Day 3

We woke up to another beautiful,

sunny 

day here in Arizona.

Unlike back home in dreary Utah where 

we hear it's snowing!  

 YUK!!!

We head downstairs for lame,

La Quinta Inn, breakfast.

Does not even compare 

to our hotel in Vegas. 

Here we eat hard boiled eggs,

instant oatmeal,

one choice of yogurt, etc.

I was spoiled at our last hotel!!!

The gal that works the buffet is very chipper.

She would chat with us every morning,

 we even found out that she is from

Lehi, Utah. 

Small world! 

After breakfast the boys are restless.

Matt & I are worried about them 

causing too much of a ruckus. :)

I still needed to get ready for the day,

so Matt took them to a park to burn off

their excessive amounts of energy! 

Why can't I have that kind of energy?!?!

..................

Next on our agenda for today,

Pizza for lunch at Great G&G Taysom's.

We had a good size group show up

that we were not expecting.

It was so fun to see everyone.

It was a full blown

Pizza Party!

We had Great G&G Taysom-

it was at their home.

Grandma Elly, 

Jason, Jamie & their 2 boys

Ryan & Jaxson.

Megan Taysom-

she put the whole thing together.

Bryson, Ashley & their daughter

Kaylee.

Bryson's brother- I can't recall his name. Sorry!

David was there too for a few minutes-

great to see him!

Hope I didn't forget anyone

and apologize for any misspellings of names.

One thing I am bummed about is

not having pictures of everyone.

I can't believe I didn't even get some

with Jamie & Jason or their adorable boys.

Guess I was just having too much fun!

I also feel bad that we did not

spend much time at all with 

Grandpa & Grandma Taysom.

They are both so fragile, 

can hardly hear us.

Grandpa does not remember who we are.

Grandma won't leave her recliner.

It's just so sad to see them this way.

They were once so full of life.

Every once a while you could see a 

twinkle in Grandpa's eye. 

For a moment he would smile or joke

then slip back into a blank stare.

I am thankful that we could get over

here to see them one more time 

before it will be too late.

Matt & I really wanted our boys

to meet and know who 

their Great Grandparents are.

 

Here we are with Great Grandpa T.

Pizza Party

Great Grandma T. Crew would not be in the pic with us.

This pic was actually a group shot but everyone else was not looking or pulling a face. So I cropped it just for Matt & I. :)

 ......................

Now we must go.........

swimming!!!

This is the fabulous La Quinta Inn pool.

My cute boys!

I was no fun and did not go swimming. I sat here on the side, sunbathing & taking a pics!

This is Landen's cannonball.

Matt was their water toy!

Once we could get these fish to turn

back into little boys;

we were rushing out the door again.

By now it's 6pm.

Grandma Elly, 

Jamie, baby Jack &

Great Grandma Ferrin,

are meeting us at

Sweet Tomato's

so yummy!!

................

After our filling but delicious dinner;

we now are going to visit

Great Grandpa Ferrin.

He is in a care center right now.

Friendship Village

It is a beautiful facility.

He has been here since 

he took a bad fall in January.

Poor guy. :(

It sucks getting old.

I was not sure how this visit 

was going to turn out.

I had heard so many different things

about Grandpa's condition.

But Wow!

He was great.

Well- as great as you can get

in a place like this.

He was so cute with the boys.

He was smiling & joking.

Seemed to recognize Matt.

If not he played it off well. ;)

He shared advice with us.

Told us stories.

Even took some fun pictures.

Walking with G-ma Elly down to Grandpas room.

We Love you Great Grandpa & Grandma Ferrin!!!

Four Generations. I love Landen's face. :)

I am so happy we had this

opportunity to spend some time

with Grandpa and introduce him

to the boys. :)

Day 2

We made it through the night.

Peacefully!

I was not sure how well Crew was going to sleep.

But this kid was so tired when we went to bed.

So tired in fact, that he came to us

asking to go get in his bed.

He was very excited about the pak n' play

that we brought for him to sleep in.

Thanks to Matt for that one!

I was not even wanting to bring it,

I just assumed Crew would not go for it.

Crew was so proud of his bed.

He kept pointing at it and telling us

that it was his bed.

Cutie! :)

Today we are checking out of our Hotel

and heading out of town.

Apparently though not soon enough!

This morning,
while Matt was out loading the van to go;
the phone in the room rang.

I thought it must just be about
our check-out time or something??

I quickly answer and hear,
Mrs. Taysom?
Yes, that's me.
I think?
Maybe they mean Elly?
That's the only Mrs.Taysom I know. :)

The guy on the line then tells me
it's the front desk calling.

They have received a  
complaint
from the room below us.

The complaint was:
  The guests below you worked all night
and now can't get any sleep cause your kids
are too noisy and stomping around.


I feel horrible and embarrassed!
I apologize over & over,
then promise I will keep my children
quiet.
  
The part that was hard on me was
that Matt & I had been constantly reminding
the boys to talk softly, no running or jumping.
We explained that in hotels there are rooms
all around us, and people are sleeping etc.

We did our best or so I thought,
to keep them quiet.

Good thing we are leaving soon!
 

But before we do; it's time to indulge on

Free Breakfast!!!

Okay, 

so I have had free hotel breakfast before

but this, 

this was really, really, exceptionally good!

They had so much to choose from,

delicious hot cinnamon buns,

scrambled eggs & toast,

sausage & biscuits,

all kinds of yogurt & fruit and

a pancake maker that this old lady described

as, "really slick!" LoL

The boys kept saying how awesome this

hotel is and how great all the food is.

They even declared it as, 

"the best breakfast ever!"

I am sure what they meant to say was,

"the best breakfast ever- except for Mom's!" ;)

The lady that was working this breakfast buffet

really was quite extraordinary.

You could tell that she cared about her job

and taking care of the guests.

Before we left 

I made a point to tell her,

Thank You!

I also mentioned to her 

what the boys had been saying

and how much they loved this place!

She made sure we left with

plenty of extras to go!

With full belly's and a good nights rest,

 Matt & I tempt our fate with a another go

at the Vegas strip.

Normally, I love Vegas and have had nothing

but good times & great memories.

I wanted to take the boys to see all these

cool Hotels and the different attractions.

Now that I am physically here with my

3 innocent little boys; I don't feel the same.

It was strange.

We decided to go for a bit.

Walked the strip a few blocks.

Checked out the MGM hotel.

All the gardens were beautiful!

Landen is into taking pictures lately. He took this of us. I love how it turned out.

Cody was loving the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.  He specifically wanted his picture with her.

The boys were instructed to have a buddy at all times.

And of course we went to...

M&M World.

So fun! 

The boys loved it.

Naturally, I took tons of pictures.

Watched a 3D movie.

Matt let them each fill a bag 

with their own M&M's.

We checked out all 4 floors and

were tempted to buy everything!

Blue M&M's. What other colors are there???

I love this wall! Want to take it home with me.

These 3D Glasses Rock!

When were all heading down from the 4th floor

                           Landen failed to get on the escalator as the

rest of us were.

He froze at the top and would not move.

I tried running back up to him,

but as you know the stairs just keep coming.

A family behind us was with Landen

trying to help him and talk to him.

But he completely ignored their help.

 I made eye contact with him the whole way down.

I hated feeling so helpless,

even though I knew he was fine.

Matt was finally able to jump onto the

up escalator and rescue poor Landen.

I know it was very scary for him but

we all had a good laugh over it!

Including Landen. :)

..............................


Next we load up,
strap the kids in their torture devices,
say good bye to Las Vegas
and continue on.

Next stop...

Hoover Dam

Matt was excited to take the boys here.
Hoover Dam is featured in the first Transformers movie.
This makes it extra cool!!!

I love Crew's little finger pointing up. :)

Every time Crew saw the water he would call it the ocean.

Landen wanted this pic on the blog. I solorized some of the Vegas pics like this, he thinks its cool and wanted this one of him done like that. :)

Beautiful Lake Mead  {aka the ocean}

The last time we were here
Cody was 18 mo. old.
The bridge was not here either.

This is a spectacular sight to see!
It was amazing to view this up close.
I could not believe how massive this bridge is.
The amount of concrete used????
It was awesome. :)

.........................................

After our last escapade,
we are truly and finally on our way to
Arizona

No more stops,
we just drive and drive.

All these beautiful scenic shots
were taken from the passenger side window.
Aren't they breathtaking? LOL

At some point we do arrive in
Phoenix Arizona
I don't remember when,
it was dark, I do remember that.

We checked in at the fabulous
La Quinta Inn.
Peed, dropped off our bags
and.....you guessed it!
Back in the van.

Not a long ride though,
just a quick trip down the road to
Great Grandma Ferrin's home in Tempe.

After we arrived,
I was telling Landen about this house
and explaining that this is the home
Grandma Elly grew up in.
He looks around then says to me,
"well that is kind of weird."
I asked him why?
His reply,
"Because there aren't any toys here."
Makes me laugh :)

 This wraps up day 2.
We hung out for a time with
Grandma Elly and
Great Grandma Ferrin.

Then back to Hotel for a good nights rest!