GGCC - Gone Vegas!

There's a story, of a little group of friends.

In April of 2003, five friends (Melanie, Courtney, Rob, Greg, Tammy) enjoyed watching General Conference together while addressing envelopes for our wedding. As a joke, we nicknamed our group "Go General Conference Club" or GGCC. By some twist of fate, the five of us (Melanie wasn't married at the time) moved up to Utah for jobs and school. During the pursuing three years in Utah, we spent an exceptional amount of time together, and most enjoyed weekend slumber parties, when we would all crash at Mel and Courtney's. The nickname stuck and we have called ourselves GGCC every since.

Our time together mostly consists of laughing, eating an embarrassing amount of calories, and uhhhh... laughing more. My kind of club.

Labor Day of 2005 we took our first trip. GGCC - Gone Moab.
In March of 2006 for Melanie's birthday we took a second trip. GGCC - Gone Disneyland.

Now that Melanie is expecting twins in December, we determined that a gathering should be planned before the babies arrive. With Greg and I back in Arizona, Mel, her husband Skyler and Courtney in Utah and Rob in California - the most central location was Las Vegas. Hence our third trip was created. GGCC - Gone Vegas.

Much Much Much Much THANKS and LOVE go to my sister and Mom who watched Emma for the whole weekend!

The photo below was awkwardly taken and inspired, following an evening of searching and laughing at the website: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

We rented a gorgeous vacation home about 20 minutes from the strip. Let me tell you folks. Vacation homes are the WAY TO GO. Each of the 4 bedrooms had it's own bathroom, there was a huge kitchen, pool and spa and about 4000 square feet. And it was only $60/night per person, making it much cheaper than a hotel. We also saved money by cooking some of our own food. It worked out very well.

Went to the strip mostly on Saturday. Did some touristy things including the M&M store and the roller coaster at New York, New York.

Saturday evening we enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Venetian and some gambling to follow. :)

We played the "dollar challenge", by inserting one dollar into the nickel slots. I won my money back a few times and then actually had a profit of $3.00 - before I got greedy and lost it all. Greg lost his dollar within the first round, which explains the somber face in this shot.

And what would a trip to Vegas be without the Bellagio water show.? OK, well you can't really see the Bellagio or the water behind us, but trust me. It's there.

After the roller coaster, Courtney played "Deal or No Deal" in the game area and won us some delightful little "car erasers". She's a true friend that Courtney. :)

Rousing games of "Sorry" and "Yahtzee" were enjoyed on Sunday. Melanie technically "won", but she didn't ever pick up the knack for "following the rules of the game"... so we aren't really sure of the accuracy of results.

Our Sunday dinner spread of food. One thing we did NOT lack this weekend was delicious and high caloric food. Stepped on the scale FIVE POUNDS heavier upon returning home. YIKES.

Don't remember how this tradition ever started, but GGCC has had "sing-a-longs" for quite some time. Luckily, Rob does a great job at sight reading just about anything we put in front of him, and the rest of us sing our little hearts out. Don't be confused though. This is not serious singing. This is - grab some 80's song books from the library and sing your brains out to Chicago, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler,etc...

Our first time leaving this little princess for more than 12 hours. Clearly, my Mom knows how to keep her entertained (see pic below). We expected a warm welcome upon our return, but Emma had such a great time with Laura and my Mom that she didn't even really care to see us. Oh well. I guess I should be grateful that I can leave my daughter without too many serious consequences. According to the babysitters, Emma did really great the whole time. Slept and played like a champ. THANK YOU LAURA AND MOM!!

We had such a fantastic time!! Sin City made for a really great reunion of a really great club.