After the Wax Museum

After we left the wax museum we decided to walk to the M & M store. Someone should have reminded me how far that really is. We started out walking south on Las Vegas Blvd. averting our eyes from the guys handing out the stripper cards and decided to stop and do the Eiffel Tower experience. We went into the Paris Hotel and bought our tickets (with the power pass of course.) Here's a few shots from the top. We stayed on top long enough to see one fountain show at the Bellagio across the street and then continued our journey down the street. Oh one shot from the bottom. We finally made it to the M & M store where we browsed quickly and I bought a few things. When we left Yellow was outside taking pictures with people. We decided then that we didn't want to walk back to the car so we decided to catch the monorail at MGM Grand. We went into the lobby and stopped to check out the lion exhibit. There were two guys inside with the lions throwing meat at the windows, so we got up close and personal with a lion and his wife. (Remember it's through glass so the flash was a little crazy on these pictures.)We rode the monorail back to the car and then went back to the Stratosphere. After a quick McDonalds dinner we decided to head up to the top of the Stratosphere tower. Here's a couple shots from there.
I forgot to tell you that on our way to the wax museum we found a shop that had hoodies for $10. They only took cash and travelers cheques so I'm sure they were stolen, but we didn't care. I thought it was kind of funny that we unknowingly all wore them for the trip up to the tower. We're just advertising for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Monday ended at that point and we slipped into a restful slumber that belongs to those who walk miles and miles down the strip.

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Anyone who knows me well knows that if I say Madame Tussauds wax museum was my favorite thing in Vegas, after saying that the Bellagio fountains and the dolphin habitat were my favorite, it's just par for the course. I mean you're talking to the girl who listens to the radio and shouts, "this is my favorite song" about every single song. Therefore it goes that I can have at least three favorites in Vegas. So for those of you who thought I should post pictures on my blog the entire time, this should make up for the drought in my first few posts. So here goes, a picture says a thousand words so I'll just say a few. This is the crew at MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX MUSEUM.

I thought it only appropriate that we start with Greg's incredibly awkward experience with Britney Spears. (He didn't even know who it was until after we made him touch her boob.)
Here's Jessica, Greg, and Kayla hanging out on the set with the lovely Cameron Diaz.
Next is the three of us with Hollywood's Hottest. It's a little hard to see that beautiful face in the shadows but it's none other than Matthew McConaughey.
Now, my favorite of all times actress is Julia Roberts (especially after she played me in My Best Friends Wedding) so I had to get a picture with her. Nobody else even recognized her. :(

Practically the whole reason we were even interested in the wax museum was because Greg had heard that his gay boyfriend Johnny Depp was preserved in wax there. Greg was almost afraid to go up to him. What would happen if he saw the real deal?

One of the great things about Madame Tussauds is that every girls (and some guys) dream can come true. What is better than the dream wedding? Well, with George Clooney as the groom, I think all of our wildest dreams were realized.


Jessica Marie Clooney

Gregory Elmer Clooney

Kayla Mindy ClooneyJulianne Clooney



This one's for Crystal!



What would a trip to Vegas be without a cameo with the King?

Ol' Brown Eyes

( I watched Guys and Dolls right before we left. I was pretty excited to see Frank Sinatra "in person")

So I know it's not in your history book, but Kayla really was the first woman on the moon.

28 years ago she was my idol. I was Princess Di for Halloween for at least 2 years, maybe 3.

I think that Madame Tussauds should have been the National Treasure Nicholas Cage was looking for the whole time.
(Okay that was cheesy.)

Hope you enjoyed my photo tour of Madame Tussauds. Now get to Vegas and see it yourself!!

Birthday in Vegas

Monday was my birthday and we decided to spend it doing as much as we could. We went to IHOP for breakfast where the group attempted to get the waiter to sing to me and he said he didn't sing. I thanked him, and he asked how I was enjoying my 21st birthday in Vegas. I thanked him again. What a good guy. We left a big tip. We went then to Planet Hollywood to pick up our Power Passes. Now for anyone looking to visit Las Vegas I highly recommend going to expedia.com and purchasing a power pass. It is a card that you pay for once and then it gets you into some of the attractions around Vegas. Now for those of you who are still a little leery, let me just say that it takes about 5 attractions to make it worth the money and you'll love every one of them. After we picked up our power passes, we sat down and mapped out the plan for the day. We decided to start at Circus Circus at the amusement park and off we went. Aside from the fact that certain rides make me sick, literally, it was pretty fun. We went on the roller coaster about 3 times, the bumper cars, and several other rides. After a quick hotel break, we went on to Seigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage. This was one of my favorite things that we did. You start in the dolphin habitat and they had a brand new dolphin that was only one month old. At random times throughout the day trainers come out to play with and feed the dolphins. Jessica didn't seem to enjoy it like Kayla and I did.
After getting our fill of the dolphins, (well actually I could have stayed a lot longer) we went into The Secret Garden. This is where the white lions and tigers and some other animals are kept.

The white tigers were about 5 months old and two of them were wrestling the whole time I was watching. When you very first enter they have this statue of a lion and we thought it would be funny to act like it was biting me while Jessica looked on in scared amusement.

Next it was on to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in The Venetian and I am going to blog that separately so you can read about it later.

My favorite part of Vegas

Alright, it's time to be honest. There is one place in the world that is my favorite place. 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. The Bellagio Hotel. I've never stayed in the Bellagio but between the conservatory inside and the fountains outside, I could literally spend days just at the Bellagio. Now based upon the fact that I had several people with me, and the fact that there is a lot to squeeze into two days in Las Vegas, I only spent a little more than an hour here at my favorite place. Sunday night after the temple, we decided we needed something else to do so we

drove to my favorite place. We walked around the conservatory which was whimsically decorated for fall with trees with faces, wood nymphs, and a tunnel of beautiful fall colors with water going over our heads in little arcs. then proceeded outside to get our fill of the fountains. We watched four shows (they happen every 15 minutes after 8) and I would have stayed on for four more but I had sapped the patience out of everyone else. Although they enjoyed the fountains they don't share my passion and we were all hungry, so we left to find food. I feel homesick. I want to go back. I think someone should put some Bellagio fountains a little closer to my house. I stand in awe everytime and just wish that everyone could see this amazing sight.

Arriving In Vegas

After the excitement of discovering 3 states in an hour, we continued on down I-15 until we reached a point in the road where you can see Vegas off in the distance. Kayla and Greg had the best reaction.

We continued on down the road and Kayla and Jessica tried to take pictures but it was pretty smoggy over the strip so we didn't get any good ones. We hit Vegas traffic coming into town. They are doing construction on I-15 and I'm pretty sure they will never be done. It seems like they were doing the same construction when I was there 6 years ago. I decided to drive to the South end of Las Vegas Blvd. and then get off the freeway so they could see it all. We got off by New York New York and it was so fun to see the reactions of people who had never seen it before. One of the first things we saw was a billboard with a half naked woman. Greg was sure to point this out to us and I warned him that it wouldn't be the last one he saw, but he should keep his eyes elsewhere. We continued north on Las Vegas Blvd. amidst the awe of my friends until we reached our destination: The Stratosphere.

We checked in and found our room on the fifteenth floor and then decided that since it was Sunday we should go see the temple.

We spent about a half hour on the temple grounds taking pictures and enjoying each others company.

St. George continued

So time for the next installment of our trip to Vegas. Saturday night we went to my mom's cousin Julie's house to stay. Julie and her husband Del had returned from a cruise on the Mexican Riviera about an hour before we invaded their house. I'm so grateful to them for opening their house to us, because the weekend of the Marathon you have to book hotels in St.George about a year in advance. We arrived at their house and talked for a few minutes but by then we were pretty tired after staying up all night so we turned in pretty early. Sunday morning we woke up late and watched conference and Julie made us breakfast. We all got ready for the day and then Julie took us on a drive around the community on their golf cart. We saw the community center and now I understand why people retire to St. George. It was great. About 1:00 we left their house and continued on our journey to Las Vegas. Kayla was pretty excited about this part of the trip because she'd never been to Arizona before and so she insisted we stop and get a picture in front of the Welcome to Arizona sign and then later the Welcome to Nevada sign.

St. George Marathon

So I promised I'd blog about Vegas with pictures but it's going to take a long time so I'll do it in sections. First you get the St. George Marathon then I'll do the rest. My roommates Jessica and Kayla and Kayla's fiance, Greg and I decided to go together. We left at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday with the hope that we'd get to St. George around 9. We started off and made it to Scipio (aka Hell) before I had to give the wheel up to Greg. I slept from Scipio to Cedar City where we stopped for gas and I called Vance and Cheryl to get directions to their hotel so we could meet up. I drove from Cedar to St. George in pouring rain going 80 down the freeway because they had wanted to leave the hotel around 9 to meet Hannah at the 16 mile mark and we left Cedar at 8:30. We made it just after 9 and I went up to the hotel room with Jessica while Greg and Kayla stayed in the car. Lynae and Tyler also drove down and Lynae had made us all t-shirts that said "It's Hannah Time" and they had put Hannarade stickers on Powerade and Hannabar stickers on granola bars. Lynae and Cheryl also made posters to cheer Hannah on and we had a boom box playing Hammer Time, to which we yelled Hannah time as she ran by. Vance, Cheryl, Lynae, Tyler, and I piled into the van to drive up while Kayla, Greg, and Jessica went up to their hotel room to get a few more minutes of sleep. We got to the 16 mile mark and waited in the rain for Hannah and her trainer to get to us. We turned the boom box to conference while we waited and listened to it until Hannah was spotted running toward us. We switched it to the CD and played To Legit to Quit as she ran past us. She didn't even stop to say hello, so the only picture I have you can't even tell it's her. After she ran past, we drove into town and found a parking place by the finish line. We waited for quite a while but her trainer thought she'd take 7-8 hours and she crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 50 minutes. Lynae and Tyler had gone up a little and were going to sprint back when they saw her to video her at the finish line but she was too fast and so we don't have that video either. She came in and we all congratulated her and then walked over to the awards tent. She was awarded a special award that is sponsored by Del Monte that is awarded to someone who overcomes personal challenges to run the marathon. There are a lot of nominations for this award and the judges chose Hannah hands down. It was a 4 foot trophy with a can of fruit cocktail on it. It was really nice. After the race we went back to the hotel and Jessica, Kayla, and Greg took my car to explore St. George and the rest of us watched the second session of conference and ate pizza. Afterward we took Vance and Tyler to Priesthood and then went bowling and out for ice cream. Kudos to Hannah and her dedication. I can't even imagine running for 6 hours and I really admire her and her ability to do something so big. Yay Hannah!! It's Hannah Time!

Hey baby, Lets go to Vegas

So it's 1:00 in the morning and we are anxiously waiting for the moment when we pack up the car and leave for Vegas. The idea was to leave at 2, but Vance and Cheryl are meeting us in St. George so Hannah can run the marathon and Cheryl wanted to sleep in a little bit, so we're not allowed to get there to meet them until lateish morning. I forget what it's like to get everything together for a trip and I just want to send a tribute out to my mom, who coordinated every trip we took as kids. Now I understand why packing early was so important to her, because here I am begging Kayla to get packed so I can put the stuff in the car. We went on a family vacation every year of my life until 2002 and then almost every year after that. My mom is amazing!! I can't imagine putting together 20+ years of trips. WELL wish me luck at staying awake and we'll add pics to the blog of our trip to Vegas.

Happy October!!

Yay it's October!! I love October. Reason one: BIRTHDAY!!! Okay so for the last 20 years I've had the opportunity to share my birthday with a bunch of people. It all started with Landon Gardiner being born, then Hannah Piercy, then several second cousins... needless to say it's a busy day in our family. Reason two: WEATHER!! I love fall. I love when the leaves change and the temperature drops. Today was a little hot for October, but I am looking forward to the days when the sun is shining and the temperature is 70. Reason three: HALLOWEEN! Okay so I actually hate Halloween itself. I think it's a stupid holiday (sorry Greg), but it has two advantages. One is chocolate is on sale EVERYWHERE. Two, one day of every year we don't have to wear the traditional uniform at Arctic Circle. We get to dress up and be something fun. SO cheer for October.

The Boring Life is not so Boring

So it's been awhile since I posted, but there has been a lot going on and I feel like all I've done is work and sleep with some excitement mixed in. On September 20, Lynae and Tyler got married and it was a wonderful day. I am so happy for them and I love them both so much. Their sealer was fantastic, and hopefully I can remember all the things he said, because it touched me so much. I love when you have those moments that remind you who you are and why. It was definitely one of those. Mixed in that of course was seeing Lynae's family, which doesn't happen very often so it was especially fun to see Vance and Cheryl and the rest of the family. Also, thanks to the Unsickers for the party Friday night. They definitely know how to have fun with a crowd.
Because of my day off with the wedding and all, I've been making up the labor spent by working a lot of 12 hour shifts this week. I'm so sick of Arctic Circle I could spit. Don't get me wrong, cuz I love my job, but weeks like this I just have to wonder why we get so busy, when all I want to do is go home. I told my neighbor when she came in today that I was going to paint the walls because I was sick of seeing the same things all day every day. When I get home all I want to do is sleep so definitely not my week. On a brighter note, my roommates and I have decided to spend the weekend of my 30th birthday causing trouble in Sin City. Yes, that's right, Las Vegas Nevada is waiting for us and we are so excited!! We are going down on Saturday to watch my cousin Hannah run the St. George Marathon (Go Hannah!!) and then we'll continue on to Vegas for 2 1/2 days of fun on the strip. I so need this vacation. I can't wait. Perhaps when we get back, my boring life will be even less boring!!! Well that's enough. Everyone who actually reads this whole blog deserves a medal. No luck, I don't have any!!!!

Go Runnin' Utes

So I know that I have a standard to uphold as the only Ute fan in the family. Todd has the BYU vibe covered and now that he's really the only one who blogs about football (until now), I feel I need to put in a red moment. Utah beat Utah State today (sorry Spencer and Katie) 58-10. Not quite as crushing as the BYU/UCLA game but a victory for the red anyhow. Now I know that Utah has beat Utah State a lot in the past and it's not like Utah State is a top ranked team like UCLA, but I just want to point out to all who bleed blue, that Utah and BYU are both 3 and 0 on the season. Just waiting for the Thanksgiving weekend matchup to see who reigns victorious in the end. Anyway, if football is all that energizes my "boring life" all I can say is GO UTES!!

Finding Old Friends

So today I came home early from work and went in search of my cell phone. I had a new text and it was from an old friend giving everyone her new phone number. TC and Jon Jolley moved from my ward in Sandy to Arizona 2 years ago and I haven't been exceptionally good at keeping in touch, so I was pleased to have a moment to get reacquainted with TC. Back in the day TC was my scrapbooking buddy. She had a whole scrapbooking room and so when I heard from her today I asked if she blogged. Probably a stupid question knowing TC but it has been so fun to find her blog and see her big kids. I didn't even know she had a girl and she's 1. I'm so happy that the new age technology keeps us in touch. It's so fun in an otherwise "boring life" to find people you never get to hear from. I also got an alert on facebook about another old friend. Brandie DeMers is also a blogger and she has 2 more kids than I remember. It's so much fun to find people. Thanks to Blogspot for keeping us posted.

Now which one was twist or It's not like it's rocket surgery

So occasionally something happens in my "boring life" that makes me smile and even less often something happens that makes me laugh out loud; the other day while at work I experienced a laugh out loud moment. As most of you are aware I manage a fast food restaurant called Arctic Circle. Arctic Circle is pretty well know for its shakes and ice cream. We have two ice cream machines in the store to keep up with the business. One is strictly vanilla and the other runs vanilla and chocolate. Chocolate is on the left and vanilla is on the right. Anyone who has had occasion to fill the ice cream (and that is everyone on my payroll) knows that. There are three handles; the one on the left does. . . you guessed it chocolate. Therefore it would then follow that the one on the right is vanilla and the one in the center will give you twist. That's logical right? So on the handles of this machine, there are stickers: A white one for vanilla, a brown one for chocolate, and a striped brown and white one for twist. I personally have never used the stickers to figure out which was which. In fact it took me about a month being in the store to even notice that the sticker existed. No other store I've ever worked at had them. My assistant put the machine together and apparently the stickers didn't mean anything to her either, because she mixed up the chocolate and twist handles. The result of this mix up would have made a hilarious segment on candid camera. About 90% of my staff would go to make a cone, look at the machine, get a confused look on their face, and then pull the handle that had the right sticker on it. At what point did it not occur to them that only the middle handle, you know the one in between the chocolate and vanilla, would give you both flavors? I mean do they think that under there is a container of twist ice cream and just for that day I had switched them? Anyway after about a day of watching them make the wrong cone flavors I finally realized what was happening, calmly walked over to the machine, and switched the handles. They all looked at me like I had found the cure to cancer. Apparently it hadn't occured to any of them that the mistake had nothing to with the ice cream inside, just the handles outside. Have you ever seen that joke "Idiots in the Workplace"? Just kidding. I love my idiots!!