Senior Weekend in Vegas!

I told the people at work that we were going to paint the town. They (the ones that knew what it meant... meaning the old fogies) thought it was pretty funny. I am pretty funny. And Smart.

I am so glad my niece Megan came for a visit! It sets a precedence.
Now I can say... OK Bailey and Carly, when are you coming?

And, of course we had so much fun!

Apparently I took my camera out on Sunday... and that's it.
But... I did take some smashing pictures with my camera (ahem.. see evidence below). I've been hoping my wonderful sisters would blog about it or at least share some pictures (ie why this post is so late) but perhaps I just need to start.

Megan brought her Mom so she'd have a flying buddy and of course Emily came too. Emily's the one that suffered in the heat so I'm really happy she braved it to be with us. See... I was in Seattle during the best time to come to Vegas. Sigh... that darn making money thing always getting in the way of having fun.

I hadn't actually planned much for the weekend cuz I wasn't sure what activities would be fun for a graduated senior that had been to Vegas once already and I'd already shown my sisters the Vegas sites on earlier occasions.

So we did some shopping and ate at the Red Rock Buffet where we were informed by the couple standing with us in line that this was the best buffet for the price although the line takes FOREVER. Apparently he'd been to buffets all over the valley and wasn't impressed with the ones on the strip. Now you know.

Here's Emily killing time taking funny photo's with her phone.
I talked to Bethanie while the others took pictures (Photo courtesy of Jenny) and decided what else to do (go home and nap).
This weekend corresponded to the weekend of Melissa's 5k run so I had signed up my sisters along with me. Jenny asked if she had to go. I told her I was going to be there and didn't she want to be with me?

No answer.

We went to packet pick up Friday night (got a free water bottle!) and then headed to Capo's to 'carbo load' before our big race the next morning.

It was fun but a little pricey and VERY DARK.
Can you see Megan and I above and Jenny and Emily below?
The 'live entertainment' (hooked up to a Karaoke boom box sitting on the piano) sang to us but we laughed and talked so he sang to the couple next to us who always listened politely. We did sway with our lighted phones in the air but Jenny upstaged us all with the lighter on her iphone.

Crazy older sisters with their new fangled technology.

I didn't get any pictures of the race Saturday morning but I did get complaints of sore bums the rest of the weekend. I really enjoyed it but maybe I'll do a separate post on that. I will say that I learned chocolate milk is not a good recovery drink for me :-).

After a long nap (the race was at 7am) we headed to the Belagio. I hadn't been there during the day for a long time.I was happy to see that Megan was impressed. It's hard to impress graduated seniors.
We fed the ducks granola bars.
I hadn't seen the fountains during the day that I remember... not even as impressive as at night... although somewhat less crowded.

We headed over to the Venetian and Megan really liked the trappings there too. I like impressing hard core senior graduates.

I had given Megan some show suggestions and she decided the Blue Man group would be fun. I think the fact that her brother and sister had seen it without her might have had some bearing on the decision. Here we are waiting for it to start.I know the others got better pictures. My phone doesn't like the dark.

Megan and my sisters really enjoyed the show. Ya for once again impressing hard core seniors!

My favorite was the drummer that really did turn out to be a girl. She had the coolest florescent make-up (OK OK, so I watched almost the whole thing with my fingers in my ears. Why are shows SO LOUD?). The dancing lighted cowboys were pretty cool too.

Afterwards I got to thinking about how it was just another circus acts but this time with mimes instead of elephants or people flying though the air. All of the Vegas shows are just variations on a circus. And everyone loves the circus... very quiet circuses.

I took a picture of our Sunday Dinner cuz I was pretty proud of it. I love french dip sandwiches.
Next time I will need to do better in planning and execution but I think all went well for the first niece/nephew trip with the maiden aunts (and Mom for moral support). Poor Megan and Jenny woke up early Tuesday morning to fly back to Texas feeling very ill but I hope by now they only remember the fun times.
I had so much fun with my sisters/niece- as always- that it took me 'till Thursday to feel fully recovered!

Perhaps I'm too old for this. It's hard to keep up with hard core graduates... and their Moms... and their young aunts. Or perhaps I should figure out how to sleep the nights before and during instead of tossing in my bed with excitement.

Thanks again for such a fun weekend! I'm ready for the next. Bring it on.

Memorial Day

I had so much fun with Emily over the Memorial Day weekend.

We worked in the garden, then went out to eat.. then worked in the garden, had oatmeal, worked in the garden, went out to eat, worked in the garden and then went out to eat.

Emily loves to go out to eat and she loves her garden. Guess what we'll be doing next weekend when she comes to help me entertain Megan and Jenny in Vegas? Everything on that list except the gardening and oatmeal.

My broken arm was sore after pick axing. Apparently that's rather hard on the elbows.

OK.. on Sunday she made wonderful food after letting me help with her sunbeam lessons. Her and Mama are so great with those kids. And they love them back.

This is something that burned... I think.
Its a picture that needs a back story but I can't remember it.

Truth be told, we would probably have been out in the garden on Sunday but it was raining. I still haven't quite figured out the going from 90's in Vegas to raining in Utah so Emily had to let me borrow some warm socks. Her house is cold!

But Memorial Day was the best Memorial Day I've ever had. Emily wanted to put Mums on graves of our ancestors not only because of the stories Mom's told us of Memorial Day's in Rexburg (taking loads and loads of flowers out to the graves in the early morning and then the big water fight in the afternoon after lunch) but also because Bethanie and Angela were doing the same to family graves in Idaho... although the relatives buried there are a little more recent.

Emily on Sunday looked up all the people that were buried in Provo and Salt Lake. And out we headed to the Provo Cemetery with Mums and little flags in hand (just in case we needed them).
Here she is looking in the registry (all the pictures of both of us are on Emily's camera so all I have is a few I took on my cell phone). We already knew where they were from the Internet, but it was a good picture opportunity.

There were so many graves with flowers on them and people all around. Can you see Emily? We found the Chesleys on my Mothers side (ask Emily how they are related... I knew last weekend)
And then discovered Eliza Haws grave (mother of the one above) who apparently had a sister wife who looks like is her younger sister.
There was a laminated card with a number asking for descendants to call. Emily decided to call the lady then and there. The lady was VERY excited! She'd been placing that card there for 5 years and this was the first time she'd gotten two responses (somebody else had called earlier). It was fun to go over the story of Eliza's husband who left on a mission to Australia and never came back. The family here thought he was a martyr but just a few years ago the family looked him up and found he never got on the boat where he had paid passage and after a few years died a ranch hand in Australia (good thing the computer knows how to spell it).

Nobody knows why he didn't come back. Emily and I were even more surprised that he left TWO wives. The lady on the phone told how her father was "disgusted" that a box of letters and stuff was sent back from Australia to "people who didn't care" and left in a garage somewhere. After the box suffered water damage it was thrown out. Who knows what was in there that could have been used to figure out the mystery.

After all that excitement, we wanted to do even MORE. After lunch in Lehi, we headed to Cedar Fort to find some relations on my Fathers side.

This is the only picture I took. It was a couple (whose name I can't remember... ask Emily) in a cool old grave yard with lots of Aults, Berrys and Messersmiths. Obviously our family wasn't one of the ones that stayed. It made me curious about why this one family went out there and why none of the kids seemed to settle there... although a daughter could have I supposed.

If I was them I would have put my maiden name AND my married name on my gravestone to help alleviate confusion. So inconsiderate of them.

All in all, can't wait to go grave hunting next year... although all that's left close to Emily's is Salt Lake. I guess that could be exciting. I LOVE memorial day!