Days 7,8

LAS VEGAS!
We have 3 nights at the Encore Hotel, and lemme tell you: Fanciness. Did we mention we were roughing it on this trip? Because we're not.

The Encore is the Wynn's newest hotel and casino.

When the front desk picks up the phone they say "How can I help the Ballweber party?"

It's pretty swanky.

But before we even get to the strip, we have something else to do. SURPRISE!

We're totally getting married. 

Dominique was the only one who knew of our secret plan. And she surprised us with this amazing bouquet already in our room when we checked in!

 A dozen original glazed donuts will be our cake.

Jason building the donut tower.

Donut tower. With toys.

Mommy, Daddy, and Olive on top of the cake. 

Standing on a Nevada puzzle piece.

Also from Dominique, my bouquet,

And a boutonnière for Jason.

Hotel selfie before heading out!

Waiting for the limo.

You heard me. The limo.

!!!!

We are ordering photos of the ceremony from the chapel. Elvis didn't marry us, but he did walk me down the aisle and gave me away. He also messed up the words to HIS OWN SONG.
It was perfect.

 Then we had dinner at In-N-Out!

Married hands.

Married hand with soda.

 Married hand at New York New York.

Now that we're married we can get this.

 Elevator ride at the end of the night.

We love our rings!

 Tuesday morning it's time for brunch at the Omelet House.

We can't wait for our Lobster Eggs Benedict!

 Then we walk up and down the strip. To the Venetian,

 Caesar's Palace,

And Paris of course. Classic honeymoon.

 High rollers.

Then I broke the casino. A great day!

Day 6

Day 6

Grand Canyon, AZ - Las Vegas, NV

Miles Driven: Approx 270

Quote of the road trip: "I'm gonna wear the same thing as yesterday."
We've each said this a couple of times now.

 Oh, good morning, Grand Canyon.

The snow followed us.

We asked the ranger at the visitor center which trails were open today, and weren't too long.

She said Mathers Point, so we went to the edge!

And this is what it looked like.

Greetings from the Grand Canyon!!! 

A reminder that we're actually in the desert. 

Ok, turns out we only needed 10 minutes at the Grand Canyon.

So let's get on the road.

 To the Hoover Dam!

Into Nevada,

And to Las Vegas!

Day 5

Day 5

Cortez, CO - Grand Canyon, AZ

Miles Driven: Approx 250 Miles.

The snow followed us! We woke up to this.

So fluffly, so wet.

That's cool, we're antiquing!

Lurv the jadeite. We bought the butter dish! (I know these are new reproductions, but that's why I can afford it and also I don't care.)

We had read that Four Corners was closed on the weekends and we were looking forward to taking a photo in front of the Closed sign, but it was open!

Even better!

 This however, was not open. Sad face.

 Then we drove toward Monument Valley. 

 Red earth! It's like a different planet.

Elephant Pheet!

As soon as we got to the pay station to enter Monument Valley, it looked like this:

Can barely see the car in front of us. HA! Forget it!
It's the trip, not the destination. Let's go to the Grand Canyon.

 Wait a minute. A dinosaur-themed roadside attraction? Yes please!

 I found one!

 No really, a dinosaur was here. That one time, a long time ago.

 What is it about clean remotes? Is this a new thing?

Oh, thank you Best Western! I'm so excited about my new paper towel! And thank you for placing it in between the sink and the soap, so that it gets wet before I can do anything really cool with it. 

Day 4

Day 4
Santa Fe, NM - Cortez, CO
Miles Driven: Approx 280 Miles

With all that night driving yesterday, we decided to take it easy today and explore Santa Fe.

Amaaaaazing breakfast at Chez Mamou. There are a lot of French places in Santa Fe, what's that about? Also got pastries to go. We totally blew our daily meal budget in one place, but shut up.

Jason and I love toys and games. Our house is full of robots, toys, and photos of toys. We always go into little local toy stores because it's super fun. Being pregnant made it even more fun because we had one more reason to think about toys.
The Moon Rabbit Toys sign lured us in. Toys AND games! We're gonna be in here for a while. The owner of the store was sitting at a table explaining a board game to a guy. We wandered in and browsed. This place was awesome. But things were different. Now there is less reason to think of toys. Less reason to buy them. I kept it together.
They had amazing stuff. Wooden cars, felt food things, the book about the marionette who feeds pigeons.
There was a display of little games invented by the store. We had the lady explain all the rules to us, and we bought every single one. She was so cool. Jason was trying to remember a game he had played a while ago and she gave him her card and said "email me when you remember the name of it, that sounds awesome"
We left feeling happy. Toy stores are still one of our happy places.
And we were excited about our new games.

We shopped around some more in Santa Fe. We love it here! I didn't take too many photos of the town because it was very cloudy.

On our way out of town, it was time to visit the Brontosaurus Family.
It. Was. Time.

So close!

Here they are!!! OmyGawd they are so sweet. These guys are behind the fence of a business and the gate was closed, but I got out of the car and took a million shots.

Mommy, Daddy and baby.

Watch out for the T-Rex coming to get you!

Family.

More night driving. We switch off more. More snow, more slick roads. We didn't get to see any New Mexico countryside because we've only driven through it at night! We talk about planning a future trip to Santa Fe. That was fun.

It stops snowing as soon as we cross into Colorado. Did we beat the snow storm? Stay tuned!