Vegas

Sarah, Cameron, Jude and I just returned from a quick trip to Vegas. After almost a decade of living in the suburban fringe of Sin City, Elizabeth and her family are moving to Utah. They'd always talked about it but I didn't think it would actually happen. Elizabeth was never much of a Vegas girl and whenever we'd drive to Utah growing up, she was the ONLY one in the family who was fervently opposed to taking a hotel-tour-breather as we passed through. Then she married Kris 2 months after 9/11 when the economy was tanked, and he was lucky to get a GREAT job right out of college in Vegas, and to Vegas they went. I figured in my infinite and delightsome wisdom that Elizabeth could perhaps glean some life lessons about not judging a city by its number of retail vendors with "Adult" in the name. (She is SO lucky to have me around.) If she hated Vegas at first she learned to love it, as most Vegans promised she would. How could she not? They have Sonic.

I loved to visit her there and have done it fairly often from the time I was 19. When I came home from my mission I lived there for about a year and loved that too! I didn't mind the heat (because I sprinted from air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office and reverse), there was great shopping, lots of good people, etc. etc. etc., and obviously my Elizabeth, to whom I've always been close, and her darling family.

I was a little shocked they didn't ask MY opinion in all this when they prayed about it, weighed all the factors, and decided to move (HELLO!), and if they had I probably would have told them to stay put. I just get very sentimental about PLACE and I have so many memories in their home, making cookies, dancing in the kitchen, driving down the streets of Vegas pretending we were still in high school while her kids sat in their car seats behind us, watching movies and painting our nails after the kids went to bed, getting way too deep into our Eatonisms and laughing nostril-flare style at the dumbest things.

Anyway, I really did know I'd also make sacrifices for the well-being of my family, and geez, Utah isn't that much farther than Vegas, and also has a Sonic. As it is, there isn't a lot of time before this move will go down, and they had about a bazillion toys and things to pack up. Sarah and I went up and Cam stopped in on his way home from BYU for the summer. Jude played with his cousins and was basically blown over by all the ACTION in a 6-person household, and we packed and packed. The first night we stayed up until 2 a.m. laughing hysterically at the nonsensical things we always do, something we slightly regretted the next day, but it was a great farewell to a house I've loved which will very soon be rented out to who knows who.

We will luckily still have cause to go visit Vegas because Erica and her fam are still there, and we love their methods and spunk. This is just my closure to a wonderful place, the plot of land and home where I loved to be, where I have endless memories of good, bad and whatever. Farewell [address that I can't write down here because then the creepers would stalk them for the next week], may the renters not drop sledge hammers on your tile floor.

Babies J and I watching Baby Einstein allowing us to pack the endless supply of toys. P.S. Jude did a great job in the car on the way home. Glory!