Hope and Houndstooth

So…Zach Julie and I (haha) ventured out and traveled on a plane to Las Vegas!  Yes, our husbands went too, but I'd say it was more of a big deal for Julie and I to travel that far away from home.  Julie got an awesome opportunity to present some of her "school" type sessions at a conference in Vegas. She presented 3 different sessions to other kindergarten teachers from all over.  She has about 150 people in each session.  Whoa!!  I didn't get to sit in but Richey said she did awesome.  He didn't have to tell me.  I knew she would do fabulous.  Now, the reason I went…Julie found out MARIAH CAREY was going to be there during her stay and I SOOOO had to go along.  AAAAND…it was her #1's to Infinity show…so ALL of her best!  I hit up Zach for an early birthday present and we made it happen.  Of course, it wouldn't have happened had we not had the best babysitter's in the world…our parents!  So much thanks goes to them!  I know they were exhausted after that week.  It was mine and Zach's first time to the airport together and it had been a while since we had both flown.  Last time I flew was in high school and I depended on my parents and other chaperones to tell me what to do.  We figured it out and we ended up getting to sit together 3 out of 4 times.  Thank the Lord!!  The flight from Atlanta to Vegas was LOOOOONG!  4 hours there (because of weather) and 3.5 hours back.  I know that's not long compared to some flights…but it was long for us.  And I guess we could've been better prepared with predownloaded entertainment.  Guess we'll know next time.  Flying is definitely not something I'd want to do often.  I'm thankful mine or Zach's job doesn't require us to fly all over.  Back to Mariah…it was simply THE BEST show…like EVER!  Even though we were on the very back row…literally.  I felt like we had good seats though.  Her concert was in the Colosseum so it was rounded off and we were in the center so we ended up being able to see pretty well.  Man, was it good!!  Zach even enjoyed it!
About Vegas: Vegas is a very different world from what I live day to day.  It was something to see.  We walked!  A lot!!  It was 100+ degrees each day but it felt very different from Alabama.  No humidity…or mosquitos!  Did I mention we walked a lot?!  We also had to pay for taxi services which was right around $20.00 each ride…5 miles to our resort and back to town.  That got old!  People also told us it was cheap to eat there.  Nope!!  Our cheapest meal was $35 and that's because we split and entree' and drank water.  Everything we checked out was $52.00 a plate or more.  We did eat at a buffet one night…it was $34.99 a person and we stood in line about 40 minutes to get in the door.  We also found that they don't serve sweet tea anywhere…and Mountain Dew is hard to find!  If you do find one, be ready to spend $4.00 on a bottle.  I did…a couple times. :)