Jordan & Hillary: Lucky in Las Vegas

(I've been slowly but surely turning my blog into a book before our 1 year anniversary. It is my goal to blog and print books every year. I want my book to be like a journal so I am going to start writing more in each post. Sorry they are so dang lengthy .)

We headed to Las Vegas for a few days with my parents to celebrate Jordan completing the DAT and applications. Months ago my mom and I were trying to think of something we could do to celebrate Jordan and force him to relax. Vegas it was.

My mom and I have been going to vegas at least once a year since I was 8. It was fun to bring the boys this time (and not spend 90% of the trip in a theatre dancing).

Here are some highlights of our trip:

BEATLES LOVE.

I'm putting this under highlights, but if i'm being honest I really didn't like the show.

I've seen quite a few cirque shows and this was easily my least favorite.

It was more of a dance show, but the dancers weren't spectacular.

I wish there were more stunts.

When we were deciding on which to show to see my parents and I didn't want to see this one but Jordan did. It was "his" weekend so we went with it. He loves the beatles and loved the show (this was his first cirque show though).

Long story short, next time we aren't going to go with Jordan's pick haha.

THE FOOD.

OMG the food was amazing! We ate so much. One night Jordan and I were dying for some good mexican food. We ate the most amazing fish tacos with mango salsa.

The next night we did a vegas buffet.

I had been craving a good a seafood buffet so my dad did lots of research and found out that the "best vegas buffet" was in our hotel. We spent the small fortune and literally ate until we were sick. No seriously, I was sick.

My other favorite food stop was SHAKE SHACK!

Everyone always talks about shake shack so the last time I was in NYC I had to stop. It is SO good! When I found out that the New York, New York Hotel opened one I was so excited. My dad was kind of bugged that we had to drive all the way across the strip for a "burger", but by the time he was done eating he admitted that it was dang good.

THE SHOPPING

Gotta love vegas shopping.

My mom and I swear that there is magic at the H&M in the forum shops because every time we go there we end up finding the best stuff.

I personally love shopping with my dad ... ;)

He sits down while my mom and do our jobs and then he comes for the finale.

Thanks again daddio!

The $.

My dad is a black jack lover.

Every time we go to vegas he will bring a little fun money to play his favorite game.

My mom and I prefer to spend our fun money in the malls ;)

My mom does like to put a little money in the penny slots and play though.

This trip Jordan and I wanted in on the fun so we brought along $20 to play. We figured if we lost it, oh well, and if we won it then lucky us!

We sat at the slot machines with my mom and we ended up winning $170.

It was SO fun and we were feeling so lucky!

My dad was playing black jack so we went over to watch him.

Being my father's daughter, I have a love for black jack but I am not willing to bet so high. I'm too poor. $20 won't take you very far (hence the slot machines).

My dad wanted us to join in on the fun so he slid us a few chips and let us play.

We sat there for an hour laughing and bantering with the dealer.

Jordan and I must have used up every ounce of luck on the slot machines because we lost at black jack. Thankfully, my dad was doing well so he still came out on top.

Call me a sinner but gambling our tiny bit of money was one of my favorite parts of our trip.

Especially since we went home richer than when we got there.

THE MOVIES.

Us Mautzs love to see movies. I can't remember a vacation where we didn't go see a movie.

This trip we say SPY (hilarious) first, then the girls saw Aloha (terrible) and the boys saw Mad Max.

(side story: in the middle of the movie I spilt a cherry coke all over the side (read: butt) of my brand new white dress. you better believe I wore in the rest of the day. Who has time to change?)