One of my family’s favorite movies used to be Sister Act.  When my aunt heard it was playing down at Tuachan she bought all of us girls (myself, my mom, my sister-in-law, my two cousins, and herself) tickets to see it together.  She planned a weekend down in St. George for the six of us.  We left thursday afternoon.  We decided to rent a mini van – rather than driving two cars down – to save on gas.  Since I was the farthest north, I picked up the van along with everyone else on my way down south.  Last minute we decided to do a one night stay in Las Vegas – the only way to swing it would be to do it the first night.  So after all of us – and our luggage – was crammed into the mini van, we set off for Vegas.  Our van had a DVD player, so Pitch Perfect 2 was a highlight on the journey down.  The drive down went really quickly.  I surprised the group by booking a suite at the Vdara for the night.  Since we didn’t get in until after midnight, we really only had time to try on the complimentary robes and get ourselves into bed.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and set off for the New York New York for lunch.  Half of us grubbed at Shake Shack and the other half at Tom’s Urban.  Luckily, Tom’s didn’t mind that we brought our to-go bags of Shake Shack inside the restaurant.

After lunch we ventured over to the Fashion Show Mall.  We hit up a few stores and my mom was bound and determined to get all of us a matching piece of jewelry to commemorate our trip.

After the mall we drove over to the Venetian.  We walked around the Grand Canal shops, stopped and got macarons at Bouchon, and then had dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe.  Cassidy had the brilliant idea to try the zipline over at the Rio.  So after our dinner we drove off the strip as the sun was going down.

The whole escapade still makes my stomach ache from laughing.  Once we arrived and signed ourselves in, we rode the elevator to the top of the building.  On the deck we waited in line for our turn to ride.  I was paired with my paranoid mother.  Cass and Britt went first and didn’t die.  Then my mom and I.  We stepped on up, got strapped in, and my mom was already squealing.  Once they released us, she screamed so loud I am confident the entire strip – maybe the entire state – heard her.  Not to mention my hand had lost all blood flow due to her lockdown on it.

I think that attraction photos are a waste of money – but when I saw this one come through on the screen, it was a must-have.  The best purchase of my entire trip.

After Tammy and Lindsy had their fun on the ride as well, we made our way back down and to our car.  My mom requested Sprinkles on our way out of town, so Sprinkles it was!

We ate our cupcakes on our drive back to St. George.  We didn’t make our way into town until after 1 AM.  Once we arrived at our hotel we found out there was a complication with our reservation.  We ended up at a different hotel and there was only one family suite available – so all six of us shared the room.  It was actually pretty hilarious and surprisingly my best sleep of the entire trip.

The next morning we slept in and checked out of our shared suite.  We decided to do a little more shopping and have lunch.  While everyone finished up, Britt and I drove over to The Sugar Cookie for a half dozen to share.  Afterwards we drove back to our new hotel, checked in, and got settled.  We got ready for dinner and the play.

We dined at Anasazi Steakhouse – where you cook your steak on a hot rock.  Our family loves red meat, so I figured it would be a hit when I made the reservation.

After our meals [smelling like steak] we drove over to Tuachan.  Even though musicals are definitely not my thing – the show was darling and the cast was really talented.  Mad props to all those performers who dance and sing in full costume in 80 degree weather.

And because we hadn’t had enough garbage for the weekend – we stopped at Village Inn to get ourselves some pie.  We backed da van in next to two Corvettes…cause we had to.

I have always joked that I would never own a mini van, but this trip has softened my sharp edges on the subject.  Also, what am I always the one who gets conned into driving the mini van?!

The next morning we checked out, had breakfast on the go, and drove home.  The weekend went by really fast.  It was fun to spend time with the girl’s in my family – we really don’t do things like this often enough.  We now have fun plans for next year and I am already excited. Even though we had a great time – I was more than anxious to get home to Zach and Sloan.  The look on her face when she saw me when I got home Sunday was worth every second of missing her.

Here’s to the first of many girl’s trips to come!