One last hurrah

Lately it seems like "last hurrahs" have been a theme with the Sloans and extended family. The girls going to have "one last hurrah" with Emily before she got married (to which Jesse responded sarcastically to the effect of "since there won't ever be another hurrah!" hehe). Our trip to Moab was a sort of "last Hurrah" with Kato as the last camping trip she'd get to go on with us for a while, and then the San Diego trip was kind of one last road trip. I guess none of these were really "last" hurrahs, it turns out we just really like hurrahs ;-)

So last night we went and had another hurrah by going up Mill Creek Canyon to have a bonfire. It's awesome how easy it is to have a good time. Telling stories, joking, laughing, and eating smores... I think we're really fortunate as siblings to enjoy each other's company so much, it's always fun. We really do miss Shawn, and we'll certainly miss Kato while she's gone (as she enters the MTC tomorrow), but at the same time I'm so excited for both of them. It's one of the coolest opportunities and experiences any young person could have, and I know Kato will love it.

Thanks for the excuse to have another hurrah, Kato-- we'll miss you and we love you!

Road Trip!!

The Hotel Del Coronado

The San Diego Zoo

Oooohh... the Sky Ride...

Marianne, Jesse, Bill, Kate, Mike - Seaport Village

A few Saturdays ago, Mike, Mom, Kate, me, Mar and Jesse got in our cars and headed South - stopping first in St. George for a session at the St. George Temple and some yummy empinadas at Poncho & Lefty's. We found our way to Sand Diego on Sunday, stopping in Vegas for a burger at In-n-Out, stopping in Corona to visit Jesse's Parents and pick up Jesse's brother Bill (who turned out to be a fun addition to the group), and finally making it to San Diego for some more fun. We hit the San Diego Zoo with Jesse's sister Katie and her kids Audrey, Justin and Tyler - CUTE family - on Monday, then grabbed some grub at the Cheesecake Factory later that night (mmm... chocolate raspberry and key lime...). Tuesday we did about every touristy thing you can do - shopped, went to see the Hotel Del Coronado, Seaport Village, ate at a local seafood restaurant, wandered around California's first Catholic Mission, and some of us wound the day up by going to a session at the San Diego Temple, which was beautiful. (Yes, yes, I got lost about 8 times trying to figure out the California freeway systems!) Wednesday, Kate, Mom and I headed back North while Mike, Jesse, and Mar hopped a plane to Honolulu... the lucky stiffs... Mom and Kate and I stopped in Las Vegas for the night at a new, HUGE casino away from the strip, and MAN.... that was a NICE room! Plasma screen on the wall, spacious room, comfy beds, view of the awesome pool and hot tub... oh yes, it was all deceiving. We got into Vegas at about 4:30 or 5:00, and at about 6:00 Kate and I went downstairs to swim - only to find out the pool closed at 6:00!!! WHAT THE...???? We were bummed. So we hung out and reviewed our trip pictures and watched TV and found some dinner, and went to bed. Sometime in the early morning (around 6:00 or 7:00 am) I heard a noise at the door, so I got up and went to look out the peep hole, and found some random guy trying to get into our room with his key!! I have no idea if he was drunk or not, and I stood there for a minute watching him through the peep hole, wondering what I ought to do, when he finally gave up and left. Right. I didn't really get back to sleep because I kept expecting him to come back. Then later that morning, as Kate and I were getting ready to go out to the pool for an hour, some security person tried to get into our room! The door was latched so they couldn't come in, but I went to the door and looked out and saw them going down the hall getting into everyone's rooms. Weird. So we went swimming, and when we got back and were getting ready to check out, a security person came in AGAIN! I asked what they were doing, and she just said they were 'checking rooms.' Right. Shady excuses... so we got out of there and started the drive home. I should have given the desk clerk a piece of my mind about that one... but at least the pool was cool! It had little islands in the middle with palm trees and rocks... if I can find a picture of it, I'll post it. Fun times at the pool - pretty swanky, too! Some girl in a bikini came and asked us if we wanted drinks, and another girl came and asked us if we wanted to order any food from the kitchen. AAAHHHH... to see how the other half lives... :)

Fun trip, in all - and I'm looking forward to a post about Hawaii from Mar, Mike or Jesse! :)

Mace Windu is gonna kick some a**!!!

You know, I coudn't believe they actually did it - a saber duel in the deserts of Moab! Our neighbors at the campground enjoyed it, I'm sure - and I admit, it WAS pretty cool to watch! Kate has better pics than I do, but just so others can get a quick look at what went down... sorry so late!

Moab (again)

Yep, we went camping in Moab again. This time we rounded up a pretty good crowd— Mel, Mar, Jesse, me, Dan, Steve, Kate, Jeff, and Megan. All of the crazies minus Shawn and Melissa. Jeff put a pretty good write-up of the trip on his blog with some great pictures, check it out.

He did neglect to mention Saturday night's shenanigans.... on top of smores and singing such hits as "make my boobies one more size" (thanks Kato, hehehe), there was indeed an epic light saber battle in which all of the guys participated. You see, Steve and I bought Jeff a light saber for Christmas, and we'd thrown around the idea of taking them camping as it'd be hilarious to have a battle in the wilderness under the stars. So we did-- and Dan was impressed with both Jeff and Jesse's skills with the saber. I found Steve's dueling style was more to my liking and we had some good Anakin vs. Dooku style action.

And our neighbors in the camp site next to us were entertained-- when Dan lit up his Mace Windu saber, we heard one of them yell "Mace Windu is gonna kick a**!"

Good times! Alas, being thus engaged in mortal combat, I didn't take any pictures, but Kato has a ton so I'll try to steal some from her tonight and add them to the post.