Since Matt and Jen have moved their family to Arizona our annual President's Day Getaway had to be moved from Bear Lake or Midway down South. So we headed to Vegas for the long weekend to spend some time together relaxing in the SUN!
First things first, Nate took Ethan, Ally and Jaicia to do Baptisms for the Dead at the Las Vegas Temple. The kids had a great time even though they had to wake up early on the first day of vacation. Nate got to tell them how when he was growing up and was in the Primary the kids used to drop pennies in a collection to help pay for the Temple to be built. He remembers bake sales happening and doing extra things to earn money to donate to the Temple fund.
Most of the rest of the time we just laid around eating, playing games, or we headed to one of the many pools on site at our timeshare.
Even though we have had a crazy mild winter, it was still nice to go somewhere a bit warmer and play in the Sun.
The kids especially loved the lazy river they had at our timeshare.
Since we were down there over Valentines the adults all snuck away to dinner together.
Matt & Jen, Dan & Jen, and Larry & Mandy were also down for the weekend.
On Sunday we drove around to multiple LDS Chapels to attend Sacrament and every chapel was like a ghost town. Doors locked, and no cars in the parking lot. We figured there must have been an area wide meeting being held somewhere. So we all ended up doing our own family devotional or Family Home Evening to make up the difference.
On our way out of town we all stopped over at the Hoover Dam. I haven't seen it since I was about 5 years old and we were headed to California. It has definitely changed a lot.
Super glad we were there in February because it was getting really hot that day!
After we left Hoover Dam we headed over to Henderson, Nevada. It is a suburb of Vegas and where Nate spent the majority of his growing up years. He lived there from the time he was about 4 until he was about 14 years old.
Here he is in front of
Mahlon Brown Junior High.
He attended 6th, 7th and half of his 8th
grade years there.
We then went over to his childhood home at
238 Concho Drive.
It has changed some but not too much he says.
While we were taking this photo the owner came out and we of course explained why we were taking a photo of their home.
They graciously let us look around the yard and also invited us in to see the place.
They had their piano in same place Nate's family had theirs and of course Ethan took the opportunity to play it.
Janet did all of the brick work around this fireplace herself. Nate remembers her mixing the mortar in a large mixing bowl and spreading it out with a spoon. She worked on it a little at a time. Later masonry workers were in the home and they used a level and found that it was all level despite her never using one and figuring it out as she went.
It was really neat to see the home that Nate has told me so much about and that I have seen in pictures. This is where he lived with his 2 brothers and 2 sisters and his parents, John and Janet. This is also where they divorced. Before selling the house Janet and LaVere were married on the back patio.
Nate in front of his elementary school C.T. Sewell. He showed us the path he would walk home on and where his babysitters lived.
A lot of the surrounding neighborhood used to be open desert that Nate and his brothers used to play in for hours and hours.
This is the church house that Nate attended all those years. He was in the Henderson 6th Ward. We would have gone inside had we had the opportunity but the day was getting late and we still needed to drive all the way home. Maybe next time.
