what happens there, stays there. THANK GOODNESS--LET IT STAY!

Mid-May Brett had a work conference in Sin City (boy, has it earned that title) with several other co-workers.
All spouses were invited.
Here's some pix from the trip:

We saw Elvis. Actually make that plural: ELVISes. Some were walking on the street and then you had your run-of-the-mill bus full of impersonators. Or were they??? (author cocks head & raises eyebrow as if to suggest one of the jumpsuited men may have been the real deal...) One of the highlights of the weekend was when we saw Jared & Amy, Ethan & Wyatt. Wyatt is brand new, still just a newborn, and so sweet! Ethan made us feel very welcome and at home with his friendly personality. Jared and Amy put together a scrumptiously mean dinner of BBQ sandwiches with CHEESECAKE for dessert. Thanks, guys! Sorry it was so last minute but we loved visiting you! Plus, what better activity could we have found to do on a Sunday in Vegas? We saw Terry Fator. For those who are in the dark as much as I was, Terry Fator won last year's "America' s Got Talent". He is a very talented, indeed, ventriloquist. Some of his jokes were a little colorful for my taste, but for the most part we really enjoyed his show. I'm amazed at how he can have a "conversation" with those puppets and change his voice so fluidly. What did I do while Brett was in meetings? Well...first of all, I slept in, or at least tried to (the curtains would not shut completely, so there was just enough sunlight blasting through the room it made it hard to sleep in too late). I noticed the room service menu was the same exact price as the restaurants down stairs, so it was a tough choice: NOT! (Does anyone say that anymore???) Anyhoo, I stayed in my jammies, orderd me some breakfast in bed, read my People Magazine, and yes, watched "ANGEL" with David Boreanaz. (Don't judge me. There was seriously nothing else on. At least nothing else I could watch and still keep my temple recommend.) It was heaven to just relax. Around 10:00, Melissa (another wife) called and we decided we'd go down the strip aways to a mall to shop and then have lunch. I really enjoy Melissa. She has a great sense of humor and a super-fun personality! We tried to shop, but even at the "ordinary" mall, the stores were way out of our (my) league. So then we stopped for lunch at a cafe at the Venetian. We each ended up ordering the same thing (Spinach & Feta pizza), which was to DIE for, and then Melissa ordered a box of their freshly baked cookies (still hot!). She shared one with me and man, did it hit the spot. Almost as much as water (it was a toasty 98 degrees that day). I had fun being with Melissa, but I brought the WORST shoes. By the end of our afternoon jaunt, I was gimping around rather than walking and my legs and feel were tightly swollen. Needless to say, after lunch I headed back to the hotel to soak my feet and try to elevate them before dinner. They were still miserably sore at dinner time, so as pathetic as it sounds, I made Brett get us a taxi to take us to and from our dinner/show location. Seriously, I could NOT walk. Such a dummy! Walking around Vegas didn't impress me too much (except for the Bellagio Water show, and this guy with this bird--that was cool. And a little creepy). To be honest, VEGAS as a whole does not impress me. Other than getting to spend time with Brett, I couldn't have been more ready to leave. It's such an evil place (at least the strip is). I know good people live there, but the strip is just so dirty and raunchy. Sex is everywhere. That didn't surprise me, but what did surprise me is that it was so in your face. I expected to see billboards with half-naked women, I expected men to be handing out fliers for naughtiness on the street. What I did not expect was to see women in lacy underwear pole-dancing on a platform OUTSIDE. Yes, that's right, you couldn't help but see it because you had to walk right by it. THAT I would have expected to be at least behind closed doors. I was very grateful I wasn't one of the tourists with my children in tow. I did love the Bellgio. It is a gorgeous building and the water show was awesome. I couldn't help but think it is something my mom could appreciate.

I took some video of the water show, but it won't load for some reason.

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The first night we were there, we ate dinner at the most unusual and interesting restaurant. It was called Capo's and it was off the strip a ways. The entire restaurant had a MOB/MAFIA theme. The decor (including the chalk body outlines), the New York-accented waiters, the names of the dishes (for example, one seafood dish was called, "The Chef Swims With the Fishes"), all of it was reminiscent of Chicago and New York gangsters. It made it really fun. They kept the lighting very dark so you had to use a small attached flashlight to read the menu. As you walked in the front door you entered a foyer, where a small window was suddenly revealed (kind of like the ones you would have seen at a speak-easy back in the day) and an employee asked you how many in your party. Then, they opened the main door to let you in. That got a good chuckle out of us. Fun! They also had a performer who sounded very much like Sinatra. His name is Bobby Liguori and he was a pretty fun entertainer. Anyway, if you're ever in Vegas, check out Capo's. The outside is not very impressive, but the inside, including the fabulous Italian food, will not disappoint. It's located at 5795 W. Tropicana Ave.

Cody & Melissa

my mafia man
(the live one in the above picture,
not the dead one in the outline below)