What Happens in Vegas. . .

. . . gets reported in my blog.

This past weekend Randy and I drove down to Las Vegas, Nevada (Henderson, actually) and stayed at my sister Becky's house. Her son, Michael, had just gotten back from a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) where he served for two years in Honduras. So, we went to see everyone and hear his talk in church. My two brothers along with their wives, and my younger sister along with one of her children were also able to be there. My oldest sister, Connie, stayed at home and looked after our mother.

Derek, Terry, Becky, Wendy, Karen

 On the way down I snapped a picture of the Virgin River as it meanders through the mountains between Utah, Arizona and Nevada. There was hardly any water in it at all, just a bit of mud. I remember a few years ago when it was bursting it's banks and caused major flooding in St. George, Utah. But, since the United States (especially the western states) is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades, the river is barely visible in some spots. Pretty sad.

As we arrived in Las Vegas, we were able to drive to the LDS temple there and attend a session. It is beautiful. I didn't care much for some of the terra-cotta colored walls inside, but most of it is wonderful. The Celestial Room is especially gorgeous. It's always nice to visit a different temple and feel the same spirit there.

Then we went to Becky's house and visited for a while before meeting up with my brothers and sisters at a restaurant for dinner. The food was good and the conversation was great. When we were finished we all drove back to Becky's house and ate cake - my youngest sister had a birthday on Sunday. Then my two brothers and my younger sister went back to their hotel. I guess they all got rooms at the same hotel, but it was kind of funny that they made their reservations at different times and ended up with their rooms all next to each other! Randy and I stayed at Becky's house.

Dave, Becky, Rita, Terry, Becky, Karen, Randy

Randy, Courtney, Wendy, Dave, Becky, Rita

The church meeting on Sunday wasn't until 1:00pm, so we got to visit a lot during the morning. Several of Dave & Becky's nieces and nephews were in town, as well as all of their children except one daughter and her family.

Becky, Terry, Wendy

Zach, Jeff (Audrey's father-in-law), Courtney, Jack, Caydence, Rita, Becky, Derek

Mystery man, Jack, Laura, Eliza, Addilyn, Michael, Randy

Eliza, Addilyn (Zach's daughter), Michael

 After we ate lunch we all went to church and Michael did a great job on his talk. Since we didn't get out of there until almost 2:30pm Nevada time (or 3:30 Utah time) and we had a 7 hour ride home we left quickly and headed back. The trip home was pretty uneventful except for a few showers that we drove through. Since the temperature gauge in our car had said 119 degrees most the time that we were in Nevada, the rain was pretty welcome.

The biggest downer for the weekend was to get home and find that someone had gotten into Randy's truck while we were gone - he found both doors unlocked and not closed tight. They had rifled through his glove box and taken his digital camera and a pair of binoculars that he had behind the driver's seat. He uses them both for work. I found that the Honda had also been opened on the passenger side door. Since both vehicles were locked when we left and nothing was broken I figure they must have had some kind of master key that opened any vehicles doors - scary.