Vegas Trip

Ok, I know I am late with this, but I am late with everything lately so I am trying to catch up on a few things that need to be posted. The post is about our Vegas trip. We were a little worried if we were going to make it down there or not, Mike was on the tail end of Strep but she was feeling well enough to go so we kept our reservations. We had plans to leave on Thursday morning around 5 0r 6 am to get down there in time to have some fun, but....things changed. Sam ended up with food poising around 12:00 midnight, and was throwing up all through the night. By about 5 or 6 in the morn, she finally stopped throwing up we debated rather to go or not. At 10:00 in the morn, we decided to put her in the back of the van and just let her sleep all the way down. I think all the sleep did her well. She still wasn't feeling back to normal, but she was being a trooper. I on the other hand was having some issues with my reflux issues and my throat lining was very irritated which was causing me to do some serious aspirating. But we got there and our first stop was finding the PAWN STAR pawn shop. Yay...I was so excited to see it. We have been watching that show on the History Channel lately. It's quite an interesting show. Sam stayed in the van because she was still in her pj's and still not feeling quite right, so we hurried in to check it all, saw all the stars of the show, then left cuz Sam was getting nervous. We decided we would stop back on our way home from Vegas. So we got settled into our Hotel room at Circus Circus. We went to a couple of Circus acts that night. They had a lot of good acts this year. They added a few new ones.
So...Here we are hanging around our Hotel room

Then the next day we spent the day at the Adventure Dome in Circus Circus. It's is one of the largest indoor amusement parks. Our first ride was the hot air balloon to see if Sam could handle the rides ok. That one worked.

Then we tried the Merry go round. Sam said no! No round and round for her!

Then we hit our favorite ride...The bumper cars. We had a blast on these and probably spent the majority of our day here.

We also rode there 3d movie rides. The movie this year was a weird one. Cork neck hill. I like it when the do the haunted castle ride. We also rode the Pirate Ship, but after so many times on this, I started feeling woozy..that's not normal for me. (I must be getting old) I love these rides! So we took a break from that.

Then of course we have to ride over and over the ride that gives you a major headache...The canyon blaster. This is an awesome roller coaster ride, but also beats your head to death with all the jerkiness. But hey we endured it, and by the end of the day, Sam even rode it a few times. Sam's coming back to normal. Other than now I was really starting into some coughing that was really messing with my lungs. I was struggling, but we were having a great time.


That night we hit some more circus acts and this one below was awesome. They were from Nigeria and boy could they put any cheerleaders to shame! (No offence anyone!) But they were amazing. These pics don't even do them justice!
The last day of our trip after we checked out we ran up to MGM and checked out Some of our favorite things there. They have the new CSI Experience now at the MGM. We were really considering going to it which opened up that weekend, but we didn't get to leave a day early to do it because Mike had drill. So we decided we would catch it next trip.
This is one of our favorite souvenir shops in MGM. We spend a lot of time here! Of course Mike is loving all of the Elvis Magnets. She wishes she could buy them all.

Sam had a great time checking out the sunglasses.

We then took a stop at the Lions, but as always it was to crowded to see anything. This was the best pic Mike could get.
We then headed over to New York New York. Kurtis finally bought him a souvenir from there. A New York Fire Department shirt. Surprise surprise.


Me and Sam found us a new friend.

Then we stopped at the pawn shop again. Yay all of us got to go in. We even got a singed picture.


But instead of heading on home, we stopped in St. George and stayed at Moms. I had a great trip, but it is always nice to get out of Vegas and back to reality. I was thankful to stop at Moms, because by then I was not feeling well at all. I think I was on the starting point of Pneumonia. Luckily the doctor had given us some antibiotics in case in of us started feeling like we were getting strep so I had been taking those. So we stayed the night at moms, then the next day we headed home with me in the back seat this time sleeping all the way home. But even with all the sickness, we had a fun time.

California

Well, Sam and I made it to Concord, California for her Softball Tournament. We left at 3:00 in the morning on Thursday. Boy was it a long drive, but we had a great time. Wish we could have gone as a family but only Sam and myself was able to go. Sam and I rode with Richard, Leslie and Jessica Anderson and Danielle Lynn. We also traveled down with another vehicle filled with Derik, Patricia, and Madisen Walk, Korine Robertson, Pam and Megan Foster. Richard had an awesome GPS with him that made our trip easy to get down and back. We met up with the rest of the team that that came down as families at our hotel Here are a few highlights of our trip! Wish I could post them all!

We finally made it to California.


Yeah! We finally made it to our Hotel.



We got into our rooms and we were checking out our fun little freebies, you know the soaps and shampoos and things, well here they give you earplugs too. We thought that was pretty funny until we looked our our window and saw our view. The city airport runway was right next to our parking lot.



We got to our hotel, quickly changed into uniforms. We then went to the ball park for a tournament BBQ. Here the girls are impatiently waiting to eat. They were so tired. The had been up since 2:00 in the morning and it was now after 5:00 California time.




After the BBQ there were tournament games. The teams had to run fast around the bases, bunt, and throw the ball. Sam was chosen to be one of the four to run the bases. Her is Sam coming around third base. Our team had the highest running time in the first round.



The girls wanted to go swimming so bad but their coaches Derik and Richard wouldn't let them. They needed their rest.



Try getting three girls out of bed after all the traveling and ball excitement.




Our game wasn't until later that day on Friday, so we decide to go see the Golden Gate Bridge. Here is the group of girls that went.

Here is Sam and I at the bridge. Look how foggy, cold and windy it was.

Here is Sam and Jessica walking on the Golden Gate Bridge.

This is Sam catching a ball in their first game. Unfortunately they lost the game.



This is after the first game. Spirits a little down but not for long.




Finally the girls got to go swimming



They played there second game on Saturday. We started out the game a little sloppy, but then in the middle of the game we started to come back. Unfortunately not enough to win. But here is Sam playing 2nd base. She was always ready for the ball.



After the game, Richard and his family and Shawn Bryan and his family headed off to a Giants game. Which left me, Sam and Danielle without a vehicle. There wasn't enough room to take the other vehicle, so me, Sam, Patricia, Derik, Danielle and Madisen took a hotel shuttle to the subway and caught us a subway to San Fransisco. Here we are waiting for the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation).





Here is Sam a little nervous about being on the subway.



So we get off in San Fransisco and walk about 2.5 miles down the peers. But the first thing there that caught our eyes was the bathrooms right out in the streets. The girls were so fascinated with them we probably spent 20 minuets at them.



We then came across a guy playing awesome music, the funny thing was is that he was playing it on trash. He used garbage cans for drums and different garbage to make other music. It was neat.



Here are a few sights we seen along the peers. Here are the girls sitting on a boat docking thing.



Our Limo ride.....ha ha ha




The fortune teller wall, Sam decided to pick the nose rather than have her fortune read.




Finally we got to Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 39) and went to Bubba Gumps Restaurant. We had so much fun there. We were all laughing so hard the whole time of stupid things. Here is me and Patricia impatiently waiting for our seafood!

Here is the girls enjoying their fish and chips.


Here is me enjoying my variety of shrimp while sharing with Patricia and Derik. We had tons of food! It was sooooo good!


Here is the girls with their "JENNY" boats that their meal came in.



Here is Sam being Forrest Gump. Notice the tennis shoes, suitcase, and box of chocolates.


We then went and shopped some of the shops at the Wharf. Here the girls got a kick out of the puckering manikin.


Sam got her chance to see what she would look like with dark hair.


Now then we had to walk back the 2.5 miles to the BART (might I add to that me, Sam, Danielle, and Madisen were in our flip flops) and caught a few more attractions. Here is what Derik called the egg heads. I'm not sure if he meant the art work, or our girls.



Some of the other attractions (that I didn't want to take pictures of) was all the pot smokers. And Derik being a cop had to check them all out. It was so funny. We got back to the subway and waited for our train. Here is me and Sam with our matching jackets.


Here is our group having fun while we wait.



The girls were having a hay day on the train. There was no seating room when we got on so they had to hold on to the poles. Well instead of holding on to them, they were swinging on them like monkeys. They were also doing their softball cheers and just being down right goofy.



There goes our train. And while taking this picture I think I guy was going to snatch my camera. (He thought I was alone) He ran down the subway station yelling HEY at me until I stopped. Then I think he realized I was with a group of people and then he just said he wanted to see the picture I took. It was weird. Even Derik (being a cop) was a little suspicious. (Hey I defiantly wasn't in Utah).


Here are the girls after our big trip. Richard wanted to leave for home at 7:00 in the morning. They did not want to get up so when they finally did they all had to hurry so fast that they all were shoved into the bathroom rushing trying to get read at the same time.


Needless to say we had a great time. My guts and jaw hurt so bad from laughing so much. Sam I know had an awesome time and I think she has many memories that she will never forget and lasting friendships were made!