The week before Valentines Day, Gabe and I decided that we wanted to go out of town. As much as we love Rexburg, we needed a break! So we went down to Utah the Wednesday before. About an hour before we left he told me that we were going to Vegas for the weekend so pack accordingly. I was so excited all of the sudden! I was excited to see everyone and I was excited to see a real Vegas show, and walk the strip and most of all I was excited for Warm Weather! I didn't have to wear a long sleeve shirt all weekend.
So Wednesday through Friday we spent at Josh and Brits house where we met Rufus for the first time. As you can see he is a Great Dane. He is about 3 years old, and really is the sweetest dog!
It never ceased to amaze me at how big he is! CRAZY!
Let me ask you all a question... What would you do if you were sitting in your house one day and you happen to look out the window, and what you saw through the beautiful snow was a Big, Beautiful Great Dane? Would you (A) stare in amazement and then continue about your day? (B) Feel bad for this dog out in the cold weather, then go about your day? Or (C) go CHASING after it to bring it in your house because you feel bad?
Well if you picked the last one...you are filled with an amazing and crazy compassion for Gods creatures...just like Brittany! YUP thats right. She saw Rufus and felt bad. So she chased this Dog down, who I might add is twice her size, and brought him home. You can imagine the look on Josh's face when he saw Rufus coming through the door. But this ended up in adoption and they have a wonderful family/guard dog! He's great and Gabe and I also fell in love with him while we were there.
He is so great with the kids!
He's had a long day!
VEGAS HERE WE COME....
Saturday we drove down to Vegas together with Josh and Brittany. We left at about 7:30 in the morning and got down there at around 2:30. I was surprised that it actually went smoothly. We had 3 young kids and they all slept a lot of the way, so it was good. I was a little worried. But we were excited to be there in the wonderful sun, and enjoy this exciting city.
Thats right...it was warm enough for Ashlyn to wear this!
"Vegas I'm here"
We woke up Valentines morning and Grandma and Grandpa Ray put little cards and gifts for us outside our front door. Above is a picture of Ashlyn attempting to read her Valentines card.
I don't think that Josh liked this much, but we got a kick out of it!
What a "pretty" little boy!
Sunday afternoon we had a good time walking the strip. Gabe and I didn't bring the stroller so I held her the whole time and I tell you what...by the end of the day Ashlyn weighed about 15 lbs heavier then her already 16 lbs. We went to the MGM Grande to see the lions. Then to M&M World, then Coca Cola, then we walked all the way down to the Belagio to see their beautiful holiday gardens. We had a really good day and got to see a lot of fun things, and I think the kids had a great time. After all, they did get to take a picture with Sponge Bob Square Pants!
We also saw the Rainforest cafe in the MGM hotel. This is where the husbands took us for our Valentines dinner. I know it was Sunday, but since we were traveling we had to get some food so we took advantage by having a nice dinner together. We took turns babysitting with Josh and Brit and had a really nice time!
It was such a long day for Ashlyn. She slept half the time! I love the little belly rolls showing:) What a cute little girl.
After the MGM we went to M&M world where they had a lot of fun displays to look at!
They had these cute little setups with the M&M's. By the way, peanut M&M's are my favorite candy. You could say that they are my weakness, so this was particularly fun for me.
Then we went next door to the Coca Cola store. That was so fun especially for Ashlyn. She kept grabbing at the bottle so Gabe let her put her mouth on it and I think that she got a little taste of the sugar because she kept grabbing at it and whining when he would take it away from her. 
Don't you think she could be on a Coca Cola poster?
These pictures below are at the Bellagio and their gardens... Beautiful!!!
When we got back we went to dinner at the RainForest Cafe and then we went to bed. It was a long day and we were exhausted...especially Ashlyn.
On Monday we headed home and spent the night at Josh and Brits and then headed back to Rexburg on Tuesday morning. We had a fun trip. It was a little quick in Vegas but we had fun and we enjoyed spending time with Gabe's family. I also forgot to mention that we went to Ka a Cirque du Soleil show on Saturday night. It was really cool. It was funny because the tickets were really expensive. We were in the 10th row back so we were really close to the stage. But because the show was so late we were all so exhausted that halfway through the show we were all falling asleep. I looked down the row and all of us were kind of dozing off. For me I kept trying to force my eyes open thinking, "hundred dollar show, hundred dollar show". But I did enjoy it!