Vegas, Baby!

The month of May has been a huge party for me and it all started with my trip to Vegas. My sister, Krista, graduated from Dental School at UNLV, so my parents and I packed up the Acura and car-pooled the ten hours down to Nevada. First though, we stopped at Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, ID. It was a normal stop for us when I was growing up and I have memories of many picnics near the falls. Anyway, there was tons of water, more than I had ever seen, and it was beautiful. It was also a little cold, too. Here's my mom and dad posing for me in front of the falls.
This is what the falls looked like. I love waterfalls. I love the sound, the smell and the feel of the spray on my skin.
Once we got to Vegas we attended her first graduation ceremony which was just the Dental School commencement. It was on Friday, so after she finished with work my oldest sister, Liz, flew down to join us for the weekend. She's the photographer in the family and was put in charge of all the pictures with mom and dad's camera. We got bored waiting for the ceremony to start.
If you look really closely, you can see that the first student walking towards the left it Krista.
After she got her degree she was all smiles. Wonder why? Four years of graduate school done! Now we need to celebrate!
The party was a little later, first we needed to pose for more pictures. Mom, Krista, and Dad after the first ceremony.
Kris Winston, Krista, and Curt Winston. Kris and Curt are my surrogate parents. I grew up with them living next door and narking on me when my parents were out of town. That's a different story, though...:) I absolutely love them!
It's a little lame, no, a lot lame, but my sisters and I always did this pose growing up. We have lots at different ages. It may be lame, but it's tradition. We make some pretty sad Charlie's Angels. We have no skills!
The whole family. It was so crowded inside we took the picture party outside. Unfortunately, my younger brother John couldn't come down at all and my youngest brother David was in the process of driving down from Rexburg so they missed out on all the fun photo ops.
We can't be serious when we get together. It's just an impossibility. Check out my dad's face. Even though we're all adults now, he still has three silly daughters.
The next day we went around the city before Krista's second graduation that included all the graduates, undergrad and all, at UNLV. This is us just after the New York, New York roller coaster (which was awesome!). My dad always did the Whack a Mole! games when I was growing up so this is him Whacking a Krista! She's doing her best to defend herself.
Of course, we were in Vegas so... No, we didn't gamble. We just pretended.
David made it down the night before and he wanted a picture with the machines, too. Does he look like he's been there all night? That was his goal.
When I sat down I hit the payout button just for the heck of it and look what I won! I got a payout voucher for $.01! That's a pretty good return, right? Put in nothing, get a penny back. I was lucky!
There was a ginormous neon pink gorilla costume outside a magic shop. Only in Vegas.
All of my pictures from the second graduation were too dark except for this one. David was riveted by the inspirational speeches and the self congratulations from all the graduates. Seriously, though, graduations are a huge deal and I always acknowledge the achievement, but does it have to be so self indulgent for those graduating?
Liz, David and I went off on our own after graduation (we slipped out once Krista walked) and did some exploring. This is us in the gardens at Bellagio. It's always very beautiful.
For dinner that night we went to Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. I cannot communicate my excitement to eat there. I LOVE food, I LOVE cooking, and I LOVE eating. How could all my dreams not come true at a five star restaurant in Vegas that's owned by one of the best chefs in the country?
This is the whole group of us. On the left side front to back in Curt, Kris, Krista and me. Right side front to back is David, Liz, Dad and Mom.
Okay, I have to tell you I could do a complete post just on the food, but I'm going to try to condense everything because I know not everyone is as fanatical about food as I am. We started with appetizers. This was Mom's. It was a grilled asparagus salad with crumbled blue cheese and toasted nuts topped with a balsamic dressing and micro greens. I just thought it looked so pretty on the plate.
Dad's appetizer was spicy tuna and salmon tartar with blue corn chips and fried plantains. Oh my gosh, so good! We also had some fried calamari and a stuffed poblano chile.
This is me trying my mom's asparagus salad. It was so good. I loved the different textures and the sweet of the dressing with the bitter of the blue cheese. I can't describe it. YUM!
Our main dishes looked amazing! I made everyone wait to dig in so I could get some pictures. This was my entree. It's black grouper with BBQ red onions and guacamole. There are also three different chile sauces and complemented the grouper. I'd never had grouper before and I loved it. It seemed to be a milder fish that reminded me a bit of swordfish. I recommend it.

This is Liz trying a bite of my dad's rib eye steak. It seriously melted. I have had great rib eyes but this was on a new level. I think it was cured longer. Anyway, it was so good. I didn't want my taste to be over. Apparently, Liz felt the same way.
This is Krista's meal. It's lamb with a sweet potato and goat cheese tamale.
Mom ordered halibut crust with blue corn chips. It was served with niciose olives and micro greens.
This is after I finished my plate. I usually don't clean a plate that well.
Did I say that the food was delicious, yet? The proof is in the plate.
We didn't do dessert at Mesa Grill. We needed to walk off a little food so we headed back to Bellagio because not everyone had been there yet. They have these great little pastries there along with gelato that is really good. Since we'd already enjoyed the gelato that afternoon, (this day seemed to revolve around food. Personally, I think days like that are fabulous!) Liz and I decided to share one of the fruit tarts. It was almost as satisfying to look at as it was to eat. Almost.
After walking a little bit more we ran into a Serendipity 3 outside of Caesar's Palace. I've always wanted to eat at the Serendipity 3 in NY but every time we go there we don't make it so I insisted on stopping and trying it. Of course I ordered the famous frozen hot chocolate. They use a blend of 13 different cocoas to get their famous flavor. I shared a small with David and as soon as we started I regretted sharing. I could have polished it off on my own. I swear most days aren't this food obsessed.
As we walked we did some shopping, of course. I didn't end up getting anything but we had a great time looking. When Liz and I saw the Jimmy Choo store it was like being called home to the Mothership. We went in and looked around and I felt tears in my eyes! Someday, someday.
We ended the evening, and essentially the trip, but watching the fountains at Bellagio. I've been to Vegas so many times but I still find the fountains to be my favorite part. They are beatiful.

So there was the first part of my month of May. Stay tuned for the second half of the month spent in Arizona and Houston.

When I got home, since I had missed Mother's Day, Nate gave me my late gift. It was a flower made of a peach ring and gum drops. He was so cute when he gave it to me. The best part was when he asked for it back so he could eat it.