Wednesday in Vegas

Hope and Jordan arrive! Welcome Cat Hoarders Convention!

We can all still fit in one elevator. It's not comfortable and sometimes it's torture, but thats family right?

Auntie Hope and Shanna Hannah stealing Maddy time.

Proud Parents

My dad brought a special book for the boys to read to us. He wanted to do a devotional on it, because the book had such a special theme.

The boys and my Dad took turns reading from it, basically they just took over for the other, when the laughter became to much.

Uncle R doing "activities" with Em.

And it wouldn't be a Vegas trip without a trip to the Mini Golf in the Dark.

Finally some privacy for a make-out.

I believe my Dad set this one up.

Dawson's hole-in-one.

The kids thought they would hide my dad's hat and sunglasses..

We have such a fun time together.

Vegas-Deu

What do you do in Vegas in August. Holy hot, you live in the pool!

My dad and I are very similair in a lot of ways. For example, if we aren't invited to be in a picture, we might as well ruin it.

Thank goodness for grandparents and stamina. Kids can swim all day long.

Uh huh. He didn't get invited into the picture.

This little fish loves the water, and is a pretty dang good swimmer. Fearless for sure.

Love him.

Girls and dads, pretty awesome.

What sign right behind us that says, 'No food or drink'?

Nana! Doesn't love the water, but absolutely adores the Hoodlums.

Vegas-Day One

Our annual Daybell family vacay! Vegas is the perfect spot for us to all converge, and this year we had a sweet little baby to love on. Jeff and Mall had their first baby, Maddy, and she is such a doll!

Dawson took right to Maddy, so I had to make due with holding baby Dyl.

The kids are so happy to be reunited with Grannpa Ranny. He encourages them to be as naughty as they want when he is around. 

This is Uncle Tony being led through the casino. When we first got to the hotel, my dad told the kids not to call him grandpa around people, especially hot babes.  He was "Uncle Tony." Well, we were sitting in the hot tub with lots of strangers when Dawson said really loud, "Hey Uncle Tony, tell us again about the time you saved all those starving children who were stranded on that burning bus." Without missing a beat, my dad spins a ridiculous tale of lies and grandeur. Dyl then says, "Was that the same time that they gave you that medal?" My dad can tell such stories without even blinking, it is hilarious.
The above picture happened as we were trying to exit a casino after lunch. "Uncle Tony" had been blinded on one of his adventures and Dyl had to lead him out of the building, all while my Dad recounted his heroisms.

I am not sure how Dyl dares to ride Uncle Tony, but I guess he is holding on tight. I absolutely love vacationing and spending time with my family. There really never is a dull moment.

And there is six more days of fun!

Couples Campout

We are really lucky to have such a close knit group of friends. We love to vacation together, and it doesn't even have to be somewhere exotic. We went up to Christmas Meadows for the weekend with the Atkinsons, Roses, Maxfields, and Stapletons. The boys had quite the time playing poker, playing with guns, wilderness golfing, searching for gold and making horrible bodily noises.

The girls......did the same, and loved it.

We had some wicked games of 'Dangling Balls' ( probably not the correct name, but we liked it all the same.)

We should know better than to participate in any kind of competition.

Cody and Shanna

Eric and Jeanina

Cam and Mindy

Tent buddy. Britt and Mark just bought a two room tent. They invited us to bunk with them. It worked out really well until the last night when Dave and Mark had eaten their weight in dried mangos. I had never been woken from a deep sleep by a smell before..yuck.

Wilderness golf.

Morning visitors.

Those of us camping in tents, and not trailers, went for an early morning hike. Not because it was beautiful, or we love nature, basically it was to damn cold and hard on the ground, not to get moving.

A little morning yoga.

Cody had done some research on an old deserted ghost camp or something where he knew we would find gold. We hiked all day and saw a possible witch, but no gold.

We probably didn't find the gold, because the guys got so distracted in their rock throwing contest.

I wish I could post the OTHER pictures from this photo op. This is the only one where the boys were behaving.

Shooting guns

Practicing for the day when I can pop a cap in someone's ass.

And of course, games, games, games, til the wee hours of the morning.
It was a blast.