Weekend in Vegas

This last weekend Brent and I went to Vegas. #1- because Brent had never been before #2- to visit my friend Lolly and her cute family. She has been such a great friend of mine for several years, I like to go visit her at least once a year #3- to visit Brent's brother Brian, which is how we spent most of the trip. It was a lot of fun. Brent and I had a great drive there and back. Then we went straight to Lolly's house that Friday afternoon and Brent and Lolly finally got to meet each other. I talk about them to each other a lot. We hung out then went out to dinner.


Then we headed over to Brian's house on the other side of town and met some of his Vegas friends and went to sing at this Karaoke place at some casino. I thought it was pretty awesome. Super low key, everyone got to sing at least once, and there are some regulars at this karaoke place. Ernesto, an older gentleman who sings purely Frank Sinatra. It was great, it reminded me of an older guy on the cruise that I went on. Then there was an Asian lady who was also a regular who was pretty good. She told me that I did a great job singing "Natural Woman" and said that we should come back more often. If only I was not five hours away... I probably would take her up on it. After I was done singing "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin (Queen of Soul) a man in the audience (one of the few people there) told me I was a natural woman while he traced my curves in the air. Besides that, it was tons a fun. And the fact that half the people are drunk and are tone deaf makes it that much more entertaining!


The next morning we got up early and drove about an hour and a half crossing over into AZ and rented kayaks at this lake. The water was really cold, but it was an amazingly hot day. I mean... I thought it was getting hot in Utah when it started to hit 100 degrees, but this made Utah seem like nothing. So the water was refreshing, swimming and kayaking was fun/tiring, and I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get burnt to a crisp.


On our way back we stopped and took some pictures at the Hoover Dam. It is a huge tourist attraction after all. I believe it is #5 on the top 10 Architectural Wonders of the World.

5. Hoover Dam, Border of Arizona and Nevada

Hoover Dam, originally known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. Hoover Dam is one of the world's largest hydro-electric generating stations. Hoover Dam is one of the most jaw-dropping sites in the US. The dam is named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who played a large role in bringing the nearby states into agreement about water allocations, settling a 25-year controversy. One more great thing about this dam is it was completed ahead of schedule. Construction began in 1931 and finished in 1936. Two years ahead of schedule and well under budget.

After a long day, there was still more. I have always wanted to see the Broadway musical production of The Lion King, so when Lolly told me it was playing in Vegas, I had to get tickets. So when we got home from the lake, everyone else went to see a community production of West Side Story and Brent and I got ready and headed over to the Mandalay Bay, where Lion King was being performed. Brent had never seen a Broadway musical production, so I was excited for the both of us. It did not disappoint! The costumes were amazing. They do an amazing job of playing animals. I think my favorite costumes were the giraffes and the leopards. But it is hard to say, I loved too many of them. My favorite song was either "Shadow lands" or "He lives in you". Such a great show. I recommend it. Brent loved it too. So that was a highlight of my trip. We didn't get home until 11:30 that night and I crashed on the couch, I was so tired. Sunday we slept in, had a big waffle brunch, went to Brian's ward... where I ran into The Davis's which are some Dinkey Creek friends for those of you who even know what that is. If not... I will be blogging about it soon. Then we went to see Lolly one last time and then drove home. It was a quick trip, but we got a lot in and had a really great time. Now it is back to work. Thanks to everyone who made it a great trip!