Memorial Day

On our way down to Daybreak for the Family Fun Walk, we stopped to visit Nana's grave with Steve.  It's still so hard to think about her being gone.  And just being there always makes me tear up.  I miss her so much.  She was a good friend to me there at the end especially and I really just wish I could still have her around.  Especially lately when I feel so alone.  She was fun to visit and fun to kill time with :).  

Steve always brings M&Ms and this year some other candies as well.  We all pig out and eat while we reminisce about her and the fun times we had with her.  All her funny comments about her grave spot, and when she laid down to see if she would fit there :).  It's always a nice little time.  I'm glad it's a priority and that we can do that for her every year.  I know it means a lot to her.  She was always so good at that with her family.

After Nana's we headed down to Daybreak for the Memorial Day Family Walk for Fun with the Maynes family.  I wasn't looking all that forward to it since I am not really up for walking six miles right now.  Judge me if you want, but you don't mess around with a 7th c-section baby on the way... gotta be careful.  Especially if the contractions get worse with walking.  ANYWAY.  I was stationed at the first pit stop with Becky and it wasn't long before the group came by.  I was amazed at how spry my family looked!  Even Luke was running!  Becky and I drove along and waited at each pit stop with that crew, and were able to visit with everyone a little.  That ended up making it pretty fun :).  With each stop everyone got sweatier and a little less chipper :).  But my cute little gang pushed through!!  I was so proud of them!  I really wish I'd taken pictures. I just wasn't feeling it I guess.  But it was pretty fun.  They walked from Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Russ's house in Daybreak all the way to Uncle Lynn's house in Riverton!  Six whole miles.  I was totally impressed with everyone!  We had a nice little barbecue and visited all night.

After the bbq we met up with a friend of Lynn's, and real estate agent, in South Jordan to check out a lot he wanted to show us there.  So many wonderful things about it and the house we could build with Anthony's generosity, but something about it just wasn't right to me.  And not just that it wouldn't be done til October.  But we'll see.  Just another option I guess.

The 2012 Air Show

Saturday was our big Air Show Day!  

We did get invited to Simon's birthday lunch at Chuck-A-Rama too, so we went there and celebrated with everyone with some yummy over mixed slushies and lots of scones and rice krispie treats.  I had a lot of fun talking with Nancy and Forrest most of the time.  I love Nancy.  She's such a fun person.  Simon seemed really happy to have so much support.  That was fun.

After that we hurried home to get our warmer clothes on.  While we had been sitting there eating lunch, we watched the gray clouds roll in and it definitely started to pour.  We weren't sure they would still do the air show, but we were hopeful, so we continued to get ready for it.  Heidi and John were at our house when we got here and entertained us while we gathered our jackets and hats.

It was such a relief when we saw that the rain was clearing up as we got closer to the base, and even more when we heard and then saw the F-16s flying overhead as we made our way through the traffic at the gate.

We all got really excited :).

Our parking spot was about a mile and a half away from the tarmac, so it was a long walk (for me at least), to the show, but WELL worth it!

We managed to see the Red Bull Stunt plane.... that's always a fun one.

The F-16

Here's the "Heritage Flight"

The Red Eagles

There was a lot of waiting time before the Thunderbirds, which happen to be some of our family favorites.  But the kids seemed okay with the wait.

We were right next to the speakers, so we were battling that noise the whole time, which was fun, but also tiring for our ears :).  Charity was stressing the whole time and had about 3 or 4 layers of whatever to cover her ears.  

Kelly had a lot of fun playing with Aunt Heidi and John.  She didn't seem too phased by the noise, but covered her ears a little as well.

Bradley pretended to be tough and was fine with the noise.  He seemed so into the shows, it was great to watch him get excited about it all.  I remember as a kid, just being so amazed and loving the sounds, the sights, and all the excitement.  He seemed to really get into it.

Luke was mildly impressed.  Didn't love the noise and was only really attentive for the first few shows.  He watched, and was impressed, but found it hard to find entertainment in it all, I believe.  It lost his attention.  I loved his face when he was into it though.

Noah was completely UNimpressed by the whole thing.  He sat in the stroller and complained about the noise, then complained about how long it was taking, just patting his nose with his ee-oh, and then eventually turning around completely in the stroller so that he was no longer even facing the show.  Not sure what that was all about.  Maybe next year he'll find it more impressive.  It will always surprise me how differently my children react to different forms of entertainment.  Everyone is so different.

Erika really loved the shows!  At one point while she was on my shoulders, we saw a really cool something and I said, "Whoa that was cool!" when it got quiet, and cute little Erika leaned down to my ear and almost in a whisper said, "YEAH!"  Made me laugh :).  She did however get tired though, and actually fell asleep at the end.  I laid her on top of the stroller visor and she was content to just lay there for the last half of the Thunderbirds.  Kinda funny.

Nate and I took turns with the camera and grinning :).  It's really a fun thing for us. I'm glad we both enjoy it so much and it's something we get to do every time they have one.  It's a fun little bonding thing.  Fun tradition.

I only wish they'd had the B2 and that we'd seen the Blue Angels.  But ya can't have everything right :)  Better luck next year!

The Thunderbirds!

I gave Bradley the camera as we were leaving, so he got some fun pictures at a Bradley angle :).  He was very excited about his pictures of these missiles.

I think Nate stole the camera to take this one.... pretty cool I think!

Family photo.  These never really turn out good enough for me :), but whatever... we were all there :)

I thought this was a really great picture!  Nice job, Bradley!

Kelly got the camera after Brad and she was the one to take these last few.... glad we got one of everyone :)

Lukey totally conked out on the way to the car.  

Lagoon Field Trip with Kelly

My field trip to Lagoon

was...  AWESOME!!!  we walked 

around pioneer village.  And guess what 

we walked into a building and there

were 3 pecocs (peacocks) in that building.  We saw

some welda beasts.  And istead of just 

getting to go on rattle snake rapids 

and Log fume we got to go on all the 

rides we wanted.  We went on bombora

Log fume bumper cars space scrambler swings and 

rattle snake rapids.

For Lunch we went to Arbees

we had 5 people in our group.

Me Mom my friend Saria

and My friend Elli and Saria's

Mom.  It Was Very

Fun!!

- Kelly Maynes

Kelly and I had a total blasty blast on her field trip today!  Normally the 3rd graders get to go to Lagoon, but they're confined to just the Pioneer Village, and the two rides (Log Flume and Rattlesnake Rapids) there.  But somehow, today, we all ended up with All-day Passport stamps on our hands!!  Mrs. Ashliman was so funny when she came around making the announcement that we didn't have to stay in boring little Pioneer Village all day, if we wanted to bag the packet and get out and go on the rides, our stamps should get us on anything we wanted :).  We were all thrilled :).  For some reason, our cute little girls in our group still mosied around Pioneer Village taking pictures of whatever they could for another half hour before deciding it was time for rides :).  Sariah's Mom Annie and I were surprised, but whatever floats your boat I guess :).  Kelly and Sariah wanted to go on the Log Flume first, so they convinced Elli to go with them.  I rode with Kelly and Elli and Sariah in front of us. Annie stayed off and watched our stuff.  It was so fun!!  Kelly wasn't completely sold on the ride, unfortunately, and Elli said she thought she was going to  "lose her soul" so when Sariah and I wanted to go around for another turn (no line), she decided to get off, and so did Kelly.  Sariah and I are apparently really good at talking Kelly into doing things though because we were able to convince her to go around one more time :).  I think she had more fun that time because she got wet :).  It was a lot of fun.  So then we headed on out of Pioneer Village and hit a few more rides.  The girls were funny because they would pick a ride and then choose to not go, Elli kept getting brave and then would chicken out right before, it was cute to watch them.  They went on a kiddie Swings ride, then over to Bumper Cars, Scrambler (Kelly's favorite), then Bombora, and then we stopped to have some lunch.  I was careful to only go on the ones that seemed safe enough for Wormie.  I think running around the park caused more contractions than any of the rides though.  Weird.  Today was supposed to be Kelly's Birthday Tables day, so I agreed to let her get something at one of the restaurants there instead of the school lunch she was going to have.  She chose Arby's (her favorite) and much to my surprised the prices were like DOUBLE what they normally are (duh.  I should have known), my $10 I brought barely covered 2 regulars and a small fry with 2 waters!  It worked though because we also had Kelly's sack lunch she'd gotten at school :).  But GEES!  No wonder I don't buy food at those places.  We ate as fast as we could so that the girls could still go on Rattlesnake Rapids.  We made our way to the bathroom and then on the ride where we all got completely SOAKED!!!  It was crazy!  Annie was smart to stay off :).  But we had a lot of fun!  Kelly and Sariah actually dove into the waterfall instead of trying to stay out of it :)  Funny girls.  If it had been a little warmer today, it may have been a little more fun, but you can't NOT go on the rides!  We had fun.
I loved sharing the time with Kelly.  Hopefully I wasn't too embarrassing for her to be with :).  I can feel us (me and my older kids) getting to that point where I just might be slightly embarrassing for them now.  I knew it was coming, so I'm prepared, I just hope we can hold on to the innocence just a little bit longer :)  And hold hands and be close buds for just a little more.  We'll see :).  Kelly is such a fun girl with her friends.  She really just seems to have fun.  She doesn't let much get in the way of that :).  I'm really grateful she's had her friend Sariah these past couple months.  She's been such a good friend for her.  I am always grateful for good friends.  Anyway.  FUN day!

Charity's Decathlon

My decathalon was really fun!

There were 10 events; Jump Rope, sit-n-reach, Push-ups,

sit ups, broad jump, 200 meter dash, Accuracy throw, cup stacking, 

Basketball dribbling, and shuttle run.  Jump rope  I got 52

jumps, on sit-n-reach I got 40, in push ups I got 16, 

in sit ups, I got all 30, in broad jump I jumped 5 

feet, in the 200 meter dash I ran half the track in 

31 seconds, on accuracy throw I threw 3 out of 4

throws, on cup stacking I got 6:33 seconds, basketball dribbling

I did it in 11 seconds, and shuttle run I got 12

seconds.  My team (Saffron, Kylan and Chandler) got 3rd

Place out of 14 schools!!  It was Sooo fun!!
- Charity Maynes

Nate, Noah, Erika and I all picked up Charity from school a little early and took her down to Viewmont for her big Decathlon!  

This was a pretty exciting thing.  Only 4 people from each grade were chosen to compete as a team in the ten events.  Charity was the 2nd highest scoring girl, so she was chosen.  Charity practiced quite a bit all month and was totally ready for her big day.

Each event score is appointed a certain amount of points.  Each team member racks up their points and then they are totalled to determine the winning team.  

Right before they announced winners, we had the "remember how fun it was, and be glad you had the opportunity to participate, whether you win or not" speech.  Then a few minutes later they announced that the 4th grade Holbrook team had won 3rd place!!!!!!  There was a loud scream from our side of the bleachers :).  Lots of support for our awesome athletes!  And we were just so proud of Charity!!  

Nate had had to leave a little early to get to work, so we made sure to text him right away and share the good news.  

Charity did so great!  I was so impressed with how well she did!!  

Proud Mom moment :)

Pregnancy Journal

5-30-12
Feels like it's been a while since I said anything about my pregnancy.  Probably for the best.  It's been tough.  I'm not gonna lie.  Things got really hard emotionally this past couple weeks, thanks to all the bad news about house hunting, but I'm trying really hard to stay optimistic.  Heavenly Father has blessed me with so much hope at times and I know I just need to hang on to that hope.  Regardless of the outcome, hope is always better.  I'm trying.  I went in for another check up today.  It's always good to hear the baby's heartbeat and feel like we're making progress.  He said I am 27 weeks instead of the 26 that I thought I was.  So that was fun :).  (pathetic, I know, but fun)  We talked about the contractions and he didn't seem too concerned.  He has so much faith in my pregnancies, just with past experience I assume, it's nice.  He doesn't leave me much room to worry about things and I think that's one of the best things about Dr. Thackeray.  He told us about his trip to Lake Powell this weekend and how windy it was, and asked us about the Air show :).  He seems to always want to chit chat about everything else :).  Makes me laugh.  We're really grateful for such a good doctor though.  He said I was measuring right on, and Noah and Erika totally enjoyed listening to Wormie's heartbeat.  That was fun.  I liked the looks on their faces when I told them he was talking to them ;).  They were concentrating on what he might be saying I guess :).  Cute kids.  I felt bad when Noah asked, "Are you going to bring home the baby today?"  He's asked that a few times now.  These prenatal visits are wearing him out I think :).  Why do we have to keep coming to the doctor and leaving with nothing?!  Erika got to meet the nurse Erica, so that was kinda cute too ;).  She wouldn't talk to her (or look at her for that matter) but she did wave goodbye when we left.  It's so funny that we've had Erika as our nurse for at least the last 4 kids.  She's like a good friend now.
I feel the emotional part of life is just totally drowning me right now.  I feel like I can't smile very easily.  I dislike being in public and carrying on conversation with people is just really difficult for some reason.  Pretty much everything bugs me.  And I say that knowing that MOST things that bug me, shouldn't.  So that's annoying.  I get irritated easily, and I find myself wanting to chew everyone out.  It's like the real Christa is surfacing and it's not going to be pretty.  The fake Christa is much more bearable I suppose.  But she's a lot harder to fake right now.  I'm hoping Summer break will help me with that a little.  We can be a little more laid back, have a little more fun, get out a little more, I don't know.... hopefully things just get better for some reason :).
I am really done with people asking me how I feel.  I gave up on trying to stay positive and say that I'm okay, because I never really was, and now when I'm honest, I just feel let down by how it feels to admit I feel like crap.  There's nothing anyone can do to fix it, so it's just awkward.  And I think I liked it better when people thought I was tough.  I'm planning on going back to my usual, "yep, doing good!" answer.  Plus I feel like I expect people to cut me some slack when I tell them I feel like garbage, and when they don't, I get frustrated I guess.  So that's how it feels.  I don't think I've ever tested out the honesty answer before, and now I know it's better to not expect any slack, just suck it up and hang on til the end on my own.  So if you do run into me (and you've actually read this whole thing) do me a favor and just don't ask how I'm feeling.  Depending on the day, it could keep me from crying later.
I'm so tired lately and yet, I'm not sure why.  I guess I go to bed pretty late, but Nate's let me take naps pretty often, and I am sleeping in a little most days.  So I'm not sure what that's all about.  Just making a baby takes it out of me I guess.

So, we still haven't picked out his name yet.  There is one that hangs at the top of my list in my head, but I guess I don't feel settled on it yet.  For some reason.  And then there's the middle name picking too that seems difficult with the name I like.  Picking names is SO HARD!!  I like it, but it's HARD!  I always worry about what will happen with it.  I want him to like it.
I have felt this baby's personality a little stronger this past week or so.  There were a few opportunities I had where I just got the feeling he is a tough little kid.  That he is not as super sensitive as some of our other kids have been.  I don't know exactly why I think that, but it made me smile a little to think about how tough he is going to need to be as the youngest of 7.  I hope he's up for the challenge.  He seems really sweet though too.  I feel his presence during times of aloneness and I feel like he wants me to make it through this time with a smile on my face.  I have been doing my best to stay happy for him.  I want him to feel my happiness while he's in there and I don't want him to have to feel the stress.  It does feel like he has been around to comfort me when I've needed it though, and I appreciate that so much.  I hope he's still happy to come to our family.  I hope I haven't scared him away emotionally.  I am so looking forward to meeting him and seeing what he looks like.  We have 13 more weeks.  I think I'll make it!

Journaling

- Friday and Saturday were honorary vacation days at our house :)  We sat around and played with friends ALL DAY.  It was so nice.  I made myself not do laundry or anything on Friday (since it was technically still part of our vacation :) ) and since we had gotten home so late the night before, we slept in pretty late!  It was wonderful!  Saturday was supposed to be my big unpack/laundry/clean up from Friday day, but I was feeling really crappy from staying up all night with Erika.  She seriously didn't go to sleep!  I stayed up til about 5:00 with her and then I called it quits and left her with the tv for the last 4 hours of the night!  It was horrible.  She did the same thing Saturday night and 9:30 came REAL early that morning, for ALL OF US!  Which was bad since it was Stake Conference and we were supposed to be there at 10:00.  I was so impressed with us though, we got everyone up, fed, dressed and out the door by about 10:30.  We walked to church thinking there wouldn't be anywhere to park, but I think a lot of the Stake must have gone to the conference center or something because our parking lot wasn't even full.  I'm sure most of our ward walked too, since it's so close.  Crazy stuff though.  It was a really nice meeting (what we heard of it), we heard the end of the Sister Burton's talk and then Elder Holland's and President Uchtdorf's I loved the spirit that was there, and it was much needed after the long night and long day the day before.  It was a good reminder to act on what we learn at church and not just to listen.  Something I needed to be reminded of apparently.  The rest of Sunday was really nice, I worked hard to keep Erika and myself up all day so that we could go to bed at a decent time and it must have paid off because she did!  Thankfully.

- For FHE Monday night we went up to Rocket Park to play kickball.  When we were singing our opening song (Erika's choice) she lead it Lukey style.  Which means she got to speed us up or slow us down according to how fast her arm went and she totally loved it :)  She kept giggling and covering her mouth :).  Made me smile.  I was SO happy with how well everyone played!  Maybe it was the team choices, but everyone got along so well.  We had Daddy and the girls vs. Mommy and the boys!  I'm pretty sure we won :).  Just kidding.  I LOVED watching Noah kick and run!  He looked like such a big boy!  And Erika even took a few turns.  She was adorable laughing and running as Bradley was "quickly" chasing her around the bases when she got her homerun.  It was so cute of him to let her have that moment!  And everyone cheered for her!  I love it when everyone is like that.  It was heavenly.  Not every Family night goes that well (in fact RARELY does it) but I wanted to make mention of this one and be grateful :).  It was a good day for everyone to be cheerful and get along.  I think Nate and I needed the break from refereeing :).
We found out today that we will probably not be getting into a house before our baby comes.  I feel completely devastated still and I think it will take some time for me to get used to the idea.  I'm not sure what Heavenly Father's plan is, and it would be nice to know, but whatever it is, I just need to be more patient I think.  He is always trying to help me, but it's still hard.  I know I can do hard things and I will do my best.  I can't always have my way.

- 2 years ago, around the same time of year, I was dropping Charity and Kelly off for one of their last days of school and when we pulled up we were shocked at what we saw!  There were these amazing teepees all over the school lawn, and little tents/booths, a giant fish tank FULL of big fish!  It looked SO FUN!!!  I had to know what it was and found out it was Fourth Grade's Mountain Man Rendezvous.  It was then that I began looking forward to the day when Charity would get to participate (and trust me, this means a lot considering I never wanted to start another year at that school again! only because I wanted my house :) ).  Well, that day finally came!!!!!  For some dumb reason, I didn't have my camera there, but Nate and I and Noah and Erika (and even Steve for a little part of the day) were all there, and we all had a total blast!  I was working in the Archery booth for the first part of the day.  Teaching the fourth graders how to use a bow and arrow.  There were two other dads there, the one was a little on the stressy/ornery/letting a little power go a long way side, and frankly I'm not sure how I bit my tongue for 3 hours, but I did! and we survived :).  I'm glad Nate was there with me to make me laugh and have some fun.  Really, if it had been the day before, I probably would have just quit, the guy was ridiculous.  But anyway!  The kids had a blast!  It was a lot of fun to see who could do it and how well.  They had some fake animals out in the field for them to shoot, I thought that was even more fun that targets would have been.  After the first half, we took down our Archery booth and   had some dutch oven cooking for lunch.  The rolls were my favorite!  After lunch I realized I had only signed up for the first part of the day since Nate had to leave for work at 1:30.  So I invited myself and Luke, Noah and Erika to be part of Charity's group and go around with them.  It was SO FUN!!  They had a tomahawk throw, a guy that taught about guns, a trading post with animal pelts, candle making, pie eating contest, panning for gold, a tug-o-war, SO much fun!  Then at the end of the day the shot off a candy cannon and launched a couple bags of taffy out into the filed for the kids.  That was pretty cool!  It's just such a cool thing!!  If I didn't want to get out of here and into our house so badly I'd say I'm looking forward to Kelly and the rest of the kids' turn to have this fun day, but I'm afraid I'm too anxious to find a home.  It sure was neat though.  I love that our school does these kinds of things.  It really is a great school with so many fun traditions.  Charity needs to continue this post and tell about the first part of her day when she caught a fish with her hands and gutted it, and made herself a "leather" possibles bag.  They had so much fun!

Vegas Vacation- Maynes Style :)

Monday morning, the girls went to school (they both had testing and other things they felt obligated to... plus they're totally addicted to school and can't get enough of it for some reason ;) ), everyone else stayed home and helped finish packing.  There was some serious excitement in the air :).  Nate took Buddy to Don's.

We made a few stops, picked up the girls, grabbed some snacks, and we were off like a dirty shirt! (grandpa mottishaw's)

I had totally forgotten about this lunch stop until I was uploading the pictures :).  For one of Erika's many potty stops (I think she had to go more than I did!) we came across this gas station that also had a petting zoo next to it.  The "petting" part of it was closed since it was Monday (of all the luck), but there was a guy that came out to tell us about all the animals.  Why he didn't just let us pet them is beyond me ;).  

The kids loved it either way, and they made the first photo opps of our trip :)

This peacock was pretty, but screamed at us a few times...

You can't see it very well in this picture, but back in the back there is a donkey.  Erika was SO cute when she saw the donkey.  "Ooooohhhhhh!" in her looking at an adorable baby animal voice.  She loves donkeys, and the only thing I can figure is that it comes from all the pictures with baby Jesus that she loved.  They always had the donkey.... either that or she just has some strange connection with a strange animal :).

This thing is an Emu.  It looked just like the ostrich (behind) but apparently they are different!  And don't get llamas and Alpaccas mixed up either :)... I made that mistake.

Look how adorable this little zebra is!  SO cute.

Kelly just LOVED these baby goats.  She couldn't get enough of them, and she was so insistent that we stop here on our way home (when they're not closed) so that she could pet them.

We ate our lunch while we were sitting there looking at the animals.  It was pretty convenient to have such entertainment.  I was surprised at how hot it was.... we weren't even close to NV.

More of the baby goats for Kelly.

Charity got this one! 

It was really nice to have Charity's camera with us on this trip.... she filled in for me a LOT!  And it was so convenient!

So the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful.  Everyone took turns sleeping (except Nate of course :) even though I kept dozing off).  

The kids could NOT believe how long this drive was!  I think they asked if we were almost there at least 20 times each.  Mostly Luke.  And he always wanted to know exactly how many minutes were left.  Not good when I'm doing so much rounding and don't really know for sure anyway :).

We stopped at Jack In The Box to get some dinner, and while we were sitting in the drive thru we witnessed quite the tragedy.  And as it was happening, I KNEW it would be one of the few things the kids remembered after the trip, and I was right!  Noah has not stopped reminding me of it.  There was a bird walking through the gas station next door, and I think it was Kelly who said, "That bird better move or he's going to get hit!" And then right then, a car drove right over the top of the poor little guy!  He was definitely injured.  We watched as he hobbled over to a safe place.  But it was not looking good for that poor little birdie!  I feel really bad that my kids had to see it all!  It really stuck with Noah.  Crazy stuff.

It was fun to drive down the strip again.  I just love how alive Las Vegas is!  It's not quite the same when it's still light out and I had almost wanted it to be dark for the kids to see the first time, but it was all good.  They were too anxious to get to our condo and swim to really appreciate anything anyway :)

You can imagine the excitement when we looked off our balcony and saw THIS oasis: 

The lazy river was everyone's favorite, but there were also a few other pools and just beautiful greenery all around the condo!  It was beautiful!  

We ate our Jack In The Box as fast as we could and then headed on down to the pool.  It was almost 8:00 when we got out there so it was REAL warm, but that didn't stop us!  Everyone had fun floating around in the tubes and Brad, Kelly and Charity spent a lot of time just swimming around.  The hot tub was a favorite as well once the sun had set.  It was a dream come true for the kids.... 

If I've said it once I've said it a million times, as long as there's a pool, these guys could vacation ANYWHERE!!!  

Nate spoiled us with a Puss In Boots Movie Night, we had popcorn and ice cream candybars.  It was a lot of fun to just sit around and be together.  

Everyone slept pretty well.  It was nice to sleep in!  

Tuesday morning, we got up, got ready for our free breakfast, had our "little" Trendwest plug, which ended up being more like 2 1/2 hours as opposed to the 1 they had promised.  Which was extremely annoying, but hey, we got a $125 buffet voucher, and earned back some of the points we used of Nate's parents' so it was all good.

We were happy when it was over and headed on out to the pool.  This time we went to the one that had a kiddie pool attached.  Noah and Erika were in heaven!

They loved the freedom that the 6 in. deep water offered :)

The big kids had a lot of fun in their 3 1/2 feet as well.  Even made a new friend shortly after we got out there.  It was fun to watch them all play and just watch!  Not have to be worried like I am when we go to the Rec center!

I was surprised at how well everyone could swim!  Lukey didn't forget a thing and was even attempting flips in the water!  So fun.

This was one of my favorite parts.  Erika was SO brave the whole time and got really courageous and was jumping in to me!  She was SO STINKING ADORABLE!!!  She would count and flap her arms and bounce around before each jump.  I wish we'd gotten it on video.  SO CUTE!  

I really enjoyed the laid back feeling we had while we were there!  Everything just felt so easygoing!  I love not being tied down to anyone's schedules, and not being obligated to be anywhere!  SO GREAT!

We had to do "airplane" :)

After swimming we got dressed and headed out for our outing with the Clemens Family.  This was one of the times that we were on a time constraint and frankly, it didn't go so well!  We had looked up the address of our meeting place and thought it was close to another place we had needed to go, and found out it was clear on the other side of town (of course after it was too late).  SO needless to say, we were about an hour late!  Rude.  I know.  I hate being late!

They were very forgiving, and we did finally make it up to Red Rock.  Unfortunately the sun was setting though, so when we stopped for our (super late) picnic, the wind was blowing really hard and our desert friends were cold!  That was a total bummer.  They were kind enough to humor us though and we made the most of it!!  

And the kids were so good to bear with us as we discovered parts of Las Vegas we never intended to explore.... I think they were even having a little fun :)

(picture courtesy of Charity's camera :) taken in the back seat)

I was so impressed with the scenery!  Unfortunately I didn't get enough pictures (although, had I taken more, I would have missed out on the one of our kids together because my camera died immediately following), but I did get this one: 

doesn't do the place justice, but what picture does anymore?

It was getting close to closing time, so we just let the kids lead us on a "hike" (the kids call it "our hike in Red Rock" so I'm not going to stop them :)).  Up and around the picnic area.  We saw a stink bug, a pillow, and a really cool cactus!  That was the extent of our wildlife.  I had hoped we'd run into one of the tortoises which I'd seen pictured in the "tortoise crossing" signs :).  Makes me laugh still.

Oh, we did see a bat as well, just before we loaded up to go.... that was cool.

Overall, it was a fun time with some of our favorite people.  I wish we'd been able to spend more time with them!

After we got in our cars, we got the idea to go to ice cream and begged the Clemens' to go with us (even though it was totally a school night for them).  They took us to a really cute little frozen yogurt place where you get to serve yourself and put whatever toppings you want.  The kids LOVE that feature :).  I loved the time to visit, the ice cream, and just the whole evening really made me smile.  It's always fun to get together with old friends when it doesn't feel like their 'old friends'.  

OH!  And HAPPY 11th ANNIVERSARY to Nate and I that day!  It was a really fun way to spend our day.  I felt like being able to be as a family and relax, and have so much fun, was just perfect.  

We still need to get out on our date, which I still need to plan, but really, I loved being with Nate, reminiscing about our special day and the months that lead up to it.  

Las Vegas actually played a special part in our "courtship" :).  Nate and I spent a couple days together there with his sister and her family, while we were dating, so lots of fun memories.

I have the best husband on the planet.  I am aware.  It's a huge blessing to me to know that I will have him with me forever.  I will never have to try to do anything on my own.  Thankfully he's just the man for the job.  He does so much for me.  I hope to one day be worthy of his love, though I've kind of decided that I may have to just keep pulling the wool over his eyes :).

We finished the night off, with the Smurf Movie, and everyone konked out WAY before it was over!  You should have seen that living room when I woke up at the end of the show.... sleeping people EVERYWHERE!!  Funny stuff.

Wednesday: our big plan was to walk the strip.  Catch some of the attractions there, and just wear ourselves out walking in the heat of the day (oh wait, that last part wasn't part of the plan, it just happened :) )

We parked at the MGM Grand hotel, and made our way down and around about a block of the strip..... 

It was all really cool.  I think the M&M store was the favorite though :).

This was a cool little Rain Forest Cafe inside the MGM Grand.  And I have to mention how ADORABLE Noah was on this trip!  He started a new thing where he compliments me frequently.  On random things like my shirt or my hair :).  It's so cute!!  I don't know where he got it!  Makes me feel so special though :).  He's even been doing it to Erika as well!  "Ewika?  I like your hair."  So cute!

We found a fun little Gift shop filled with cheap souvenirs that the kids went nuts in!  This was probably my favorite gift shop.  Everything was cheap :).  The kids had all brought money to get things for their teachers and friends.  I was so impressed with how much they thought of other people.  Kelly wasn't even interested in looking for something for herself until she'd found her teacher's magnet!  

We got some fun stuff there.  Including Brad's laser pen that shocks people, which became a major source of entertainment for the remainder of our vacation :).

I hadn't even thought about who we might run into on the strip, but never in a million years did I think we'd see Hello Kitty!!!  Erika just happens to be one of her biggest fans!

Erika was SO outgoing on this trip!  She hugged, high fived, and said hello or goodbye to everything we saw!!  It was adorable!!  I mean, look at that face!!  Is she not in heaven :)  I loved it!  It was well worth the lame tip that these guys require for a picture :).

We ran into Green on our way into the "nem nem" (M&M) Store, she loved her too :)

Four floors of M&Ms!!!!  I couldn't believe how much there was to look at there!! Charity took pictures of everything for me :).  It was a LOT of fun!  They even have a cute little 3D movie.  I think this was one of the highlights of the trip!

The kids all picked out something from Mom and Dad there.  Charity got a giant pencil and a water bottle (which served us very well... such an investment :) ).  Kelly painstakingly chose a cute little stuffed Orange M&M doll.  Bradley took the longest, and at the VERY end of the visit settled on an M&M machine.  Luke had had his eye on a certain M&M machine the whole time we'd been there so as soon as Dad gave the go ahead, he was on it :).  Noah had been carrying around a small container of minis with a battery powered fan, he got that :).  And Erika found a cute, little, red water bottle that she cherished :).  It was fun to see what they all chose.  I love being able to spoil them every once in a while.  They're not used to it and they are really sweet when we do.

This picture sure didn't work out :)... but there's the New York New York Hotel we saw a little later :)

Noah was the only one I thought who would appreciate some of these characters, and yet he was still too shy to join in.  Kinda bumbs me out, but hey, at least he didn't do anything he didn't want to :).

Bumblebee was impressed with how many kids we have :).  I don't know if he even realized we have one more than this :) (two if you count Wormie- which our kids always do!)

I loved this Harley Cafe!  So cool.

And of course, the Hard Rock Cafe.  Can't not have a picture of that!  Even though they did move it!  I still regret not getting shirts.  Oh well.  Money is probably better to have right now :)

SpongeBob was a pleasant surprise :)  And I just loved Erika in this second one :)

She really loved all the characters!  She totally got into it!  I just kept thinking, 'she's gonna LOVE Disneyland!'

After a few hours of the strip, we had some lunch at McDonald's at which we got many looks.  And this was actually fairly unusual for this trip!  You'd think we'd get tons of funny looks, a family of 8 (+1) in Las Vegas, but we really didn't!!  In fact, people were really sweet about it if they said anything at all!  And I think there is just so much else to see, we're not quite the freak show there that we are elsewhere.  But for some reason, in McD's, Charity said, "Mom, everyone is staring at us SO BAD!"  People were staring.  It was funny.  Makes me want to make myself a shirt that says:

SIX!

Yes, they're all mine

and 

Yes, my hands are full!

AND I LOVE IT THAT WAY!!!!

But really, I can't complain because I was so pleasantly surprised with how little we got.

After that we made our way back to the car, it was SO HOT, and went back to the condo for a little R&R.  We were seriously exhausted and still had so much else planned for the day!

We got back out on the road a few hours later, parked at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and made our way to the Shark Reef (which evidently had a parking lot right outside the exhibit that we could have parked in and avoided the whole Hotel, but then again, I really liked seeing the inside of that one, it was very classy, and very nice, what I saw).

This shark Reef/Aquarium was one of our big ones for the trip, I was really looking forward to it, and couldn't believe how well it delivered!!  It was really so fascinating and so well done!!  I was so impressed with the whole place!  I thought it was going to be a shark tunnel and that was all, but there really was SO much more!!  And I LOVED the atmosphere!  Very cool.  Highly recommend it!

This "dragon" was cool too, seemed out of place in an aquarium, but I thought it looked totally cool...

Erika and Nate were total buds there... that was cute.

Here's everyone looking at the Piranhas!!!  Very cool.  Too bad we missed feeding time!

And of course, the sharks!!  I love sharks, I think they're awesome.

They also had a cool little place to pet sting rays.  I love these!  And at this place we were actually able to touch them and not have to climb all over people!  I was loving how big it was and how few people there were there...

Erika said, "I touched it with my finger!  but not with my pinky because I didn't want him to sting me!"  So cute.

Brad really loved these jelly fish, so I attempted to get a picture of it without the flash.... kinda cool if you ask me :)  Minus the graininess.

This weird fish was so funny looking!  He seriously looked like he had buck teeth!  The nerd of the bunch.

Nate looking at the stingrays... kinda cool right?

Lion fish

This one was one of the highlights for me, it's a sword fish (can't see it very well).  I don't think I've ever seen one before, in real life, it was SO COOL looking!

sea turtle.  

It was so hard to get pictures in that place.  Kinda bums me out, but whatever :).

So after Mandalay Bay, we made our way back to our car, and parked at the Harrah's Hotel for our big buffet dinner :).

If you know our kids, you know that they LOVE Chuck-A-Rama.  They ALL think it's like the coolest place in the world to eat.  So Nate and I thought that being that we were in Vegas, a big buffet dinner was in order :).  

Then we got the vouchers from the little seminar thing, and we were set!  

We went to a buffet called Flavors.  It was so great!!  So big!  I mean, they had EVERYTHING there!  I got some snow crab legs, fajitas, nachos, I can't even remember all that I had!  But they had SO MUCH to choose from!!  The kids and I especially loved the dessert bar!  COTTON CANDY!!!!  

It was a LOT of fun!!  I had to force myself to stop eating.

We had a fun little spill-the-chocolate-milk-all-over-the-table-and-chair incident courtesy of Erika, which stressed me out a little, but overall... Great fun!!

And to top it off, this really awesome couple stopped me as I was walking back  to our table one of the times, and just totally poured on the compliments!!  They said they'd been watching our family and couldn't believe how well behaved our kids were, and how cute they were, and how well behaved they were :).  They couldn't believe they were all mine, and then told me about their 4 grandkids under 4 and how wonderful our kids seemed to be behaving compared to how it is when they take their grandkids out.... it was awesome!  As much as it annoys me to think that people are sitting there "watching us the whole time we're eating", I almost cried talking to them.  It really made my day!  I love feeling like we're not a nuisance to everyone on the planet :).  And being reminded that we do have really great kids.  

Awesome dinner :).

After dinner we RAN, seriously, we were like 5 minutes away from the volcano and it was about to erupt, so we hurried on across the street and got there just in time to see it erupt from what we felt was too far away :)  The volcano had GREAT reviews from most of our kids!  It was "the favorite" thing we did for a lot of them :).  Isn't it funny that it's always the cheapest thing that they love the most!  Probably one of the reasons we do more free stuff than not :).  Brad was extremely excited for this!  I couldn't believe how well Erika handled it!  She said she likes fire now.  Surprise surprise.  Apparently it's more than her mood that can swing!

So we made our way down to the Belaggio to see the fountains....

I LOVED the fountains!!!  It's only 15 minutes, but I seriously had chills during it!  Probably more to do with the music selection, but it was just AWESOME!!  I loved it!!  They shoot the water up SO HIGH!!  I can't even believe how high it goes, and the sound it makes... almost like thunder!  SO COOL!!!  Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

Then we made our way through the crowd back down to watch the volcano form closer up :).  Didn't get the camera out that time.

That was where we met the Utahns :).  They said they could tell we were like them because we stuck out like sore thumbs in the crowd :).  Funny.  But true.  It was fun to meet them.  We decided they were worthy of the last buffet voucher :) and said goodbye.

We had a lot of discussions along the way about what's appropriate to look at and what's not.  Nate shared a really cool analogy with the kids about spitting out food that doesn't taste good and how you have to do that with things that don't taste good spiritually.  And how you can clear your head just like you can clear your mouth after.  It was really cool and I think they got it.  Hopefully they're not too scarred by some of the things that we all saw.  I know it's not the cleanest place on the planet, morally (I might go so far as to say the dirtiest after that night!), but I think it was a great opportunity to teach our kids about those things.  Hopefully they got it for now.  I was very impressed with the understanding that they all had and how much they were trying to make good choices!  I LOVE watching them embrace the spirit and want good things. 

It was about 11:00 when we got back to the condo, so no swimming that night.  We were all pretty exhausted!  Everyone but me watched Smurfs again.  I was OUT the minute my head hit the pillow!  So nice!

This vacation was sort of last minute, in the sense that we weren't sure where we were going until about a week before :).  Nate had chosen the time off based on our anniversary at the beginning of the year, so we knew we had time off, we just weren't sure what we wanted to do with it :).  We've needed far more vacations than we've been able to take over the years, so it seemed like the perfect time.  I found out that most of the kids would be doing testing that week, Luke wasn't even going to be having class during that week, so it seemed even better.  Our original plan was to go to Arizona.  We've been wanting to go down there for a LONG time.  We have so many friends and family down there, it will be a really cool trip when we finally make it down there.  It was a good idea, but it was expensive.  We struggled with the idea knowing it would set us back a little more with saving up for a down payment on a house. There were a lot of things that kept getting in the way of the idea.  We started wondering if Nate was even going to get the time off with changing his schedule and all (which ended up not really being a problem, thankfully), and things just didn't feel right.  We decided we needed to go somewhere closer.  Las Vegas seemed far enough away to be a real vacation, but not so far that we couldn't just go for a few days.  Plus, there's just so much to see and do there!  A lot of it is free too which is a definite plus :)  Luckily we were able to book it with Nate's parents' bonus time, but we were unable to book the last night, from Thursday to Friday.  This became a little bit of a project in our minds, whether we would just go home Thursday night, or if we would try to find another place to stay that last night and come home Friday.  Once Thursday came, we realized it would be a silly idea to pay for another night when we were already at the end of our budget.  We wouldn't really have anymore money to do anything else on Friday.  We still had to pay for the gas to get home too (which actually ended up being about half of what we had expected in our new car!  We were able to get there on ONE TANK of gas!!  Didn't fill up once!  And then again on the way back.  We ended up spending about half of what we had planned!).  

Our plan for Thursday began to take shape that morning.

First things first, we headed down to the pool!  We couldn't let our trip end without one more swim!  We went to the lazy river for about an hour and a half and then to the kiddie pool area for the last hour.  At 11:00 we frantically made our way up to the condo to shower everyone and pack up our stuff since check out was at noon.

It was a mad dash, and probably more stressful than it should have been, but we made it out the door with all our things at 12:01!  Pretty impressive if you ask me! With eight showers included!

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings on our way out of Las Vegas.  We had passed it every time we went out all week and Nate was totally craving their boneless wings.  When we heard that Thursday was boneless day, we just couldn't resist :). They were pretty good!  I couldn't believe Luke was able to stomach the spicy ones that I barely got half a bite out of before dying!  He's tougher than I thought!  Good food.

Then we made our way out to the Hoover Dam.  This was something I had really been anxious to see and show the kids.  I got plenty of pictures!

I had to take this picture while Nate was straightening out the car to show all the bugs on the front of it!  Our windshield too, though you can't really tell in this picture.  It was INSANE how many bugs!!

So there it is!  Pretty fascinating if you ask me!

Maybe I"m lame, but that bridge looked so amazing when we came around the corner and saw that on our way up to the parking garage.  It was so magnificent!  We all wanted to go drive on it, so on the way out of there, we found our way up to the bridge and drove over it.  Coincidentally you can't really tell you're on a bridge because the sides are so high :)  Kinda funny and very anticlimactic :).

The kids were all freaking out when I took this one.  They didn't like me hanging over the edge to get a picture.

I think it's so cute that they show the two time zones on these clocks, one on each side of the state line.  I SO wish they had a real line painted on the ground somewhere for us to know exactly when we're in two states at once :).  And thanks to daylight savings the clocks were actually on the same time :) but I didn't even notice until we were driving away and Nate pointed it out to me.  My situation awareness was not at it's best that day.

I was happy I got so many pictures of everyone together!  It's been a while.

It was SO HOT there.  The kids were totally dying.  Made me really glad we passed on our Arizona trip.  Would have been at least 10 degrees hotter there!  As it was, we were in the hundreds for the last two days there.  At least it's not humid.  I do have to say that.

We whipped out the melting popsicles we had brought from the condo and everyone cooled down!  Glad they weren't completely melted!

And I can't emphasize enough, what a blessing it was to have our new car on this trip!  I can't imagine those temps in our non-air conditioned expedition.  A two minute wait to get cool was enough!  It was nice to have all the room in back as well!  Nobody had to have anything around their feet or on their laps the whole way and we had more than enough cargo space.  It was great!  

It's so impressive to me how complex this dam is.  And to think it was build almost a century ago!  I can't even imagine how they pulled that off!  

One of Erika's ups on the trip :)  She and Noah were pretty good buds most of the time.  

It's so much fun for me to listen to our kids in the car on road trips.  It gives you so much insight into your kids and their personalities that I think you can miss at home.  It's fun for me.  One good thing about no DVD player.  I loved that we kept ourselves entertained the whole time with very little electronics!

After the Hoover Dam we drove back into Las Vegas and stopped at the temple on our way out.  

This was a highly anticipated part of our trip as well.  Whenever I worried about the negative exposure in Las Vegas I always knew we'd be able to combat that with the Temple.  I was looking forward to pointing out the different feeling there is on the temple grounds as opposed to the feeling in the casinos and elsewhere on the strip.  We all felt the Spirit there and I think the older kids appreciated that.  

It was SO nice!!  So beautiful!  And I loved reminiscing with Nate about our little walk around this temple 11 years ago and the feelings we had back when we were dating!  I'm such a sucker for sentiment.

I have to laugh at this because you can see Nate in the background rinsing off Noah's shoe in the fountain :)  That's okay right? :) I told him to.  He's so good to me, he'll seriously do anything for me!

I love this one.

We asked Charity to take a picture of us and being the little photographer she is, she laid down for this awesome angle.  I think my figure would have benefitted from a different one, but I do love that you can see most of the temple!  She does a good job!

And I thought it was sweet of her to get one while we were kissing :)  Cute girl.

This just makes me laugh that Charity captured this moment, because we're both pointing to the spot that we thought we had stopped to "talk" when we were dating.  Apparently our memories are not as good as we thought :).  (even though I still think I'm right :) )

We had the most beautiful sunset as we were driving home.  

We finally left Las Vegas around 7:00 after stopping to get wiggles out and fill our tummies at McD's.  

It was late, and we knew we had a long drive ahead, but really, we just have so much fun together!  I LOVED it!

Before it got too dark, I pulled out my little questionnaires I had printed up for everyone to answer.  I'll have to get that out to post their answers, but I think they enjoyed the attention they each got during that.  It was fun.

We stopped in St. George for one of Erika's potty stops and Nate humored me by finding the way to the temple.  I LOVE this temple!  It's SO beautiful!  I love the clean crispness of the outside and the staircases.... everything, it's just beautiful!  I wish everyone had been awake to appreciate it!  

Luckily we got there just as they were locking the doors to the visitors centers and we were able to sneak in and use the restrooms.  They have a really nice visitors center in there!  I was impressed.  Bradley found his way to me after Erika took her turn and was able to go potty too :)  One day I am going to learn how to cut back the number of potty stops we have to make.  Though I kept thinking that we will most likely be making at least double the stops when we drive to CA after Wormie gets here.... that should be interesting :)

We hurried and snapped this one of Brad and Erika :)

We got home around 1:30.  Everyone was wasted, we prayed and went to bed!!  As good as it felt to be gone, it was nice to be home as well.  Although I am STILL missing the firm, KING SIZE bed we had in the condo.  Need to get me one of those!  

This trip was so good for us, I just feel so grateful we were able to fit it in.  

I'd like to have each of the kids contribute to this post, we'll see if I get around to it... until then.... you get what I was able to pluck out of this deep dark hole we're calling my brain :).... hopefully I can remember more of the fun little details later.

The End

"I loved the trip!! 

Everything was amazing!!

My favorite things/places

were the volcano, the fountain

 show, M&M world, swimming and Everything else.  

I think the funniest thing ever said was 

'Are we going home to the hotel or are we

 going home... um... never mind.' (Noah)  It was

really funny.  I didn't like the car ride home

 because I didn't get any sleep.

It was the best 

trip EVER!!!!!!!!!!"

- Charity Maynes

"I really liked going Too Las Vegas

I liked everything M&M world was 

great.  I got a stuffed orange M&M.  We

also took a walk on the strip.  That sure 

was fun.  We went swimming like everyday.

We went to a buffete Their food

was delicious.  I wish we could have

stayed a little longer!  O I forgot 

to mention that we got too 

have a bunch of movie nights.

It WAS AWESOME

!!!!

- Kelly Maynes

"I liked that we saw the valcano

and that we saw the sharks and Jellyfish

and stingrays."

- Bradley Maynes