Last Week in Vegas

We're on the tail end of our time here in Vegas...here's a quick rundown of our activities this week.

SUNDAY
Our last service at Canyon Ridge was wonderful. They honored all military members, past and present, by having them come on stage and say their name, rank, branch of service, and tour(s) of duty. By the time everyone had filed across at the 11:00 service, there had to be at least 100 servicemen and women on stage! The long standing ovation afterward with cheers and whistles was enough to make my breath catch in my throat, and I could barely sing "America the Beautiful" afterward. THESE are true heroes.

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Later that afternoon we had a family going-away party at my friend Cindey's house. Though some folks weren't able to make it, we enjoyed visiting with some of our favorite Las Vegas families during an informal potluck. Sadly, I took very few pictures despite good intentions! I always get caught up in the moment and forget about my camera. Once again, I'll have to post photos later...the Internet access here at the hotel is pretty sketchy.

Afterward we took Charis to the T family's house so she could spend the night with her friend Addie.

MONDAY
The packers arrived around 8:30 a.m. The kids, amazingly, slept in, which was a huge blessing, as Ted and I had tons to do! After breakfast I took the older three (Tobin, Arden, Kenna--Charis was still at Addie's house) to Cindey's, and Ted and I worked and worked to finalize things while the 2 packers did their thing. A third packer joined them around noon, and they ended up finishing up the whole job that day, another blessing! I picked the kids up from Cindey's in the afternoon, and then after things were finalized at the house, we picked Charis up and went out to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

We arrived on base and went to pick up our keys for the Temporary Lodging Facilities. We were supposed to have 2 adjoining rooms; however, some (idiot) one decided for no apparent reason to give away one of our adjoining rooms. So, we had two rooms, but instead of being together, they were on opposite ends of the property!! Disgruntled and extremely exhausted, we piled into one room and made do for the night rather than try to separate items in our shared suitcases.

TUESDAY
After many phone calls, we were shuffled across the TLF courtyard to two side-by-side (but not adjoining) rooms. This meant hauling all our stuff from one room to the other. Sigh. This took most of the morning.

The kids and I went to Cindey's house where I worked on a mailing. Ted did some work here at the TLF, finishing with the unloading of our many items, getting a few groceries, etc.

In the evening Ted took the 4 older kids to the base pool while Lucan and I drove across town to attend the last Bible study gathering, a salad bar potluck with some dear sisters in Christ with whom I've shared much over the past months and even years, with some of them! I enjoyed our last get-together and will miss being with them when they begin their next study in the fall. (Will have to post photos of this gathering later, also!)

WEDNESDAY
This morning I took the kids to the free movies, where we saw Inkheart...what looked like a very unique and interesting movie, from what I could tell. :-) I think it may have been a bit intense for my kids, but Tobin at least seemed to really like it. I missed the first 15-20 minutes because of standing in line for popcorn, and then I had to exit a few times with Kenna and later with Arden, who needed to go potty. Anyway, it got us out of the TLF for awhile and allowed us to visit with friends again--tons of people we know go to the free movies!

Charis and Arden are spending the afternoon with friends Alyssa and Zachary E, and the rest of us are ready to head to Blair and Heather's house for one last evening. I'll pick Arden up later on for dinner, and Charis is spending the night with Alyssa. Ted and I are looking forward to at least one more game of Catan with Blair and Heather!