On Thursday, Jayden and I were headed to Vegas. Just us girls were headed out to the National Finals Rodeo. Mark and I talked about it a year ago and planned it out to be a special trip that we knew Jayden would love. Mark had no interest in going to Vegas at all. He was happy to send Jayden and I. The National Finals Rodeo is the super bowl of rodeos and when that is your sport, going to Vegas is like a dream. We knew the Nelson family would be in Vegas too, which helped with the idea of being there just the two of us in such a big scary city. Morgan qualified to compete in the Junior National Finals. Today our flight was an 11:30 flight. There was a loud and crazy bachelor party going on. The seats on the plane were not assigned, so the guys were scattered all over the plan including one who sat with us. He was built, tan, and super friendly. He was in his twenties and living the ultimate bachelor life, in his opinion. In my mind, he was crazy and out of control. He told us all about himself and how much he parties, how many times he has flown and where, how many bach parties he has been too, how much he drinks, how drunk he has gotten, and how much trouble he has gotten into. He had many stories of injuries, stupid things he has done, and even getting IV's from being drunk to the point of almost dying. Crazy is not the word I would use, but he was that too. He was was an EMT several years, and now owns a tree service and also likes to snowboard, which he was giving us pointers on.. He was super fun to talk too, entertaining, really needed to grow up, and made the flight go much faster. We were entertained and his group kept getting louder and louder as the drinks on the plane kept pouring. The language on that plane was not appropriate. We definitely were on a party flight. Out of the airport and waiting for our bus we noticed the warm air right away, 60's. It felt good to be out of Iowa. We were excited and checked into "The Mirage", our hotel. Jayden was most surprised to see the casino right inside the hotel entrance in all directions. It smelled strong of smoke and was loud and bright. It was a very nice hotel with a large open window ceiling and waterfall. There were numerous restaurants and a mini mall in the hotel. Though I never saw them, they even had dolphins. Imagine that, Dolphins at a hotel in vegas. Once we got settled, we went to the hotel buffet that was part of our stay. we ate like queens, all the food and all the variety you can imagine. Then we got dressed up and ready to go to the rodeo. I had purchased tickets months ago for tonight's rodeo and paid more than double face value. They were the lowest priced ticket I could purchase online so the seats were at the top. We were super excited for the rodeo. We rode the free bus, so much better than the first Vegas trip when we had to take taxi cabs. We filed into the Thomas and Mack center with the crowd of fans. It was like the elite rodeo crowd. Contestants and fans and excitement in the air.. It was a rush just to be there. The rodeo was awesome, no matter where you sat you could see it all. It was exciting to see the names of people we follow on tv and in magazines. We sat facing the alley way to watch the barrel racers run in. Jayden has followed them all year and to see it live was awesome. It motivated Jayden and she is determined she will run there someday. With that girl, anything is possible.
Back at our hotel we went to hear the free live entertainment. Our hotel was an NFR host hotel, so had some amateur's and some big names played. There was a stage and a band. The crowd was on the small side, but gradually growing the later it got. Jayden did not have any trouble getting in, no ID was checked. A guy handed Jayden and I a beer, which I kindly thanked him, and grabbed out of her hand as soon as he walked away. 17, and she gets her first drink bought by a guy. No, this mama was not going to let her have her first beer. She was very flattered and thought it was cool. We also had a guy ask if "either" of us would like to dance. I felt so bad, he got turned down by both of us. I didn't think it was right for the married mom to be dancing and Jayden felt awkward dancing with someone that was probably close to 30. We watched and listened to the band, by 11 we were too tired to keep going and headed back to the room and called it a night. With a 3 hour time change, to us it was like 2AM.
Friday was our day to shop. We took a monorail from our hotel to the convention center. it was so cool to wind through the strip and see all the hotels as we zipped along. We were on a mission to find all kinds of western things. We were so excited to find clothes, knick knacks, jewelry, and horse tack we couldn't wait. The Cowboy Christmas set up was overwhelming with 1000's of vendors for everything imaginable. We started at one end and made our way row for row through the crowd of people and never ending items. By the end of the day our feet were tired and we didn't have many bags in our hands. In the middle of our shopping, we met my former ISU college roommate, Teng. Her husband and daughter picked us up and we all went out to a fancy hotel for a great lunch. It was so much fun seeing Teng and even more fun getting our girls together. They live in Vegas and took the time to take us out and bought our lunch. We laugh at how short her and her daughter are and how tall Jayden and I. We both have mini me's. It was so much fun.
At the convention center we also got to see Morgan run in her Junior NFR. Her arena was set up in the same area as the Cowboy Christmas shopping. I can tell she really looks up to Jayden, she got a watching cowboy hat and a similar NRS hat that Jayden always wears. She calls Jayden "twin sister". Morgan came out and rode a couple times before leaving for Vegas last week. Her horse, Bluberry had been at a trainer for a couple months prior. She ran good in her first round, unfortunately today she knocked a barrel and that ended any chances she had. She was pretty bummed and sad to go all the way to Vegas and then knock a barrel. Jayden can relate to the feeling. We went back behind and gave her hugs. While shopping, we bought tickets for the night rodeo and paid face value. timed it just right and met We got dressed up and ready for another night of rodeo. One big meal a day was what we went off, so kettle corn was supper. Our seats were similar to the first night, so we moved around and met people in doing so. This time were at the opposite end above the alley way and facing the roping box. It was great to be there again. I was glad we got to see two rodeos while in Vegas. Back at our hotel we missed our free buffet by 8 minutes. I was so mad, all that good food and we were so hungry. We went to the little country sports bar in our hotel and ordered food. They had an area inside where you ordered from a food truck. The food was excellent bar type food, but delicious. We had an oriental salad and sliders. This time, for the hotels live band, the bouncers were checking everyone's ID's.
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