happy anniversary!

Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary! Since we already celebrated with a romantic night out in Las Vegas, we didn't do a lot on our actual anniversary, but we did enjoy spending some extra time together last weekend.

Random wedding fact: We never cut or ate our wedding cake. We took pictures before the reception pretending to cut the cake, but we never cut it because we ran out of time. We didn't even get to eat the top of our cake for our 1st anniversary because the cake was in our freezer during the byu-maintenance-unplugged-the-fridge-while-we-were-out-of-town disaster. So in the end we paid a bunch for an amazing chocolate raspberry, key lime, and white chocolate strawberry cake (each tier was a different flavor) that was never actually eaten by anyone. Oh well, it looked pretty and that is all that matters, right?

viva las vegas!

Mike and I had a fun-filled weekend in Las Vegas... here are the highlights:

*Dinner at Brio (an amazing Italian restaurant with the best bruschetta I have ever had) with Bryan, Katya, and Kaio, followed by a trip to the strip to see the Bellagio fountains - such a fun night!

*Lunch at In-N-Out done "animal" style, of course. It was Mike's first time and he definitely is a fan now.

*Dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe with Bryan and crew followed by a romantic walk around the Venetian and the biggest highlight of the trip... The Blue Man Group! We had so much fun at their show - if you are going to see in show in Vegas, they are a must see. They are hilarious, amazing musicians, and incredibly original. We splurged and got 2nd row almost center seats, which put us in the "poncho" zone, aka. the you might get wet zone. It was so cool to be close enough to see their facial expressions and all the little details - like the Cap'n Crunch stuck to their faces. We waited outside after the show and got to meet a Blue Man (I was super excited because he was my favorite Blue Man - the one that seemed to get picked on the most and also the best dancer...

The kiss mark left by the Blue Man...

*Listened to a flute/guitar/accordian trio in the courtyard of the Venetian. They played great classics like "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Starlight" as well as some very impressive jazz flute pieces. They were so fun to watch, and made me think that maybe someday I will do something like that.


*Penn & Teller show at The Rio. They are really entertaining and just when you think their trick is over and wasn't all that amazing, they throw something in that blows your mind. We saw Penn and Teller after the show, which was cool. I never realized that Penn is like 6'7" tall - yikes.

*Dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere (or space needle, as Mike calls it). This was my second favorite thing of trip. The restaurant is located on the 106th floor and it rotates (very slowly) so that you can see all of Las Vegas while you eat - so cool. The dinner was amazing - we had fillet minion that could be cut with a fork because it was so tender, purple potatoes from Peru that were delicious, balsamic vinegar soaked and grilled baby onions, roasted tomatoes, steamed asparagus, and lobster (I don't know if the lobster was good, I didn't eat it - but Mike loved it). All of that was followed by the most amazing, beautiful, and delicious dessert I have ever had. The dessert was in the shape of the Stratosphere (in the picture it is dismantled because our waiter cut it up before we could take a picture) and it was a Belgian chocolate base, white chocolate stem, dark chocolate and raspberry moose in a Belgian chocolate shell for the top, all topped with a vanilla cream and fudge, caramel, raspberry sauce. So good...


We had so much fun in Las Vegas, but we are both extremely excited to get back to normal life and back into school in a few weeks. I know, we are odd, but we love school. Good thing we have two more years!

happy birthday!

My birthday was last Monday, and we have just barely finished all of our celebrations! The festivities included:

A party with friends including yummy artichoke dip, red velvet cake, and a HD movie projected on our living room wall.

A romantic dinner with Mike at Ottavio's that included sparkling cider, pesto gnocchi, and a delicious chocolate cannoli. We haven't found anything at Ottavio's that we don't love and the atmosphere can't be beat - if you haven't been you are definitely missing out. We followed dinner with the movie 21 - which seemed appropriate since it was my 21st birthday. If only I knew how to count cards...


A delicious dinner with my parents at Z'tejas that included chips with salsa and queso, and an amazing steak burrito.

A birthday lunch at work that ended with a wonderful and very rich chocolate cake from Costco.

And finally, a shopping spree in the Nordstrom's shoe department that yielded a great pair of brown slingbacks and a pair of classic black pumps.

All-in-all it was an amazing birthday and I am so grateful to everyone who sent cards/emails wishing me a happy birthday.