Viva Las Vegas: Red Rock

My amazing husband was asked to come back this past year and speak on another panel for the Auto Financial Group.    My mom came up from SC to spend some time here and watch our kids so we could get away.  My sister took them over the weekend and brought them back home to us by Sunday.  We left on Tuesday afternoon and returned Sunday evening.

I was so worked up and anxious about leaving the kids; it's never easy and we were flying across the country and I literally had to plan out every day/detail with schedules, eating habits and try to make transitions smooth as possible.  I can see why many parents don't bother leaving their kids, as it's hard physically and emotionally!

I knew my babes would be in excellent care and I knew in my heart, Joe and I needed this getaway.

Once the plane took off, there was nothing I could do but relax and enjoy the ride.

We stayed at The Red Rock Casino, as that is where the conference was held.  It was a bit of a tease to see the strip all lit up each night and the sunrises were spectacular.

We got into LV about 730 their time, but it was 10:30 in our minds/bodies.  Luckily I slept on the plane and was ready to stay up a little while.

The next morning we got up and headed to our first Vegas buffet.  In all the times before, we've never eaten at a buffet!  I had an incredible omelette and croissant.  I pretty much devoured it all so quickly--darn time change! I didn't snap a shot.

We had some time to relax before our spa appointments, so Joe played black jack and I lost some money at the slots.  Not a terrible way to spend a Wednesday.

We hung out by the pool for a bit and lounged in the sun.  It felt so good!

I don't know when I'll see this type of blue sky again.

I can't ever get over how cool the mountains are.

So after a little lounging by the pool, Joe wanted to go back in and play cards.  I was told that there was a mall super close, so after a few mimosas I walked over and found The Guess store.

I was the only person there besides the girls working, so I told them I needed some clubbing outfits.  I'm obsessed with the faux fur vest and it was half off!  I may have bought this entire outfit.

I realized the time and had to scoot back over to the hotel to meet Joe so we could go to our spa.

I had the best massage.  She worked the knots out of my neck and back and I literally felt like I was floating.

Joe headed back to the cards and I went upstairs to get ready for the meet and greet.  I went with my red tunic dress from Express, the Harper statement (without feathers)

We had fun catching up with the people from last year and enjoyed meeting some new people.  There were some fancy eats, mashed potatoes in martini glasses etc, but we were still hungry... we had to hit up Fatburger.  OMG worth every fatty bite.  It's probably a good thing we don't have this fast food joint around here!!

We knew we'd have a long day at the conference the next day, and well I learned my lesson the year before to not get too wild this night, so we went up to bed at a decent hour.  This was also the night the Cubs won the world series!! Pretty cool to see everyone in the casino going crazy.

Toronto

Well, I've had enough of reality already haha!  I'm at the point today where I feel like I should try to fall asleep, but the kids will wake up momentarily, so I'll just drink some green tea and blog.

Toronto.

We had so much fun and honestly, couldn't have asked for anything better!

Yup, just us two love birds---the kids spent the weekend with Nana & Papa!  We are so grateful that they enjoy taking the kids and that everyone had a good time together!

We left Thursday after work and made such great time! No lines at the border and no traffic on the QEW.  We've been here a handful of times, so we actually have some favorite "spots" now.

I was hoping to really enjoy this cup of Joe, but sadly, my love for coffee is no more.  It really does give me terrible reflux, so I drank a few sips and switched to my green tea latte.

Breakfast was amazing---homemade biscuits and Eggs Benedict. YUMM!

After our late morning breakfast, we walked around and just enjoyed the quiet!  I loved sporting my red pixie pants and my S&D accessories.

My green tea latte---not sure how they mixed up "Jenn"...

We headed over to the nicer/ritzy part of town and had some lunch at a cute rooftop restaurant.

I forget what Joe ordered, but I know he had ceviche

I went with a salad & grilled chicken, as it was later and we had 7pm dinner reservations.

We had a little trouble finding the place, but we got there eventually!



My hottie hubby.

It was a cute place, nice staff & great food.

He went all out and ordered the $100 caviar.  Pretty good! The brioche they served with it was to die for.

My dinner was basically a deconstructed pot pie, with a bunch of fatty parts of a pig! LOL  It was really darn tasty and something I'll probably never see on a menu again, so I am glad that I ordered it.

We had a slow start to our Saturday and tried out another diner, Fran's and it was really good (we ended up back there on Sunday too!) 

After fueling up, we hit up the mall...Joe wanted to recreate some picture he took of me years ago.  Mama got some new bras--woop woop! And some jeans and a few tops.  Daddy found some really nice shirts and work clothes (much needed!)

I changed into some of my new things and we headed back out again.

There's a cute little area called Kensington market and we went there for some tacos for lunch and to walk around.

We thought this tree was so pretty!

I love this photo.

He looked so hot in his new jacket and shirt, so I had to snap a few photos of him.

This was near the restaurant where we dinner Saturday.  The weather was so nice and we had so much fun just walking around and exploring!

They stuck us right up front in the window.

I ordered the burrata with this amazing basil, lemon, pea, fava bean pesto---omg so good!  Joe went for the paté.

It wasn't terribly late, but we were tired from all of the walking we did so we headed back kind of early. Plus Yonge Street is a bit of a crazy area and with the basketball game (and the full moon!), we weren't sure what would happen.

Sunday we made sure to take our time.  Breakfast.  Last minute shopping. Latté.

Since it was a long weekend, traffic was ridiculous so we took our sweet time riding home.  We took a scenic route that followed the lake and stopped to stretch here.

I always have pictures of him on rocks haha!  I believe this was Burlington Canada.

Of course I played with Snap Chat almost all weekend long!

We saw a really cute little area so we had lunch and they had my favorite wine ever (Santa Margarita) so I obviously had to order! (hello day drinking!)

I remember the first photo I took that looked like this; it was July 11, the day after we got married and we were riding in the Porsche.  I cannot believe that was almost 6 years and 2 kids ago!  Man how time really does fly by.

I'm not sure who needed the little getaway more, me or him.  I don't think it's fair to play that comparison game.  I'm home with two little kids all day while he's away working really hard & long hours.  Most days we are so exhausted, we say a few words and zone out in front of the tv or he plays some video games & I read, or blog or whatever.  

It's life and it's a bit of a rat race at times; we can become very robotic, usually because we are on strict routines, schedules, deadlines, meetings, appointments, you name it.  But to breakaway and become just "Jenn & Joe" is something we need because to have these amazing little moments tucked into my memory, is something that I will think about when I'm lonely and he's working 19 days straight for his tent sale.  

I wanted to stop by the land on the way home and I'm glad that I did.  I now have a new photo of the sun starting to set, on a place where we will make so many more beautiful memories together.  

I'm not exactly sure how we got so lucky to find each other, but I am so happy we did.  I feel as though I have everything I have ever wanted and needed, and I cannot stop dreaming about all of the fun we have to look forward to with our lives.

When you work as hard as we do, you truly enjoy the time when you get to play.