Week of April 13 to April 19

We had a busy week here in our family! Last week I noticed as I watched Sarah, Megan, and Mariah (my elementary school children) out the window as they headed for school, that they were skipping. "How fun!" I thought. Later that day Mariah came home very excited to tell me about a horse of hers that she had made up and how wonderful it was. It took me a little while to put the two together. I decided I needed to document this creative outburst from my children. Here is the result:

We only had two days of school last week, so when Kevin got home from work Tuesday night, we got in the car and drove down to Las Vegas. We arrived a little before midnight -- Las Vegas time!

Our first day there, my sister Amy took a day off teaching school and brought her children over to play. It was tons of fun. That night we ate tacos and played Acquire (at least Sarah, Mom, Dad, and Grandpa did). Grandma got to rock Bethany asleep.

On Thursday, we drove out to see my friend Kim and her new baby. Ahhh. She has five boys and this last one was a baby girl! Probably my staying at her house with my seven girls this summer helped out. Of course! When we left her house, we drove out to Red Rock Canyon. I would show you pictures, but I left my camera at Kim's house while I was there. This is very typical of me, but it was very gut-wrenching anyway! My mom lent me her camera. When I get those pictures, perhaps I will post them. We went on a very fun hike. The desert was greener than I ever remember seeing it and we got to see a trickling seasonal waterfall. It was very beautiful in among the rocks and the trees. Grandpa, Savannah, Sarah, Megan, and Mariah, even hiked back behind the waterfall to check out the cave and check for a secret dragon lair. (If there was one, they're not letting on!) Afterward, Grandma and Grandpa drove back for my purse. (Nice, huh?) Then Diane came over and the adults went out for Chinese food. Yum!

On Friday, we took our family to the park in the morning and then all the families in Las Vegas met that evening at a park for a picnic and visiting. It was great fun to see Dave, and Pete and Monica and family, and Amy's family again, and Diane and Jason. Beth spent lots of time with Dave:

And with Grandpa:

The cousins had a great time. Here are just a few of them playing under the lights. Didn't you know those are really balance beams and not horseshoe pits?

The twins told me they wanted to move to Las Vegas so they can play with their cousins all the time! They really had fun with Kayla from Amy's family, and Piper from Pete's family.

On Saturday, we got packed up and then went out to old Henderson for a parade! Wasn't that nice of them to organize a parade for us while we were there? I thought so. Mandy and Kayla marched with their dance class:

And Amy had her band march for us!

HI AMY!!!

It was a great trip and the weather was even nice for the last two days! We will definitely have to do that again some time!