Tuacahn to Vegas; Three Families Soon to Join Us; Rebecca In Hospital With Sepsis

Glen and I had scheduled our yearly St. George vacation to see the Tuacahn plays. We were originally going to leave Sunday afternoon, but then decided to change our plans and leave Monday morning. 

The reason was Glen went to Laramie with Kenny Saturday to watch the BYU/Wyoming football game on September 14th. I didn't really like the idea of Glen driving home from Wyoming Sunday morning and then jumping right back in the car to make the drive to St. George in the afternoon. 

My comment about driving to St. George was it was EXTREMELY WINDY!! The drive was windy and sitting at the play was windy. It was also a bit chilly. But better than sweating to death.

The first night we watched Frozen. It was fun watching the cute little girls attending the play who were all dressed up as Elsa and Anna.

We had really good seats six rows from the stage. I was surprised to see the chairs closer to the stage had been switched out from hard ones to very soft padded seats. What a great upgrade!!

The show was very well done and it was interesting watching how they portrayed things turning to ice and then how they made it snow at the end. It was my favorite of the three we watched.

Tuesday morning we went for a morning walk on the Temple Quarry trail.

The St. George Temple was closed for cleaning. We were happy we could attend the new Red Cliffs Temple.

The winds continued to blow on this day as well.

That evening we met up with one of the couples from our prison branch who ended up being in St. George the same time we were there. 

Glen loves this restaurant that presents us with our meat on a hot stone and we cook the meat to our liking. 

Clark and Leah Burbidge enjoyed the restaurant as well, although Leah had the chef cook her fish. Apparently, the fish sticks to the stone and is better prepared by the chef.

When Clark learned the play for that evening was the Jersey Boys, he was very anxious to get tickets to see it. He served his mission in that part of the United States and he loved hearing the accents once again and being reminded of the songs of that era and that singing group.

The next morning we went on our morning walk along the Red Hills Parkway trail. There were several hot air balloons in the sky that day.

This is a view of the St. George Temple in the middle of the photo along the tree line.

Glen made an attempt to walk through the slot canyon, but didn't make it very far. 

It soon became evident it was too skinny an opening for a human to get through.

We went to Thunder Junction which is advertised as an all abilities park. It was interesting to see young people working there who had some handicaps. 

I loved the park because the playground equipment could accommodate all sizes of people.

I was wishing our grandchildren were there with us. Levi would have loved all the dinosaurs around the park.

We loved the train ride. 

Once again I thought about the grandchildren and wished they were there with us. They would have all loved it--especially our train-loving Lincoln. Levi would have loved finding all the little dinosaurs that could be spotted all along the ride. 

Glen and I became addicted to Yogurtland while on this vacation. We would frequently choose this treat for our lunch to hold us over until dinner.

For dinner that evening, we went to a Japanese steakhouse and watched the chef cook up our meal right there at our table.

The third play we saw was Anastasia.

The next morning we took our walk along the Virgin River.

We packed up to leave St. George and make our way to Las Vegas a day before our three local children and their families were to arrive. 

We found the resort to be lovely. It was a Hilton Vacations property.

It was the Cancun Resort. When Glen saw the pool and water slides when booking our room, he thought the grandchildren would have a fun time there and wanted to see how it would be to use our vacation package with our children--to see if there might be a possibility of using it for a future family reunion.

Since we were on a frozen yogurt kick, we decided our snack that day would be trying out the robotic frozen yogurt by the pool and see what that was like. Our decision was it was not nearly as good as Yogurtland, but it held us over until dinner.

We have decided we really love condo vacations. It is so much roomier and nicer than a hotel room. This one had a nice kitchen/dining area.

The living room had a very comfortable couch with great foot rests.

And then my excitement for our accommodations really took a dive when I opened the door next to the table with the lamp on it. 

I had expected a closet, and instead saw it was a cruise ship-sized bathroom, complete with a tiny shower behind the door. I could not believe it!!!!

The bedroom was definitely not disappointing.

Imagine my shock of delight when I saw this big, roomy, two-sinked bathroom right off the bedroom. Now this is more like it!!!! 

Apparently, the teeny bathroom was for whoever might be sleeping on the sofa bed.

We had a nice view from our balcony of the fountain at the front of the resort.

We went to an afternoon comedy show featuring Farrell Dillon. 

Glen had enjoyed eating at the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace with our daughters when he last went to Vegas. He wanted me to experience what the three of them had enjoyed so much.

The problem was we had gotten some very disturbing and worrisome news that day and could hardly enjoy our meal at all.

Rebecca, Sarah and Ben's families had all been looking forward to being together with us in Vegas for the week when we got a very distressing message from Rebecca. 

She was telling us she was in the hospital diagnosed with sepsis and would probably not be joining us on the vacation. WHAT?!?!???

Glen and I were so torn about whether we should go home or stay in Vegas with the two families who were soon to join us. 

Rebecca said she didn't want to be the cause of everybody missing out on a fun vacation, told us to have fun, and keep her included in what was happening in her absence. 

Because of the vacation plans, Dallas was not working and was able to be with her, so that was a blessing. Their children would not be missing school anymore.

We thought we would take it day by day, constantly worried sick about her, hoping the antibiotics would work quickly and she would feel better soon...