Getting Blown Away In Las Vegas With Sarah's Family

Our trip to Las Vegas began to be eventful when we spotted smoke up ahead. Just as we were about to pass the smoking trailer, a big fiery explosion happened that made me very thankful we were able to pass by without getting caught on fire ourselves.

The streets leading to Jeff and Sarah's neighborhood are lined with palm trees. 

Sarah and family were all ready for us to join them for dinner, and what a yummy dinner it was with grilled shrimp, fried rice, broccoli and strawberries. Lemon cookies for dessert were the perfect finisher for me to a very delicious dinner.

The four boys and Glen preferred popsicles for their dessert.

The next day we met up again with the Excells for lunch and an excursion to Red Rock Canyon. 

I was on the bench with these two little buddies whenever we were in the van.

The scenery was beautiful!!

We got out of the car and hiked on three different hikes while we were there. The Willow Spring hike was going along just great until we had to walk on a wooden bridge which was swarming with GIGANTIC black flying insects. 

The boys refused to go forward any further. Let's face it--we girls were not fans of going through the swarm either!

Sarah shared informative information with us as we hiked along the trail. Jonah took great interest in every sign we saw along the way.

The lone pine tree seemed out of place in the barren desert.

We were hiking over rocks and every once in a while we had to take a break to sit on some rocks to take a rest.

Our second hike took us to the Petroglyph Wall. Notice Jonah looking at the sign.

The petroglyphs are on the rock behind Eli and Carson.

Lincoln and Carson enjoyed adding to the rock stacks (called cairns that are used to mark the way on trails).

Our third hike had many tempting rocks for the boys to climb on.

Lincoln needed Glen to rescue him after he climbed up on the rock leading to a cave.

Jonah fell down and needed a bandaid on his knee.

Jonah inspecting another sign.

And another sign.

When Jonah heard we were on our way to Lost Creek, he became nervous and didn't want to go on. I think he thought we would get lost and didn't want any part of that.

Eli's favorite activity, besides climbing on rocks, was hunting lizards.

We ordered food from Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers for dinner. Glen bought a boatload of chicken fingers which turned out to be a great thing so we had food for lunch the next day.

While Eli was at his baseball practice, we watched the other three boys playing outside.

After picking up Eli, we went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. 

As I was cleaning my glasses that evening, one of the nose pieces broke off. UGH!! Thankfully, the next morning we were able to find a place that replaced both of the nose pieces for free and in plenty of time before we had planned to meet up with Sarah's family. BLESSING!!!

First thing on the agenda was looking for Waldo with Lincoln and Jonah.

After lunch, Eli had a baseball game. 

The three other boys rode scooters or played in the back of the vehicles. Carson had a relaxing few minutes reading a book.

It was SO WINDY while we were there. The first day I asked Sarah if the wind always blows in Vegas. She said she hadn't noticed it being windy in Vegas.

Let's just say that after 29 mph winds--with gusts that had to be 10 mph or more over that--while we were watching Eli's baseball game, I think Sarah might agree that it was windy in Las Vegas that day. OH MY!! 

We felt like we had been beat up for 2 hours with the wind whipping us. Eli commented about how hard it was to see the ball because the dirt was blowing so much. The ball players lost their hats several times during the ball game with the crazy wind gusts.

We went to Ohjah for a Japanese dining experience. 

It's always entertaining for children to see the fire on the grill.

Glen, Sarah, Jeff and Eli tried their skill at catching the flying shrimp in their mouths.

The park was our final stop on the itinerary for the day. The Excell family calls this one the castle park. 

Back at home, Sarah and I played games with the boys while Glen and Jeff watched a Jazz game. It had been a fun and relaxing few days for us for the first time going out of town in over a year.