The Last Days

Max Brenner-- you devil, you! How could it take me so long to discover you?!? Your food spoke to me, and I can never think of dessert the same way again. In fact, why don't more restaurants just go crazy with dessert and let their imaginations run wild?!? But I'm getting ahead of myself! Let me start at the beginning.

Monday and Tuesday were AWFUL. The movers came and possibly THE most obnoxious man on Earth was the lead packer. Think Edgar from "Men In Black" (the alien who wears the Edgar's suit and wants "water, sugar water!"). They were loooong exhausting days where we couldn't be at the house because of the chaos, but we couldn't be outside either because of the heat, we had no food to eat because all the cooking stuff was gone, and we were living with air mattresses and camping chairs as our only furniture.

And here it is: everything we'd left that was coming with us in the car.

The movers finally finished Tuesday evening, so my mom (who was good enough to drive back with me from Boise to help with the packing and cleaning) and I took of to try Max Brenner's restaurant at Caesar's Palace. Max Brenner's schtick is that he basically saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as a kid, and wanted to become Willy Wonka when he grew up. Just about everything features chocolate somehow-- we got the fish tacos for dinner with waffle fries that had been dusted with cocoa powder, and YUM. The food menu was small compared with the 12 pages of dessert, but it was every bit as satisfying as our dessert.

Two words: Chocolate Pizza. A sweet crust layered with white, milk, and dark chocolate, bananas, peanut butter sauce, and roasted marshmallows.

Oh yeah, and we tried the S'more's Sundae!! Dark chocolate gelatto, chunks of graham crackers, and white chocolate marshmallow ganache. H-E-A-V-E-N. Since there are only three of his restaurants in the world-- NYC, Philadelphia, and Vegas, I HIGHLY recommend it if you're ever nearby.
And the prices weren't bad either which was totally surprising for the Strip-- about $10-$15 per entree and dessert. I look like I shoulda been rolled out of there, I WAY over-indulged, but I digress. Moving on with the move....

Friday was Jonathan's AEGD graduation which was a day long, long awaited. I was so proud of him for making it to this momentous occasion! SO MANY LONG HOURS involved I really can't even think of what to say other than I'm glad it's finally over for his sake. His Grandma Cardon and Uncle Ron were kind enough to drive down from Cedar City, UT to support him at the ceremony.

Jon with Dr. Harrison-- the periodontist who became his mentor throughout the year, so I guess his supervisors weren't all bad. :)

Receiving his AEGD diploma!!

I'd never been to a military function like this (other than when he was commissioned), but the "pomp and circumstance" associated with all the different ranks etc. was pretty cool.

A FREE man!! He actually forgot to keep out his Air Force blues (what they're wearing) so the mover's packed it, but luckily he was able to borrow from one of this year's resident's who'd just arrived. Phew.

Jon with his faithful hygenist Laura, who was SO sweet to him. She worked through lunch, overtime hours so he could finish, covered up his mistakes :), brought him lunch, bought our kids presents, etc. She was the best.

The 6 AEGD residents: (Back Row) Trent Buttars, Joey Kayne, Kevin Rassmussen, Jonathan Cardon (Front Row) Danielle Wieri, Colleen Ferriter

While Friday was Jon's day, Saturday was my day. He watched the kids ALL day in that empty house, so I could go shopping in Primm, NV at the outlets there with my mom one last time. We ended up getting lunch at the Mad Greek which was featured on "Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives" with Guy Fieri, and was pretty good. It was a great day of shopping and de-stressing from the move. I took my mom to the airport that evening, and we prepared to head for North Carolina early Tuesday morning!