So many months of waiting...and it finally came. Our anniversary weekend in Vegas and Danny's first Tough Mudder race! Which, to be honest, is the only reason we would ever chose to go to Vegas. But more important than the location was the fact that Danny and I were going alone. Solo. Sans the bambinos. We've never been away from the kids for more than one night, and we've always been within a half hour of them. This was going to be 3 days and 2 nights! We were so excited!
And I was so nervous to leave! Joey is so little still, and such a handful. I barely keep him alive! I felt a little bad for micromanaging my Mom, who was going to be with the kids over the weekend, in all the things to watch for with Joseph. Like she didn't manage to keep seven of her own toddlers alive! But she was nice and humored me. :)
As hard as it was to leave, it was only hard for about 45 minutes until we stopped in Lehi and had a yummy lunch at Cubby's. That's when I realized how amazing it was going to be to just be together for the weekend. This was going to be awesome.
The drive was uneventful. We listened to our audiobook, Arcanum Unbounded, and both of us caught a nap during the drive. We made good time, and got to Vegas at about 5:00 pm, though it took a bit longer to get through traffic and find the condo we were staying at. It turned out to be a nice place, and honestly way more room than we needed! Which was awesome. :) We unloaded the car (which took a glorious ONE trip!), changed, and then got back in the car to make our way to the Strip. We hate the Strip. Loathe it. But that's where we figured our best chance at an awesome dinner would be.
I had done some research on where to eat, and had such a hard time deciding. Really, the opportunity cost was killing me! We were only going to do the one big dinner...how do you choose?! We finally decided to go with the most highly recommended buffet, The Wicked Spoon in the Cosmopolitan. People are always raving about the buffets in Vegas, right? And at this point it was 8:00 pm and we were starving. So we navigated the Strip (which was definitely worse than I remembered it being) and finally found the restaurant...only to see a rather long line. I was ready to bail, but Danny brought up the fact that we didn't have anywhere else in mind to go...plus it would take at least another half hour of walking to get anywhere. So we stayed put. Then Danny noticed a sign that for $10 more per person you could be moved to the VIP line...which incredibly no one was in. So we happily paid the extra $20 and got seated. All said and done, this buffet was costing us $130! We had high expectations...
That weren't really met. Don't get me wrong, as far as a buffet goes, it had quite the selection! And the food was good. But it was still buffet food...and not, in our opinion, worth $130. The dessert table was amazing, and we were so excited about amazing desserts. But honestly, they were all show and no substance. Except for the gelato...that was seriously yummy. We loved the blood orange and the coconut.
After eating, we decided to wanted to see the Bellagio fountains as well as make our way to the Venetian and hit up Carlos' Bakery. We had WAY more fun in the casinos than out on the Strip! The Venetian is beautiful, and we walked through some shops and art galleries before making it to the bakery. On the way back to the car, we walked through the Bellagio so we could see the Chihuly ceiling and the Conservatory. I remembered taking the kids there when they were just little. It's a quick stop, but always worth the walk. We watched the end of one more fountain show, and then made our way back to the car. We had more than our fill of the Strip.
We slept wonderfully that night, and the best part was SLEEPING IN! My Mom didn't even let the kids call in the morning, bless her heart. :) We spent time on our phones, we dozed, we talked, and we ate our breakfast in bed...our cannoli and brownie from Carlo's Bakery. Honestly, the whole morning was perfection and quite possibly the highlight of our trip!
We really didn't have much we had to do on Friday, except for pre-register Danny for the race the next day. We couldn't do that until the late afternoon/evening, so that left us wide open for the day. We wanted to do a session at the Las Vegas Temple, but we needed food first. So we hit Hash House A Go-Go, which was another place that was highly recommended by our Facebook survey. :) Oh my gosh, it was so so good! We split the chicken and waffles, which was something we have always wanted to try. It was divine, and plated to perfection! It was a great atmosphere in the restaurant, and we were seated in such a way that we saw a lot of what came out of the kitchen. Everything looked beyond spectacular, and we decided we might just have to come back before the weekend was over! Admittedly, we got a little over-excited and ended up ordering one of their pancakes...which are beyond big! The red velvet pancake was awesome, though we only ate about 1/3 of it and couldn't eat another bite. It was a good thing the temple was on the extreme other end of town so we'd have some time to digest!
I cannot find the words to express how wonderful it was to be at the temple! Especially after the sensory and spiritual assault the night before on the Strip. I literally couldn't stop smiling! As it turned out, the Las Vegas temple does sealings every hour on the half hour...and we got there at 2:35 pm. So we could either wait in the chapel for nearly an hour or do a different ordinance. We decided on sealings, and I'm so glad we did. We had a wonderful sealer, and the spirit in those sealing rooms was wonderful. After we were finished with sealings, our sealer showed us to the celestial room, where Danny and I got to sit and enjoy that time together. We stayed there for probably 20 minutes or so, and we were the only ones there the entire time! The room was gorgeous, and it was so nice to not be rushed. We then took the opportunity to walk the grounds for a few minutes. It was the perfect way to spend our afternoon.
From there, we made our way back into town and found the Dick's where Danny was supposed to pre-register. He met up with some of his co-workers that he'd be running the race with, and we all got pretty excited that the Tough Mudder was happening the next day!
So when one is running a race the next day, one needs a really good dinner. :) We went to the next location that had been strongly recommended by a trusted friend, and hit Shake Shack for dinner. Oh my goodness...it was so good!! It was the best burger either of us had had in a long time, and fries were perfect. The peach pie custard we got wasn't too shabby either, but really the burgers stole the show. So so good!
After dinner, we went back to the condo to ensure we got to bed at a good time. We needed to be packed up and out the door somewhat early the next morning, and Danny needed his rest. We did watch a show before turning in, and again it was just so nice to cuddle and watch a show together! We missed the kids, but honesty we reveled in just being together.
And with Friday done, our weekend together was coming to a close. It was the best two days, and something both of us desperately needed. Danny and I got engaged so quickly, and became parents so quickly...and life has come at us just so quickly! In the last two years of Danny being the bishop, and especially this last year of him working on his masters degree as well, there hasn't been nearly enough time for us. We mostly work parallel to each other, and that is wearing on both of us. This time together was a reminder of why we do it all! Of WHY we ended up on this crazy adventure of life together. It's because, at the end of the day, we're crazy in love with each other. I honestly have no idea why Danny chose me, but I sure know why I chose him! And spending these couple of kid-free days together reminded us both of all the reasons why we're Danny and Katie...not just Dad and Mom and Bishop and all the rest of it. And my goodness, we like Danny and Katie. :)
Now it was time for the reason we decided to come to Vegas for our anniversary get-away...the Tough Mudder!
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