A day in Vegas and happy changes

Back in April things in our family were kind of in turmoil.  Aaron's job satisfaction was very low, due to several things, including (but not limited to) how much he was having to be away from home with his travel schedule.  When he finally conveyed to me just how unhappy he was with everything, he'd basically made up his mind that he would have to leave the company. 

 

We talked in depth about options and possibilities and courses of action, and decided he'd start by contacting his recruiter and asking him to start scouting out new positions for him.  He made the phone call on a Friday.  On Monday the guy called him back with "the perfect position" for him.  When Aaron called to tell me about it, the first thing he said was that it's in Las Vegas and I immediately said, "Nope.  Not happening."  I can honestly say that I had never actually been to Vegas, but it was definitely near the very bottom of the list of places that I'd ever want to live.  I mean, it is HOT there!  Like, ALL THE TIME!!

 

But the job itself sounded good-- no decrease in pay, brand new facility, no more travelling, we'd live only 3 hours from my parents, we'd be back out west near most of both our families, etc.  But I couldn't get over the fact that it was in Las Vegas.  Still, I tried to keep an open mind and after going to the temple together to give it serious thought, we decided to make the trip out to take a look and so Aaron could meet the people who wanted to hire him.

 

We worked out a situation for the 3 older kids to stay with friends and we took Rowan with us.  We flew out on Sunday at noon and were in Vegas by early afternoon (the time difference going from east to west was definitely on our side).

 

For his first trip on an airplane, Rowan did pretty good.  He was wiggly and a little restless at times, but he did fall asleep for a little while and it was nice having 2 of us to juggle him when he got squirmy.

A BIG bonus of this trip was that a lot of my family had come to Las Vegas that weekend for the reception of my cousin, Jordan, and her new husband Trevor, who is from there.  Unfortunately we got there just a few hours too late to see many of them.  :(  But Mom, Dad, Todd & Kristen and Jennifer were still around so we got to spend time with them.

 

We spent Sunday looking around the suburbs of Vegas and talking with Trevor's nice family who had great things to say about the area.  They definitely eased my mind quite a bit.

Monday morning was when Aaron had to go to his interview, so we got up early (not hard since 6 am in Vegas is 9 am to us) and had Dad drive us up to the temple grounds.  We walked around and talked about things and plan.  It was so quiet and surprisingly cool up there on the hill, and besides the landscaping crew who were cutting limbs and trimming bushes, we were all by ourselves.  By the time he had to go to his appointment, Aaron and I had decided that if they made him a decent offer, we'd accept and move to Las Vegas.

While Aaron was busy I got to play with my friends!  :)

We met up with Tricia, Chris, Trevor & Jordan at an antiques mall for a little bit, then headed over to the Mandalay Bay hotel for a buffet lunch.

I'd never had a casino buffet before, and ohmyheavenssakes, it was amazing.  I had to stuff my face so we could get over to pick up Aaron and get to the airport on time, though.  We were only actually there for about 24 hours, I think.

 

Our trip was a short one, but one I'm glad we took.  It was so much fun and I really appreciated getting in a little family time, especially now that we live so far away. 

 

In the end Aaron decided not to accept the offer from the company in Vegas because he was able to work out something better with his current company.  He's moved out of the Quality Department and is now working with the Global team.  He got a pay raise and his overall travel has dropped off considerably.  As I'm writing he's asleep in a hotel room in Holland, this being day 3 of a two week trip to Europe that he's on.  But these will only be once every quarter or so, and in the meantime he's been able to work from home quite a bit.  Plus, I might even get to tag along with him on the next one!  WIN!

Month of May recap

I suppose I'd better write a little about what's been going on around here before the summer is completely gone.

May was a fantastic month!  We celebrated Hakan's 7th birthday with an overnight trip to Splash Universe, a lovely Mother's Day (despite the fact that I had to speak in church that day), I got a much anticipated visit from my best friend, Lisa, and took a little vacation of my own to Florida for my cousin Ashton's wedding. 

Each of those events deserves its own blog post, but since I'm trying to catch up I'll just add some of my favorite photos.

Splash Universe is an indoor water park with a hotel attached that's less than an hour away from us.  We went down on a Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel room, hit the water park for a couple of hours, went back to the room for some food and rest then played a little more before bedtime.  We got a good sleep before playing some more the next day and then heading home.  We had a great time and the kids have been asking to go back ever since.  I just wish we'd thought to do this in the dead of winter when we were all in need of some summertime fun!

The kids were thrilled to find that our room was equipped with two sets of bunk beds and their very own TV!

 

I had a lovely Mother's Day, complete with my annual photo with the kids.

They made me this pretty apron in Primary, which I wear proudly.

(Had to include a couple of outtakes.)

I cannot figure out why this is the only picture I took of the two of us while Lisa was here, but this is us in the airport at the end of her visit, waiting to get on our planes.  She was heading home to Idaho and Rowan and I were on our way to Florida.  We had SUCH a great time while she was here.  We made a trip to Ikea (Lisa's first ever!), went thrift store shopping, made jewelry (see our matching necklaces??) had a nice dinner downtown by ourselves and went for walks in the evenings around the neighborhood.  It was so great to see her and I can't wait to get together again!

Rowan has become quite the little frequent flyer-- two plane trips in one month!



I haven't been back to Florida in over 15 years, so it was comforting to see that some things hadn't changed.

Ashton and Jack were sealed in the LDS temple in Orlando on a beautiful Thursday morning. 

I felt so privileged to be in the room with them and so many others who love them, and watch this new little family begin. 

Rowan was missing his Daddy while we were away, but he managed to find a couple of suitable stand-ins with Trevor and Uncle Chris.

This was my little contribution to the couples' reception: a tree that the guests would "sign" with their fingerprints.

Their reception was so much stinking fun, I had a blast dancing like a fool and trying not to care that it was being video taped.  :)

The next day several of us decided to head over to the beach.  I've missed the warm Atlantic ocean and couldn't wait to get there!

Jennifer, me, Kelli, Jordan, Emma, Kimberly and Trevor all had SUCH  a great day at the beach! 

We spent a lot of our time neck-deep in the water searching for sand dollars with our toes.

What a great chance to spend some time with my darling little sisters.

I was going to add more to this post, but I think it's long enough already.  I'll try not to take so long with the next update!