Spring Break (the bank) PART FOUR

Day Eight: Long Beach, CA to Las Vegas, NV We woke the 3rd morning of our motel stay to more rain. I did notice that it stayed nice for the two days we were out and about. We checked out of the motel and headed back to Las Vegas. Daniel and Nathan were acting up on the trip, including throwing crayons, coloring books and shoes at Chad and me. The more we threatened, the more they enjoyed themselves. So long about Baker, CA, we decided it was time for a stop to get rid of some energy (to say the least). We pulled into the parking lot of a newly built outlet shoopping center and went for the back, where it was still pretty empty. We released Daniel from the car, but then all our frustrations came out and Daniel's rear end paid for the disrespect he dished out before. Then in was Nathan's turn, but as he was still in the van, he only got it from me. They were quite shocked! I felt better, and then wondered if there were any cameras around. (Do you remember the story of the woman caught on a Wal-Mart security camera beating on a little girl?) Anyway, they all ran around a bit, despite the freezing wind. They were much better behaved after that. We tried not to spank, but actions really do speak louder than words (occasionally)! We arrived in Las Vegas with the rest of Southern California, mid afternoon. We had decided to head back to the Strip and go to M&M World. It took us forever to get to it. In case you don't know, Californians flock to Las Vegas on the weekends. We were swept up in the traffic. We enjoyed the M&M's and B bought a T-shirt (her only souvenir of the trip). Because of the hour, we went from there to the Price's house, stopping to get some things for dinner. We visited that evening and bedded down.

Day Nine: Las Vegas, NV to Shelley, ID We got a pretty early start as it was General Conference weekend and Chad was trying to make it to the Priesthood Session in Taylorsville. We said good-bye to Steve and Amber through their girls as they weren't "up" yet when we slipped out. We made another stop in the St. George area (Santa Clara actually) and visited with Michael's (my step-dad) parents. Before the boys could actually break something, we were on our way again. We stopped in Beaver, UT for a snack and ice cream. I bought a little Easter train that was marked down (a souvenir for me! ;) ) and wished we had more room in the van to get a windmill they had there. We made it to Taylorsville with just enough time for Chad to have some dinner and then head to the Stake Center with everyone. The girls stayed home and visited while the cousins played/fought. When Chad came back, we loaded everyone back into the van for the last 3 hours of our trip. (We had intentionally planned to stay one more night, but this way we could actually watch a day of Conference and have some time to recover from our trip before Monday). We traveled fairly well until the last 40 minutes. By the time we pulled into the driveway, it seemed all 4 kids were crying. B may have been, too. I nearly was myself!

All in all, it was a good trip. We hadn't had a real vacation as a family yet. We're poorer than we were, but I guess paying that every 5 or 6 years equals out ok. You may notice that there weren't as many pictures near the end of the trip. Another sign of burn out! :)