VEGAS!!!!

Hi, friends!! Sorry for my blogging absence, but I'm back and have a great few posts ahead! :)

So, if you're following me on Instagram, you know that I just got back yesterday from a weekend away with my best friend in Las Vegas! We are all about seeing each other as much as possible (and trying new things/seeing new places), so we decided that it would be fun to meet up in Vegas for a weekend. Fun doesn't even begin to describe it. Let me tell ya, we are not hard-core partiers. We were even back home in the hotel room by 10:30 the last night to have a good 'ole movie night for old times sake. But just because we don't party as hard as some, doesn't mean we didn't have an amazing time. We did! So much to share!

Friday night, I picked her up at the airport (I'm only 5 1/2 hours away here in Utah, so I drove), and we headed to our hotel for our first night! First, we ate some amazing Asian food, and then we decided to try out the Margarita Bar next to our hotel! Amazing. :) Kyrie decided she needed to gamble her first night (we didn't do much of it this weekend, but we can at least say we gambled!).

Hello, Las Vegas! Sorry for the quality of the pictures. They were all taken with my cell phone, since I didn't want to lug a nice camera around!

I have missed her so much!

The next day, we slept in a little bit, and then we started seeing the sights! We decided to walk "the strip" on Saturday and do some outlet shopping and explore more of downtown Sunday. So many things to see!

Coca-Cola store!

We tried cokes from all around the world! Some were really good. Others, not so much!

Photo op with the Coca-Cola bear!

Four stories of the M&M store... fun and delicious!

We also explored Henderson, NV, because we had heard there was a distillery and winery there and wanted to check them out! Unfortunately, the distillery was closed, and when we walked in the "winery," we felt immediately out of place because there was a group of people all sitting around talking, but it seemed like something wasn't right. Turns out, it was a wine school, but this incredibly nice lady gave us some free wine and drew us a map with some suggestions for things to do! Starting with this cool brewery down the street. They had just opened, and they had some great craft beer! Highly suggest "Bad Beat Brewing" in Henderson, NV, if you are ever there!

The lady from the wine school told us we had to go downtown, so we decided to grab dinner and head out there! Great live music and a fun atmosphere!

You can zipline through the canopy part of Fremont Street (see the lines strung throughout)! We wanted to do that, but it was already filled up for the weekend, so it's a must for next time!

Neither of us are big shoppers, but there are so many great stores in LV that we decided to check them out. Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, and Steve Madden were on our list. We hit them all up and found some great buys!

Outlet shopping!

We also went back downtown to see more of it in the daylight! Glad we did!

Didn't eat here but recognized it from "Man Vs. Food." Home of the biggest burger!

Our last night, we decided to get dressed up and go to dinner, see the Bellagio Fountains (beautiful!), and then we hit up the Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's Palace for dessert! That place is huge, and we ended up getting lost, but the cheesecake was worth it. :)

The Bellagio Fountains!

Kyrie didn't have to be at the airport until noon, so we checked off our last item on the list! Seeing the shark tank (that has a waterslide through it!) at the Golden Nugget Casino & Hotel. Such a cool thing to do, and we'll definitely be doing it next time!

Thankfully, I left when I did to head back home because I just barely missed the interstate being closed due to flooding! If you were affected by the horrible storm, prayers go out to you!

It was a great weekend! I already miss her, and we are planning our next big adventure! There's still more to see in Las Vegas, but we might have to try another place, too. We'll see, but there will definitely be more girls' weekends (or couples' trips!) in the future!

Love,

A Little of Our Home

When we moved to Utah, we looked for a home to rent but didn't end up finding one that would work for us (most didn't accept dogs here). We didn't want to buy quite yet because my husband had to go through training at his job first, so we thought it would smart to wait, as much as we both wanted to have a house of our own. We ended up finding an apartment that has a lot of room and that we really like, but the apartment complex has had a ton of issues. Let's just say we will be glad when we are out of this place, but we are pretty happy with the interior. :) We spent a lot of time adding our own touches and decorating, so I thought I would show you all.

Living Room:

Hallway:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Office:

Guest Bedroom:

Guest Bathroom:

Master Bedroom:

Master Bathroom:

We can't wait to have even more space and have a place of our very own to decorate! :)

A BIG Announcement!!!

No, my husband and I are not pregnant! I can't wait for the opportunity to announce that one day, though!

The announcement is concerning the two posts that I have written for this blog about my initial injury and my road to finding pain relief. As some of you know, I started writing a book two years ago when a former professor/now editor that I met through my time as an adviser for a service fraternity convinced me it was a good idea. After not knowing the progress for long periods of time and endlessly correcting, editing, writing, re-writing, I was informed last week that it has been SUBMITTED to our prospective publishing company!!!!!!! Now, all we have to do is wait!! I will keep you informed about the progress, but I am absolutely thrilled that I truly may become a published novel author!!! Dreams do come true, you know! :)

I still have decisions to make concerning the cover and small things like that if it does get accepted for publishing, but the title of my book is "Not An Option."

Thank you all for your amazing support, and hopefully one day I will be sharing where to buy it! :)

Great Basin National Park

Three day weekends are the best. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's extremely sad it's almost over, but we did as much as we could to enjoy the entire weekend! We left on Friday to drive to Baker, NV, around four hours away, to go camping and explore Great Basin National Park! Thought I would share some of the photos and details from our trip. :)

It was my first time in Nevada, and the first park my husband and I had visited in NV, too! There are only two of them, though.. :) One more to go, and it's close to Vegas. Need I say more?

Crazy dog loves road trips and has to see where we are going the entire time!

First time to the state! 

Beautiful drive!

Baker, NV, is a tiny town. And driving there, you go at least 100 miles without gas stations or signs of life, and then another 100 miles until you reach Baker, which has very few signs of life outside the park. It's a beautiful little town, though, and it's known for the park and ranching. Sometimes I wish I could live in such a small town without major restaurants, stores, etc., around me. Would be a simpler life. :) The park is gorgeous. It's known for preserving these beautiful, ancient bristlecone trees. These trees live for thousands of years, and once they die, they still stand. They're above treeline, which means they are normally protected from flood, fire, and other natural causes. So cool to see such prominent pieces of nature!

Hiking to see the bristlecones!

One of the beautiful, ancient bristlecone trees!

Love every adventure with this man! :)

Another thing this national park is known for is this beautiful cave (named Lehman Caves, even though there's only one). It is the most amazing cave I have ever been in! So many features, from the "cave bacon" to the "cave popcorn" to the "soda straws" to the magnificent stalactites and stalagmites. So many things to see! We loved it the tour, and the tour guide/park ranger was great!

Baker, NV, is one of the only places in the U.S. where you can experience total darkness, too. We went to an astronomy program put on by a park ranger, and even with a cloudy night, we saw thousands of stars. I love looking up at the stars, but it's been years since I've seen that many! Around big cities, we barely see a hundred or so!

It was an amazing, relaxing weekend, which both my husband and I were in need of! We ended the trip driving through and seeing the Bonneville Salt Flats for the first time and then letting Honey swim in the Great Salt Lake. More pictures from that later. We were planning on using our last day to go on a hike (Mount Olympus!), but I didn't feel well, so we'll save that for another day off. So many things we want to do!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend, and here's to the short week ahead!