Playing catch up--Vegas!

I've got to finish blogging about our vacation in June so here we go!

After spending a week in Cedar City at my parents' house we all headed to Las Vegas for a week. All of us, my parents, Thayne, Kailee, Harper, Spencer, Missy, Charisse, and Cory we all there. The only one of us missing was Elder Brett who had just entered into the MTC to prepare for his mission to Bucharest, Romania.

First on the agenda was to take out Carli's 2 stitches from her forehead. My sister-in-law, Kailee, was happy to help out and she did a beautiful job!

Here is Ben about to take off the band-aid with my Dad holding Carli

She didn't appreciate that at allHere is Kailee explaining to Carli what she is going to doThe cutting :) They came out very easily and quickly! Thanks Kailee! she is good as new. She still has a small red line on her forehead that you can see, but it is fading.

The water show at the Bellagio was the highlight of the trip for the kids. They loved watching the water spray and dance. I have to admit, it is one of my favorite things to do in Vegas, too. Our hotel was just a block off the strip just south of the Bellagio hotel so we could just walk down to see the show. We had to get creative getting the kids over there, though, so we wouldn't subject them to all the nastiness that is on the strip. There was a mall just across the street that we could walk through and come out right across from the lake where the show was and it worked out quite well.

Here is the group one of the nights we went to see the show. Mom, Megan, Charisse, Harper, Brandon, Ben, Carli, and Brooke in the stroller. Kate waiting for the show to start and Harper in the foreground.
Grandma and KateCharisse, Harper, Kate, and BrandonHarper, Thayne, and Kailee--what a darling family! They now have sweet little Beck in their family as well. Here is part of the show. It was so neat!Here's my handsome Brandon. What a cutie!Another view of the show.After the show ended we headed into the hotel to see the gardens which are so neat!
Charisse, Kate, Carli, Kailee, Thayne, Harper (in stroller), Ben, me (shocking--I'm in a picture!), Megan, Brandon, and Brooke (again, in the stroller)Carli, Brandon, and Ben having fun with the shooting water in the garden.Carli was fascinated with this awesome fountain of chocolate in the hotel--that's my girl! You can also see Kate in the background with her hands up on the glass. LOL!One day we went to a new outdoor mall that had this fun water fountain park, a playground, and little hedge maze. It was crazy hot so the kids enjoyed the water. Here's Carli enjoying the fountains.Harper wasn't so sure about the water in the beginning. What a cutie!Megan in the playhouse.

Kate and Carli

Brandon in his shades and Carli on the left. He wasn't into running through the water. I guess he's growing up?

We had fun in Vegas, but we won't be going back there anytime soon for vacation. It was hard to find things for the kids to do. We really enjoyed just being with family and hanging out together. We watched a lot of moves and played games and ate yummy food. Ben and I got to go see Blue Man Group and we really enjoyed the show! It was pretty funny and there were a lot of fun stunts.

After Vegas we headed back to Cedar City for a couple days and then started our trek home. We headed to the Phoenix area to see some good friends and Ben's brother, James, and his family. James and Lybi were expecting a baby girl any day and we were hoping she would be there by the time we got there, but no luck. Oh well--we were so happy to see you anyway!

We finally arrived home in TX and were happy that Ben got to stay home from work for another 2 weeks (awesome 4 week paid paternity leave!!!) so we got to hang out as a family, swim, and just enjoyed being together.

Trip--Cedar City Backyard "Fun"

This is my brother's dog, Lovie. A darling, hyper little beagle the kids love, especially the girls. As soon as we walk into Grandpa and Grandma's house they want to go see Lovie and she is always super excited to see them! The girls love to go out in the backyard to play with her. Brandon could care less, really, but the girls are almost obsessed. It's probably because we do not have a dog and they would LOVE to have one--however, that is not about to happen in any reality I know.

Kate and Megan petting Lovie

A closer look at Lovie. She sure is cute! That little blondie is my cousin's son, Dawson. He and his sister, Addison, are great little friends for my girls while we are in Cedar City. They love to play together as much as possible since they only see each other 1, maybe 2 times a year.

You can see a little more of my parents' yard in this picture. It is gorgeous! That's the reason they fell in love with this house--it was the yard, not the house (although it's very nice, too!). They have fruit trees, roses, tons of flowers, bushes, a garden, a big deck, and this beautiful centerpiece of rocks and flowers in the middle of the grass. It is a magnet for my children. It's their own personal castle. Two days after we arrived in Cedar, late Monday night when everyone was getting ready for bed and "settling" down, my girls noticed the sprinklers were on the backyard. What is more tempting than running through sprinklers?! What fun, they thought, it would be to go out and run around in them. I didn't think anything of it, of course. I was distracted by something--have no clue what I was doing at the time--but then we all hear this blood curdling screaming and yelling.

I think I was in my mom and dad's room on the computer or something because I remember running out into the family room and seeing Kate hysterical walking Carli into the house and yelling, "Carli is bleeding all over her head and face" (or something to that horrible effect). Hysteria sets in a little on my part. Yes, Carli had blood running down her face, her nose was bleeding, and my mom was holding her head. Ugh... Turns out there was a nice little gash on her forehead about an inch long, bleeding quite a bit. We debated for a few seconds wether to take her in or not, but we decided we better since her nose was bleeding, too. Carli was pretty freaked out at this point.

Ben and I jumped in the car with her and drove down the hill to the urgent care place. We didn't know if they would send us to the hospital or not, but we tried anyway. They would have taken her, but they had just gotten another laceration and said it would be a while before they could see her so we jumped back in the car and drove out to the ER.

We got right into the ER (9:30 at night and no one waiting) and they saw her pretty quickly. It was a good little gash, but not too big. Carli was settled down by now doing fine. Her nose had stopped bleeding and she had not lost conciousness or anything. They said she would need a couple stitches so we started the process. Putting the medicine on it was the beginning of the crying and screaming. She didn't want anyone to touch it. And then when the doctor came in to numb it completely with the needle she really lost it. It took 3 of us to hold her down--the nurse had Carli's head, Ben had her arms and top of her body, and I held down her legs while the doctor numbed it and put the stitches in. It was over before we knew it and we were back home to my parents' house within an house. It was quite a fuss for 2 little stitches, but we're glad we took her in. There is just a small red line there now. It has healed perfectly. When we got home the kids had been quite worried about their little sister. It was very sweet. Kate and Megan had made little pictures/cards for her and put them by her bed along with a balloon they found.

You can see the huge bandaid on her forehead in this picture: Here's a closer look. I didn't get any pictures of it before we covered it up.Perfectly happy 3 yr old playing at the park!

There's a great park down the street from my parents' house that the kids love to play at. Here are my girls with Addison (in the striped sweater)--yes, it's June and they are wearing sweaters and jackets. It was heavenly weather!

Silly faces!

Getting pushed by daddy on the tire swing is a huge favorite!Kate the monkey-girl