Las Vegas/St George Day 2- Hoover Dam

On our second day in Vegas we decided to go see some sights and have a picnic lunch before the serious business of the funeral distracted us. Our first stop was the Walmart for provisions......

Jack, Calvin and Tom were happy to see the Star Wars Pringles were on sale....Rayzel and Nana were excited about the Smurfs cookies ;)

James was happy to be back on the road

We got Tom all caffeinated and we were ready to head out!

The drive to Hoover Dam was scenic and very enjoyable

We passed by Lake Mead on the way

The water levels appeared to be much lower than usual

Hoover Dam security checkpoint......they looked very serious

Driving across...it's bigger than it looks I promise....

On the bridge...it was REALLY hot.....the kids drank all their water in the first 5 minutes....

Biggest slide EVER!

The view was excellent

Another place that seemed to have less water than normal......

After the dam, we used our trusty smart phones to find a nice park...this one advertised ducks.....

James was busy, but the rest of us were starving

Here we are, wandering innocently into the ducks trap......

They seemed friendly enough

The kids fed them of course.....

Then they got aggressive and started trying to snatch the food right out of our hands!

The older kids were ok, but James was an easy target, so Tom helped him up onto the table

Tom and James on the table where it's safe

Jack's strategy was to eat his sandwich as fast as he could

This guy was sneaking stuff off the table....

Tom injured his head jumping up onto the table...this was taken later, after we got back to the hotel....

After we got back to the hotel, Tom and the kids went swimming, and I attacked the pile of stuff that needed ironing before the funeral (this is only the kids stuff)

Las Vegas/St George Day 1- Getting There

I've been putting off writing this post. There were so many things that happened, and I couldn't wrap my head around the whole experience enough to write about it until I had given it some space.....

 Last September (2011), Tom's grandmother passed away. This was very sad for all of us, because the kids and I had gotten to know her pretty well, considering that she lived in St George, Utah. We were even lucky enough to have her stay with us on a few occasions when she visited. The kids and I had been in visiting in Kaysville, Utah just a few weeks before she died. I wish that we had been able to go see her while we were there, but we didn't have the extra gas money......

We were able to make the trip out west again, together as a family, for the funeral. Except instead of driving, we flew :) 

Calvin and James had flown as babies, but it was a new experience for the other 3 kids. Jack was so funny, he acted like it was a roller coaster ride...he even put his hands up in the air, saying 'wheeeee!!!' when we were landing and taking off. We flew into Las Vegas, which is only a couple hours from St George, and we stayed there as well. 

Tom and I had been saving up for a weekend getaway for our anniversary, which was in a month. When when the funeral came up, we decided to use the money to have a little bit of fun since we were there anyway. We hadn't taken a trip together as a family (not including trips made with extended family) since the infamous camping trip to Gettysburg in Oct 2007 when it rained and froze the whole time we were there....ahhh, good times....

Anyway, we got on a plane, 2 adults, 5 kids, 7 duffel bags, 7 backpacks, 1 carseat, and 1 stroller. Many hours later, after having jumped through all the appropriate airline hoops and surviving the TSA and car rental mazes, we arrived in Vegas!

At the airport

Our hotel....we were exhausted when we arrived, so the adults took a nap and the kids watched TV. 

Tom woke up before me and took the kids for a swim to let me get a little extra sleep....

 After that we went in search of dinner, and my kiddos rediscovered their favorite western fast food place.....Jack in the Box

We ate dinner in the car, while driving around looking at the lights. We figured that the kids were pretty tired at that point, since some of them fell asleep in the car, so we headed back to the hotel.

9 Years And 7 Months Ago....

It's hard to believe it's been 9 years already.......since we are trying to pay off debt, and Tom is working midnights, we didn't do anything big for our anniversary this year. We went out for breakfast at Eggspectations though. The food was great and the company was even better :) 

And of course, I got flowers :)

I had Eggs Benedict for the first time, and it was SO GOOD!

A perfect reminder of our fall wedding :) My hunny has good taste.....

This is us when we got engaged in August 2003

And this is us now :)

What Do You Get For The Man Who Has Everything.....

Tom and I will be celebrating our 9th anniversary tomorrow. Yay! 

Over the years he has become increasingly hard to shop for. Everything he wants enough that he tells me he wants it, is expensive, and he doesn't want it badly enough to spend the money on it.....I always manage to get him something else in the appropriate price range that he kinda likes, but he would never have purchased it himself, because he doesn't like it THAT much. I don't take this personally, and I LOVE that he is not materialistic. However, it has made gift giving occasions a challenge......

What do you get the man who has everything he REALLY wants?

After many carefully casual conversations, spread out over several months as to design, style, and placement, I believe this year I have a winner!

Body Art.

It only cost me $3 and 2 hours of my time.......and the best part is that it's temporary :)

Thanks to my artist friend Halee, who was willing to do this for me :) She has mad skills, and after spending some time in India, has become a henna tattoo genius! This is the first stage....you draw on the henna, and let it dry until it cracks off...you do this twice....

This is after the second time it cracked off.....

After a shower :)

Tom is gonna LOVE this!!

O Christmas Tree

I had a bike trailer for James for a while....he loved it. After a while I couldn't haul him around in it anymore cuz he was too heavy and then he started school. At that point we sold it. This is what it's doing now :)

James Bike Trailer

I can't think of a better use for it! Be sure to check out all 7 pictures =D

Down On The Farm

We REALLY wanted to take the kids camping this year. Tom took time off and everything. Sadly, he caught too many bad guys and ended up with 3 court dates on 2 of the days we were supposed to be gone :(     

So, we came up with a plan B. We took the kids out to our favorite Indian restaurant for dinner one night, we took them to the movies to see Hotel Transylvania one night, (which was hilarious by the way you should TOTALLY go see it), Tom took the kids to the church's fire pit for hot dogs and marshmallows while I was at the RS broadcast, and we spent one day at Summers Farm :)

I only have pictures of the trip to the farm. Interesting side note: when you take pictures at the movies, they get kinda upset.

Rayzel, Jack, Nana, Calvin, James

I have about 10 pictures of Jack and his feet aren't touching the ground in ANY of them lol!

Calvin decided he didn't want to jump anymore when he found out he wasn't allowed to do flips

Jack :)

Happy kiddos :)

Right turn only maze...they spent an hour walking it over and over again....

Cool tire swings

Finally, a chair big enough for Tom....

Jack is so funny lol!

Another maze.....we didn't have time to go into the huge cornfield maze...it was a choice between that and the hayride/picking pumpkins and the pumpkins won the vote....maybe next year....

Me and Jack :)

Me and Calvin :)

Me and Rayzel :)

Me and Nana :)

Tom and James :)

The corn pit.......it was like a big sandbox, but full of silky smooth dried corn....

The kids loved it, and they spent like an hour playing here too......

Color mazes, so cool!

You have to follow the color patterns to get out of the maze, red, green, yellow, red, green, yellow, etc, changing colors at the black squares......

Huge slides! Awesome. Except for the spiders hanging inside :(

James loved the slides

Rubber ducky races.....Calvin kept losing, which is why he's frowning :(

Some of our pumpkins.....

The rest of our pumpkins :)