Viva Las Vegas!

We were totally lazy when we woke up on Wednesday morning. Neither of us were able to sleep in initially. I woke up and made some calls to make sure all was going well at home and Derek's phone was ringing off the hook as he had several closings happening that morning. But after laying around til about 9:45, dozing in and out of sleep, we decided we had better get going on the day. We took our time getting ready. It was weird to not be in hurry for once and it actually took us a really long time to get ready because we'd get side-tracked laughing and talking. We finally made it to The Studio Cafe for breakfast at around noon. Derek tried steak and eggs for his first time and I enjoyed biscuits and gravy...a childhood favorite.

We planned to spend the day on the Strip just walking and stopping whenever or wherever. We stopped in little souvenir shops and found a little Angry Birds t-shirt for Lincoln. He's obsessed with Angry Birds and even more obsessed with wearing t-shirts of things he's obsessed with. Derek thinks it's adorable, but I must admit that it drives me nuts most of the time!

Next we made the classic stops to the M&M and Coke factories. I'm would usually never get suckered into buying anything in those stores but since the boys would be hoping for surprises when we got home, we couldn't resist the M&M light sabers we found. Lincoln has been wanting a red light saber since we went to Disneyland in March. Since Santa is bringing him that toy, we couldn't pass up a mini one filled with candy to tide him over for two more months.

We were looking forward to going to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. Most of the shops are way to awesome for us, but we had a good time looking at all of the things we could never afford! We got totally sucked into H&M and both of us stocked up on clothes for our birthday and Christmas. Eeek! I can't wait. Oh how excited I am for H&M to join is in Salt Lake soon! (Does anyone know when it's really coming? I always look for a date, but haven't found one yet.)

When we realized what time it was after our shopping spree at H&M we had to book it back to our hotel. My little brother Corbin had received his mission call that day! We were sad that we missed being there, but we were able to be there via Skype. I heart Skype! I was able to talk to all of the family members that came over and then we were able to watch and listen to him very clearly. I seriously felt like I was really a part of the whole thing. And he is going to Bangkok, Thailand speaking the Thai language, leaving March 7th! He's such a stud and I know he'll be a great missionary. Corbin and I have become really close over the past few years. Bless his heart, if he gets talking to me long enough, I just ramble on and on about my life as a wife and Mom...not exactly what an 18 year old wants to hear about, but he is such a good listener! And I have tried to be there for him too. I'm going to miss him so much, but I am so excited to share his missionary experiences with him through letters and emails.

We had tickets to see Lion King at Mandalay Bay so we booked to catch the monorail over there. We hadn't eaten since breakfast because we were stuffed all day, but I was starting to get hungry and I knew I'd be famished if I didn't eat anything before the play got out. Our only option was to grab a thing of nuggets from McD's to eat on the monorail. Gross huh? But, you wouldn't believe how amazing those nuggets tasted in my starving stomach. Mmm. The Lion King was phenomenal! We pretty much haven't stopped talking about it since we left. Go see it!

Horrible pic, but it's all we have

To make up for our lack of food during the day, we ate at Rainforest Cafe on our way back to our room. We've heard people rave about the food, and it was alright, but not amazing. I made Derek get a picture by the gorilla in front of the restaurant because we just watched Zookeeper last week. The gorilla here looks just like the one in the movie, and we loved the gorilla!

We made it back to our room and Derek tried to keep me awake to watch Funny Farm. He can't believe I haven't seen it and it was one of the only things on Netflix we haven't seen. Their instant viewing selection pretty much stinks, unless it's cartoons for the kids.

Update on the boys: Heidi went to our house early Wednesday morning to take over while my Mom went to the temple and Carli went to school and work. She did an awesome job getting the kids ready for the day and keeping them entertained for the morning. She took the boys to play with Ella, Hannah, Crew and Ava for the afternoon. A big thanks to Kristin too. She definitely had her hands full with 6 kids 5 and under, but she's always more than willing to help out! My Mom picked up the boys in the early evening to get them cleaned up for the family gathering that night. Then her and Carli took them home that night to sleep. The boys had a fun day and we loved seeing their cute faces on Skype...although, apparently it's all good that Derek left the boys, but it's really not cool that I did. Lincoln and Carter are willing to talk to him on Skype or on the phone, but they're not that stoked to talk to me. Carter especially. Lincoln knew what was coming, but Carter feels totally abandoned by the one who's there for him all day every day. I can't wait to get home on Saturday and win him over again :)