Monday, September 6, 2021

BYU vs University of Arizona game in Las Vegas

We had a fun, quick trip to Las Vegas this weekend!  We left on Friday when Jonathan got home from school.  We left at 5 PM. It was about 7:30 PM by the time we made it to Wickenburg. When we originally looked, it was only supposed to take an hour and a half to get there. However, there was a lot of traffic. The highway coming out of Wickenburg was packed. The McDonald’s was crazy. We decided we could stop at Arby’s, but traffic was totally stopped. I found a route using Maps and told Michael to turn around and go a different way so that’s what we did and it worked out great. We had dinner at Arby’s and got some gas and got on our way. Nathaniel and Emily made it to the hotel at about 10:30 PM. I had called this morning to tell the front desk to put Nathaniel’s name on the reservation so he could check in for us. Unfortunately, when they got there, Tahiti Village told them that they didn’t have a room for us with two bedrooms. They only had a one bedroom. They expected seven of us to fit into a room for four people and they said they would give us a hideaway bed. Then they said they could send us to their sister property but still have us stay there tomorrow night. Then that changed. It was a mess. I was so furious. How is it possible that there’s not a room for us when I paid in advance months ago? This morning when I called, they confirmed that they had a Royal Tahitian room, which is the two-bedroom, reserved for us on the sixth floor and when we checked in we could request a lower floor. How did it disappear? They could not answer that question. She just said I’m sorry, I understand, it could be maintenance or housekeeping problems. It took us until 1:30 PM to get checked into the other property called Club de Soleil and find the rooms and get our stuff brought in. We had two rooms that are right next to each other and they were very nice. Michael and I were in one room with Emily and Jonathan and the other boys were in the other room. 

We slept in and took our time getting ready and didn't leave the hotel until noon. We went straight to New York New York and parked in the parking garage and went to the Big Apple Coaster. Everyone rode it but me. They didn’t have to wait too long. Then we walked across the walkway to Excalibur and went to their buffet. We had to wait quite a while just to pay. We enjoyed our meal together. We walked back to the car and drove over to the Pinball Hall Fame. The kids and Michael had fun hanging out there and playing the games. While they were playing the games, I got a call from Tahiti Village that our room was ready. I told her it was too late! She had said someone would contact us this morning to let us know that we could stay at Tahiti Village tonight, but no one ever did so we didn’t check out of the other hotel. We just stayed at Club de Soleil both nights.  I’ve never had a worse experience with a hotel. It was almost 5 PM by the time we left the Pinball Hall of Fame. We came back to the condo and had a break for a little bit and then got ready to go. I took Michael and Andrew and Nathaniel to the stadium. I had figured out the perfect way to drop them off and it worked out great. There were so many people and so many roads blocked off.  I came back and got the other kids so we could go to the Donny Osmond concert at Harrah's. We got there in plenty of time and the kids were pretty amazed by the fact that we were in the second row. The seats were awesome! I loved the show. It was very entertaining. He has such a great voice. He talked about his career over the last 60 years. Apparently, he has made 65 albums. One fun thing he did was take requests from the audience. A couple of ladies were having a birthday so their friend or husband piped up and made the request on their behalf. The band and dancers were great, as well. The show was over by 9:30 PM. We spent a little time taking pictures by the peacock costume and buying the pictures that we had taken as we walked in. The kids were hungry, so we looked up which restaurants were nearby. We ended up choosing to go to Guy Fieri's restaurant at the LINQ next-door. It took us a while to get there. The food cost a fortune but the kids had fun. We finished up and rushed over to the car so I could take them back to the condo and pick up Michael and the boys and Cole. It was a very fun day! 




































We had an uneventful trip home on Sunday, and enjoyed our day off for Labor Day on Monday.  It was great to see Nathaniel and Emily!

Monday, August 30, 2021

First Day at BYU

Nathaniel and Emily are doing great at BYU.  They had their first day on August 30.  The week before, Emily had orientation and she was in the traditional Y picture  She is in the area that is circled.


All ready for their first day!

Have a great semester kids!

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Another licensed driver!

Andrew got his license today!  He was so nervous about his three-point turn, but they didn't even make him do it!  


Great job, Andrew!  Drive safely!!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Emily is going to BYU!

Once we realized that Emily's stuff was not going to fit into her Corolla, I called Dad and asked if he wanted to come with us and help with the driving and he jumped at the chance.  He had planned to visit the week before but he couldn't because Debbie was in the hospital.  So, this worked out great because Papa was able to spend some time with Emily on the drive.  We left on Monday morning and made it to Provo by the evening.  On Tuesday, Michael drove the Pilot home and Nathaniel drove Dad to the airport.  Michael made it home that evening.  Dad wasn't so lucky.  His flight was canceled and rebooked Tuesday morning to go through Chicago instead of Dallas.  Then his connection was canceled and he was stuck in the Chicago airport overnight.  Thankfully, he finally got home on Wednesday.

I was able to stay until Wednesday evening to help Emily get settled in her apartment.  We got most of the work done on Tuesday.  Nathaniel and Emily's friend, Sabrine, helped us move everything into her third floor apartment and we got the furniture all situated the way she wanted.  We took a break and went to lunch and to Walmart to buy supplies and spent the afternoon getting her organized. Then, on Wednesday, Nathaniel, Emily, and I all went to campus and walked around to see where their classes were and buy their textbooks.  We made a second trip to Walmart to buy groceries and finished hanging everything in her room.  She made all of the decorating decisions; I was just the labor.  I think it looks wonderful!

All packed


Her cute apartment




Taking a little break

Emily and Nathaniel live in the same apartment complex and they will be in the same ward (congregation).  This is where they will meet for church on campus.  It's in the fine arts building.

I love this spot by the library


Those beautiful mountains!

We couldn't go into the library last year because of Covid, so I'm glad we were able to go inside this time.

This is one of the old study carrels, like the ones I used to use when I went to school here.

This is what the new ones are like.  Pretty cool, huh?

More views of the library


Saint James Bible on display in the library

The Talmage building is my favorite because that's where I had most of my math classes, but it was closed for remodeling.

Nathaniel showed us the best entrance for Emily to get into the Joseph F. Smith Building where two of her classes will be.  He had one in there last year.

Also in the Joseph F. Smith building

One of her classrooms

This is where Nathaniel will take his calculus class
 
Another view of the library

All finished decorating!





Emily, your room looks fantastic and I know you are going to do great things!  We love you!!