Spring Thaw Vacation: Vegas and Southern UT

Josh and I left CA Thursday morning and headed to Vegas. Since we came down to CA from ND so quickly, we decided to take our time on the way back.

We arrived in Vegas Thursday afternoon, checked into the Excalibur, and the walked around the Strip. For dinner we met up with my best friend Emily and her husband Kenny at Max Brenner in Caesar's Palace. The food was delicious (oh so much chocolate!), but the company was better! The four of us just sat and talked for hours.  We had so much to catch up on. Life gets crazy busy and it's nice to have great friends that you can always turn to. Love those guys! Maybe one day we will all live closer!

[Me and Josh at Caesar's Palace]

[Emily and I after dinner] 

After dinner Josh and I went to the Bellagio Fountains and then headed back to the hotel. 

On Friday we left Vegas and headed north to Cedar City.

It was strange staying in the same hotel that I originally stayed at when I did the UNEV excavations back in 2009! And it's crazy to stay in a hotel in a city that you lived in for over 3 years! 

Over the weekend we were able to see my great friends Sam and Laura AND we were able to spend a lot of time with Brodee!

[Josh, Me, and Sam at Sub Zero]

[Laura, Me, and Sam]

On Saturday Josh and I took Brodee to the park. This kid has A LOT of energy! He is also really good at riding his bike. He is super fast and we got worn out chasing him all around the park.

When Brodee wasn't riding his bike he wanted to be either going down the slide or swinging on the swings.

[Brodee always wanted one of us to be swinging next to him. See how his is pointing his finger at me in this picture? He is telling me that I need to stay there and swing with him. So funny!

Classic dad picture. Baby gets tired so dad has to carry the baby and the bike back. Josh is a great dad so he was okay with it!

Since we were only in town for a few days we decided to throw a little birthday party for Brodee (his actual birthday is May 8). So, the next day Josh and I went to Sara (Brodee's mom) and Lane's (Sara's fiance) house for a BBQ. 

When we arrived Brodee was in the little pool. He got in that pool three times when we were there: once in a diaper, once in his "birthday suit", and once in his clothes! Funny kid!

[Sara and Lane's backyard is right next to a cow pasture so we took Brodee to the wall so we could see the cows and make "mooing" noises.

After a great dinner (Lane BBQ'ed chicken, ribs, and steaks for all of us) we brought out the chocolate cake and sang to Brodee. He LOVES all the attention!

[Blowing out the candles. Lane helped a little ; ) ]

[Starting to dig in]

After Brodee was done eating he got on the table and I tried to teach him how to hold up two fingers and say "two". 

After getting cleaned up, I tried to get some pictures of Josh and Brodee. It's hard to get a two year old with a sugar high to hold still!

[Love their facial expressions]

Next came the presents! We asked Sara what Brodee wanted needed and she said balls, clothes, and hats. So we got him a big green ball (in the background), some balloons, and a lot of really cute clothes. 

Sara was more excited then Brodee was until he discovered the bag! Maybe next year we will get him a box!

[Sara's sister, Lane, Sara, and Brodee]

While Sara and Lane were cleaning up and putting Brodee's new clothes away, Brodee, Josh, and I continued to play.

[Hilarious video of Brodee doing the "Chicken Dance" and the running and jumping into Josh's arms when he wasn't expecting it!

[JUMP!]

[Brodee LOVES wheels and anything that has them]

After Brodee went to bed we talked to Sara and Lane about keeping in contact especially now that Brodee is talking. We suggested a Facetime app so that we could all talk and see each other every night before bed. *It's been working great for the last 3 days and I hope it continues*

We had a great time in Cedar and I hope it's not too long before we can get back down there!