Nothing like a Utah Win!

So, as I stated in my previous post, we took a quick trip to Vegas last weekend to watch the Utes play for the Mountain West Conference Championship...or co-champs or something. Thanks to my parents who graciously changed the plans we had made previously so they could keep our kids! The kids were sooo excited to sleep-0ver! Grandpa even took them for a ride in the motorhome up the canyon!

We didn't know we were going until midnight Friday night when the Utah game ended. I texted with Darin and made plans to meet at our parent's house at 7am. I told Mom not to get up until I called her...just in case the Utes lost and we ended up not going. Darin and I also tried to text Roger, call Roger's cell phone or get any response from him at all to make sure he was going. No luck...we'd have to try in the morning.

Morning comes, Mike is tired and says now he doesn't want to go. But, I told him that he really wanted to go and to wake up! The kids woke up at 6:30am and were ready to go to Grandma & Papa's! I knew Darin was on his way to our meeting place, but still hadn't heard from Roger, so as soon as we were all loaded in the car, I called Roger at 6:50am.

Here is a brief summary of our conversation:

Me: Roger, are you coming to Vegas?

Roger: Are you in front of my house?

Me: No! Darin & I have been trying to get ahold of you since last night!

Roger: I was sleeping!

Me: Roger, get up! If you are coming with us, get to Mom & Dad's house as soon as you can!

Roger: Yawn.......ok.......

Now, here's how we got to this point....Darin had called me on Friday afternoon wanting to know if Mike was going to the game. He said he and Roger had been talking about going and wanted in if Mike was going. I told him about my plans for my anniversary. He said he didn't want to change my plans, but to let him know. Not long after that phone call, Mike called me asking if we wanted to go to Vegas Saturday if the Utes win and that his parents had called and wanted to go! So, now I had to tell him all about my plans, to which he replied, 'Well, do you think your parents would keep our kids for 2 days?' Priorities.....Utah sports or romantic anniversary weekend sans kids....uh-huh. You can tell how long we have been married!

Anyway, I was still up for a weekend without the responsibility of kids and that worked for me! I stayed up until 1:30am cleaning up the house, doing laundry so everyone would have something to wear and packing for the weekend.

We left my parent's house right around 7:30-7:45a. Roger did a great job getting there! He said he only did 80 mph on the freeway in his Acura! Pretty impressive for the Acura....

We had a great time driving down. Mike did all the driving all weekend! He said he got in a flow and it was all good. We heard from his parents around Beaver (?) saying they would come home this morning. They thought we were all coming down with families and it would be too crowded. (They had been painting the St. George house and it looks great!) When Mike convinced them to stay, I said...I thought it was their idea to go to the games. A slight mis-communication revealed that Mike had called and asked them to go and they called back to say they would! Hmmm, I wasn't ever going to win this one! ha, ha

We got to St. George around 11:30am, quickly unloaded the car, changed into fresh clothes and loaded back into the car....this time with Jim & Renae in tow.

We stopped to eat in Mesquite at Eureka Casino because Darin's company is trying to get them as clients. It's amazing when you walk into those smoke-filled places how you get assaulted with the smell! We just aren't exposed to that much anymore. Darin & I decided that it reminded us of Grandma G's house.....and then we talked about how the first thing she would say is, "Hi kids, want a Coke?" Then, after Roger couldn't produce the cookies he thought he saw to help Renae with her cookie quest, Renae came back to our table with fortune cookies. This prompted a Chinese-style accent to come out of my mouth (and I'm sure D's, too, right?) as I said, "Ah, fortune cookie!" Then, D gestured to the next table where some lovely Asian people were sitting. Then, we had to laugh as we remembered Mom doing the same thing at Christmas Eve when the Chinese food delivery guy appeared and as she opened the door said, 'Ah, Chinese food!' We laughed and laughed and then I had to take a picture to show our Chinese friends. We were sorry for not being politically correct.

Note to all Gibsons...notice Roger's stupid face....that is all.

On the way out, Renae wanted to play penny slots. We told the story of our friend, Nicole's, mom winning $5000 at penny slots in Mesquite only two weeks earlier! So, she gave Mike a dollar and she played a dollar. Within 2 minutes, Mike had tripled his money and Renae had made 16 cents. Not being risk-takers when it comes to gambling, we told them to cash out! Luckily, they found a cash machine and didn't have to take their coupons for $4 and $1.16 to a cashier!

Mikey gave all the winnings to his mother.

Another hour and we were in Vegas! We parked Clark Griswold style and made our way to the Thomas & Mack center. Quickly we were descended upon by ticket scalpers willing to help us get some tickets. We got some tickets and were able to see the last few minutes of the Utah Women game where they also won the tournament!

After our Utah Men won the tourney, we went down on the hardwood. We have done that at football, but never at bball. It was a great view! Very fun. We hung out, sang the fight song, and then all of a sudden when the crowd and we turned around, we found ourselves under the basket. Then, a yellow ladder gets placed there! We were on the front row to watch the Utes cut down the net! So fun! Our view was only hindered by the HUGE bouncer guy that was pushing us back just a few inches.

It was great fun! After we left, Roger's Chinese food was not sitting well, so we ran to WalMart, got some Girl Scout Cookies, heartburn stuff and more Star Wars guys as this tactic has been working for Brandon's potty-training! We were also hungry again, so a long drive to find somewhere to eat landed us at In-and-Out!

Another 2 hour drive home and our weekend of fun was over!

Here's the picture I was supposed to forward to D...on it's way now...

Go Utes! We left St. George a little later than planned. Mike was wanting to get to church to make sure things were getting done for our ward activity this weekend. It's a good thing he was prompted to get home......we just had to straighten out a few things. Then, he remembered later that we had a temple dedication interview right after church! I was longing for a little more sun and St. George time, but it was good we came home. Thanks again to both sets of parents and D & Roger for a fun weekend! Let's hope the Utes can get past the first round tonight! Go Utes!