Christmas in Vegas

We were so excited for Christmas this year and we got to celebrate twice! We went down to Vegas the week before to celebrate with my family. This was the first time in about six years that our whole family had been together for Christmas--even if it wasn't ON Christmas! We were glad to see dad in good shape as he had a pace maker put in the previous Monday. He said he feels so good he could run a marathon! With everyone in town and dad recuperating from his surgery we didn't want to overwhelm him so we decided to stay with Lauren & Garn. They were quite the hosts and even made us a big sunday breakfast! We all gathered at mom and dads for breakfast saturday morning and an early Christmas. We had fun surprising mom with a camera, dad with a machine to upload his records to the computer to be digital, Asher got a stamp set which she went around and got everyone with--Jaman got a Monster Truck wii game that he played all week, and we got Lauren and Garn some decorations for their home and a cookbook with a recipe a day for a whole year! Mom and dad got us a copy of the Book of Morning for families, and mom even made Luke a suit! It was a great morning. When we pulled up in front of my parents house that morning Luke said "This doesn't look like Christmas" It was pretty much fall weather, but we still had a "white" Christmas--missionary style! That afternoon Leslie went through the temple to receive her endowments. It was such a special experience to be there with the family to share that moment with her and some special family friends. Leslie has waited a long time to be there, and we were glad to be with her. The rest of the weekend went way too fast, but we enjoyed every minute of it and were glad to show Luke his first Vegas Christmas. Next year we are hoping to be there on Christmas day so we can talk to Leslie when she makes her second call home!