3 Years! (With added pictures)

No... Aaron is not 3 already, haha, Bryce and I had our 3rd anniversary this past week and decided to go on a trip, without Aaron. I have to admit that I was nervous when we were packing but once we dropped his off at Bryce's Aunt Ellen's house I never felt nervous or guilty the whole time! I had total faith in Ellen and Bryce's Aunt Kathy and I let that calm my fears. More than anything I was worried that everyone would regret agreeing to watch him! :D

So to our trip..... We went to Las Vegas! We left Monday and came back Thursday, so we were away from Aaron for 4 days. Sadly, not too many pictures were taken but we do have a few. We went with our friends Nate and Aimee, and they have a few more pictures that I need to get still.

We arrived on Monday and took the hotel's shuttle to the strip. We walked through the forum shops at Caesar's, the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Fashion Show Mall (where we bought lemonade from hot dog on a stick YUM) from there we WALKED to the Stratosphere..... BIG BIG BIG mistake. It was an intense walk and we met some interesting people on the way as well. One lady, who had no teeth, came up to ask if we had money for cigarettes and then proceeded to say "Hey redhead! Did you know that we are supposed to be extinct in 2016?!" She then used some very expressive language as we kept walking away, thank goodness the light changed and we could walk. We finally got to the Stratosphere and went up to the top. When we were done, we took a cab back to Fashion Show Mall.

(Atrium in the Mirage)

(Aimee and I on the top of the Stratosphere.)

Tuesday we went and saw The Hunger Games at the theater in The Orleans (We stayed just a couple of blocks down from the Orleans.) I was so happy to finally see it! Bryce had not read the book so I was really hoping he would like it and he did! After the movie we went to the pool at the hotel we stayed at and hung out for a little while. It was so nice to sit in the sun! Then we went to the strip again and walked from Caesar's to New York, New York. Bryce and Nate rode the roller coaster there and then we went out to eat at the Harley Davidson Cafe. After that we headed back to see the water show outside of the Bellagio. It was so much fun! I was excited for Bryce to see it and he LOVED it.

(Outside of New York, New York.... the Brooklyn Bridge... we are the little specks in front of the middle post)

(The Harley Davidson Cafe.... Love the HUGE Harley coming out of the front!)

Wednesday we made a very wise decision and bought passes for "The Deuce" a bus system that drives up and down the strip and picks up in front of all the main hotels. So we rode it from Caesar's to Mandalay Bay and went to their awesome aquarium! One of their tanks is 1.3 million gallons of water and it has over 30 sharks, a turtle, and HUGE fish (one of which was a very very ugly tuna.) There was also a petting tank where you could pet stingrays and horseshoe crabs. the list of all their exhibits/animals can be found here http://www.sharkreef.com/explore/exhibits.aspx

(In front of Mandalay Bay)

(Bryce petting a horseshoe crab)

(Me petting a stingray.... This one actually swam right up to me and stared at me for a little bit while I was petting it! It was amazing)

After Mandalay Bay we went to MGM, M&M World, and then back to Caesar's to catch the shuttle. Bryce and I went to our Hotel to eat dinner and then headed back to the strip to the Venetian to see Phantom, the Las Vegas Spectacular. It is in an amazing theater that was built for the show, and it is beautiful!!! The show itself is a shortened down version of the play, the story line is pretty close to the one that they use in the movie, including the fact that the chandelier falls at a different time. There were fireworks and wonderful sets! I am so happy that we got to see it! After the show we looked around the Venetian a little more and then headed to the Paris. I loved walking around in there! They had a shop and restaurant area that you walked through little cobblestone streets and it felt just like Paris, on a very small scale :D It made we want to go back and take Bryce!

(Inside of the Venetian)

(Bryce in front of the "Eiffel Tower".... Classic Bryce face hahaha)

Thursday we woke up and packed up. We had to run an errand and then went to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign to take pictures. I had seen this on pinterest and wanted to start doing it with Bryce on all of our trips, so we started in Vegas! It was hard with the sign.... since it is up in the air, but I think it turned out ok!

I had so much fun! And it was so nice to be able to spend time with Bryce. I don't realize how much attention I have to give to Aaron all the time and Bryce gives to school and how much that takes away from us spending time together. It was nice to be able to just be able to pay attention to each other. I absolutely love Bryce and I am so grateful for all that he does for our little family. He is the perfect match for me.... we truly complete each other and support each other in everything! I love you Bryce!