Summer Vacation Part I

On June 3rd, our family traveled on a dinky two lane highway in the middle of the night to Las Vegas.  After 10 hours of driving and the tragic death of a poor rabbit, we made our destination.  The kids were well rested, happy to eat breakfast at Gramee Rosenthal's house, and enjoyed playing with their cousins for a few hours before we left for L.A.

Gramee Rosenthal and Brahm

Grandpa Rosenthal and Nicholas

Jess' cousin, Rami, and his sister, Laci.

Cousin Maddie who was camera shy.

Cousin Ella

Cousin Bo

Big Baby Bo

Las Vegas

The view from Grandma and Grandpa Hanks' backyard.

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I lived there for 21 years, not counting the year-and-a-half that I was gone away to BYU.  I don't miss Las Vegas.  There is a lot of ugliness to it.  Graffiti.  Litter.  Check-into-Cash stores on every corner.  Smokey casinos.  Indecent billboards.  Rude drivers.  And, unbearable heat.

But, our family took a fast and furious trip down there in early October.  Jess was running in the St. George marathon and Las Vegas seemed like the perfect place to stay.  And, you know what?  All of my pictures captured the beauty of Las Vegas-- the mountains, the temple, and all of our family.



The kids with Grandma Hanks in the golf cart.

Off-roading.

Brahm LOVED Grandpa Hanks' cowboy boots.

Grandma and Grandpa Hanks

Gramee Rosenthal with Nicholas.  Nicholas has since gotten a haircut which has revealed a lot of blonde hair!

Grandpa Rosenthal with Nickel Pickel, as my children like to call him.

Gramee Rosenthal making cookies with Brahm.

Ava and her cousin Maddie.

Cousin Logan.

Cousin Sam and Kate.

Miss Ava hula-hooping.

My adorable nieces, Kate and Gabi.  I was 16 years old when Gabi was born!

Cousin Olivia with Simon and Ava.

The Blackburns: Sam, Kate, Gabi, Henry, Olivia, my sister Whitney, and Chris.

The place that I called home for 21 years.  My parents have since sold this house and are living on the opposite side of the city.

Hands down, the most beautiful temple.  This is where Jess and I were married.

Viva Las Vegas!

I need to preface this portion of our trip by saying that our 11 hour drive to Las Vegas left us exhausted throughout most of our vacation.  Jess and I thought we were smart by leaving Boise at 8:30 in the evening, hoping the kids would sleep most of the way.  But, Brahm kept everyone awake with his incessant whining about the state of his blanket.  We purposely avoided the Nevada route because of road conditions that called for chains or snow tires.  But while travelling though Utah, we hit a blizzard in Cedar City that lasted for 40 miles.  Ava vomited in an empty soda cup due to car sickness, and our arrival to Las Vegas could not have come soon enough. 

Jess's step-grandparents, Ivan and Frimma, flew in from New Jersey to see us along with other family members.  We spent most of our stay catching up with them along with other loved ones and friends.  We enjoyed eating, laughing, lounging, and more eating!

Some highlights worth mentioning were:

a trip to the chocolate factory

4 course breakfasts

a discussion about the existence of a God with the wife of a well-known atheist and libertarian

Hawaii home movies

hot and sour soup

the kids terrorizing Gramee's tank full of fish, Darla-style

the fabulous view from Grandma Frimma and Grandpa Ivan's upgraded hotel room

loading up on Grandma and Grandpa Hanks' hand-me-downs destined for D.I.

the joy of watching all of the little cousins play to their hearts' content

My favorite quote from our trip went something like this:

Jess:      "What do you kids think of Las Vegas?"

Simon:   "It's a lot like Mexico."

Jess:      "What do you mean?"

Simon:   "There's trash everywhere."

The kids on the Ethel-M Chocolate factory tour

A factory worker giving Simon bunny ears

   

Ava surveying the selection of chocolates

"I'll give you a bite of my overpriced mint chocolate bar if you give me a bite of your raspberry creme bar."

Brahm enjoying his peanut butter filled chocolate bar while Daddy salivates

Ava, Simon, and Gramee posing in the Cactus garden

Both sets of Grandparents live in Las Vegas along with Jess' only sibling, Laci, and my oldest sister, Whitney.  We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone!

Thank you, family members and friends, for making our stay so pleasant! 

California, here we come......