From Zion to Sin City and Back Again

After a stressful semester and the stress of finals was over, my wonderful mom flew in all the way from Florida to come see little ole me. She flew in just after I finished my last final. I frantically got everything done that I needed to get done before leaving so that when she finally got to my apartment, we could hit the road.

We have quite a few relatives in the Las Vegas area, so when my grandma said she wanted to visit them a few months back, my mom decided it would be fun to fly in to Salt Lake, drive down to me in Provo, and then take a road trip to Vegas. And thus it was.

We made it into Vegas around 11 and my mom thought that the only way for me to enter Vegas for the first time was via the Strip. So, that's what we did. While I did attempt to get a picture of the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign, it was all in vain. We kept meaning to go back and get one, but we never did. I'm not too heartbroken over it, though.

It worked out that while we were going to be there, some of the guys my mom works with would also be there doing a trade show at Caesar's Palace. So, our first day there was spent in that labyrinth of a hotel, seeing how the other side lives and getting some free food from the other exhibitors.

The hotel itself was quite an experience. My mom's label for the whole town was "big and bodacious" and Caesar's was no exception. After the trade show was over and before we went out to dinner, we checked out the Forum Shoppes inside Caesar's to see just how crazy the crazy was. It did not disappoint.

There's nothing more enticing to me than flying mannequins. Am I right?

Post-perusing and dinner we decided to do the High Roller (a giant ferris wheel) to get the full effect of Vegas.

Supposedly, you can fit 40 people in these pods.

I did that.

The next day was of a touristy nature. Mom, the G, and I headed to Red Rock Canyon in the morning to check out this incredibly beautiful creation of our Heavenly Father's making. Mom and I did a mini hike and then we and the G drove through the canyon to see the colorful mountains that gave the canyon its name.

We found a friend along the hiking trail.

She's so pretty.

One really special thing about this trip happened the next day. Although I have been to the temple with my mom several times, I've never actually had the chance to do temple work with her. She's always been in some leadership position that caused her to have to help out whenever we had youth temple trips. So, I was really excited that morning when she told me that she decided she wanted to do baptisms with me instead of a session with my grandma.

It was so great. We were actually the only ones at the baptistry (besides one girl who only did confirmations). That meant we had to wait a little bit for them to get enough people to do the baptisms and I was a-okay with that. It was such a sweet experience sitting with my mom there and just saying our own silent prayers and talking. She means the world to me and I know it's not just because we have the same taste in movies and the same humor. It's because families have a bond that expands beyond this life. And thank goodness for that.

Even though my grandma wasn't with us in the baptistry,
I'm glad she was there in the building with us doing the Lord's work.
I definitely felt her powerful example nearby.

As we waited for the G to be done, we were able to look around the beautiful temple grounds. 

Pretty momma.

My mom had booked us a night tour of the Neon Museum for that evening. Coolest thing ever. It's this boneyard of all the old neon signs from the strip (some restored, some not). The tour guide walks you through the yard and tells you all the awesome history about the strip and the lights and all that went into making them. As a history nerd, I had a freaking blast.

Candid shot as we waited for our tour to start.

The next day was spent having lunch/dinner with family that we haven't seen in a really long time, and a few that we have never met. It was so nice to meet and catch up with this family that I haven't seen in years and to get to know those I've never met. The bond of family is so awesome and so beautiful. It was such a comfort to just be with them and to feel their love and care.

Of course we brought out the old pictures. 

While the big and extravagant of Vegas isn't really my thing, I kind of loved visiting the Bellagio as we perused the Strip the next night. It probably had something to do with the pianist at the front of the hotel playing an instrumental version of "One Day More" and the incredible garden inside and the most incredible crepe my tastebuds have ever encountered and the fountain show that reminded me of Disney World. Probably.

This garden was inside a freaking hotel.

I thought this ceiling by the concierge desk was basically the coolest thing ever. 

'Twas fate.

Just a snippet of everything loud and proud in Vegas.

They just casually had this giant chocolate fountain.

My mouth is watering just looking back at this picture. 

This was at The Crystals (another swanky hotel).

Upon our arrival in Vegas, my Great Aunt Gretchen informed us that the Grand Canyon Skywalk was only a couple of hours away. That sparked a fire in my mom's adventurous ideas, so the day after family time, we headed on over to the Grand Canyon and snuck a peak of the Hoover Dam on the way to and from there.

Just as we were about to pass the entrance to the Hoover Dam.

Before making it to the Grand Canyon West, you drive through quite a bit of desert. In that desert are about a bajillion of these funky trees that we thought were pretty cool. Turns out they're called Joshua Trees. While they were pretty awesome, we couldn't figure out exactly why Bono decided to name a U2 album after them.

Once we made it to the visitor's center, we found these guys hard at work.

I've mentioned before how much I love the mountains and how much they remind me of God's power and majesty, and that was so evident in our perusal of the Grand Canyon. I've only been once before, but I don't remember having such a moment of awe as I did on this perfectly beautiful day.

The eagle that gives this part of the canyon it's name (Eagle Point).

My pretty mommy.

Yeah, we did that.

After doing the Skywalk (it was a tad trippy), we were waiting for the bus to take us to the next stopping point. As this part of the Grand Canyon is on a Reservation, all of the workers there are Native American. They are around at every stopping point to answer any questions or just to chat and tell you hilarious jokes. While we were waiting for the bus, one of these workers started a conversation with us. We told him we were from Florida and we started talking about the Seminoles and how they are pretty wealthy because they own a ton of Hard Rock Hotels. He said he had a Seminole come to Grand Canyon West that was bragging hardcore about how much wealthier (and thus "better") the Seminoles were as a tribe. This Seminole's grandma just happened to be standing nearby when this happened and she hit his noggin real hard and explained to him that that wasn't right; she explained that those Native Americans at the Grand Canyon were the wealthy ones as they had Heaven right there before their eyes to worship and take in always. It was such a sweet reminder of the beautiful blessing this earth is.

This was at another stopping point in the canyon,
but this guy was in a group of awesomely hilarious guys from Mexico.

Our view as we ate our lunch.

While the plan was to stop and check out the Hoover Dam on the way to the Grand Canyon, it was kind of packed. So, we decided we would check it out on the way back. While everything touristy was shut down, we still got to see the dam itself. My great grandfather actually worked on the Dam back in the day, so it was incredibly humbling to see all of the work he and countless others have put into creating this incredible piece of machinery and to have that familial connection to it. It was just so awesome to see what human hands, determination, and will are capable of.

As mom had a couple of days before she had to fly back to the Sunshine State and we weren't really in a rush, we decided to make a couple of stops on the way back toward Provo. One of those stops was the St. George temple and its mini-visitor's center.

As we were staying with my family in Payson before my mom left, we decided it would be an awesome experience to go to the Payson Temple Open House. It was an incredibly humbling experience and I'm so glad we decided to do it and that there were still tickets left. One of my ward leaders was actually there volunteering and he came up to me after testifying of the eternity of families in the sealing room. That morning was such a blessing.

It was such a blessing to not just do all of these things, but to do them with my mom, my grandma, and the rest of my family. This school year was a really tough one for me and I struggled a bit more than I let on to keep a good attitude about everything. I really needed time with the people who love and care for me so much and to just have their shining light up close for a little while was exactly what I needed. I love them so much and I am so grateful for their strength and for their sense of adventure. They are always reminding me of how blessed I am by simply being what they are--amazing.