Welcome to Fabulous-ish Las Vegas

We come to Vegas all the time but rarely venture onto the strip. Jake and Shay gave us an excuse to be tourists, it was fun in some ways and in other ways it made us remember why we usually avoid the strip. But it was fun to share an experience with them that they would never find in NZ. Jason took them and the older kids to Circus Circus that first night, while the rest of us were fast asleep at Grandpa Young's house. Vegas in the middle of the night is always interesting, but the Circus Circus crowd in the middle of the night takes it to a whole other level. They did win some stuffed animals, though. 

The next day we were sure to hit up all the main attractions on the strip, Caesar's Palace...

After watching the movie "Big", the kids were excited to find a real life Zoltar

The Bellagio...we tried like 3 different times to catch the show and finally saw it. Jason swears he has never seen the show before, but I have a picture of us kissing in front of it to prove him wrong. I did feel bad that he wasn't able to see it this time since he was such a gentleman and dropped us off since there was no parking.

The highlight of the trip for Maddox was dim sum with Grandpa where he ate an octopus. He was so proud of himself (and rightfully so) and couldn't wait to tell his teacher. Whenever something exciting happens Ms Brown is the first person he wants to tell, it's cute.

The older ones rode the New York New York roller coaster. I can't believe the last time we were there was when we were dating!

We ended the night at the pinball hall of fame where their cups of quarters kept them entertained for quite some time.

Sunday breakfast and church with our favorite Las Vegas Youngs before heading home

And a quick stop at the Hoover Dam. We watched the progress of this bridge being built but have never stopped to take the bridge walk and I'm glad we finally had an excuse to do it, it was pretty impressive.

It was a long drive home, filled with some beautiful scenery and lots of farting. It was a great trip but just as great to be home!

Utah: the final chapter

We wanted to take the kiwi boys to a few more spots in Utah. Bridal Veil Falls wasn't in her full glory, the spring run off was still frozen. It was a little embarrassing when compared to the falls they've seen in New Zealand, but still beautiful in it's own way.

At least there was more to offer at Soldier Hollow. Such a fun afternoon of tubing, family and frostbitten toes.

Of course we had to take a quick stop at BYU to reminisce, eat at The Creamery and try to convince these boys that they need to come here!

The in-betweens

We managed to fill our days with all sorts of fun while we were in Utah. I loved all the family that came for the wedding and stayed a few days longer to play. Jayden's stomach flu incident seemed to be some sort of 8 hr deal, after sleeping all morning he woke up around noon and announced he was better. And he was. So while the other half was having fun on the slopes we spent the afternoon with cousins at Trafalga. Miniature golf, lazer tag, climbing wall and COUSINS! 

We snuck in a family movie day to see Zootopia, it was so cute and so nice having Ryder old enough that we can all go to the movies together without ending up walking the halls with a restless toddler. Then while the older kids were in Brighton the rest of us met up with my sweet friend, Chelsea. I was so sad when she moved to Utah shortly after we moved back to AZ, it was so good to see her and catch up. We spent the day with the little guys at Kangaroo zoo, Chick-fil-a and chilling at her cute house. It was such a great day.

We were privileged to be in town for Trenton's court of honor. It inspired Jayden to want to become an Eagle Scout. That and the monetary motivation Jason gave him.

When the boys came into town there were quite a few of our NZ missionaries living in Utah that wanted to see them. One of them was a manager at Domino's pizza and invited everyone to go make their own pizzas, kind of fun!

They came back and hung out with the rest of us at Aunt Angel's house where we were staying. It's always a party at Angel's, and Uncle Kevin is always a guaranteed laugh!