We were able to take a week vacation to Southern California for a Smith family reunion at the end of July. (Brandon's grandparents on his mothers side!) We started traveling Friday night and did not stop until we reached saint George at 5:00 in the morning. Brandon and I wanted to get some rest so we parked right outside the Temple and got about one hour of a break before the kids got up.
We also had a run in with an old Lady. Our little family had just finished our pop tart breakfast and began assembling ourselves for the next couple of hours to Las Vegas. All of a sudden someone was honking at us. I looked behind the van to see this elderly lady very upset. I told Brandon that she wanted our space, but that she will have to wait until we were ready. The Lady kept inching her way forward and staring us down. I finally decided to approach her. She rolled down her window and I said "I am sorry it is taking us a while, but we will be done soon." She then looked at at me and said "Do you think you could hurry it up?" I gulped down my sass pot attitude and found myself saying this "You know what? The Next time I see you in Heaven I will be sure to give you a BIG Hug." The lady then looked at me again with a sarcastic tone "Oh aren't you just sweet." I walked away and Brandon and I just got a good laugh out of it. How often do you find people attending the temple mad?
Once we made it to Las Vegas we killed some time visiting the Hoover damn. All I can say is that it is huge, it was hot, but I loved the color of the water! It was a refreshing difference to the multiple shades of brown.
After an hour we decided it was time to head to the Hotel. We found great deal for the Excalibur online and were determined to have a good time. Well, the Excalibur was NOT worth the money even with a discount. The all you could eat salad bar was awful and the weather was HOT, HOT, HOT. Riley and Lorelei did not fair well and Riley got over heated and passed out for a couple of minutes until Brandon poured ice cold water on his head.
(Can you believe this statue of Liberty is solidly made up of Jelly Bellies?!?!? I had to take picture seems how I am a big Jelly Belly fan!)
Sunday Morning we went Ihop for breakfast and continued our journey to California.We arrived at Mimi and Papa's house for some fun. We spent our nights at Uncle Kurt and Aunt Debbie Moorse's house. Over the course of three day's we had fun with Brandon' aunt's, uncle's, cousins, cousins spouses, and all of their children. I had so much fun meeting all of them and wishing I could spend time with them again.
Riley really attached himself to Papa.
from left to right: Riley, Lorelei, Landon, Joel, Will, Ava and Grant.
After three days the Henderson Clan broke off to spend a few days in Uncle Deans Beach house. We had a blast at the beach and playing in the back yard. The kids really enjoyed watching their movies on the indoor theater and spending time one with another. Friendships definitely were formed on this vacation.
On our trek home we got to spend a night at my Aunt Laurie's house. It was fun to chat and catch up with her and see a couple of my cousins. On Sunday morning we headed out as they headed to church. Brandon and I decided that a detour was in order. We decided to tack on a couple of hours by driving through Zion's National park. It was definitely rock Heaven. Brandon loved getting a few souvenirs for himself and I had fun trying to capture the beauty around us.
By the end of the trip, we were exhausted and worn out. The whole week was packed with things here and there. We had some tears, frustrations, laughs, and booboo's, but came away with a lot of good memories.
