Last weekend we drove down to Las Vegas to spend some time in the beautiful 70 degree weather and visit my family! After all the fun Valentine parties at school on Friday, we jumped in our van and headed south. On the way, we stopped at my sister, Margaret's house in Cedar City, ate dinner together, and visited with her fun family. We had to pry the kids away from each other. We almost didn't make it any further down the road! Once we figured out who was really a Gillespie and who was a Skinner, we drove the rest of the way and arrived late at night in LV.

Saturday was beautiful! After a wonderful breakfast which Kevin made and Mom provided, Amy's family came up to Mom and Dad's. Together, we took the kids on a simple hike through the desert. Look at all those cute cousins!

Some of them were a bit dramatic about the rigors of the hike.

But we did make it! All the way up to the gates to the water tower. The adults, too! Megan took our picture and she was very frustrated that she couldn't get Grandpa to be serious long enough to take a picture! He can be very silly. It made all the rest of us laugh!

Saturday was also Savannah's fourteenth birthday! She decided that she wanted to spend it shopping at the mall with her cousin, and bosom buddy, Samantha. So after the hike, Grandma took her down to Pete's to spend the rest of the day with Sam. They went to the mall and then Savannah went to her first church dance ever (that's the exciting thing about being fourteen!) in Las Vegas with Sam and her friends. Those of you who have seen Savannah dancing at a reception or family gathering, would think that she would be very anxious and excited to begin going to dances regularly -- since she so thoroughly surrenders herself to the joy of the music (this is a polite way of saying that she is a wild woman at a dance). Not so! It took a lot of coaxing and reassurances before she agreed to go. By all reports, though, she had a fabulous time. She even danced with two boys. She said, "The first boy I danced with came up to here," and she placed her hand about six inches above her head. "The next boy I danced with came up to here," and she placed her hand about six inches below her chin. Funny that! Isn't she a beautiful girl?

On Sunday we got to go to church with my brother, Pete, and his family. It was really nice and afterward we stayed at their house for a little while to visit and let our kids be really loud together. The weather was gorgeous again so we sat outside by the pool in the sunshine. I loved it!

Later, back up at Mom and Dad's, Diane and Jason and Dave came over for dinner and visiting. Amy and her family came up after that for more visiting and, since it was Valentine's day, Grandma had heart cookies for the grandkids and fixin's for decorating. Great fun was had by all!

On Monday, we stayed until lunch and then had to get back on the road again. Still, the girls found time to play with Grandma's legos and build a house -- which is traditional! They always need to play with legos when they are at Grandma and Grandpa's!

We had so much fun and it was so good to see everybody. It was really hard to leave! Since we've been back we've had to deal with stomach flu and a nasty cough in the little ones. That makes real life even harder to come back to!

Still, we did have Mariah's last basketball game on Thursday and that was tons of fun. The whole family came to watch her last game. I thought that was neat. Here she is with her team and her coach. Way to go Liberty!