Sunday, June 10, 2007

Day 1: From Happy Valley to Las Vegas

Renting a minivan to travel from Utah to LAX was a thousand times cheaper than buying tickets for the whole family...and a whole lot more fun.

We were supposed to leave at 11am(AIS). But, of course, we were lucky to pull out of the driveway by 2pm. It is fairly common to see Utah families stuffing 7 people and 13 suitcases in a Dodge Caravan - but not on Sunday afternoon. I'm sure our neighbors who saw us packing the car (while they walked to church) thought we started off on the wrong foot. Rumor has it that at church, many prayers were offered on our behalf.

The prayers worked! We managed to make it 47 minutes into our journey before our first 'incident'. 47 minutes is our personal record. FYI - our definition of an 'incident' is one that causes weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth (child or parent - it doesn't matter).

We stopped at a Texaco after 40 miles to make some luggage adjustments and fill up the tank. While I was pumping gas, Elijah(3 years old) decided to wash his hands with good ole fashioned American unleaded (I guess he thought it was my Dad's Brut aftershave). The weeping started when he rubbed his eyes. The wailing started when Emily rapidly swept Eli to the Texaco bathroom for a full, fledged professional eye-rinse. With the skill of a high ranking OSHA inspector, Emily saved Elijah's eyes from permanent damage...and also created a new mental illness called Texacobathroomphobia.

It only took 2 hours for Elijah to calm down and 4 hours for his clothes to dry. We stopped by the George LDS Temple visitors center to regain some spiritual strength and let the car air out. It was the perfect reststop. I think that Emma learned that Heavanly Father loves us 4 (meaning, the quantity of four). Victoria, of course, thinks it might be as much as a googel.

From St. George we continued (without incident) to Las Vegas to sleep in The Westin's incredible beds. Enjoy this 6 minute video of our St. George reststop.

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