Vegas with Friends.....

Last month we went to Las Vegas with some friends!!! We had been planning this trip for a couple of months. Randy and I are so lucky to have such cool friends. We went with Jeff & Chanieca Moss, Cam & Ronni Blair and Paul & Heather McInnes. There are so many other friends that we could have gone with and had just as much fun. We really are blessed by the friends that we have!!!!

I was nervous going. It had been almost 5 years since we had taken a baby with us out of town. But, by the end of the weekend, I realized that we really lucked out. He did GREAT being dragged around the whole weekend!!!!

So, Friday around noon, the Blairs and us got in our Tahoe and headed to Vegas. Paul had to work most of the day and the Moss' we coming down from northern Utah, so they would meet up with us later.

The first thing we needed to do was go and see my niece, Amy and little Noah. This was right after Noah's near drowning and I just really needed to see HER and know that she was ok. When we stopped to see them, I was ok until I picked up Noah, that's when the tears started. Holding him made me realize how bad things could have been and how blessed that we were to still have him on Earth.
Then we stopped by my Grandma Albrecht's house and stopped by my Aunt Vicky's house to say "hello"!!!! (Thanks Cam and Ronni). It was kind of important for us to see them, even just for a minute.

After lunch, we checked into our hotel. We stayed at a Marriott and got 2, 2 bedroom suites. The property was amazing and deal we got was pretty sweet too (thanks Brian)!!!!

After The McInnes' and the Moss' got to town, we went to get dinner, hung out, laughed and then took at trip to the hot tub later that night.


Saturday morning, we got up and the boys wanted to go see where they film Pawn Stars. It was pretty cool to see what we see on TV all the time. It's a lot more ghetto in the store than the show will ever show you, but is there such thing as a "high class" pawn shop on the Las Vegas strip (or anywhere, for that matter)?

I had to take these pictures of Randy and Cam, it's the opening shot of the show!!!

After leaving the pawn shop, we parked at the MGM and walked up to the Coke and M & M shops. We showed up to the MGM just in time to see the lions!!! It was so fun. We were having a blast hanging out just as adults and the 2 babies.

I loved the Coke store, of course!!!! If I had all the money in the world, I would have bought a LOT in that store!!! Instead, we got pencils for the kids, a magnet, a key chain (ya know, the touristy stuff), a shirt and a charm bracelet!!!! ALL COKE!!!!!!

This is my motto in life!!!!!

For lunch, we went next door to the Hard Rock Cafe. This was one of my favorite things that we did. We just laughed, listened to good music and had a fun time.

Randy, me and the baby!!!!

Cam and Ronni!!!!

Jeff and Chanieca!!!!

Cam and Jeff!!!! haha!!!

And the whole group. I didn't get a couples picture of Paul and Heather (sorry guys, I don't know why I didn't).

The food was great and the company was even better than that!!!!



After lunch, the boys and girls split up. The girls took the babies and we went to the Fashion Show mall. While we were there, we all saw our first real fashion show!!! It was sooo cool. The lights, the clothes, the music.... it was really fun!!!! The boys did boy stuff, stores the girls don't care to go. Ya know, testosterone infested shops!!!!

We got back together at the hotel where Paul and Heather had made dinner for the night, roast beef sandwiches.... they were SOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!

Some of the girls wanted to get pedicures earlier in the day, but there wasn't a place to get them done at the mall, so after dinner, the we (the girls) met up with my niece, Amy at the Meadows Mall for pedicures!!!! It was so fun, just to be there, talking "girl".... ahhhh so relaxing.


Well, we went down the strip on the way back to the hotel and when we got back, we all realized how late it was. We had been gone for 3 hours. I felt so bad. I hadn't been watching the clock and I don't think any of the girls had. Our plans for that night were to play games all together. As you can imagine, when we got back to the hotel, the mood was a little tense because we were gone so long. We decided to jump in our jammies and play games anyway. That's when this story gets a little crappy for me.

I went in to get some PJs on and when I stood up from my bed, it felt like someone hit me in the back of the head with a bat. Bad enough that it threw me back onto the bed. Well, I laid down for a while, thinking that it was going to get better..... it didn't. I could hear everyone playing and I wanted to go out so bad, but I couldn't stand up. I finally got up and took some Benadryl to see if I could sleep. Well, HOURS went by, Randy went to bed and there I was, laying with the worse headache I have EVER EVER EVER had in my life. I couldn't sleep at all, my head hurt too bad. Morning came, still no sleep, and I still had the headache. Everyone went down and ate but Randy and I. I was so mad that my weekend was ending this way. Randy went to the gas station to get me some Tylenol and nothing was helping. I called our doctor's clinic and talked to the on-call doctor. He asked 2 questions, "did it come on suddenly?" and "is it the worse headache of your life?" The answers to both were YES. He suggested for me to go to the ER immediately because it could be an aneurysm or stroke. I didn't feel like going to the ER when we were going home in just a couple of hours. So, I called Gina and asked her to text her brother, Doug, who is an ER doctor in Montana. He called me right back and asked the same questions and then expressed to me how important it was to be seen right away.

So, I still wasn't feeling good about going to the ER in Vegas. I just wanted to get home. Thank goodness I was in the company of 5 amazing Priesthood holders and I had them give me a blessing. After the blessing, I knew that there was no right answer, but that going home to our ER was the better of the 2 bad choices. I understand that by doing so, if this was something serious, that I was risking my life and going against 2 doctor's advice.

We made it home pretty fast. At the ER, they did a CT scan and determined that I had a virus on my brain. It was not something really serious. Some pain meds, caffeine pills and time would make it all better. I feel really bad going against Doug's advice. I value his opinion (in more than just medicine) A LOT and I felt like I was betraying him and denying his knowledge.

So, it was a pretty crappy ending to a fun weekend with my friends. But, I will never forget the fun we had. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a LONG time!!!!


Thanks to all of our friends that we shared that time with. I know I will always remember how much fun we had. It was just what we all needed!!!!