As promised, I need to make an account of our trip to Vegas for the Muse concert. Really, it has to be done. For posterity’s sake. Or something.

Preparations. So many preparations to make sure all the kids were taken care of. Most of them stayed here with our favorite babysitter and little Eli stayed with a friend of mine. I’m sure the sitter could have handled him, but would she have ever come back? That is the question. As we were leaving my friend’s house she asked if she could take a picture because we were (apparently) grinning from ear to ear. I declined. I wouldn’t want the kids to know how excited we were to leave them for 24 hours.

So off we were. We left early to stay ahead of the storm. The drive went super-fast, only took us 4.5 hours to get there. Bored? Don’t worry, it gets better. Here’s my favorite part of the drive:

So we get to Las Vegas and drive straight to the Target because we forgot something at home. Nothing super-major, but we had plenty of time (it was around 4pm) so we went. As we were driving into the parking lot we realized that – hold on to your socks here – we had FORGOTTEN THE TICKETS. They were sitting safely at home in Provo. 400 miles away. I was so consumed with getting everything ready for the kids, I forgot the most important thing. The whole flippin point of the trip.

So we found a way to get our tickets re-printed. Luckily we had the credit card with us that we used to buy the tickets. Otherwise we would have been out. of. luck. Whew.

So next we went shopping for a bit. Good fun. Next we walked our butts all the way to Fat Burger to eat dinner because our favorite restaurant in the entire UNIVERSE (Lotus of Siam, named the best Thai restaurant on the continent) was closed for renovations. Kid. You. Not. Here we are on the way to the restaurant:

Fat Burger was good, though. However, while I was sitting on their stupid stools that are too tall for me (feet don’t reach the rail meant for feet), my camera (my camera. you know, the $700 one?) fell out of my bag on my lap (because my legs were dangling) and dropped to the concrete floor. I let a “FRACK” slip and picked it up. Turned it on and it was working, so I put it back in my bag and forgot about the whole thing.

So next we went back to the shopping mall (more hauling butt because we were on a schedule here) and went to take photos of the Build-a-Bear where we bought Catherine’s first doll when she was still in utero. I pulled out my camera to hand to Dave and couldn’t get the lens cap off. I looked at it and saw that it was jammed in. So Dave wedged it off and we both very audibly and very loudly gasped. It was shattered inside. My Nikon lens was ruined. But wait! Dave remembered that he is a genius and began to unscrew the filter! Yay for the filter! He threw it in the trash and the lens was perfectly fine underneath. Whew. Took some photos for Catherine.

Next we decided there was nothing to buy at that shopping mall (Mile long whatever the thingie) and hopped in the car to go to the Forum Shops to check out FAO Schwarz (LOVE!). We were running out of time, so we hurried over to valet parking and RAN to FAO (pronounced “fay-oh” by Dave, F. A. O. by the rest of us). Had a blast picking out gifts for the kids from my mom (spending other people’s money is so much more fun than spending your own). Check out this awesome doll named Cinko (didn’t buy it but TOTALLY should have for Eli):

Rush rush rush, run run run and we were done. We get the car and hurry over to the Joint at Hard Rock Hotel.

Muse was on at 10:30 and we wanted to be in our seats by 9:30. It was 9:07. The valets over there are useless, but we managed to get in the right spot, got out of the car, and found out they didn’t have room for us since we weren’t staying at the hotel. Dude. What is the point of having a venue in your casino if you don’t have enough space for the guests in the parking garage? We jump back in the van and realize we were blocked in. We ask a valet to move some cars. It takes them FOREVER.

Ugh. We finally get out and drive to the self park in the back. There are suspiciously a ton of cars ahead of us looking for spots. Lots of cars coming out, too. We ask someone directing traffic if there’s any room and he says (I’m not making this up), “I know as much as you do, I’m stuck standing here.” WITH A WALKIE TALKIE. Ugh. We keep driving up when someone coming down yells out the window, “DON’T DO IT, IT’S FULL!” great. We start to go back down when we notice a big group of people, so we follow them to their car and get a spot!

We run in and they won’t let me in with my camera. It is apparently too professional-looking. Whatev. So we go check it at the bell desk. Run back in and find our seats. It is 10:21! Success! We walked around a bit to check out the SRO places and found out it was actually 9:21. Dude. At some point Dave turned off the feature that automatically switches time zones on the cell phone. So we got to listen to Cage the Elephant (awful. worse than awful) for an hour. BUT, we were in our seats an hour before Muse came on as we planned. So yay us. For being stupid.

Muse was phenomenal. Loved them. Wanted them to play four hours. They played MK Ultra! It is one of the obscure songs (my favorite one!) from their new album and I just knew they wouldn’t play it. They must have known I was coming.

After the show we jumped back in the van to truck it back home. There was no avoiding the storm, so we set off with high expectations of weather ahead. And it was weird weather. Snow, then rain, then sleet, then rain again, etc. At one point we saw someone who had spun out and hit a wall which broke their back axle. I said, “wow, that’s a good warning” and Dave said, “yeah.” Then he proceeded to spin off the road into a deep bank of snow. We could hardly get the doors open.

So we called 911 and a dude came to make sure we weren’t drinking and said he would call a tow truck. We waited. and waited. Lucky for us I brought a blanket and extra water. Suddenly, to our rescue came a car full of guys and they got us out of the snow. Yay! Fellow Muse goers, and some dudes from Idaho. We get back on the road and the tow truck calls us (like an hour later) and proceeds to yell at me and tell me he wants my credit card number so he can charge us. Wrong. We waited for EVER. In fact, I’m more than positive he was taking the wrecked car in first. Whatev. The rest of the trip was uneventful unless you consider the weather eventful (and I do). It took us over seven hours to get back, but we managed to get there in one piece.

And the kids had a blast (made a snowman!):

and Eli was the best he has ever been for that 24 hours. They actually kept him several hours after we got back because their 4 year old didn’t want to give him back. heh.

So there you have it. Our misadventures in Las Vegas. Idiot-style. But we saw Muse. And I would do it again.