Happy ValenBirthUation!

The last time I posted was two weeks ago.

You would not believe everything that has happened between then and now.

Trips, visiting family, birthday parties, baptisms, packing, moving, conference, Easter... 

I can barely see straight AND I have a million things to blog about.

But, with computer-time being almost non-existent, blogging has been impossible, 

However, 

today I'm making time, 

and today I'm blogging about Taylor's ValenBirthUation trip.

Back in January I was telling Taylor how I needed a warm, relaxing vacation.  

As we were discussing this, 
a lightbulb went on in my brain; 

not only is Taylor gearing up for his imminent completion of his PhD, 

but he was also approaching his 30th birthday.  

Not to mention, we have one child, who, at this point, is easy to leave with grandparents, 

and one child on-the-way who will not be easy to leave with anybody for at least a year.  

It immediately became apparent to me that I needed to take Taylor on a surprise trip in celebration of all of these major events, 

especially before Baby Sister makes her entrance in June.  

So I asked him how he felt about a little birthday/graduation jaunt somewhere, 

to which he replied there was too much going on right now and he did not have time for it.  

However, in my mind,  his "no" meant "yes" and so I set off in search of the most warm, relaxing trip I could find. 

Enter Las Vegas.

relatively close, relatively affordable, relatively warm, and relatively weekend'y'.

I got it all planned, booked and confirmed.  

I was going to surprise the pants off of Taylor.  

I envisioned packing his bags for him and heading to the airport with him in the passenger seat, 

totally unaware of the awesomeness that was about unfold.

And then I started to get really nervous...

...nervous, that his "no" really meant "no", 

that this acutally WAS really  bad timing, 

and that I had just spent a "relatively affordable" (nothing is affordable when you're poor graduate students) amount of non-refundable money.

So I caved on the "surprise" aspect of the trip 

and ended up turning part of the vacation into his Valentine's present, 
so I could notify him of what I had done.  

Still a surprise, but with a month's worth of notice.

It worked.

He was surprised AND happy that we were going.

We spent Thursday to Sunday of his birthday weekend basking in the freedom that comes with having just received your tax refund, and leaving your child with grandparents.  

We were footloose and fancy-free.

The world was our oyster.

We ate delicious food:

Moochie's Meatballs on the way to the airport

 Cheesecake Factory.  

Don't judge.  

It was almost 9:00 pm, we were at the forum shops, I needed to get something in my pregnant belly, and the fried Mac N Cheese Balls were AMAZING!

 

Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay with Jared and Carolee.  

Fanciest, most incredible hamburger I've ever eaten.

Not to mention the 'dessert burger' blew my mind.

Thank you guys for taking time out of tax season to hang out with us!

(and 'yes', I realize Taylor looks totally creepy in this picture.  
It seems that I need to mention that this was the third attempt at this picture and this was the best one...)

China Grill at Mandalay Bay for Taylor's Birthday dinner.  

Most expensive dinner I've ever paid for,

but also incredibly delicious,

especially the dumplings, the crispy spinach, and the free dessert.

Also worth mentioning, it was so dark I could hardly see my food; 
therefore my pictures turned out terribly. 

We lounged by the pool in the 80 degree weather:

Mandalay Bay's pool area is 11 acres of pools, sand, bungalows, lounges, palm trees and heaven.

 

We laughed about tacky, Las Vegas paraphernalia.

We won it big on the slots:

 

We hit the mormon-friendly hot spots on the strip:

We got to see this amazing show for free 

(courtesy of our Travelocity bundle).

I booked it for the night of Taylor's birthday, 

and was really excited to get a picture of us to remember it by, 

but he said he'd rather be poked in the eye 

than wait in line with the 3,000 other audience members 

to have his picture taken with any of the cast.

So a stock photo is all I have to convey how much we both enjoyed it.

It really was incredible.

I overheard one lady behind me say that it made her cry...

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay 

(not worth the $18 bucks per person)

Walking around New York, New York.

(these were the only pieces of "meat" that I photographed Taylor looking at.

But believe you me, there was plenty more dancing on the table in some seriously scandalous clothes)

We were so excited when we saw this game at Excalibur. 

We were dying to win one of these plushy toys for Hazel.  

I assumed that Taylor, with all of his sports training, would be the big winner,

but guess who actually got the ball in the cup....

 ...me!!  

Boo-yeah!  

Who says I don't have hand-eye coordination?

We went shopping at Town Square in Las Vegas,

and actually got to see a movie in the theatre!

And finally, 

we enjoyed every moment of our awesome room, 

incredible view from the 30th floor, 

giant bathroom 

and opportunity that we had to sleep in 

and relax, 

without a care in the world: