At the beginning of March the girls and I made our annual girls-only drive to Las Vegas for the WCC tournament. It is what they look forward to all season. All year, really. The one change this year is we went down the day before their first game. Sadie went to school for a few hours and then we picked her up with the van all packed. We ate lunch in the car; stopping in St. George for 15 minutes to get gas and use the potty. We arrived by 3 PM, mainly for the swimming. Daniel wasn't even at the hotel.
After unloading the car into the hotel room we made a beeline for the pool....only to find out that it did not open "for the season" until the following day! I am still not sure what that means when the hotel is in Vegas, but whatever. The hot tubs are open year round so we took over there and thoroughly annoyed the 3 other guests trying to relax.
On this first swimming excursion Millie did a terrible job with her puddle jumper floatie, fighting against it and swallowing tons of water while eventually ending up screaming on her back. It was funny to watch, but annoying that I had to keep jumping in to help her.
That night we spent 3 hours eating dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with the team. Dinners with the team are fun, but long, and can be hard with the girls.
Another big change this year: the Millster. She is at a terrible age to be kept confined to a hotel room. She is big enough that she can get into everything, but too young to truly understand consequences ahead of time. She would open all the doors/drawers/cupboards, turn on the bathtub (while she was standing in it--clothed!), spread our room snacks all over, etc. She spent a lot of time whining to me.
The next day I didn't take any pictures (besides the one of Millie whining). That morning we fit in a short swim in the pool before the game. BYU won and we headed back to the hotel to jump in the hot tub again before heading to the Rio buffet for dinner. The girls were pretty horribly behaved there.
Saturday morning we explored the hotel grounds while we waited for breakfast to be ready. I wanted to get a cute picture of the girls in their matching pj's made by Mimi, but I got this series instead.
Following breakfast we went to a local park because it was only 55 degrees. The sun showed up after a bit so we rushed back to the hotel to swim. The Stewarts were already there and then the Faucettes showed up. We ordered lunch poolside and were having a merry old time when suddenly the lifeguards announced the pool was closed due to a child barfing a small amount.
And so we took our large party over to the hot tub. If you click on that photo of Millie in the goggles you will see ketchup all over her face. That girl's main source of nutrition on the trip was ketchup. She can't get enough.
That night after the kids were asleep Kaylie and I headed out to celebrate her birthday. We didn't take any pictures, but I tried the salted caramel cheesecake at Cheesecake factory and fell in love. Yum.
Sunday was filled with a trip to church and a lunch with Daniel's Uncle Ron. We all laughed because we live 10 minutes apart in Utah, but it took being in Vegas to go out together. That night we had a nice dinner with the team.
Monday morning we hit up the hot tub since it was a little too cold for the pool. We arrived at Daniel's game with a few minutes left in the first quarter. The Stewart twins came and sat by us, which was fun and chaotic. They bought slurpees for all the girls to share, which got spilled a couple of times. Millie kept trying to run away. Some strangers got upset with the girls for walking in front of them too much. By the end of the game I was so fed up that I took away their swimming privileges for that afternoon. Which, in all reality is a punishment for me too since I have to sit in the hotel room with 3 kids.
When we got back to the hotel Millie napped while the other 2 had quiet time. It did us all some good and the girls earned a trip to the hot tub as it got dark. Then we headed to a nearby McDonald's for some happy meals and a fun play place.
I got to eat take out Cheesecake Factory and Millie begged for "bi-bites" like she always does. She sent this picture to Daniel to say goodnight. If it isn't already clear- we don't get to see Daniel that much on our trip. He sleeps in the room with us, but during the day he is working.
Tuesday morning we went swimming in the hot tub again due to the 55 degree temperature. By this trip Camille had figured out the puddle jumper and mostly worked with it to kick herself around. Millie kept whining to the other girls to play but then she would cry when they didn't do exactly what she wanted (top picture below). I tried to keep her happy playing on the steps.
I did not want to miss the intros for the championship game against San Francisco so we hustled our buns and made it to the arena just in time.
The first quarter of the game was great. Then it went downhill. I still fully expected BYU to pull it out. Despite playing poorly, they maintained a 5 point lead until the closing 2 minutes of the game. Then we literally gave the game away. San Francisco did not play well. We handed them the game. I am still so mad and disappointed writing about it. As my dad would say, BYU snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Poor Sadie was devastated. She cried for 45 minutes. She told us she wished sports had never been invented so she didn't have to feel this way.
We packed up the hotel room ASAP and hit the road. I was so mad and sad for the players. I wanted to punch them all in the face and then hug them. It was a scarring game that none of them will ever forget. We ate a quick dinner (where Millie dumped ketchup all over herself) in Cedar City and pulled in our driveway around midnight.
PS- a random story from the trip. On Friday night the hotel guests in the neighboring room were smoking pot. Our entire room was filled with the smell. We called security and they came and told them if anyone else complained they would need to leave. The next day they were smoking again in the middle of the day. When I called the front desk to complain, instead of kicking those guests out, they made us change rooms. They told me I had to be ready in 20 minutes before the change of shifts or I would need to wait until the next day. I had to pack up all of our stuff (Millie was napping and Sadie and Elise were in the bathtub at the time) and get us out of there. I thought it was nuts! I didn't file a complaint since BYU was paying for our room, but how strange.
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