From the Beginning: Birthdays and MCATs in Vegas!

One of the best vacations Stephen and I have been on together was when we took our first little road trip to Vegas the first June we knew each other. Stephen needed to go to take the MCAT which was on my birthday so I decided to tag along. I stayed at the fancy Paris hotel while Stephen stayed at his sisters house. We left on the 19th stocking up on way to many sweets and treats. We listened to great music, had awesome conversation, and were newly in love and obsessed with each other. The first night in Vegas we relaxed with Marilee, Colby, and little Clay. I was just getting to know them at the time and loved how kind they were to me. Marilee and Clay made me a cake and decorated with balloons for my birthday. They made me feel so welcomed. The next day on the 20th Stephen studied a little in the morning and then we headed for the strip. We just explored the city and did a little shopping at Kohles which later became a tradition to shop at that Kohles every time we make it back to Vegas. That night we ate at one of the casino buffets. Towards the end of dinner it hit Stephen that he was taking a very important test the next morning. He crashed right there in the booth and went into a bit of a daze for the rest of the night. So we cut dinner pretty short and called it a night early so he could get plenty of sleep.

The next morning was the test...and my birthday! Stephen surprised me with roses on his way to take the exam. He was a little upset I had locked the dead bolt on the door. He wanted to put the flowers by my bed so when I woke up I would see them. Instead he had to knock waking me up so I could let him in. I tend to ruin lots of surprises. The roses were beautiful and later he gave me a necklace with an Eiffel Tower charm on it so I can always remember our first trip together. After delivering the roses he rushed off to take his test and while he was gone I headed out to buy our tickets to the show we were going to see that night. I had to walk from one end of the strip to buy the tickets, then walk to the other end of the strip to get our seats figured out in the crazy heat. It was an intense morning for both of us. When he got done with his test we spent the day hanging out and then got dressed up for an amazing dinner at Benihanas. Later we went to the cirque du soleil show Ka.

We spent the rest of the trip spending a lot of time with Marilee and Clay. One night we took Clay to get some panda chicken (panda express) and he was so excited to get some spicy (rootbeer) to drink. Then we took him to Walmart to pick out his very own nascar toy.

On one of our last mornings in Vegas we went to the sugar factory outside of my hotel and had the most amazing breakfast. It was incredibly delicious. Then we spent the afternoon at the pool getting some relax time in. It was a perfect birthday and a vacation we won't ever forget.

First road trip and vacation together