(in front of our room. Room #332)10 best and 10 worst things about living in Las Vegas in a hotel
Here is a little background on why we lived in a hotel for those of you who don’t know and are thinking, “Why the heck would you live in a hotel for a whole year!!” So about a year and a half ago the bank mike worked for was taken over by the government (FDIC). They needed a few people from the bank to stay on and help for a little while. It was supposed to be for a few weeks. Somehow Mike just kept staying on. Everyday he would go to work wondering if that was going to be his last day, but it never was and he just kept going to work. After a couple of months, they decided to move the receivership (that’s what they call a failed bank) down to Las Vegas. They were going to contract Mike onto the project. They would fly him down during the week and he would stay in a hotel, get a rental car, get money for food and expenses, and then fly him back for the weekend. We thought about it and prayed about it and just didn’t feel good about Mike traveling away from us so much (especially since I was 7 months pregnant at the time). They also offered that if Mike would rather stay during the weekend, they would pay for the hotel. We decided to just come with him and live in the Hotel with him. Was it an adjustment! Yes! I was really lonely at first since I didn’t know a soul down there. I eventually got used to it and ended up loving living there in that little hotel room in Las Vegas. (Although bringing home a newborn to a hotel was a little rough!) So here is my top ten list in all of its glory. I know all of you are considering living in a hotel and so this list will be very useful to you J Ok, so it definitely was a once in a lifetime, more like once in a million lifetimes experience.
#1 best: The Hotel Bed. Seriously. Marriott beds rock. Not to mention fresh, crisp, sheets changed by somebody else. The maids know just how to tuck in the sheets so tight that when you crawl into bed, oh it is heaven. I miss my “hotel” bed every night!
#1 worst: Not having my stuff. We didn’t realize we would be living in Las Vegas so long. At first we thought it was just going to be for about 2 to 3 months and so we basically just brought some suitcases with clothes *(maternity clothes for me, yeah, when I had Thomas I had NO clothes. Luckily we got money to use everyday and so I went on a little shopping spree for some not-so-huge-in-the-front-section clothes) and a few toys. We packed everything up and stuffed it in a storage unit. I missed all my stuff desperately. I especially missed my rocking chair with Thomas. As I was standing up rocking back and forth with newborn Thomas and I couldn’t help but shed a tear for my beautiful rocking chair gathering dust in a dark storage unit in Hooper. I missed my kitchen appliances, I missed my photos, I missed my SHOES, I missed all of our toys, I missed my decorations, I missed everything!
#2 best: Maid Service. It has been a year since I have scrubbed a toilet. No joke. We lived in an extended stay hotel and so they would “refresh” your room (change towels, garbage, make beds) twice a week and would really do a good clean (scrub bathroom, kitchen, mob, vacuum, ect.) once a week. Nice. Yes! Plus, if you left dishes in your sink, they would do them. I only did that like 5 times the whole time we lived there. I always felt guilty making them do my dishes.
#2 worst: Maid Service. Although it was fun most of the time, the other times it was a pain. At first I was always trying to leave the room when they came. That was really difficult as I started to be 9+ months pregnant. I wanted to sit on the couch, all day. After Thomas came and he was a newborn, it became impossible to leave ALL the time. I ended up staying in the room most of the time and it was fine. The maids and I would chat and sometimes I would even help them clean. They loved my kids and I got to know most of the maids. Also, I never knew what time they were going to come and I always felt nervous to get in the shower, ect. ect. Sure enough multiple times while I was in the shower I would here a knock on the door and a cute little lady saying “room service.” Sometimes they didn’t clean as good as I wanted. I always felt like a snot-nosed-prissy-pants when I would tell Mike that the maid did a crappy job. The problem was that I didn’t have cleaning supplies (besides some trusty Clorox wipes, can’t survive without those). If they didn’t do a good job, so sad, too bad.
#3 best: Swimming pool, Hot tub, BBQ. All right out our “front” door. All nicely taken care of by someone other than me.
#3 worst: Loneliness. Hard to get to know people when you live in a hotel. I felt so embarrassed to say, “Come to a play date, oh by the way, I live in a hotel!” Eventually my loneliness got the best of me and I started having people over to play in the hotel anyways!
#4 best: free rent. Didn’t spend a dime on rent all year. Excellent.
#4 worst: had a hard time not feeling like I was on vacation all the time. Eventually the Hotel became home and it stopped feeling like a hotel. I remember walking in the room from a week long vacation to Hooper and thinking, “it’s nice to be home.” that was a good turning point for me.
(this is getting really long, better speed it up…if anybody is still reading at this point!)
#5 best: being on vacation all the time. This was a plus and a minus. It was fun to be able to pack up and be in California for the weekend or wherever we wanted.
#5 worst: trying not to break things in the Hotel room. If you have ever stayed in a hotel with a toddler, you will have experienced saying, “oh, don’t touch that!” Well if you live there, that gets a little hard. We broke a window (which cost $250 to replace), a picture frame, a flower decoration, got pen on the couch, chipped the cabinet, threw huge tantrums in the lobby, spilled breakfast in the breakfast room 10 times, pulled hundreds of fliers out of the lobby desk. Hey, I think we did good! (and I use the word “we” lightly)
These next five relate to Las Vegas
#6 best: The Parks. Henderson has AWESOME parks. Trails, toys, water splash parks, all very well maintained
#6 worst: Las Vegas is so dirty, and I don’t mean in a moral way. Our shoes, floors, cars, clothes….everything was dirty and black all the time. Yuck. (I guess it is because of the lack of rain.)
#7 best: Free attractions really close by. We loved the Bellagio water show and flower/garden display and saw it at least 10 times
#7 worst: the strip and all of its glory. Enough said.
#8 best. Great ward. Great members of the church. Great friends.
#8 worst. Windy a LOT. I never knew Las Vegas was so windy all the time (mostly in the spring). When you have a newborn, it is hard to go out in the wind and so even though the temp was wonderful, the wind kept us inside a lot.
#9 best. Great weather most of the time.
#9 worst. Hottest summer ever.
#10 best. Staying together with my little family. I cannot imagine being apart from Mike for that long. I need him daily. It was a great blessing for us to live together in that hotel.
#10 worst. Leaving my Utah family behind. I missed my family while I was gone. It was my first time living outside of Utah!
And there you go. The much anticipated post. Ok, so not that anticipated J
Here is a little background on why we lived in a hotel for those of you who don’t know and are thinking, “Why the heck would you live in a hotel for a whole year!!” So about a year and a half ago the bank mike worked for was taken over by the government (FDIC). They needed a few people from the bank to stay on and help for a little while. It was supposed to be for a few weeks. Somehow Mike just kept staying on. Everyday he would go to work wondering if that was going to be his last day, but it never was and he just kept going to work. After a couple of months, they decided to move the receivership (that’s what they call a failed bank) down to Las Vegas. They were going to contract Mike onto the project. They would fly him down during the week and he would stay in a hotel, get a rental car, get money for food and expenses, and then fly him back for the weekend. We thought about it and prayed about it and just didn’t feel good about Mike traveling away from us so much (especially since I was 7 months pregnant at the time). They also offered that if Mike would rather stay during the weekend, they would pay for the hotel. We decided to just come with him and live in the Hotel with him. Was it an adjustment! Yes! I was really lonely at first since I didn’t know a soul down there. I eventually got used to it and ended up loving living there in that little hotel room in Las Vegas. (Although bringing home a newborn to a hotel was a little rough!) So here is my top ten list in all of its glory. I know all of you are considering living in a hotel and so this list will be very useful to you J Ok, so it definitely was a once in a lifetime, more like once in a million lifetimes experience.
#1 best: The Hotel Bed. Seriously. Marriott beds rock. Not to mention fresh, crisp, sheets changed by somebody else. The maids know just how to tuck in the sheets so tight that when you crawl into bed, oh it is heaven. I miss my “hotel” bed every night!
#1 worst: Not having my stuff. We didn’t realize we would be living in Las Vegas so long. At first we thought it was just going to be for about 2 to 3 months and so we basically just brought some suitcases with clothes *(maternity clothes for me, yeah, when I had Thomas I had NO clothes. Luckily we got money to use everyday and so I went on a little shopping spree for some not-so-huge-in-the-front-section clothes) and a few toys. We packed everything up and stuffed it in a storage unit. I missed all my stuff desperately. I especially missed my rocking chair with Thomas. As I was standing up rocking back and forth with newborn Thomas and I couldn’t help but shed a tear for my beautiful rocking chair gathering dust in a dark storage unit in Hooper. I missed my kitchen appliances, I missed my photos, I missed my SHOES, I missed all of our toys, I missed my decorations, I missed everything!
#2 best: Maid Service. It has been a year since I have scrubbed a toilet. No joke. We lived in an extended stay hotel and so they would “refresh” your room (change towels, garbage, make beds) twice a week and would really do a good clean (scrub bathroom, kitchen, mob, vacuum, ect.) once a week. Nice. Yes! Plus, if you left dishes in your sink, they would do them. I only did that like 5 times the whole time we lived there. I always felt guilty making them do my dishes.
#2 worst: Maid Service. Although it was fun most of the time, the other times it was a pain. At first I was always trying to leave the room when they came. That was really difficult as I started to be 9+ months pregnant. I wanted to sit on the couch, all day. After Thomas came and he was a newborn, it became impossible to leave ALL the time. I ended up staying in the room most of the time and it was fine. The maids and I would chat and sometimes I would even help them clean. They loved my kids and I got to know most of the maids. Also, I never knew what time they were going to come and I always felt nervous to get in the shower, ect. ect. Sure enough multiple times while I was in the shower I would here a knock on the door and a cute little lady saying “room service.” Sometimes they didn’t clean as good as I wanted. I always felt like a snot-nosed-prissy-pants when I would tell Mike that the maid did a crappy job. The problem was that I didn’t have cleaning supplies (besides some trusty Clorox wipes, can’t survive without those). If they didn’t do a good job, so sad, too bad.
#3 best: Swimming pool, Hot tub, BBQ. All right out our “front” door. All nicely taken care of by someone other than me.
#3 worst: Loneliness. Hard to get to know people when you live in a hotel. I felt so embarrassed to say, “Come to a play date, oh by the way, I live in a hotel!” Eventually my loneliness got the best of me and I started having people over to play in the hotel anyways!
#4 best: free rent. Didn’t spend a dime on rent all year. Excellent.
#4 worst: had a hard time not feeling like I was on vacation all the time. Eventually the Hotel became home and it stopped feeling like a hotel. I remember walking in the room from a week long vacation to Hooper and thinking, “it’s nice to be home.” that was a good turning point for me.
(this is getting really long, better speed it up…if anybody is still reading at this point!)
#5 best: being on vacation all the time. This was a plus and a minus. It was fun to be able to pack up and be in California for the weekend or wherever we wanted.
#5 worst: trying not to break things in the Hotel room. If you have ever stayed in a hotel with a toddler, you will have experienced saying, “oh, don’t touch that!” Well if you live there, that gets a little hard. We broke a window (which cost $250 to replace), a picture frame, a flower decoration, got pen on the couch, chipped the cabinet, threw huge tantrums in the lobby, spilled breakfast in the breakfast room 10 times, pulled hundreds of fliers out of the lobby desk. Hey, I think we did good! (and I use the word “we” lightly)
These next five relate to Las Vegas
#6 best: The Parks. Henderson has AWESOME parks. Trails, toys, water splash parks, all very well maintained
#6 worst: Las Vegas is so dirty, and I don’t mean in a moral way. Our shoes, floors, cars, clothes….everything was dirty and black all the time. Yuck. (I guess it is because of the lack of rain.)
#7 best: Free attractions really close by. We loved the Bellagio water show and flower/garden display and saw it at least 10 times
#7 worst: the strip and all of its glory. Enough said.
#8 best. Great ward. Great members of the church. Great friends.
#8 worst. Windy a LOT. I never knew Las Vegas was so windy all the time (mostly in the spring). When you have a newborn, it is hard to go out in the wind and so even though the temp was wonderful, the wind kept us inside a lot.
#9 best. Great weather most of the time.
#9 worst. Hottest summer ever.
#10 best. Staying together with my little family. I cannot imagine being apart from Mike for that long. I need him daily. It was a great blessing for us to live together in that hotel.
#10 worst. Leaving my Utah family behind. I missed my family while I was gone. It was my first time living outside of Utah!
And there you go. The much anticipated post. Ok, so not that anticipated J
7 comments:
I loved it! especially reading the part about william tearing up the hotel room and throwing tantrums! made me remember when I would go down and visit you guys!!! but i'm glad you're back in the state!!! love you!!!
I can't believe a window was broken! That was a fun list to read!!!
Although it really sounded like an adventure, I am so glad you are done living in a hotel! It's nice to have you close again.
I loved your post! I can't imagine not having my own stuff. I think that's what would bug me most. And I loved how you talked about trying to keep a toddler from wrecking the hotel. So funny.
Cute post! Very important information to have in case we ever find ourselves living in a hotel :) So what is next for my favorite little Coburn family?
Great post! And I'm thinking I could really get used to some kind of maid service right about now. That has got to be a definite plus! Especially since I also agree with you on how DIRTY Vegas is. I don't even know why I bother to mop sometimes.
The weather is in the 80's this week! Not bad for November! :)
Hope you guys are well!
This post WAS much anticipated. I was always wondering what it was like, so it was so fun to have insight into your life for the past while. As always, you are an amazing trooper. And such a great mom. :)
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