Thursday, February 7, 2013

Braeden's Eight!

And we know what happens when we're eight--Baptism!  And Braeden was baptized and is now an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We were there.  I was asked to speak at his baptism--thanks, Braeden, for that special invitation and opportunity.  I hope he remembers his special day.  We were very glad to have been there and have a part in it.

Did I remember my camera?  Nope.  I have one picture on my phone.  It's of Lexi playing the piano at their house and Jonathan's running by, playing a toy saxaphone and he's a blur.   Pretty typical for a three-year-old to be a blur.  Tandy took some photos outside the church afterwards, and I think Eric might have a few decent photos on his camera.  We shall see.

The whole weekend went by far too quickly and was a blur to me, too.  Damian and Tandy were wonderful hosts to EIGHT extra people in their home for the weekend and beyond.  Thank you, thank you!

Cement stuff

Ah, but it's MORE than just cement suff--It's the WORLD of CONCRETE EXPO in Las Vegas, Nevada!!

Let me tell you folks, it's big.  Who knew there was so much stuff out there related to concrete and cement and construction in general?  Well, contractors, craftsmen and teachers did.  Mike has been attending the World of Concrete expo for a number of years now.  Besides a huge convention center with multiple halls filled with exhibitors, there are outdoor lots that are filled with even more stuff.  And there are people EVERYwhere!  It is by far the largest-looking thing I've ever attended.  I went to the American Library Association conference some years ago (2007,  I believe) and if memory serves me (and it usually does NOT), there were close to 35,000 librarians in one spot.  Humph.  Nothing compared to this place.  I don't know how many this has.  150,000 is what they expect this year.  I'm telling you, NOW I know why it takes so many days!  There are classes to take, too, so Mike attends some of those.

Since I tagged along for the ride, I made good use of my time by swimming in the pool at our hotel.  And soaking in hottubs.  and reading, and writing letters.  And eating.  I eat a lot when I'm on vacation.  I did see one new thing, and tomorrow I might do a little shopping.  Oh, and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory for the first time ever.  Mmmm. that was nice!  We just had dessert.  It was plenty, though I did want to bring some home.  But not at those prices.  I've been inspired to go home and MAKE some yummy cheesecake, or something akin to it.  Yeah, like we need that stuff around the house.

Here are a few photos. I forgot my camera.  We stayed in a nice vacation time-share ownership place (Wyndham Resorts, Grand Desert) and had a 1 bedroom suite.  I cooked nearly all our meals here.

We went to see the fountains/waterfalls in the Palazzo Hotel.  They were nice.


Three and a half days here. Nice, relaxing and mostly quite warm compared to home in Cedar City.  Mike's got sore feet and knees, and I've probably gained a few pounds from just sitting around.  But it was fun and I got almost 50 pages of my 1,000 page book read!