I opened my mouth...

and wished for snow, and what do you know? This morning when I woke up, it was snowing! Beautiful fluffly white flakes, gently falling onto the ground, and the car that we were packing so we could DRIVE to my in-laws today LOL. Thankfully, the snow didn't stick to the roads at all. We made it to Fallon just fine :)

I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed our Las Vegas trip- California was great, but I got really stressed out because we were all in a small room, and none of my children have a mute button. Plus, driving in the CA traffic pretty much terrifies me, so I drove w/ one hand on the wheel, holding my printed directions, and the other was on the gearshift. Vegas was totally different. I don't know if it is because I'm getting used to being out of my comfort zone, or if God has finally blessed me with the patience I so obviously lack :). Even when I got lost, I never felt panicked at all, I just drove until I figured out where I was, and where I wanted to go, and things worked out just fine. We really had a great time down there.

We drove down Sunday, and stopped to do a few geocaches along the way. Those are fun, because we're pretty good at spotting possible hiding spots for them now, and it is nice to have a good reason to drag everybody out of the car to stretch their legs and run around for a minute or two. When we got into Vegas, we drove straight to Josh & Brooks' house, and ate dinner with their family. Quinn, Angela, and their two boys came over, so it was a huge cousin get-together. I got to hold Angela's baby, and he was cuddly and sweet and spitting up just like my babies used to:) We left about bedtime, and headed over to the casino to check in. That was interesting; to parade through the slot machines on our way to the elevators, and try to explain to my 5-year-old WHY people like to play games that lose them money. I ended up telling him that we don't gamble because we don't think that losing money is fun, which made perfect sense to him. Monday morning we did schoolwork at a park down the street, then drove over to Angela's to meet up w/her and Brooks, and take the kids to see "Siegfried and Roy's Dolphin Habitat and Secret Garden" at the Mirage. It was pretty incredible! We had my 3 kids, Brooks' 2 boys [they're 4 and 2], and Angela's 2 boys [2 and almost 3 months]. Strollers were fun :) but there were so many cool things to see that we really didn't need to worry about the kids wandering off. Morgen and Walker rode home with Brooks, and I took her Ethan with Hyrum and me back to the casino to pick up Jared. We stopped for pizza, then ate at Josh and Brooks' house again- I am SO GLAD we didn't have to spend much time in the casino! The room was fine, but the lobby was just smoky and not at all child-friendly. Blech.

So Tuesday we drove down to Boulder City to see the Hoover Dam. Incidentally, did you know that gambling is illegal in Boulder City? Yep. It's the only town in the entire state of Nevada that doesn't allow gambling at all. LOL, there's a huge casino just outside the city limits, though, in case anybody visiting Boulder City should happen to miss out on that whole 'game where you lose money' thing. So, we stopped in Boulder City to look through the local Dam Museum. They call it the Boulder Dam, which is another story all by itself, but there was a lot of interesting information there. The very nice docent made sure I knew that EVERYTHING [and she stressed that several times] was hands-on, so I should please help my kids touch and explore all the exhibits. LOLOL, anybody who is familiar with my kids knows that they have absolutely no problem touching things! We really enjoyed the tour, though, and after we finished at the museum, we ate a quick lunch and headed over to the dam.

The parking lot across the street from HD's visitor's center is very squeaky- I noticed that every time I turned my tires, I heard a horrible nails-on-a-blackboard sound, and it wasn't only my tires. Every car we saw, we heard those same awful squealing sounds first. So we parked, and walked down the 3 stories' worth of stairs, then across the street and down another flight of stairs to where the tours of the dam begin. We had to go through security, and that's when I found out I couldn't take my pocketknife into the dam. *sigh* Okay, back up all the stairs, to the car, put my huge purse into the car and kept keys, water and my camera, then headed back down the stairs again. Halfway down, I realized that I'd left my pocketknife IN MY POCKET, so we climbed back up to the car again, and this time I made sure I left that little piece of prohibited hardware inside the jockeybox. LOL, finally ready to take the tour, we headed back down those stairs one more time, and got into the tour with 4 minutes to spare.

Our guide was excellent- funny, but not rehearsed, and I was really glad we'd spent the time at the museum first, because a lot of the information she gave us we had already seen, and my kids understood better, and were able to make connections about the people and equipment that they wouldn't have otherwise. The whole structure and story of the building of this dam pretty much leaves me breathless. Just the amount of concrete alone is staggering, and all the engineering problems they ran into- figuring out how to cool the concrete so it would set properly, the whole set-up of roads to bring men and machines to the mine itself, diverting the Colorado River so they could build the dam in the first place, all I can say is WOW. We probably could have spent the entire day there, just looking at the dam and exploring everything. :)I have to say that the funniest part for me was when we were walking across the top of the dam, and I noticed the bathrooms- they're towers, and you go inside, climb up a flight of stairs [or use the elevator], use the bathroom that is at the top of the tower, then return to street level. LOL, and the bathrooms are enclosed, but they hang over the edge of the dam... that image still gives me chuckles :)

So I pulled my protesting children away from the fascinating Hoover Dam, and we drove back into Vegas. Jared has some friends we were planning to meet for dinner, and as we walked out to the parking garage, they discovered that their vehicle had been broken into, and their $50 GPS stolen [that was probably the least expensive piece of equipment in the truck, too]. Oh, but the best part was that this had been reported to the casino 3 DAYS ago, and they hadn't even tried to contact the owner, they'd just been paging the license plate number overhead in the casino. Well, this gentleman was there to work, and he doesn't gamble, so he was a bit peeved. Long story short, we ate in the casino restaurant, and enjoyed the meal and the company, even if the atmosphere was lacking.

Wednesday I drove down to Henderson and spent the morning with my friend Tessie- we met right after I moved to Iowa, and have managed to keep in touch via the internet. I had such a good time w/her! Our kids really enjoyed playing at the park, and eating lunch together. She was busy in the afternoon, but invited us to come back down for dinner. We stopped at the Ethel M chocolate factory [tour was not so interesting, but the cactus garden absolutely thrilled my kids], then drove back to the casino and did schoolwork in the hotel room until Jared finished his work, then we all drove back out to Henderson for dinner. Again, it was wonderful to see her family; last time we were all together was before we moved from Iowa, and I was so glad we got a chance to reconnect.

Thursday was another driving day- this time to meet a new friend of mine who also lost a child recently. We met through her blog, and made arrangements to meet in person while I was in Vegas. She invited me over to her home, and we all drove to a nearby park, where our kids rough-housed together. There's something about meeting another mother who shares that same experience of losing a child; an immediate connection that goes very deep. I really enjoyed talking with her, and came away with a great deal of peace. That was good, because I was driving her over to pick up her car, and we were on the freeway, and a mattress had fallen off of whatever vehicle had been carrying it, and we ran it over. I tried to slow down, but wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and so we hit it. Luckily, it was the top mattress, and I was driving the Durango, so it was just a little bump, and not a 'flip-the-car-over' bump. But we certainly got our adrenaline rush for the entire week- whew!

Thursday night we headed back over to Josh and Brooks' house, and grilled hamburgers and hung out again. My BIL Jon was in town for a meeting, and we thought it would be cool to see him too, so we ate dinner, and talked, and let the kids play trains and run around like crazy people. **BTW, Brooks, I really appreciate you letting us invade your home repeatedly while we were in Vegas- it was so much nicer than having to stay in the hotel room of the casino :)

And Friday we packed up and drove back to SLC. Of course we geocached all the way home, and then I got myself all stressed out because I wasn't sure I would be able to get all of my 'to-do' list completed before Monday. I shouldn't have worried so much- it gives me insomnia and I stay up until all hours of the morning doing laundry and other stuff that could totally wait until daytime.

Okay, two funnies from our drive today: Morgen randomly commented, "I have really bad posture." Jared replied, "Well, maybe you should do something about that." And we got another random Morgen comment as her answer, "Posture really isn't familiar to me." *giggling*

Second funny: A song parody came on the talk radio station that Jared was listening to [Rush Limbaugh, and we're not going there for now], and it was about Hilary Clinton, supposedly sung by Bill. Of all the things for Morgen [again with my daughter, today must be her lucky day or something...] to suddenly pay attention to, she had to pick this one. We took a break at the Salt Flats, just outside of SLC, and spent 10 minutes discussing why people make fun of famous people, specifically Hilary, and what a Secretary of State is supposed to do. I thought it was funny because at 8 she's getting a political talk. I don't even remember who was president when I was 8 [probably Reagan], and I certainly don't remember who was running, or any political ads in the background of my life at that point.

So, we're in Fallon this week, and everything's cool, and hopefully my next post will be less of a novel :)

Gratitude List:
* I have a wonderful husband, who is patient and kind and very tolerant of my quirks.
* Friends, old and new, who accept me and all my imperfections.
* Opportunities to relax and enjoy new places.
* I managed to retain my sense of humor for 6 of the 9 hours of our travel time today. Surely that is a record?
* Family, and that I enjoy spending time with mine.
* God's abundant blessings in my life.
* warm fuzzy socks :)
* my camera
* that my very old computer has enough memory to store the 200+ pictures I took in Vegas last week.
* gas prices are $1.51 at our local gas station as of today. HOORAY! [why isn't this on the news? It is an excellent early Christmas present from the economy fairy.]
* Christmas, and the opportunity it brings to remember my Savior Jesus Christ, and celebrate his birth.