"Lost" Vegas and the Wedding of Puke

We just got back from "vacation". We flew from Juneau to Seattle, Seattle to Las Vegas then drove from Vegas to Provo, Utah all in one day. The kids did really well, until the last 100 miles. Ruby started to scream and would only calm down when we sang Kaiser Chiefs "Ruby" to her over and over. Needless to say I don't really know ALL of the words so we started making them up. Some how "Ruby" became "Xander" and good times were had by all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d14511Amd08&feature=fvst

We had tons of fun things planned while we were in Provo. I kind of over do it when we travel. Always have, but I think I've gotten worse since we've been living in a land locked community. I plan so many things when we get "down South" My Aunt Joan asks to see my Itinerary because she knows I print one off along with travel conf and map quest directions to various places. This trip was no different. We were going to the Zoo, on the Heber Creeper, the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, the Farm at Thanksgiving point, in addition to the usual 4th of July celebrations and my sisters wedding.

Thursday the 2nd: One of the many things we promised Xander we would do was go on a train ride. Aside from the trains in the airports, we wanted to take him on the Heber Creeper. He loved it and his head was out the window the whole time. He likes Thomas the train so I knew he'd love this. I think Ken was disappointed that it didn't go faster. Apparently he wasn't listening when we called it a "creeper". It really is fun to play tourist in your own town sometimes.

After the train we went to the Dinosaur Museum. You never know what a 3 year old is going to like... "mom, I want to see a dinosaur eat a bone." or "mom, dinosaurs are astinked huh?" I thought he would understand, but he really didn't. With all the back ground noises and after a small scare where Madisen and I set him up, he wanted out. "mom! get me somewhere safe! lets get out of here!!" Oh, well. Maybe when he's older he'll enjoy it a little more.

Friday the 3rd: Ken and I got to go to Sundance to hear the Utah Symphony and do our "when ever we make it to Utah" get together with Abby and Winter. This year was a momentous one as Winter was not a 5th wheel. We got to meet her hubby and we approve. And even though he was in 5th grade when we graduated high school, the age difference isn't really that big of a deal ;) The concert was wonderful and the weather was perfect. However, it was a good thing that the concert was outside or else we probably would have been kicked out for being to rowdy.
The 4th of July Parade was fun, Ken took pictures of all the floats and the fancy cars. My favorite part is visiting with all my extended family. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins. This year was the first that GGG's (Grandma or Grandpa Gurr) weren't there. That was very strange. I miss them but I am glad they are no longer suffering and are together and reunited with family members that previously passed. We went to "the park" for the annual picnic and traditional fare of Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Stan's Gyros, homemade ice cream, angel food cake, Reed's Cotton Candy etc. Our regular family get together is like most peoples family reunions. There is also the fountain of fun that the kids look forward to every year. Who needs a pool, right?

We set off fireworks with Xander and Ken kind of freaked out. Fireworks are illegal in Juneau, always have been. It does seem strange that you can set fireworks off in a desert but not in a rain forest. You can't even find sparklers in the stores which has always driven me crazy. All you can get are poppers and can you just say LAME. Not to say that the people here don't get illegal fireworks just like people in Utah do, but Ken's dad was a fire marshal so that was out of the question for him. I think Xander had fun with the sparkler and watching the fireworks. Maybe someday he'll realize what a treat that was.

Sunday after dinner I initiated Brian into our family with a round of Chubby Bunny. It was hilarious! Of course, my chubby bunny hubby won with 13 marshmallows. The only person I know that could beat that was Jenny McCoard. I remember one girls camp where she got 23. Crazy fun!

Monday the 6th: After spending all day long baking cakes from 9:30 am to 4:45pm, I came "home" and helped get everyone loaded up for family night at the farm at Thanksgiving point. Again, you just never know with a 3 year old. I thought he'd enjoy seeing the cow milked and what not but he could have cared less. "mom, cows pee out milk huh?" No Xander, cows pee out pee. The kids sure did like the pony rides though, and feeding the goats and sheep. Kim's son Tristan laughed his head off as the animals licked the food off his hand. Then there was our stingy Xander giving each animal 1 corn kernel at a time. What a goof.

Tuesday almost the whole family went to the Zoo. Xander kept saying "keep moving, keep moving" he was really only interested in the Elephants and the Giraffe. Again, you just never know. It was so stinking hot, I thought I was going to melt. Tuesday night my Aunt threw a shower for Kylee. It was fun, but my mom got mad at me for giving her a pair of "prostitute panties" and a tank top. Come on! It was a bridal shower right? And the underwear was actually not that racy. Oh, well!

Wednesday I spent the day filling and frosting the cakes. I never realized how much work it would be to make such a massive cake. It probably wouldn't have been so bad with a commercial mixer and multiple ovens but I didn't have either of those. It was most certainly a labor of love. The madness and insanity was getting worse at my mothers house and it felt as though you were in a scene from the movie Father of the Bride. Crazy. All the nonsense that a wedding becomes and how quickly the actual event is over.

I can't remember what day it was but Kylee was getting ready to go have some bridal shots done. She was all dressed up and looked beautiful. Whenever Xander sees someone who he think looks really pretty he calls them a princess. My mom was doing Kylee's hair and sprayed her in the eye with hair spray so she stomped off in only the fashion that is Kylee. Xander said, "mom, she is NOT a princess" I said she looks like a princess to me... "NO mom. She is NOT a princess!!" Observations made by 3 year olds are the best.

Thursday: "Wedding of Puke" Kylee's wedding was beautiful. Joey Murdoch let us use his back yard and all of my mom's family worked like crazy to pull this thing off. It was SO hot outside. I'm surprised the cake didn't completely melt off the table. Kim's kids got sick and she wasn't able to come. She'd come up from St George for the wedding, but at least she got to spend time with the family. Ruby and Xander had kind of been taking turns not feeling well the whole trip. It's hard on little kids that are used to a schedule to go through some of this. After the ceremony, Ruby puked. She Puked and puked and puked. We weren't sure if it was a bug or heat exhaustion. Maybe a combo of both. Xander was ornery the whole time because all he wanted was some "green cake" and he wasn't going to calm down until he got some. When they finally cut the grooms cake, they gave him the first piece and he was a VERY happy boy.

Later Maleah puked so much it looked like a scene from a cult classic minus the pea soup. The worst part was her parents were no where to be found. I also found out the one of my cousin's kids passed out. Exciting stuff.

Friday we had planned on leaving my moms by 1 to make it to Vegas before it was too late. I couldn't bring myself to leave my moms house in the condition that it was, so by the time I cleaned and packed and shipped the two boxes full of clothes, we didn't get out of the house until 5pm. Xander kept saying "mom, I want to go to lost vegas" which we thought was pretty funny until we got to Vegas and the one time I don't print of map quest directions to get to hotel is the one time we really need them. The trip was long, Ruby was feverish, Xander puked "french fry puke" and we had to throw a perfectly good outfit away. It was 1:30 before we were in the hotel bed. Our flight left at 7 the next day and we barely made it.

The hotel was gorgeous but not family friendly. Ken put it best when he said "Any hotel with a Ferrari dealership in the hotel, is probably not a hotel for us"

While boarding the plane in Seattle, a man in first class was taking a while getting settled. In Xander's own special way, he "honked" at the man and pushed past. Everyone was laughing hysterically and my face was probably scarlet. One man said he probably just did what everyone else was thinking. Hmmm... there is really no question he is my son then.

What a trip!