The Parents

My parents drove up in their new car with Eliza and my Uncle Craig.

My dad really liked David's mug: "Trophy Husband." Her said he deserved a mug like that too. 

I told him that David bought that mug for himself.

The ladies

We took a walk to the park. The weather here has been so incredibly pleasant. 

Sybil and I spent some time stargazing on the balcony this evening.

Tomorrow, Marguerite comes in town and will stay with Iris and Sybil while David and I travel south of the border.

 

Visitors

I picked up the girls from running camp. It was Iris' first year and Claire's fourth.

On Sunday morning, Sara was the only taker to go read scriptures at Red Rock with me.

It was beautiful, peaceful, and spiritual.

That evening, we read scriptures by the temple. 

We wanted the kids to be able to do baptisms there, but getting an appointment is difficult.

On Monday, kids flew out to Mexico City. Elijah only stayed a week, but they packed in a bunch of fun while he was there. Claire is still there and David and I will fly out to meet her on Thursday.

Last night Elijah arrived in Phoenix and tomorrow morning, he will drive to an orphanage in Northern Mexico where he and his cousins and aunt and uncle will do service.

Meanwhile, for Pioneer Day, the girls and I visited the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort, which is actually owned and run by the state of Nevada.

The girls got to milk a rubber glove:

and went on a scavenger hunt

 Also last week, we had a few visitors. 

The Habbens stayed with us for a night, and a few days later, the Sessums came for the weekend.

We took them to the Pinball Hall of Fame 

And Red Rock, where we hiked to see petroglyphs

and fed the chipmunks

Jacob was introduced to the Sybil Workout:

We all went to Cirque du Soleil and the other night was dinner out for the grown-ups:

Yes! I'm finally caught up with pictures, with only 20 minutes to spare before our next wave of house guests arrive. I'm off to make dinner...

Coming home

A few days before we left, Elijah flew out to BYU for soccer camp, which I hear he thoroughly enjoyed.

Claire and Marguerite stayed up late and made slime to play with on the car ride home.

Before:

After:

Sybil learned the hard way that anything with the prime ingredient of glue 

does not belong near the head/hair. It took a few days for disentanglement.

Avery Island

We ate Boudin egg rolls and fried pickles with a bit of flare

The salt mines were closed due to a recent fatal accident.

Sybil needed to make sure the rock was actually made out of salt:

The greenhouse

The bamboo forest reminded us of Hawaii

Tabasco is made of 3 ingredients: the pepper, vinegar, and salt. 

They are stored in these barrels for 3 years.

And then we were headed West again. Outside of Dallas we had some car problems. 

Not many people were able or willing to help late on a Friday night, except our hero:

Dominique, one of David's childhood friends.

One last mini-stop before we spent the night with our good friends the Baileys:

Snowflake, AZ temple

After we dropped off the girls, Sybil land Diego ruled the back seat. 

The Udalls arrived in Vegas with Elijah shortly after we did.

The boys hunted for wildlife in nearby drainpipes and played tennis on the squash courts and 

the girls had a choreographed and costumed (with makeup) dance party

Elijah and Diego showing their skills on the trampoline:

 

Wrapping up Nola

French Quarter wandering

As a child, David visited MS Rau and salivated at the opulence and beauty. 

We salivated in unison this time.

There were 3 floors of beautiful antiques.

This is a player piano several violins played by a circular bow. 

David brought both of his road bikes. He rode with me and then with Claire. 

I think Claire fared better. I fell because I couldn't get my foot out of the clip. My huge shoe remained attached to the bike when I toppled.

Swamp tour on an airboat.

In the background, there are long red poles that this company uses to mark alligator nests.

There used to only be 1.3 million alligators in the world. But places like this sell gator eggs fo about $30 to farms. The farms harvest them, keep about 30, and send 10 back, once they can fend for themselves. This is much better odds than Mother Nature offers.

Some of the gators were on the payroll, paid with marshmallows.

Aunt Dottie's memorial at the church.

Iris had to get some tree-climbing in.

Cousins:

Siblings

We brought the flowers to Marguerite's parents' graves.

Port of Call with Luis and Kirt:

And, of course, one more snowball run before we left: