first family vacation

for spring break {and to celebrate both of our birthdays} we took off to vegas for a little r&r. it was fabulous. danny's grandpa was so kind to let us stay in one of his time shares, which was absolutely beauuutiful. we brought my little bro along for the ride {and to babysit max while we went to the temple} but i think it's safe to say that he didn't feel used at all.

we left tuesday, right after my class, and drove all the way to cedar before stopping. we pulled into a little gas station, feed max, changed him into his jammies, read him a story, said prayers, and tucked him into his carseat/crib. he slept right up until we got to the time share. what a little champ. the rest of the night was a little chaotic...but we survived and woke up to a beautiful, blue sky.

we got settled in, went grocery shopping, played at the pool, and then in the afternoon headed down to the strip. we rediscovered how much we hate vegas, but we did have a good time at the bellagio. the gardens are amazing and the flowers smelled sooooo good.

he couldn't have been prouder of his nemo swim bottoms.

he kicked the ENTIRE time while in the water. that boy has got crazy strong legs.

apparently, all of the swimming wore him right out. he took a MEGA nap after we swam, and after patiently waiting...we decided to go in and wake him up.

{the gardens}

the most amazing nutella banana crepe that i have ever had in my life.

waiting for the water show to start. love that.

thursday we started out by going to the ethel m chocolate factory. supposedly, it's a great tourist attraction...but let's just say we were glad they at least gave us a free piece of chocolate. the cactus gardens outside were cool though. after that we went hiking in red rock canyon. it was the perfect temperature, and max was loving the pack. we lathered him up in sunscreen and had a great hike. that afternoon, we swam, then headed out to walk around the temple grounds and hit up the outlet mall. we also ate at this delicious restaurant, bj's. it was great.

such cute little stubby arms max has!

the vegas temple is beautiful!

friday morning we packed up our stuff, said good-bye to vegas, and headed to st. george. we checked into our hotel, then went to orange peel for smoothies, and snow canyon for some more hiking. we discovered this humongous cave that danny and bri thought was pretty awesome. that night, we put max to bed and left bri to listen for him while we did a session in the st. george temple. we had a wonderful time. that temple is absolutely breath taking. i love it.

and saturday {on danny's birthday} we headed home. before we left, we stopped to see my cousin curt, and his cute family. he is a seminary teacher down there and we would love to follow in their steps! on our way out, we stopped at kolob canyon and did one more great hike. we got to cross tons of little streams...we were feeling pretty adventurous. we even saw some wild turkeys.

though it was a great trip, we were so glad to pull into our driveway friday night!