Road Trip To Vegas!

At the end of May, we decided to get spontaneous and take a trip to Las Vegas to see my cousin Sarah and her husband Daniel. We used to be neighbors with them in Provo and loved our time together there. We really miss having the nearby. Sarah had twins last year and we had only met them one time, which is quite sad. So, we decided to go for a fun trip over Memorial Day weekend.

Day 1:

On the road-wahoo! Mishell must be hiding in the back there.

The first night we stayed in St. George. My cousin Shawna was kind enough to invite us over for dinner. We had delicious tacos and enjoyed the evening chatting and letting the kids play. 

Day 2:

Before we left for the trip, we researched all sorts of things to do in Vegas with children. We let each kid choose something that they wanted to do and then we basically crammed it all into one day, Saturday. :) Jace chose to go to the Nevada State Railroad Museum, which included tons of old trains and a short, 30 minute ride on an old train. He loves trains, so this was right up his alley. 

Next we headed to the dirty strip for some fun. Did I mention that I have never been to Las Vegas? Yes, its true. Everyone told me that I was not missing much, and now that I have been, I tend to agree. The strip was dirty, gross, and full of interesting characters. I am betting some of the shows there are great though, so I would go back for that! But not with kids. Anyway, Hallie's choice was to go up the Vegas Eiffel Tower. We had to walk through a pretty gross casino to get there, but this was probably my favorite part of the day. It had amazing views of the whole city and we got to watch the Bellagio fountain from above, which was really cool. 

I think Jace may have been throwing a fit at this point...

Our next stop was to meet up with Sarah and Daniel at the famed Rio Buffet. The only thing Devin wanted to do was eat at a buffet while we were in Vegas, so eat we did. There was so much food, it was out of control. The food quality was honestly a little disappointing, probably only because it was so hyped up in our minds. We had a good time anyway. 

Mishell came back with a plate of crab legs and I was alarmed. I asked her if she had ever eaten crab legs before and she said "YES" with quite the attitude, like "duh, mom". Then she proceeded to make a huge mess and I think eat very little. :) This was also the time she ordered Pepsi for herself while Devin and I were away getting food, because "I wanted to try it." Ha. 

Jace was so glad to see his buddy Josh and the two of them had a good time buffeting it up.

Flor's choice (with parents' help) was to go see the Gardens at the Bellagio. They were fun to see, but quite small. Didn't keep us entertained for long. 

You know I did mention twins-- Sarah and Daniel got a babysitter for them to more enjoy their time on the town :)

Fun being pregnant with Sarah at the same time! She is also having a girl. Again, too bad we don't live by each other anymore!

Next was a trip to the M&M store (Mishell's choice). We walked from where we were and it was a sweaty ordeal, to say the least! The M&M store was interesting to see, but we thought it was going to be a musuem, so we were slightly disappointed. Still fun to see though.

From there, we parted ways and headed to our hotel for some swimming and relaxation. Not a lot of swimming actually happened, because the pool was freeeeezing cold, but that's okay.

Day 3:

On day three, we woke up and headed to the Hoover Dam, which was just right down the way from our hotel (we decided to go so last minute that all hotels right in Vegas were either booked or a million dollars). We happened to be at the dam at the time they had this awesome motorcycle rally ride through, called "Flags over the Dam". Apparently they do it every Sunday before Memorial Day. They had over 1000 bikes and they all were waving American Flags. It was really neat to see and it reminded me a lot of my Uncle Charlie, who loved both his Harley and his country immensely. Made me miss him!

After the dam, we headed to the Las Vegas Temple to see it. We made sure to point out to the kids the difference in how we felt at the temple versus at the strip the day before. Night and day, I tell ya. It was a Sunday, so there was not a lot going on at the temple, but the grounds were beautiful and the spirit was strong.

Gotta love Hallie's photography :)

After the Temple, we met Sarah and Daniel for church at their ward. We spent the night with them that night and had a great time, enjoying Smores, playing games, and talking and laughing. It was so great to be with them again. 

Pregnant ladies love smores apparently :)

Day 4:
Day 4 was Memorial Day and time to head home. We took the advice of one of my co-workers and drove through The Valley of Fire State Park. It was a beautiful drive and just short enough for the kids that it kept their attention. They got to get out and climb around on the rocks and they had a great time.

\

I wrote this on Facebook but would like to preserve it here as well, so here's a great Jace story:
Life with Jace is never dull. We are on our way home from a fun family weekend in Las Vegas. Jace got a little car sick before lunch and threw up in the car. When we got to the restaurant, I told him to go in the bathroom and wash his hands and face. When he didn't appear after a decent amount of time, Devin went to find out what was wrong. He found that Jace had locked the bathroom door (sorry to the many others who undoubtedly needed the bathroom as well) and was naked and cheerfully going to town washing all his clothes in the bathroom sink (which were not all that dirty...he'd made it in a bag mostly). I don't think he thought through how he was going to leave the bathroom with wet clothes and nothing else to wear....this kid. He kills me. 😂life's always an adventure. Happy Memorial Day, everyone.