Trip to Vegas!

We found out about a month ago that the adoption for our 8 month old nephew,wasgoing to be finalized which meant they could take him to the temple and have his baby blessing.  We were able to go to the sealings of their older two children and were so bummed at the thought of missing this one (especially since this is most likely their last kid.)  We debated what to do and decided that it would be worth using credit cards to make a quick weekend to be there and be a part of this family event.  We were all excited to get out of town for a few days!!

We had planned on leaving Friday, March 13th at like 3:30am but we changed our plans at the last minute to break up the drive and stay in Springville, Utah Thursday night.  We left by about 5:30pm.  Kaley doesn't like being in the car so there was a lot of crying, but other than that a good drive.  We were up and ready and left at about 8:30am on Friday.  The drive went fast and we stopped at St. George and found a park to have our lunch.  We were able to meet up with my aunt and uncle, Lisa and Rees, who were driving down from Salt Lake for the sealing also.  We hung out at the park for awhile before making the rest of the drive.  We made a stop at our hotel in Henderson to get all checked in and met up with my parents and Grandpa who were staying at the same hotel.  We got changed and took our kids to my brothers house where a sitter watched them while we went to the temple.  We made it with plenty of time to the sealing which was at 6pm.  Such a beautiful and sacred experience to watch a baby become a part of their eternal family.  It always makes me teary and makes me so grateful for the blessings of the temple and to know that I can be with my children for eternity.  All three of their kiddos looked so precious in their white and were so sweet.  So, so special.

We picked up the kids... Preston and Abby had a fun time but I'm pretty sure Kaley cried the whole time (we laughed that this was the first time we've left Kaley with a sitter and it was in another state with someone we didn't know.).  They had a little dessert reception that we went to.  The kids were absolutely exhausted (especially Kaley!) but we all had fun chatting.  I think they fell asleep the second their heads hit the pillow back at the hotel and I sent Steve to get us some late night In n' Out, since we don't have it here, yum!

She was just so tired and would only go to others for a minute or two before losing it.

Our plans on Saturday got changed a couple of times but we ended up at my brother's house just hanging out and letting the kids play.  After some lunch we headed to watch my nephew Blake's soccer game... unfortunately he wasn't feeling good all of Saturday and didn't even end up playing.  But the weather was great and the kids loved playing at a new park.  Later my dad took 3 of the 4 older kids to see Paddington at a theater that was really close.  They all had fun and Preston loved it.  Then we had some pizza and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and chatting.  Such a nice day!

Easton... such a cutie!

Love!

Poor Blake, just didn't feel good.

Easton is only 10 days older than Kaley but he is huge!!  He is so much bigger than her, already crawling, pulling himself up and cruising around furniture.  I swear he was born 3 months earlier!  Fun to see them together!

Sunday morning was Easton's blessing.  Then we went back to our hotel to get packed up and check out.  We had a bbq at Dan and Aranne's house and finally got ready to leave at about 5:30pm.  None of us wanted to go.  The kids were especially sad.  The weekend went by WAY too fast!  We Sunday night to Cedar City (about 3 hours) before stopping for the night.  We stayed at the Abbey Inn which Abby loved.

The family of the weekend, Dan, Aranne, Blake, Chelsea, and Easton.  Blake and Easton look so much alike and have the exact same curly, dark hair.  Crazy that they are not siblings but that Chelsea and Easton are!

My cute matching girls!  We loved being able to bust out the shorts and sandals for the weekend!

Sand box under the trampoline.  The kids got so dirty all weekend but we knew that meant they were having fun!

Monday morning after breakfast Steve took the older kids swimming which they had been dying to do the whole weekend and then we were on our way by 11am.  We made a stop to see the new Payson, Utah temple and eat and play at a park there.  And a couple more stops before getting home at about 7:30pm.  It was kind of a long day since we were all tired.  Abby was a mess for most of the day since she had a cold the whole weekend but wasn't getting better with all of the playing and lack of sleep.  She was just exhausted!  Kaley had done pretty well on the way home until the end and she just cried for the last hour and a half.  We were all happy to be home!

Our fast trip that was originally supposed to be a there and back weekend turned into a four night adventure but I think that made it so much for enjoying and fun for the kids.  We had more time there and it felt more like a vacation.  It was a much needed break from real life for Steve and I and we know the kids had a great time.  We are so, so glad that we went!