what happened in vegas

for matt's spring break we went to las vegas! luckily, katie spring break was the same week so she got to come too! and then one of our sai sisters is a teacher in matt's district (katie) and she came along also. in case you didn't know, my parents lived in vegas from the beginning of january until today. today they are moving back to the east coast- yay!! anyway, we are super glad we got to out west for a week. it was matt's first time out there and he loved it. but i will just talk about what we did the few days we were actually in las vegas. i do not have as many pictures as i would have liked because my camera died and i didn't find the battery charger until i was packing to leave but here are plenty to tell my story fairly thoroughly.

1. we hung out at my parents apartment. my mom took evan on lots of walks with annye, which evan loved. she would say, lets walk annye, and while she was putting him in the stroller he would say "ah" "ah". we swear he was saying annye. they had bought him everything he needed (which was amazing because we only had to pack clothes and bottles), including toys, so he played with all of those, and he loved to hang out with the katies and play on their ipads. that's pretty much when we did when we were there, which wasn't a lot cause we were out and about!

 matt and evan playing with some of his toys

the katies letting evan play with their ipads

2. we visited the strip. we went into the venetian, palazzo, bellagio, mirage, caesars palace, and saw the AWFUL show at treasure island (if you've seen it in the past, it's changed and it's absolutely horrible- not worth the time). we saw the fountains at the bellagio, which was worth the time. it was awesome! we went to the mall, where matt bought some new shoes and we ate at johnny rockets. we didn't gamble on the strip, we just enjoyed the sights and the beautiful hotels.

 my dad and evan waiting on the treasure island show

 my family inside the palazzo

new york, new york- the place my parents moved from!

3. we went to the las vegas natural history museum. it is next to the mormon fort, which is where we really wanted to go, but (and we should have expected this) it's closed on mondays! but the museum was great. evan LOVED it! he loved seeing all the animals (all stuffed but he didn't care, he got to get really close to them that way), he loved seeing the fish (those were alive), he loved the egyptian exhibit and the dinosaur exhibit, he loved it all.

 evan and matt checking out an exhibit in the fish room

the only animal you were allowed to touch. evan liked that!

4. we went to the ethel m's chocolate factory and cactus gardens. we walked around the garden for a while, because the weather was just perfect, and got to see all sorts of neat species of cacti. we all just wanted to see a cactus like you see in cartoons, but that didn't happen until we were leaving and driving into the las vegas airport. unfortunately, we missed the chocolate being made, but we still got a free sample and of course, free smells.

our family at the cactus garden

5. we went and saw redrock. we didn't get to drive through the whole thing, because they only took cash and we had none, so we just took pictures from the distance. it was amazing though. and it was our first real sights of the mountains (it was the 1st day we were there). we couldn't stop talking about how truly enormous the mountains are in the west. it's a real testament of a creator if you ask me.

6. we went to the las vegas temple. that was a great way to spend part of our vacation! the katies kept evan so matt, my parents, and i could all go. it was probably the biggest temple i've ever been in (atl and orlando are big too), and it was beautiful, of course, and another testament to me that the gospel is true everywhere! i love being a member of a worldwide church.

7. we did the touristy stuff. we ate at a buffet (although i have no photographic evidence), we put $3 into slot machines, and we took our picture at the las vegas sign. we had an awesome time in vegas. we wish we could have spent more time there, but all our additional travels were worth it (to california and arizona, more on those later).