Contents

[ hide ]

The first night in Vegas – out of the pool, showered and now what?

The conceirge made reservations for us at Olive’s by Todd English at the Bellagio so we could sit outside and watch the fountain show with music every 15 minutes.

That didn’t work out so well.

The machine that takes the credit cards for the bus he told us to take was broken.  Then we waited on a bus for  a long time and it never left.  We got off that bus for an express bus that took forever to come.  Once it did -it smelled SO BAD!  William was like, “Why does it smell so bad? Do people pee on this bus?  Why do they pee on the bus?  WHAT are they drinking?”

Thankfully we were off, found our restaurant that did NOT have fountain seating – matter of fact it was the furthest away possible!  But the food was great and we stepped outside on the patio to watch the show.

Then the kids fell asleep at the table.

Off to walk to the M&M store.  It was 95 degrees at midnight.  Yes, it was HOT.  Filled our bags and bellies with M&Ms and took a taxi back.  Not the best evening but it was an experience.  Now I am going to make a map of where we need to go today, but if I just stay at this beautiful hotel, that’s just fine with me!!

My cousin Heather grew up in Cedar City, UT but was not raised a Mormon. She married Bart who was a Mormon and they were married in a Mormon church. A few years ago, Heather went through the church and converted. She is a dedicated Mormon now. They have been sealed in the temple.

By the way, Whitney does NOT like going.  Here is a photo of how she got in the car – the last one to get in:

The service is broken into three sections, one hour long each. We all went to the first hour during which 12 young men (boys) prepared the communion (sacrament) and served it: white bread and water. Then a young man and 4 members of another family got up and talked for about 45 minutes ( yes they ran over the hour by 15 minutes) about their life and how they met and where the worked, etc. I wasn’t too sure how this was relating to the church or teachings of Jesus but Heather said some speakers were better than others. Part of what they were supposed to do was thank God publically for things in their life which they did as a conclusion.

The church was very plain and bright without any ornamentation.

Heather says they sit up front and now I know why. The Mormons have a lot of children and they all come to church. You can imagine the distractions.

We didn’t stay for the next two sections – the bible study and then the hour when everyone breaks into groups based on gender and age and talks. That would have been interesting but we needed to finish packing and go to Las Vegas….sin city.

One thing that struck me as odd was the papers that were in each row. There were a bunch of papers stapled together with several columns. The first column had their name, then their address, email and phone. Each person in the ward was listed on the paper and there were extra rows where people could fill in their info if they were new, I guess. But the last two columns were the interesting ones: list your emergency response equipment at your home and list emergency response skills you have in your family.

I aske my cousins about this and this was totally normal to them. To me, it is so unnerving. I don’t want to think about our devistation all the time or the end of the world or the government taking over or whatever. It was just so strange and I can’t really figure out why. Maybe you can comment and tell me why I felt so strange.

Heather does have 8 months of food in the basement that is security for them. Planning and organization is the LDS Church’s strength.

We are staying at THEhotel and it is nicer than our house. That is the kind of hotel I like. The rooms and the lobby are super shi-shi and I love it. We have a room with a gorgeous sitting area with floor to ceiling windows overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard. The desk has high speed internet and things like THEpad of paper and THEdoodles large pad of paper. Two large flat screen TVs in the bedroom and in the full bathroom. The half bathroom does not have a TV in it. The water comes out of the faucet in the bathtub like a fountain and the glass enclosed shower is spacious. Even the shampoo bottles are nice. The toilet paper has little THEtp stickers on them!!!!!

We are at the lazy river and I am sitting by the waterfall. Bill is going around with the kids. We just left the sandy beach with the wave pool that was so fun!! The pools close soon so we’ll find our way back to the room for a quick shower before sunset on the 64th floor and the night begins!!!

This is GREAT!!!!!!

That’s what you see here

True blue sky
White limestone mountaintops
Red mountains
Green vegetation
White sand
Blue water

Zion. It is beautiful here. And above all else, it is peaceful.

The Zion lodge is located at the bottom of a lush, clean, colorful canyon. Each side of the canyon rises up to meet the blue sky so that you are surrounded by tall walls of red and orange rock. You feel closed in and comfy and secure. There is little noise. The air is pure. The sun is warm. The breeze is soft. The green grass is cool. The water tastes good.

After our big breakfast we checked out if the Lodge and boarded the shuttle to “The Narrows” trail.

You can stand in a little area behind the water and look out at the canyon wall on the other side. It is beautiful. When we were there we were the only ones. It was quiet and peaceful. (Especially since I had laid into those two little creatures for arguing before. A woman nearby thanked me for discipling them because she feels parents don’t do that these days.)

We then took another 1/2 mile trail, the grotto, back to the lodge for breakfast. No lunch today because we are going for a long hike on “The Narrows” today. Then we will meet my cousins back at the lodge for some afternoon fun! Can’t wait!