Mayhem, Mother's Day and Medicinal Marijuana

We recently returned from a fabulous trip to Las Vegas and Utah. Usually when we fly home, we only have a day or two and the time goes way too fast. This time, we had a week and a half. It was great and we all had a blast. I love my family more than anything.

Our first stop was Las Vegas for my nephew Cameron's baptism. He is such a great kid and was so excited to get baptized.

My childhood babysitter now lives in Vegas and came to the baptism. She is a crazy lady and it has been so fun to reconnect with her. I think we look the same age now. She has a business where she takes medicinal marijuana and cooks with it. It helps people (including her) who have prescriptions for marijuana take it without having to smoke it. It was fascinating to learn about her business. (Note: I'm not promoting it, so no need to comment on it.)

For her 55th birthday, she shaved her head. She wore a wig to the baptism because she didn't think it would be appropriate to show up bald.

But afterwards, she took it off!

The kids had a blast trying it on. Baylie looks like a mini Tina Turner.

Jalen looks like, well I'm not sure what he looks like, but he's still cute.

Baylie was in heaven having her little cousins Lauryn and Clara around 24/7.

Next we headed to Utah. My dad is retiring after more than 40 years as an educator. He has spent the past 10 years at Timpview High School in Provo. They threw a big retirement bash for him. My entire family except for one niece and a brother-in-law was able to be there.

It was gratifying to see him honored and appreciated by so many people. The faculty bought him a Frederic Remington sculpture of a cowboy. It was the perfect gift for him.

The kids were just excited to have balloons.

The other big event was the baptism of my nephew Kolton. He has always had a special relationship with his Uncle David so we were especially glad David could be there on Kolton's special day.

While in Utah, the little girls got to go to Aunt Bethany's fairy tale ballet class. When Aunt Bethany brought in these beautiful princess dresses, Baylie said "Oh......my......gosh!" She was in heaven dancing in her princess dress. These little girls are such good friends. It's going to be so much fun watching them grow up together.

Utah finally got some heat, so we broke out the sprinklers, slippery slide and kiddie pool.

All Jalen needed was a surfboard.

Somewhere in the middle of it all was Mother's Day. It was fun to spend it with my children and my mom.

As usual, we had a little adventure flying home since Baylie threw up on the plane, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful. It was great to be back in our own little apartment again. (Although the kids really miss having space to run and a backyard in which to run free.)

Once we got home, Jalen and David both shaved their heads (okay, I shaved them). I like bald heads, but David looks so much like his brother Isaac now that it's freaking me out a little.