We had hoped to make the 11 hour drive a little more bearable for all of us by breaking it up a bit. We left Thursday morning and drove to Salt Lake City. We met up with Steve's aunt Bonnie at Temple square. The kids loved it here. We got to spend some time in the visitor's center.
And walk around outside to see the temple. One of our favorite stops was the Children's Museum inside the Church History building. They have a wonderful area for children here. Matt had a great time playing games on the computer and building his own temple with these big blocks.
The girls and I got to dress up like Spanish dancers in these fabulous skirts and twirl around. I don't know about the girls but I know I loved it! 
They had a whole wall of Book of Mormon dolls that you could dress up and arrange. We had to drag Ella away (literally!) at the end of our time because she did not want to leave.
Gracie loved the little kitchen and garden area.
And everyone loved catching fish from Nephi's boat.
It was such a terrific area for kids. We can't wait to visit SLC and specifically this museum again.
After our fun time at Temple Square we made our way to our hotel for the night. Another huge highlight for the kids. Ella calls them hotellos. We all had fun there, hanging out in the room, getting ice, swimming in the pool, enjoying the breakfast.
We left Salt Lake around noon and started our trek to Vegas. A pretty boring drive except for the Virgin River Gorge or as Grace called it, Georgie. I was amazed how well the kids did with the long drive all squeezed together in the back of our car. We had gotten some Junie B. Jones books on CD and that kept them happy for hours.
We got to Vegas and met up with JD, Mona and Lex at Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, a great little aquarium. We all loved the beautiful fish, turtles, jellyfish, rays and of course the SHARKS. They were so cool. I was too lazy and didn't take any pictures, but let me assure you it was just like being a part of Nemo.
We ate dinner and them made it back to JD's. They have a beautiful home that we all loved hanging out in. We spent the rest of the weekend eating great food, putting puzzles together, playing with cousins, driving down the strip.
On Saturday JD took all of us to the Mac King Comedy and Magic Show, very funny and clever. And then Mona took us to the M buffet. The wait to get in was 3 hours, but it was amazing. I have never seen such a buffet in my life. The dessert bar was like heaven! Matt could not get enough of the crab legs. He has developed a crazy affinity for seafood, including sushi which JD introduced him to this weekend.
JD and Steve cooked for us on Sunday. It was probably my favorite food of the whole weekend. JD is a great cook. Steve took good notes so he can cook for us at home. Sunday night we drove down to the strip again to check out the fountains and gardens at the Belagio. Beautiful!
Monday we were all dreading our huge drive back home so we delayed as long as we could and didn't end up leaving until 4:00 pm which put us home at 3:00 am and then Steve had to be at work at 5:00 am. Crazy - but so worth it for the great trip we all had!
JD always spoils us when we go down for a visit and we love hanging out with them.
1 comment:
awesome mom.
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