made it into the city around 8pm.  We checked into our hotel, the Westgate Resort (previously the Las Vegas hotel) and grabbed some dinner with C. I couldn't hang much later so we headed off to bed for the night.

The next day we ate at the hotel, said hi to C before his meetings and headed out to shop. First stop?  The Coach outlets of course! For lunch we went to one of my favorite places, the Grand Luxe Cafe.  They closed the one in AZ, so I always go there when in Las Vegas.  My mom didn't quite understand how amazing their dessert, beignets, really are.  That was until she tried them.  She was in heaven too!

After a big lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest before the game, which I am so glad we did.  We headed to the game pretty early so we could watch C and the team do their warmups around 5:15.  Too bad they don't actually open the doors to the arena until 6pm! Oops. We stood outside chatting with other fans until they let us in.

The game was not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be.  Part of that was that we lost (womp, womp) and were down almost the entire game.  The other part though, was I was hoping for a crazy fun experience like the LA KISS team had provided last year and it wasn't that at all.  Their dancers weren't very good (and their uniforms were soooo boring), the arena wasn't set up for football at all (there was no score board telling us the downs or what yard line we were on....which is important in football), the music was pretty muffled and nothing really just felt exciting in general.  I guess the most exciting moment of the show was that a stripper sang the National Anthem. Just kidding. Thats not exciting, that's terrible.

The only photo I got during the game, go #6!

 After the game we headed out with the team to Gordon Biersch for some grub.  Half the team didn't even come though, they were too dejected over the loss.  Everyone thought this was an easy win...that's what happens when you get complacent. The bummer is, C's team will forever go down in history as the first team the Las Vegas team EVER beat!  Oops!

The next day, the boys left really early.  I'm talking 6am.  Never fun after a late night in Vegas!  Mom and I took our sweet time getting up and getting out of town.  We stopped for coffee, gambled at my favorite casino, the Cosmopolitan, saw a show at my happy place (the Bellagio water fountains) and then grabbed some lunch before hitting the road.

Not gonna lie, I think this was an accidental photo, but its the only one I've got!

All in all it was a good trip. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a win!

Now, a lot of people ask me if I go to all of C's road games and that would be an emphatic no!  That would just be too pricey.  The first two years, the only away games I went to was the Arena Bowl each year.  Last year, I went to LA and Portland (near where my brother lives....also the trip we ended up getting engaged on!). This year, I just plan on doing one or two more trips to LA.  The second one will be about a month and a half after Noah is born, so it depends on how he handles car rides!

Vegas Baby (moon)!

A few weeks ago C and I took a mini trip for my birthday and also dubbed it our “babymoon.” I wish we could have gone somewhere super exciting and glamorous (aka relaxing haha) for the babymoon but with his season starting in just two weeks, it wasn’t really possible.

So I settled for a weekend in Vegas.  A perfect place for a pregnant woman right?

C had never been and I’ve been itching to go for a while now, so I thought it would be fun to introduce him to the city and spend some time there.  Since I’m not really big into drinking, I was perfectly fine spending a sober weekend there.  All I wanted to do was see a show or two, walk around the strip and play my favorite penny slot machine, Zeus II.

We drove up on Friday night after we both got off of work.  I wish we could have spent longer, but since C is still working retail, getting a few days off in a row (especially on a weekend) is really tough.  After the 5 hour drive we arrived in Vegas around 10pm (11pm AZ time) and immediately checked into our hotel.  Since we were staying only one night, they upgraded us to a fancy suite!  This place had a double door entrance, which was quite exciting.  We had two separate bathrooms, one with a huge Jacuzzi tub and one with a gorgeous rain shower, a living room and another separate sitting area.  All for $87! Treasure Island hotel treated us well.

Fancy double doors!

After dumping our luggage, we hit the strip.  I had so much fun showing C all of the sights and different hotels.  There is soooo much to see in Vegas.  Somehow, I was able to stay up walking around the strip until 3am before my body finally told me that was enough (which actually is 4am AZ time). I am so proud of myself for hanging on that long! Crazy enough, I popped out of bed at 8:30am the next day too, an hour before our alarm was supposed to go off.  I NEVER do that….especially on my birthday. I love sleeping in!  I must have been the excitement of it all :)

The only photo we have of the strip at night...

Saturday was my actually birthday, so after getting ready we headed over to the Venetian resort and had lunch at the Grande Luxe Café.  I don’t know if you have this place where you live (it’s owned by the same company as Cheesecake Factory) but I highly suggest you go if you do. Also, you CAN NOT leave without ordering their beignets for dessert. They are heavenly. We used to have one in AZ but they closed it, so anytime I go to Vegas it’s a must visit place!

Seriously. THE. BEST.

After lunch we headed over to the Cosmopolitan hotel (which is absolutely gorgeous) to do a bit of gambling and also to see some shows at one of my happy places, the Bellagio hotel fountains.  I could sit there for hours watching the water dance in time to the music.  So beautiful.  While we were there some guy came up to ask us if we wanted to go to some club and when I turned around he just started stammering and finally spit out “pregnant.” Oh man, it made my day!  He didn’t think I was pregnant at all until I turned around, then realized we wouldn’t be going to any clubs that night!  Thanks buddy, one of the best moments of my trip!

The bump in the elevator mirror

Later in the day we headed over to our next hotel, the SLS.  This is a new hotel is Vegas on the far end of the strip.  C knows someone who knows someone, so we also got a fancy suite at this hotel for $80.  It was a REALLY trendy hotel, which is fine, but I can’t see it lasting for years to come! This room was pretty cool as well, it was a 2 room suite and everything in it was pretty much white with hints of black and some pink (quite manly yes?).  

After getting ready, we headed over to the Mirage because we had tickets for a show I’ve wanted to see for probably 10 years, the Cirque Du Soleil show, Beatles LOVE. We weren’t super hungry at the time to we grabbed a Starbucks and a protein pack and C sat down at a blackjack table.  20 minutes later we had $100 more than we started with!  

The show was pretty amazing, though for me it was also a bit disappointing.  C had never seen a Cirque du Soleil show so I was really talking them up, telling him about all the crazy, high flying things they do and how incredible it really is.  Well, this show was more about the music than the “cirque” so I was left wanting.  Had I known going in it wasn’t going to be as crazy circus like, I would have really enjoyed it.  Oh well.  Next trip to Vegas I am going to see a different show!

After the show I we had a super tasty burger and friend pickles and wandered around gambling and watching more Bellagio shows.  I was getting super tired at around 10pm so we headed back to our hotel.  After a change into comfier clothes though, I had a burst of energy and I watched C play more black jack for a couple more hours.  I can watch someone play all day, but darn it that game is so intimidating to me in a setting like Vegas!

I snuck this photo of the finale...pics weren't allowed!

Nothing beats the Bellagio at night....stunning

The next morning we headed back over to the Cosmopolitan for our buffet meal of the trip.  We hit up the Wicked Spoon buffet….oh man was it good!  I love buffets like that, because I am actually comfortable eating the food and there are a lot of different foods I will eat.  C loves Chinese buffets, but I just can’t handle them! The dessert table at the Wicked Spoon was just to die for….I got way too much but I ate almost all of it!

Finally we hit up the Planet Hollywood casino to look for some cheap black jack tables (read $5 or $10 buy ins) and ended up seeing a table where they were playing War. Like the War I used to play when I was 10.  It was sooooo easy!  We stayed there for probably 2 hours.  I finally felt like a real adult playing with real poker chips instead of a flashing penny machine.  So much fun. Before we left, we of course had to hit up one more Bellagio show!

The only time you'll ever see C in heels

 Sadly our time had come to an end and we had to head back to Phoenix.  Why does the drive home always seem so much longer than the way there?  I miss Vegas already, but I’m excited to get to go back for one of C’s games in early April, as long as baby doesn’t complain too much around then.  I’m hoping my body will be able to handle it because I will be over 8 months pregnant by then!

Vegas 2.0

I had a blast in Vegas with my brother and his friend.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip!

We stayed at the Treasure Island Hotel. It was actually a very nice hotel, especially for the price! Its  near the center of the strip, next to Ceasars Palace and the Mirage so its also a great location.

On our first night there we got the big drinks.  This one was shaped like the Eifle Tower and boy was it heavy!  I'm actually holding my brothers drink in the picture.  I didn't get one because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it and I wasn't about to pay $23 for that.  I'm glad I didn't....neither of the boys finished theirs. And that was with my help!

We spent the second day walking around, gambling, hanging out at the pool and eating. That evening we went and saw the Cirque Du Soleil show Mystere, which was playing at our hotel.  We got buy one, get one free tickets with our hotel package and boy was that a deal! Still at $75 a pop the show was awesome!  I would definitely recommend it!

The third day we hit up my first ever buffet (well I mean, besides Sizzlers, which should NOT count). It was soooooo good!  I will definitely be doing that again.  I think we hit it at the perfect time.  We went during what was considered brunch.  That means the price was still cheaper but we got to choose from both breakfast and lunch foods.  Oh and we got a yummy mimosa!

After the buffet we attempted to walk off our food but ending up at some penny machines safe in a comfy chair.  Oh man was I full.  It was definitely one of those "unbutton you jeans to feel better" moments. Thankfully I was smart and wore stretch leggings! I made the boys go to the Bellagio hotel with me to see a few shows.  This is seriously one of my happy places.  I love watching the water dance and sway to the music. It just puts me in such a great mood. I can't help but have a big smile on my face during every show I watch!

Since it was our last night in Vegas we decided to go all out.  The boys "suited up" and I put on a fancy dress and curled my hair. We ate dinner at Grand Luxe Cafe in the Palazzo hotel and spent the evening gambling.

They are pretending to look way too "cozy" with their martinis.  Not cool boys.

My brother and I....he looks a little....drunk

He's so classy when he gambles.....

So, thats my trip in pictures!  We drove home the next afternoon and I got to see C.  He also met my brother which was awesome. I picked him up and we went to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill.  Which I really....love.  They alway's have live country music (which C really enjoys) and you get to drink beer out of mason jars.  C even asked me to two step with him (can you say adorable?), although it didn't last long because of his leg injury. The boys got to chat and I was content just sitting there watching my two favorite people get to know each other.  Sadly, the night didn't last too long because we had to be at the airport by 7am the next morning. 

Next stop.....Tampa, Florida!

Radio Silence….A.K.A. Vacation!

So….my brother Shay is coming to Phoenix on Sunday!  I am so incredibly excited.  Having your best friend living at the opposite end of the United States (upstate NY) stinks.  Being in the Navy his work schedule is always funky and the 3 hour time difference doesn’t help!  But for the next two weeks….he is all mine!

We planned on going to C’s game on Sunday after he landed, but C is still injured.  Hopefully he will play next week. Anywho, I guess that means we will have to find something else to do.  I’m sure Cheesecake Factory and In N Out will be on his list of “must visit” places, we can shove our faces full of tasty food. J

Monday we are heading to Vegas!  His Navy friend is coming along on the trip and he has never been to Phoenix or Vegas.  I always love seeing places I am familiar with through someone else’s eyes when they visit for the first time. I always find a new appreciate for things. The boys have all sorts of plans for Vegas. Cirque du Soleil shows, indoor sky diving, and go kart racing top the list. You know the normal things.  The boys tried to make me pack a suit because they want to “suit up.” Sorry, not going to happen.  I will not be wearing a work suit in Vegas. I want to look cute!  They seriously went and bought new suits for this trip.  Clearly they have too much disposable income!

After Vegas we are driving back home to Phoenix and then flying to Tampa Bay, FL with my mom to visit my grandmother.  I have a feeling it will be four days on non-stop card playing, puzzles and beach visits.  Sounds perfect to me.  Shay and I are also planning on going to the happiest place on earth. Yep that’s right, DISNEYWORLD!  Woo hoo!  My brother knew if he asked me if I wanted to go there’s no way I’d ever say no.  I seriously love that place!

I’m thankful that I am coming home for at least one evening in between trips.  That means I don’t have to go a whole week and a half without seeing C.  Yeah, I’m sappy like that.  But not ashamed of it!  Plus, I really want him to meet and get to know my brother as much as possible since Shay doesn’t come home very often.

This will be a much needed vacation for me since I have been so busy at work with tax season.  It will probably complete radio silence here as I will be busy having fun!

Over and out!

All over in a day

I made it back from Vegas in one piece!

I think I ended up spending $60 (including all my food) on the whole trip.  That is definitely a win.

I didn't spend a single minute behind the wheel of the car, R drove the whole time.  We were going to split the drive back, but you better believe I didn't say anything when it was time to switch.

A's friend in Vegas was a very nice older woman who lives in the same complex as most of his old teammates. She basically let us have the run of the house. She was seriously amazing.  I had a room all to myself (not that I slept much) and she provided food and drinks for the evening. Can't get much better than that.

When we talked about going out on Friday night, I just assumed we were going to the strip. Silly me!  A and his lovely friend that joined us (complete with purchased assets, hooker heels and a washcloth for a dress) decided they wanted to go to someplace called "Townsquare" which was downtown and most definitely not on the strip.  It was basically a giant shopping mall with a few bars. The first place we went charged $10 a drink and played only latin music.   The second place had much better music and a lot more people. But still, we are in Vegas people!  R and I finally made them drop us off on the strip. 

R and I gambled and roamed around until 3 in the morning when we decided to do something you can only do in Vegas.  We ate dinner at a Steakhouse. In a casino. At 3am.  After that we headed straight home for bed!

Couldn't sleep much though (I was freezing) so I was out of bed again by 8am.  R and I ate breakfast then headed to the strip for a bit more fun.  Put $8 in a penny slot machine and came away with $30. No its not big money, but hey thats $22 more than I started with!

We had to say goodbye to Vegas around 2pm. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm glad I got the chance to go at all!

A keeps texting me now and asking me to go again.  In fact today he told me to quit my job and go to Vegas with him.  I have a feeling this is defnitely not my last trip there with the boys!