A Rodeo Family: Vegas Baby!!! Vegas!!!!!

Yes, we took a baby to Vegas!!!! Crazy as it sounds, it really did not go too bad.

When we left for Vegas the weather was great! It had been mid 50’s and the sun was shining. We left on Friday morning after we got Jenae on the bus. We dropped Aubree off with Chip for the day and we met up with our friends Matt & Heidi. Our flight out was at 11:20 so we had plenty of time to ease down to Grand Island. We are so lucky to have nice flights out of the Grand Island airport. It is a very small airport and it is very easy to get around it. I was pretty nervous flying with Whitney, I just didn’t know what to expect but she was a really trooper!! She slept on all of her flights. Even taking off and landing did not seem to bother her ears.

When we landed Heidi & I were in charge of getting the bags while Kyle & Matt went to get the rental car. The guys picked us gals up and we went to get a bite to eat when Kyle’s cell phone rang. It was baggage claims from the airport letting us know that still had a bag that we had not picked up. I had kind of forgot that I was supposed to get Kyle’s bag in addition to mine!!! I still can’t even believe I did that!!! I am thinking me & traveling to Vegas is just doomed!!! (Look back at my blog post from last year’s flight out to Vegas to see what I am talking about) Thankfully my wonderful husband had a good attitude about it and didn’t make me feel bad for starting our trip off on the wrong foot!

The PRCA put us up at the Mirage. It was a nice hotel/casino. I guess I should back up and explain why we were out there. Kyle won the Linderman award for the 6^th time. The PRCA flew us out to Vegas so they could present his award to him during the rodeo on Sunday. It was a really special time for him and it just so happened to be in time for us to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Matt & Heidi also celebrated their 10 year anniversary back in September. It was fun for all of us to take a trip together. For our 5 year anniversary we took a road trip to Estes Park, CO with Matt & Heidi as well. We are trying to figure out what we will do for our 15 year anniversary to celebrate!!!

After we got checked into our hotel we rested for a little bit then walked part of the Strip close to our hotel. It was a really nice evening, the perfect night to have a baby out on the town!! We went back to the Mirage to watch the rodeo in the lounge. It didn’t take long for them to kick me out of the lounge. Apparently they do not allow babies there. Whitney & I went up to our room and hung out until after the rodeo was over. It was a bummer that I couldn’t watch the rodeo, they did not get the channel the rodeo was televised on. We met up with Kyle’s friend Travis and he took us all out for supper to a Brazilian steak house. It was a really fun experience, no one went away hungry. It was 10:00 Pacific time (12:00 Central time) when we finished supper, needless to say we were all exhausted!!!

Saturday morning we got up and went to South Point. Kyle, Matt & Heidi went for breakfast there while I hit the trade show!!! Shopping is one thing that I could do with a baby in Vegas!! From the South Point we went on a little tour of Vegas and made our way to Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Matt & Heidi really seemed to enjoy shopping there, especially Matt! Kyle & Whitney were shopped out which made shopping not much fun for me.

Sunday Kyle, Matt & Heidi got up and had breakfast at our hotel while I stayed in with Whitney. I didn’t want her to tired out for the rodeo that afternoon. By noon we were headed to the rodeo. Chip got to Vegas in time to get to the rodeo and he ended up sitting with us during the rodeo. The Linderman presentation was really nice & it really meant a lot to Kyle that his Dad made it there in time to see. Whitney slept through most of the rodeo.

Sunday night my parents flew into Vegas. The plan was for my Mom to watch Whitney while I went to Fremont Street with Kyle, Matt & Heidi. Well as it turned out my Dad thought he was coming down with the stomach flu. I for obvious reasons did not want to be around them so Whitney & I stayed in our room again that night. It was kind of fun to just hang out with Whitney and watch Las Vegas local news. Their news stories are very different than Nebraska news!!! The Las Vegas Marathon was going on that night which made for a CRAZY busy night on the streets. There were 44,000 runners and they shut down the west side of the Strip. It probably would have been hard to meet up with my parents with the traffic that night anyway.

Monday Kyle got up early to take Matt & Heidi to the airport to catch their flight. Unfortunately they were not there 2 hours before their flight and they would not let them on the flight. They ended up having to buy tickets from Southwest and fly into Omaha. I knew it was recommended that they be there 2 hours before the flight, but I did not know it was required! Kyle & I flew out that afternoon. We got in to Grand Island about 10:30 that night. Our car was covered in snow and ice. Not much fun to come home to!!!

We had a lot of fun on our trip. It had a few little snags along the way that make for some good stories!

Kyle & Whitney on the flight to Vegas.

Matt & Heidi at the airport in Grand Island.

Kyle, Whitney & me in our hotel in Vegas.

Kyle & his Little Honey

Whitney & Me at the Mirage.

Kyle & Whitney at the Mirage in Vegas.

Kyle, Heidi & Matt at the water show at the Bellagio.

Kyle, Me & Whitney out side the Bellagio

Matt with Woody & Buz.

Whitney in our hotel room.

Kyle & Chip with Kyle's Linderman Buckle.

Eating supper at the Brazilian Restaurant. It was a neat experience. They brought us all kinds of meats to try. They would slice off how much you wanted right at the table. We had a couple kinds of steak, chicken, turkey, lamb, sausage. It was all really good!!!