Vegas for the NFR

Yes, this is a little late but I finally chased down my sisters for some of the pictures that they had taken so I could post them. This was the funnest time yet that we have had at the NFR. Dennis and I headed to St. George as usual on Friday and went to dinner with some friends. Saturday morning we went to Mesquite for brunch, played there a while and then headed to Vegas. We hung out at an outdoor bar which had a real fun band playing and killed time until the rest of the family arrived. We met at the Outback Steakhouse which is kind of a tradition since we have eaten there every year on the first night we are in town. Dinner was good as usual and we all tried some new drinks. (The Smoretini was good but a little rich!!)




After dinner we headed back to Harrah's to go to the Toby Keith Bar. What a good time!!! My mom is such a social butterfly when she is drinking. She had the whole bar wanting to hang out and talk to her. All of the young boys were hanging on her and dancing with her. She even made friends with the security guard that was standing by the stage and actually had him holding her vest and watching our drinks. She was bossing him around and telling him what to do and of course he did it! We also made friends with a couple from California that actually ended up giving my parents and sisters a ride back to their hotel because the shuttle wasn't running anymore. We danced so much that we could hardly breath. It was so hot and packed in there and everyone was always crowding around us. My dad kept the drinks coming but we rarely stopped to rest. The band that was playing was Chris LeDoux's old band Western Underground. They have a new lead singer and sang alot of Chris's old music. We didn't leave until the wee hours of the morning but it was time because my feet hurt so bad I could hardly walk.

My poor Mom had a rough night though... she probably wont want me to endulge all the details but it was a combination of drinking too much and being naturally accident prone!
On Sunday we all slept in and took it easy. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the night before! I just stayed in bed as I usually do and waited until Dennis went down stairs to get me my latte from Starbucks. We met at Margaritaville for lunch which is always a fun place. Mom didn't feel up to coming though. She wanted to rest up so she felt better for the rodeo that night.



Sunday night Den and I hopped in a limo and then went and picked up the rest of the family at their hotel. It was so much better than riding in those stinky cabs and our driver was really nice. He even told us that he would come pick us up after the rodeo. Good thing too because we have waited in that long line for a cab before and it was not fun. That place gets crazy. The rodeo was awesome as usual but although the arena looked full, it didn't seem quite as busy this year. Probably the whole economy thing. There were alot of competitors from Utah and they all did real well. Brooks & Dunn were there and sang the opening song. We had good seats but their backs were to us.... too bad. Good thing I was able to get some good pictures from the jumbo-tron.

After the rodeo we went back to Harrah's and ate dinner at a fancy restaurant called The Range. It is kind of like a Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Expensive but really good!! We were all pretty beat after that and stood and listened at the piano bar for a while and decided to call it a night.
Den and I left the next morning so that we could be home before the kids got out of school. My parents and sisters stayed for another day so that they could go to the Cowboy Christmas Festival.
Love Vegas.... but always happy to get home!!