Durango and Vegas wrap up

We left this place...

Said good bye to the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge steam train one last time. 

Grab a couple mile high pies at Houston's restaurant in Kanab, Utah.

Said hello to Clint Walker and Jack Sparrow in Kanab during some carnival/rodeo days thing.

 Checked out the "Cowgirl Frosting" table. Then got back in the car and drove the rest of the 10 hour drive home.


Kyleigh couldn't be more happy with her particular traveling compaion. When she woke up, she kept playing some game with him...

Who says that when you grow old you just become boring? Just watch a riveting game of ping pong with these two...it'll make ya smile.

Speaking of non-boringness....see that genuine, bona fide TREEHOUSE!!! It's complete with 2 slides, binoculars, giant looking glass/tunnel, steering wheel, regular swings, tire swing, and rock climbing wall. And the guy who built it (my Dad), did so without any plans or kit. Just checked out a bunch of ones he liked, bought a couple pieces of wood and some screws and spent some time outside. Now you can climb halfway up the tree, take a swing, ride your bike along the edge of the backyard on the bike path, slide, climb, or swim and at the end of all this exhaustion, relax for a spell in the hammock that is attached to the treehouse. If this doesn't entice the grandkids to come over....Somethin's wrong with you, kid!

Court and Jared dueling it out.

Do you know how often it rains in Vegas? Not much. You could probably count the inches we get a year on one hand. But the one day that the High School Tennis girls team comes over to make their shirts (my Mom is the Coach), it pours on them and everyone gets soaked.

Did that keep Kyleigh and Brenden, who do not need to be out there to make shirts, indoors? Not a chance. It was a slight drizzle to them...nothing out of the ordinary. (Rains just about every other day here in Akron).

Aunt Maddy teaching Kyleigh some essential life skills. The Arizona State Sun Devil pitchfork sign. (The tongue hanging out isn't part of ASU insignia...that's just the high schooler side coming out).

(I forgot to include the pictures from my phone, so these are somewhat out of chronological order).
When we got to Vegas, it was Kyleigh's birthday and she got to have family around her when she blew out the candle. A whole different scene than last year when we she was blowing out a candle in a house full of moving boxes in a new state and 2,000 miles away from any relative. See here for post on last year's celebrations. This year I notice a whole lot more smiles than last year's bday post. Family can do that to a person.

We also got to see Disney's new movie-Brave. Cool movie.

A little bit of jet lag and alot of excitement=one tired chamaco.

We got to go to my parents ward a couple times. Many people I still recognize and alot I don't.

A Fan Favorite of my Family---BUGS BUNNY!!

Handsome little cousin!

Rode like a champ. All the way to the park and almost all the way back on his own bicicleta.

Ash and Mad swinging little Jace on the way to Cannon's pool. We had 6 different family's kids in one pool. Kings, 2 Cannon families, Ficker, Noa and Sorensen. It was awesome. Especially when Barro's pizza showed up.

Attempt at a family photo shot at Waldie Mega Wedding.

We got in a whole lot of pool time. It was a daily occurrence. Kids wouldn't have it any other way. 

Makes me happy that they enjoy reading.

Poppy had to put up with alot of constant interruptions. When he was home, someone always found him.

 Poppy got a remote controlled helicopter. And it was cool.

A guy with green glasses. Yep, he choose those. Nope, we didn't buy them. But I think he could have pulled the look off easily.

 I happen to enjoy nuts in my salad lately. Which is kinda a big deal for me since I never used to like nuts. My taste has been changing this last year. And throw some poppyseed  dressing on that salad and I'm in a place pretty close to Heaven.

I flew to Vegas and back to Akron with the kids without Trent's assistance and with the right preparation of food snacks, crayons, dry erase markers, and movies, the kids did so great. It was hard to get Kyleigh to nap on the way to Vegas, but on the way back to Akron, it was not much more than wrap her up in her blanket and pat my leg.

The next series of pictures are when we pulled up to our house in Akron, Ohio. This is when Brenden finally registered that we were going home. To OHIO. That we weren't going to pick Trent up and bring him back to Poppy and Bama's house. He was p.o'd!!! Kept telling us to turn around. Go back. And would not get out of the car....as if him not coming out means it's not real.

Kyleigh has been putting on swim suits and asking if she can swim at Bama and Poppy's house.
Today after church, Brenden asked if Poppy and Bama could come, we said they're too far away. Kyleigh then gave the blessing on the food and prayed that Poppy and Bama would come. 
They may be out of sight, but they are most definitely not out of mind.

Probably cause they miss this kind of stuff:

Can't blame 'em.