We saw this funny rock that looked like some sort of face.
Oh, whoops! That is a face! Here's the face rock.
We also saw this cabin. The Larsen cabin I believe. One of two on the trail, but we hadn't allotted ourselves enough time to hike the whole trail. Perhaps another day we'll be back to see the second cabin and the alcove.
Shortly after that, we found this nice shady spot in which to take a rest.
There we were, minding our own business, when much to his surprise, Bill's cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway. Turns out it was a member from our bishopric asking us both to speak in Sacrament meeting. . . that very Sunday! That pretty much ruined the nice, peaceful moment for me, seeing as I HATE speaking in public, most especially when I have so little time to prepare. But I got through it, and did actually have some thoughts going through my mind I thought I could share, and we presented decent talks Sunday.
Anyway, here we are near the trail head on our way back.
The following weekend we went to Las Vegas! Heather's roommate had tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian on Friday night, so after a long, grueling afternoon of shopping, my mom, my aunt, Clara, Bill and I headed there for some dinner before the show started. We steered Clara in the right direction, and since the rest of us were too poor to see the show, we did some exploring of the shops inside the Venetian itself. We found a fun hat shop, which we, of course, had to check out. I didn't have a hat, and Bill has like, 75, (and I keep adding more) so I bought myself a nice one there. My mom purchased some pearl earrings for the wedding, and I did not buy myself the pearl bracelet that so tempted me. Bill helped me find a Sephora, which is kind of my candy store, so I had a great time in there. Then it was about time to fetch Clara, which was a bit of a challenge as I had forgotten my phone. Fortunately, it isn't so hard to spot a little Chinese girl in a yellow dress, so we found her before she got lost.
The rest of the night we spent swimming in the pool at my aunt's condo complex. On Saturday, we left the house at the unholy hour of 10:00 AM to do some sight-seeing. First stop: The outlet mall! There, my mom bought some shoes, and Clara bought a hat, because she had to be cool like Bill and I. After that we headed to Mandalay Bay and walked through the Shark Reef.
We had so much fun there that we decided we just couldn't wait any longer to get married, so we decided to follow in Bill's grandparents' footsteps and get married in Vegas! There was even a wedding chapel conveniently located adjacent to the Shark Reef.
Just kidding! Had you going there for a second, didn't we?! Ok, moving on.
After NOT getting married, we went to The Bellagio to see the gallery of paintings by Claude Monet and his contemporaries. They were quite incredible. We spent a good deal of time observing each painting up close and following an audio tour. Only after seeing each painting did I finally catch a glimpse of one at a distance, then the whole experience changed again. When seen juuuust right, the paintings were phenomenal in their flow and movement.
Next, we headed to the Asian market so Clara could stock up on food supplies. Bill found some good stuff too. Guavas, soursop juice and rambutan baby!
We headed back to my aunt's condo, packed up our schtuff, and made one last stop.
Bill and Clara hadn't seen the Las Vegas Temple up close, so my mom drove us there. And we did, of course, document the moment through a number of photos. Oh, you can also see my cute new hat!
Aren't we cute?! I love that 2nd to last picture :) We look forward to the day when we'll be at the St. George temple for our own sealing.
A few weeks later we decided to try an easy, short camping trip. Heather had already told me that she hadn't camped much in the past and doesn't do well sleeping outdoors, but she wanted to try. Our chosen camping spot was only about 15 minutes up Cedar Canyon, but the summer temperatures up the canyon were spot on. We couldn't keep all the fun to ourselves, so we invited along Heather's youngest brother, John as a chaperone of sorts. Heather and John showed up at the house with Flynn the Cobalt and we transferred the camping gear into my Suburban. John pointed out that it is fun looking down on mere stock pickup trucks from inside the altitude enhanced Suburban.
We'd brought hobo dinners, so the first order of business after the tent was up and the site paid for involved making fire (insert manly grunting noises here). They took a while to cook, but came off of the grill slats very hot and tasty. Despite consuming two pounds of meat & veggies each, we also gorged ourselves on apple cobbler from a dutch oven and then s'mores as the night progressed. I got a little carried away and threw an uprooted tree stump in the general vicinity of the fire ring. It made for some pretty flying embers though.
We didn't sleep too bad at all (I'd like to add that I didn't sleep well), and the next day descended the mountain having very easily dispatched with our first camping trip together. Next time it'll have to be somewhere more remote or for a longer time, but we'll work our way up to more adventurous stuff some day I'm sure.
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