Viva Las Vegas!

I have never been to Vegas. Yes, I know, I have lived in Arizona off and on for 15 years and have always wanted to go. Somehow, I convinced Steve to drive home via the Vegas route – with enough time to explore and spend the night.

We arrived around 4pm, checked into the Excalibur Hotel – which is HUGE!

This gave us enough time….actually, plenty of time to get settled, grab some dinner and EXPLORE. I can’t say there were many kids in Vegas – just mainly couples. Great people watching place, that’s for sure.

We walked the strip…..and walked…and walked. It was a WARM night – low 100’s….but hey, we’re from AZ, we can handle it.

The monorail was free and took us to the 3 hotels next to us. We rode it a few times….the boys liked how fast it went.

And who needs Disneyland anyway, when we have these guys….

Lots of character’s dressed up. Pretty scary, actually. We passed them by QUICKLY.

But my kids most FAVORITE PLACE EVER….

They LOVED M&M World. Four stories of nothing but M&M merchandise (grammie, you would love it).

More pictures as the strip was starting to light up more…

Vegas, glad we stopped, but sort of a been there done that kind of place.

Next Stop….SLC

After saying our ‘goodbyes’ at the reunion, Jeff and Starr returned home with their Grandma and Grandpa Hartman back to Washington. Steve with the rest of us drove Becca back to Rexburg, only stopping long enough for Steve to get the 1 hour campus tour from Becca he missed on the drive up.

Speaking of Steve, I neglected to mention he flew up to Missoula the Wednesday I was driving up with the kids. He wanted to spend a few days with his good friend, Ken Kanenwisher, before the reunion. He had a great time helping his oldest son with his Eagle Project, floating the river, and just catching up on life. Terri picked him in Missoula and drove him to the reunion.

Okay, where was I…..after Rexburg, we heading to SLC to spend a full day. It had been at least 4-5 years since we had been to SL, and realized our little kids would have been to young to remember much. So we spent the morning at Temple Square…

Toured the visitor centers, the museum across the street, the Conference Center and, of course, a stop for lunch at the Lion House fit in there somewhere.

What a great day!

Big Sky Country

After spending our first day in Montana, my kids asked if we could live here permanently. It really is gorgeous. I was thinking….ya, that would be awesome, but then I remembered what the winters are like…and on second thought……..no thanks. My husband would argue that – he tells me we would move back in a heartbeat….hummmmm.

But July in Montana is heavenly…..and the cabin resort we stayed at was top notch. There were pine trees everywhere…green grass….and the deer would just walk by you only a few feet away. We loved it. And to top it off, together with cousins and extended family was marvelous.

This is the pond just down the hill from our cabin…..

But who needs a pond when we have an indoor pool and Jacuzzi….

Favorite faces…good times….

The Hartman Clan…..

Usually, one the best things about a reunion is the food….this one was no exception!

And cousin Leona did not disappoint on the last night with a luau theme….Josh was so afraid of the roasted pig!

And after the auction and dinner we thought the fun was over…but NO WAY….Leona whips out her cotton candy machine. WOO HOO! After cotton candy was the marshmallow roasting and making smores. Forget about trying to get the kids to bed at a decent time with such a sugar high – and it doesn’t help the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm. Oh well, we’re on vacation, afterall.

Good times! No, GREAT Times. So worth the trip!!!!