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.

Oh, and by the way...

Last weekend we went to a concert in the park. Our friends, Ralph and Sandy Edson joined us. Friday night they had Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits. We had seen his show a few years back, and loved it, but Saturday night they were having Felix Cavaliere and the Rascals. When we lived in Nashville and Randy had his own roofing business, Randy had put a roof on Felix's house, so he knew him as an aquaintance. We decided to go on Saturday.

First on the program were the stars of Beatlemania doing a few of their songs from the show. They were actually very good and played for over an hour. They even changed their outfits several times. I don't know how many of these groups are around, but these guys were very enjoyable. It was mildly entertaining to see members of the audience dance to the music.

Then Felix Cavaliere came out with his band. The band goes by the name of "The Rascals", but they were obviously not the original "Young Rascals" that he used to play with. Those guys would be about his same age, and the band with him that night had some very young players. Plus, Ralph said that he had looked them up on the internet and the "Young Rascals" were playing in England that night! The picture in the paper of Felix must have been about 30 years old, because Randy said he is probably around 70. They did put on a good show, and played his old tunes plus a lot of music that wasn't his, but was from that era.

The evening ended with a fireworks show. It had been a long time since I had been that close to fireworks (I usually watch them out my bedroom window anymore!), and it was fun.

Oh, and I didn't take any of these pictures - I hope they're not copyrighted!!!

♫ Rocky Mountain High, Colorado ♫

We got to fly to Aurora, Colorado and join 3 of our kids for a family reunion. Tyler flew there with us and we stayed at Ingrid and Jeff’s house with them and their 1 year old son, Kalvin.  Jesse and Amanda drove over from Topeka, Kansas and met us there. Heidi stayed in Utah for work and Dylan is in Ohio on his mission, so they were not able to join us.

We got in rather late on Thursday night, so we just stayed up and talked for awhile. Then on Friday morning we decided to go up into the mountains a bit so that they could go rock climbing. Randy and I didn’t do any climbing and Ingrid is pregnant, so she didn’t climb either. But Jesse, Amanda, Tyler and Jeff did some. It was fun to watch. Randy got to feeling real bad and had to lie down. He thinks it was the combination of medicine that he took that morning. 

After the rock climbing, we went back to Ingrid’s house and relaxed while the guys went to shoot clay pigeons. They had a lot of fun doing that, also. While I was at the house I got a call from Heidi in Utah saying that there was a fire in Herriman and evacuations were taking place up near the site of the fire. I logged onto Facebook for updates from Herriman City and also onto a news website. I sent an email to my mother letting her know that I was aware of what was going on. Several structures and houses got burned.

After the guys got back, Jeff barbequed steaks and we had a great dinner. Jeff had to get up in the middle of the night to go to work, so he went to bed early. We were going to watch a movie, but just ended up sitting around and talking and eating brownies for the rest of the evening.

On Saturday we went to a reservoir that is close to Ingrid’s house. It was really sunny and hot when we arrived, but clouded over and was fairly comfortable for the time we were there. The water was too cold for me to go in past my waist, but Jesse, Amanda, and Tyler played catch out in the water for quite a while. Randy went in a bit further than I did, and Ingrid and Kalvin played close to shore. We took Kalvin up to the playground area and let him walk around there for a little while and do some climbing. He couldn’t do much, but he tried! 

 When Jeff got back from work we went to an aquarium and walked through it. It was pretty big and had some great displays. 

Then we went out to dinner for everyone’s birthday and Randy and my anniversary. When we got back to the house we played a game called “Bang!” – it has a western theme with a sheriff, renegade and outlaws. It was pretty fun. 

On Sunday we sat around and talked in the morning and then Jesse and Amanda left for her dad’s place in Gunnison, CO to visit for a few days. We went to church in the afternoon to Ingrid’s ward. After dinner, we ended up playing a game again. Jeff had to get up real early again for work, so he went to bed early. 

Karen 2000

Barb Cline - Real Estate agent in Colorado

Monday we went on a walk to a nearby park and Ingrid showed me the picture that’s up there of a real estate agent that looks a lot like me. Kinda’ freaky, actually. We also watched a movie using their wall-size projector. Then Jeff and Ingrid drove us to the airport and we had a quick flight home.

It was fun to see some of my children and their families and spend a few days with them. I am continually awed at the children that have been sent to my family – they are the best!!

Baltimore, Maryland

Many moons ago when we lived in Tennessee and our children were young, I remember going to Washington, DC and seeing all the sites there. But, we never saw much of Maryland. This week I went along with Randy to Baltimore, Maryland where he had a safety manager’s conference. This is what I have been up to – 

Monday - That morning we drove Randy's truck to the airport and took a 4 hour 15 minute flight to Baltimore. It was really smooth and the winds must have been in our favor, because we actually got in about 25 minutes early. The plane was FULL, Randy was by the window, and hadn’t taken his neuropathy medicine - so his feet were pretty miserable by the time we landed – but we survived. Then we had to board a shuttle bus to go to where the rental car was – about 10 minutes away. The bus driver came on the intercom to tell everyone to be sure to leave 2 hours time for returning the car! Really??!! After we got a car, we tried to follow the attendant’s directions to the hotel, but we ended up getting a bit lost and having to ask someone else. (I had printed off instructions to travel from the airport to the hotel, but they didn’t include directions from the car rental facility! I know – GPS…) Anyway, we finally got to the hotel and unloaded our things. It was right on the bay with most attractions within walking distance. 

Our hotel is the shorter building in front of the tall building

We were both hungry since all we’d had on the flight were drinks, cookies and pretzels or peanuts. We walked several blocks to where the bay's water front area was, and found a “5 Guys” hamburger place to eat at. I also found a place to buy postcards to send my kids, and we got some yummy homemade fudge to eat before heading back to the hotel. We watched a movie before hitting the sack.

Randy went right to sleep, but I tossed and turned until after 1:30 am! I realize Baltimore is 2 hours ahead of home, but sometimes I have a hard time sleeping anyway . . .  And the room was freezing . . . AND the noise of the fan kept me awake. So, I never got into a deep sleep and the alarm went off at 6am.

Tuesday – We went down to breakfast provided by the safety people and it was pretty good. While we were there, we found out that a fire alarm had gone off about 11:30 pm the night before, and a lot of the people there for the safety conference had started to evacuate. I had heard the alarm, but it was so far away that I thought it was a car alarm in the parking garage. I guess someone was making popcorn in a microwave and set it off. While Randy attended his meetings, I went back upstairs and read my emails and the newspaper. Then I went to the Physical Fitness room and rode a stationary bike for about an hour. After that I got my shower, dried my hair (I had forgotten how flat it gets in that humidity!), and got ready to go sight-seeing. I walked to a place where I got a smoothie for lunch, and then I walked about 1 ½ miles mostly uphill to go to an art gallery. I had spent so much time making sure of the hours and address that I neglected to see that it wasn’t open until Wednesday. Oops. So, it was locked. But, I managed to see a lot of downtown and take lots of pictures.

 I walked back down the hill and around the bay. I was able to climb up some stairs to see the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse that was built in 1875 and used to be further out in the bay, but was moved into its present spot in 1988 when it was no longer useful as a modern lighthouse. I don’t know why, but I LOVE lighthouses! 

View from top of lighthouse looking west

Then I walked around to the other side of the bay and took some pictures from Federal Hill Park. 

Baltimore from Federal Hill

Around 6pm, all the guys (and a few women) at the safety conference were shuttled to a restaurant about 15-20 minutes away (they said it was only 2 ½ miles, but traffic was terrible) and dinner was very good – although the portions were small, and some people complained about that. Randy had discovered that he had lost his truck key sometime in the last two days, so we searched through the hotel room, he asked about it at the front desk, and we walked back to the couple of places that we had been to the previous night– all with no luck. My stomach started to act up, and let’s just say that I had evacuations taking place from both ends until after midnight. Let me just say here, that I NEVER throw up. Ask my kids. I have a cast-iron stomach. So, you know I must have been REALLY sick. Not a fun night. We did turn the fan off, however, and that helped me fall right to sleep. 

Wednesday – I stayed in bed rather than go to the breakfast, and didn’t actually start moving until 9:30 am. I thought I’d better stick with just drinking water for at least the morning. I got up, took a shower, read the paper, read my email, looked at Facebook, read in my book of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, etc. Randy was through with his meetings around noon, so we walked to lunch. I had only a chocolate shake to drink. We went to the Star-Spangled Banner house where they have a replica (it is HUGE) of the flag that was flying when the song was written. It was sewn by Mary Pickersgill. Randy went around the exhibit while I sat down. Then we toured 2 ships in the harbor - the US Submarine Torsk, and the US Sloop of War Constellation. They used to have about 80 sailors aboard the small submarine at once (one level), so they would have to sleep in rotating shifts. I would be SO claustrophobic! 

(HaHa - I know my hips look huge - but I have a sweatshirt tied around my waist!)

One of the torpedo rooms

Sleeping quarters

There were 4 levels on the Constellation, so it wouldn’t have been quite so bad. On this ship, only the officers had beds, with the regular sailors sleeping in hammocks. It was beautiful. 

There is a place along the water front where they have entertainment every day. The acts we saw were not too bad – with one guy being quite good. We walked back by an hour or so later, and I could tell his voice was getting tired, however! Finally, we drove about 4 miles and toured Fort McHenry. This is a star-shaped fort that was defended during the Battle of Baltimore, September 13-14, 1814. The valiant defense of the fort inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." First, they have a short movie about the history of the fort, then a small museum to tour, and then you get to tour the actual fort. Originally the buildings were just one-story, but later a second story was added on, and there is still a lot of remodeling going on with more displays. Because it is higher than surrounding areas and at the end of one of the land projections in the bay, it has a wonderful view. 

All during our site-seeing, I had to walk slow and sometimes stop because of my tender stomach. I took this picture of the houses because I was amazed at them - they were EVERYWHERE. They couldn't have been much more than 10 - 12 feet wide, with no yards.

We parked the car at the hotel again and walked to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. Randy happened to be wearing a Beatles t-shirt, and we got sat in a room that had a lot of Beatle paraphernalia. I could only eat about half of a mound of mashed potatoes. We then walked back to the hotel and relaxed before going to bed early because we had to get up at 4am.

Thursday – We got up very early and packed everything up. We left the hotel about 4:20am. We drove the car back to the rental place and took a shuttle back to the airport. We ate some breakfast and then waited to board our flight. Once again, the flight was very smooth and took about 25 minutes less than scheduled. I think they tell you longer flight times in case there are problems, because they just want every flight to be on time!!  Anyway, everywhere that we had been Randy checked about the truck keys, but without any luck. So, Tyler picked us up and took us home. After a little while I drove Randy back up to the airport, he met a locksmith there, had new keys made (it had to be a Smart-Key), and drove home. It was fun to see some sites and be out of the state for a few days – I just wish I hadn’t gotten so sick!

Random thoughts . . . .

I completed the other jigsaw puzzle that my daughter gave me for Christmas. The first half went pretty fast because there were so many different sections to it and my daughter helped some, but the last part was all in shades of green, and was pretty difficult. I am a 'finisher' so I was glad to have it done, but I enjoyed the process. I found a couple of other puzzles in my cupboard that have never been opened, so I'm sure that I will feel 'compelled' to do them soon.

I've had another birthday. It seems like they happen every year.

Randy got me a couple of dogs (brothers) that met just about all my criteria. They're maltipoos (maltese/poodle) so they have hair instead of fur and won't shed, they're small enough to be house dogs and fit through our doggy door, they're neutered, they're house trained, and they've had their vocal chords scraped so that when they bark it is very quiet and won't hurt Randy's ears. They are 4 years old, so they've already grown out of 'puppy' tendencies. I do have to get them their rabies shots, however. The lady that we got them from was moving higher up in the mountains to a community that does not allow fences, and there had also been sightings of mountain lions and she didn't want them eating her dogs!! She called them 'Charlie' and 'Joe', but we're going to call them 'Curly' and 'Moe.'

Tyler gave me an ipod that he had loaded with some apps that he thought I would like. He's got the scriptures on it and Randy wants to borrow it for Sunday school when he teaches. Anyway, I have a lot of 'learning' to do!

I planted some new plants in my front planter now that the flowers on my tulips and daffodils are gone. Heidi will get me some other plants at the nursery where she works about 1 day a week, but they aren't in season quite yet.

I went through all my old pictures and photo albums and organized everything. We had old photo albums where pages had been chewed by puppies that we had long ago, and some where the glue wasn't sticking any more. I also had some pictures that I had never put in books. I made a new book of Randy growing up and his extended family. I did another one of me growing up and my extended family. Then I also did 9 other albums of pictures of the two of us and our kids as they grew up. Plus, I re-taped some pictures in our wedding album that had come loose. Since everything is digital and on computer now, I didn't really have anything from the last few years. I know a lot of people are scanning their old pictures - but I declined to do that.

Finally, we are excited to talk to Dylan this Sunday on Mother's Day!!