Vegas portion of Vacation

Well, I thought I would finally end the vacation series of my blog. We left Idaho and headed for Las Vegas, NV. We stayed at one of the new resorts outside of the strip, the South Point. It was okay, not the greatest though. My family loves going to hotels for the pool. Growing up, we didn't have a pool and that was always the deal breaker on vacation hotels, it had to have an amazing pool. We have an above ground dough boy now, but still look for great pools. This one looked great online, but once there, we discovered it overrun with kids, no matter the time of day. That was a bummer.

Saturday night (I think) we strolled down the strip to visit all of the big hotels.
Me, Rosie, and Mom in front of NYNY


Paris hotel on the strip


Bellagio water show


We walked all the way down the strip to see the Treasure Island pirate show...for those of you who have not been to Vegas recently, it is no longer the traditional pirate show...it is basically scantily clad women, horribly lip synching to a suggestive and badly performed song. We made it to the 11pm show, got all the way to the front, and then were trapped by the crowds that had gathered to watch. Literally, Russell was behind me giggling the whole time and the rest of us were just glancing uncomfortably around.

The next day we visited the huge bass pro shops in Vegas and strolled around there for about 2 hours.


There was a OCC chopper for Bass Pro Shops on display that Scott loved.

We also visited a ranch out near red rock, on the way back we saw some wild burros, that was kinda neat.


All in all, vacation was fun, though pretty long. I had a great time, though was glad to get back to regular life, plus I missed my dogs like crazy!

Last Stop on Vaca - Las Vegas

On Saturday, we left Idaho and started the long trek south. The last stop for vacation was Las Vegas. We stayed at the South Point, one of the new resorts on the south side of Las Vegas. It was pretty nice, though I missed being in one of the huge hotels.
Sunday we went to the
We still went and explored the strip on Monday night though. We decided we wanted to see the pirates show in front of Treasure Island and the water show at the Bellagio so we started our 4 mile round trip trek. The water show was nice, Russell had never seen it before so he thought it was really cool. Then we made it to Treasure Island...and for those who don't know, it is no longer a pirates show. It is called the "Sirens of TI" and features a large amount of scantily clad women lip syncing to terrible songs with even worse dance moves. I could hear Russell giggling behind me the entire time. I was shocked that they could have this show where children could see it...just mind boggling where the world is headed.

Idaho Portion of our Vacation

We didn't get a lot of photos of the Idaho portion of our vacation. The main reason that we went was because my Uncle and Aunt had adopted 3 kids that they had been fostering and were being sealed to them in the Twin Falls Temple. It was amazing and beautiful and I am so happy that we were able to be there to love and support them. While we were there we went to the hot springs, went spelunking, saw Idaho Falls, had fun on the trampoline, AND.....I got to pet a cow!!! Here are just some of the photos of our fun trip!


I was nervous to pet this cow, it had just gone after Richie.



Scott was having a little too much fun on the trampoline. Richie too.


In front of Idaho Falls. My friend Charlotte grew up right near here.


Scott and I inside of a lava cone that is part of a large volcano in Idaho.


My cousin and I on top of one of the lava tubes we were exploring.


Sariah and I on our way into one of the caves. It didn't lead anywhere and got too small to even crawl in at the back.


On my way out from another cave. This one we were able to get all the way out, though we had to crawl at one point.


My dad, Rosie (my sis), Russell (my bro), and my new little cousin Jessica.
We had a great time in Idaho. It was a wonderful time spent with family we haven't seen in a while.

Vacation Day 4

Tuesday we got up and got packed and ready to head to Idaho. We were so grateful to Bri and Greg for letting us stay with them. We met my family in Salt Lake City to get Russell out of their car and take him to see Temple Square. We took the tour the sister missionaries gave, walked around a bit more, and then hopped on the freeway to Idaho. We arrived in Buhl around 4 pm, greeted everyone, and then hit the hay. It had been a long day of driving.

Vacation, Day 3

Monday morning in Provo started off late (for us anyway). Bri had to work from 8-5 and Greg went to work early in the morning but was back by about 8. Our first activity was to take the scooters and have lunch at the BYU Creamery. We picked up Bri from the hospital that she works at and rode over there.


It was a delicious lunch!
In Utah, there is no helmet law so I didn't wear a helmet (we were just on scooters Dad!) but it was crazy to see people on motorcycles with no helmets. That was a little too dangerous for me.
After lunch we dropped Bri back at work and headed to the Provo temple. It was closed but we stopped to look anyways.


Right across the street from the temple is the MTC. Greg, Scott and I went there to volunteer in the Teaching Resource Center in Spanish. The coordinators assign you to a room that resembles a living room and then you act as though you are investigators. The missionaries come to your door and you talk to them in Spanish about yourselves, there are different roles that you play for each companionship (you are smokers and the missionaries tracted into you; you are recently baptized and the missionaries are following up with you; etc.). It was a very spiritual experience. We worked through 4 companionships and then it was time to get going.


This a statue of missionaries on bicycles at the MTC. Scott remembered it and wanted a picture.
That evening we took our dinner of hotdogs and smores to a park near a river and had a campfire.


We were almost eaten alive by mosquitos, but it was a lot of fun.


Scott and Greg showed off their roasting skills.


I showed off my marshmallow muffin making skills (ie lack of roasting skills).


Bri and I chatted most of the time, we also sang some of our favorite old songs with the iHome...Scott and Greg asked for encore after encore ;)
It was the perfect ending to a fun filled adventure with our friends.

We had a great time in Provo. Thanks for letting us visit you guys Greg and Bri! We loved every minute of it!

Vacation, Day 1-2

From August 1-11 Scott and I took a vacation with my family. For us it began in Provo, Utah where we visited our great friends Greg and Bri! They live in Wymount on the BYU campus and put us up in their spare room. We had a great time with them.
We left on Saturday at 1:30 pm. We arrived August 2nd, Sunday morning at 12:30 AM (the drive took 9 1/2 hours) and hit the hay. Sunday we went to church with them (thankfully it was at 11). It was amazing to see so many young married couples in one place. Scott and I thought it was funny that it was so loud in the chapel (lots of small children). That afternoon Greg and Scott BBQ-ed and Bri and I caught up on everything. She also showed me how to "Shop Smart" which I will blog about later.


We took their scooters to a pond at the end of BYU campus and fed the ducks,


then took a tour of BYU via scooters. It was a lot of fun!
Interesting fact about me...I only applied to 2 univeristies, Redlands and Provo. I got into both but ultimately decided on Redlands. I was excited to walk around BYU and imagine what might have been :) After we got back, we just relaxed and rested from our long drive through Utah.

Our Anniversary!!!

On July 15 we celebrated our 3 year anniversary!!! I know! It's crazy!
We didn't want to do anything too big because we had friends coming from Provo the following weekend and we wanted to have money to have fun with them.
Our favorite restaurant is Macaroni Grill, so we headed there first. I always get the shrimp alfredo, but Scott and our waiter said I should try something different so I got one of their new Mediterranean dishes. It was not great!!! I wish I could remember what it is called so I can warn you against it, but it has chicken and shrimp, big round pasta, and mushrooms. It didn't taste like anything so I was not happy! Luckily, Scott shared his meal with me and we took it home to be eaten by one of the boys at my parent's house. For our 2008 anniversary we went to the same Macaroni Grill and our waitress was one of the opera style singers. We told her it was our anniversary and she sang Ave Maria for us (I cried). She was there again this year and our waiter told her it was our anniversary and she came and sang to us again (this time no tears). It was amazing again. On our way out of the restaurant, the older couple sitting in the booth next to us told us it was their anniversary too. They said that they would meet us here next year on the 15th at 6pm for our anniversaries and we could celebrate together. It was wierd, but neat!
After that we went to a 66ers game (minor league) and had a good time there.
It was great! I am so happy and thankful for my wonderful Scott!