Big Bang in {Las Vegas}

For Jose's birthday in July, I asked him what he wanted and he told me he wanted to see Big Bang (a K-pop group) in concert when they come in October. So we bought tickets and started planning. Last week, we were able to go to Las Vegas and see the concert! 

On Thursday, we headed down to Vegas. We checked into our room at Mandalay Bay when we arrived, and quickly realized there was no hot water in the room. After a call to guest services and a visit from the engineer, we switched from the 8th floor to the 17th floor and this time, got a view of the strip! It was gorgeous! 

After resting from our drive, we went out for a late dinner at a place Jose found called Maggiano's. It's an Italian scratch kitchen and it was so good! The bread was hot and fresh, the pasta was notably handmade and delicious, the chicken and ricotta meatballs were perfect, and the desserts were incredible as well! The experience could not have been better! 

The next day we went out and walked the strip. We grabbed lunch at Shake Shack, which has the best shakes ever. And we explored the M&M store and the Coca-Cola store. At the Coke store, we tried 16 flavors of Coke from around the world. 

Then it was time for the concert! It was a dream to see a Korean group live! Jose had a huge grin on his face and he sang every song. I'm  so glad I was able to work everything out so that he could see this concert. We had a great time in Las Vegas and we are so grateful to have been able to go!

{Honeymoon} in Seattle

I have to say that Seattle, Washington is my favorite city in the world. Granted, I have only been there in July so I have never seen it rain and I’m not sure how I would feel about it when I have to get around in the rain. But regardless, when Jose and I were talking about our honeymoon, we each listed 4 places we would like to go for our honeymoon and then looked at them both to decide. Two matched up- Washington and Hawaii, with Washington being at the top of both lists. Jose served his mission in Spokane, but had never been to Seattle so he was excited to go.

The picture on the bottom right is Jose's face right as the wheels left the runway.

The last time Jose was on a plane was when he flew to Utah 15 years ago (he took a bus to his mission). He was so excited to fly he just kept grinning, reading safety handouts, and chatting about planes until it was time for takeoff. It was so fun to see his face as we took off!

The view from our hotel

Once we got to Seattle we checked in to our hotel, Inn at the Market. The view from the room was awesome looking out at the Public Market, and there was a deck on the roof that we could see the piers and the sound from. Jose took some amazing pictures from there, and a lot over the next few days of people on the street and some of the street art that was around Pike Place. He even captured my experience placing my gum on the gum wall in Post Aly perfectly.

Just before riding the Great Wheel

Not cute, but exactly how I felt about the wall.

 Too bad I HAD to put my gum there or I would regret not doing it.

I did it!

The street art was amazing!

We had so much fun exploring the market, the waterfront, and even made it over to the Space Needle (although we didn’t get to go up because they were sold out). We rode the Great Wheel over the water, and had so many laughs together. Jose was so sweet the whole time, making sure that we got to do everything that I wanted to do. I am so grateful to be married to my best friend, and I’m so in love with him.