Our Trip to Vegas

We had a truly great visit in Las Vegas. Here are some of the highlights.

We went to a minor league Baseball game. The kids have never been to a professional game before and they really had a blast. We went with Nigel, Z, and Brandon, Jeff, Kayden and all of our crew.

Since it was 115 degrees out most of the days we were there, we spent a great deal of our time in the pool. Mike got a real workout throwing the kids around. I loved this shot of Ryan in the air. Is he having fun or what?

This is my grandpa, he enjoyed watching the kids in the pool. I think he wished he could go out and join them. Here is a picture of Mike in the pool alone with 8 kids. He took the kids swimming while Steve and I made pizza for Kay's birthday.
We followed pizza with a "Nothing Bundt Cake." It was divine!!!!! For some reason Jake and Kyle got a cleaning bug. They decided they wanted to help Grandma Kay clean the house. Here they were cleaning the bathroom floor. I don't know how she got them working. I guess I need to get some tips.
We took the kids out for a tour of the Ethyl M. Chocolate Factory. I had never even heard of it before I read Carlee's post. It was fun to see where they make these fancy chocolates and to get a taste at the end of the tour.

We also visited the cactus gardens there. It was really neat to see.
We realized while we were in Vegas that it has been years since we have been to the Fremont Street Experience and most of the kids have never even seen it. So we decided to make a trip down to the old strip to see a couple of shows. The kids were amazed by the huge screen and all the lights.
It was really funny to watch Mandy when the kids were swimming in the pool. She paced along the edge of the pool back and forth always watching the kids very carefully. She very obviously got upset if the kids went under water for any length of time and on 3 different occasions, she actually went in after them. As if she could possibly save them. She could barely keep her own head above the water, but it didn't stop her from going in again the next time she got worried about one of the kids. Here are a couple of pictures of her at the pool and a short video clip of Kyle going under water. Notice Mandy pacing at the end of the clip.

At 10:00 pm on Friday Aug. 1st, I took the girls to the book release party at Barnes and Noble for the release of We had a great time making masks, playing word puzzles all about the Twilight Saga and watching the people who were dressed in costume. The book was released at midnight and we were headed out of the store with 3 copies(one for me, one for Kaylee, and one for Kay) at 12:20 am. Here is a picture of the girls and their masks. I didn't start reading until the next morning when we got in the car to drive home. (but that is the subject for another blog entirely)
Here is a great picture of my family with Grandpa Pierce and Great Grandpa Pierce.(my dad and Grandpa) No the boys are not naked, they just went shirtless a lot because they couldn't stand the heat!!!On our drive home we made a stop that we have never made in all the years we have been driving to Vegas. We stopped in at Cove Fort. It was fun to see the old fort and to learn some of the history that goes along with it.
We had a great time in Vegas and really enjoyed all of the family time. It was great to have so many of us together so much while we were there. I love and miss my family so much. I am still hoping to get some more of them here in Colorado someday soon. I guess we will see.