Road Trip!

We took a road trip last weekend to go to my friend's wedding in St. George and to visit family in Las Vegas. Lots of pictures...

Levi, loving the break from the carseat.

When we pulled into Las Vegas, the first thing Madison told Nana was, "Levi cried the whole way!" That was a huge exaggeration. There was a little crying involved, but I thought he did pretty well for how many hours he had to be strapped in.

Darin and Papa building chicken boxes.

Papa's neighbor raises chickens, and apparently they needed a place to lay their eggs, so Papa is hooking them up. Madison and Wyatt got to go see the chickens and pick up the eggs they had laid.

Madison and Wyatt enjoying Nana's pool.

Mid-October is a little late to be swimming, but they actually stayed in longer than I thought they would. I love that I have very similar pictures of me swimming in this same pool when I was about their age. Nana and Papa's house has so many great memories for me of when I was a kid. I was telling Madison all weekend about the toys I used to play with there and the things I loved to do there when I was little.

My friend Tracine's wedding.

What a fun wedding! They had their reception in a hangar at the St. George airport. The bride arrived in an old WWII plane, and the groom in a 1930's car, with all of the wedding guests there to greet them. We enjoyed a fabulous prime rib dinner and dancing (okay, we watched the dancing--we had the baby). Levi, who is usually the easiest baby around, didn't want to cooperate during the reception. Darin found a room with a big screen TV and comfortable couches, and he spent most of the time in there with the baby (and he was just fine with that!). Thanks to our old Tucson friends, the Calkins, for keeping Madison and Wyatt while we went to the reception.

Hanging out with the Calkins.

We had fun catching up. With their 6 kids, our 3, plus Darrel's parents that were in town, we had a full house...15 of us! All 9 kids spread out on the family room floor, and we took over their beds. Don't look too close at the picture. This is after we had all just rolled out of bed. Thanks for taking us in, Calkins. It was great to see you!

The pretty drive between St. George and Las Vegas, and cousins cleaning the yard at Nana's house.

We had a great trip. It was nice to get away from our normal lives for a few days, and to give Darin a break from the hard work he has been doing lately. It was fun to see family and friends that we don't get to see very often. The kids did great in the car. I loved that we did the whole trip without the portable DVD player that we usually take for entertainment. We read books, listened to music, and played games, and didn't miss the movies a bit.

As always, even though we loved our little vacation, it's nice to be back home!