Las Vegas, Sarah's Family, and the BYU Football Game

The time had come for another vacation. HURRAH!! This time our destination for the first part of our trip was Las Vegas. 

The sunflowers blooming along the way were very cheery and beautiful. I would have preferred to stop and get a better photo of them, but that wasn't going to be happening right there on the freeway.

Our hotel was on Paradise Road. We always think of Jacob when we see that road because when Jacob was serving his mission in Las Vegas, one of his apartments was on that very road.

While on a work trip to Las Vegas, Glen's hotel was located on Paradise Road, just a short distance from Jacob's missionary apartment. 

Glen went to the 7-Eleven nearby in hopes two hot, thirsty missionaries might stop by at the end of their day to pick up a slurpee to cool off.

That never happened. No mission rules were broken. Glen returned back home having never even spotted our missionary son. 

Rebecca had pointed out that if the rest of us couldn't see Jacob for two years, then Glen couldn't see him either. (Glad it worked out that way knowing our daughter's opinion on the subject.) 

Our first item of business upon arriving in Las Vegas, after hugging our loved ones, was going to Jonah's baseball practice. It was a bit comical watching the coaches trying to coach such tiny boys. 

Jonah was seen several times sitting on a base playing in the red sand instead of watching the batter to see when it was time to run to the next base.

We had a few minutes between practice and dinner to take some photos at the baseball park. 

We had dinner reservations at Ohjah Japanese Steakhouse. 

It is fast becoming the boys' favorite restaurant, I think, as it is so entertaining to watch the chef cooking the food right in front of us.

And what little boy (and big boy) doesn't love a good fire??!!??

Here comes the flipping-the-shrimp-in-the-mouth part of the dinnertime entertainment.

The chef gently placed Jonah's shrimp into his mouth.

Ice cream bedtime treat.

Followed by a bedtime story.

Good night. Sleep tight. More fun to look forward to the next day.

Our next day started out great when we went for a morning walk on the Vegas strip. There was very little traffic, not many people and a lot of shade from the tall casinos.

I had sent a photo of the hotel swimming pool I took from the window of our room and asked Sarah if the boys would like to swim in the pool. What a great thing to do on a very hot Las Vegas day.

The Excell family arrived. We fed them a pizza lunch and then it was swim time.

Carson was showing Glen the finer points of how to play Halo.

We got some Raising Cane's chicken for dinner before we split up into our respective groups.

Sarah, Lincoln, Jonah and I went to the park.

The little boys got soaked playing in the splash pad part of the park and Jonah needed a little warm-up hug.

The boys had their ice cream bedtime snack and then they listened to a bedtime story as they brushed their teeth.

The other group--Glen, Jeff, Eli and Carson--went to Allegiant Stadium to watch BYU play Arizona.

The game had a long delay and ended very late. Carson had been nervous about getting hungry at the game. I was happy to know he got treats and the boys had done really well at their first football game.

It was fun for Glen to be with these three. He also met his friend Randy Bambrough who had his wife and daughter with him. 

Everybody was happy in the end because it was a win for BYU. Go Cougars!!