Alright, so here's the story of the Vegas Trip. I know, I know, I know! It's just what you've all been waiting for!
Day 1: Thursday March 22
The drive down was really nice. I learned quite a lot about TR, and he a bit about me. We stopped at Cove Fort, took the tour, and got a humdinger! :D That was the best. Cove Fort really is a cool place. Interesting to see how things were done back in the day. I liked it. Then a bit further down the road, we stopped in Cedar to see my friends at work. Holly was very much offended that I didn't tell her I was coming, but I wanted to surprise her! And surprise her I did! Everyone was excited to see me, and I felt like I was home once again. I miss that there call center. Holly and TR joked a bit, and it was all good. Which was really nice, since TR is kinda shy around new people. Had some lunch, then back on the road. We stopped in St. George and got some of Nielson's famous frozen custard! (I recommend it to anyone. It's my favorite) Mmmm...so good. After that poor TR was so tired that we switched drivers and the stretch from St. George to Vegas began, me driving and he sleeping. Needless to say, that was the longest part of the trip for me. Then we get to Grandma Reusch's house (I think that's how you spell it). She had dinner waiting on the table for us, and when we walked in she scooped me up in her arms and gave me a big hug, telling me how glad she was that I could come. It made me smile inside, and out apparently, cause TR said I was beaming. There, not only did I meet Grandma, but I met Lettie (TR's Aunt), Don (Lettie's Husband), Jacob (Lettie and Don's 4-year-old), Troy (TR's Uncle), Darrin (TR's Uncle), Sharon (Darrin's Wife), Alex, Joshua, and Eric (Sharron and Darrin's boys). Quite the little gathering. Now I've met all of TR's aunts and uncles on his mom's side except one. I probably won't meet Connie until the wedding though. They live in Oregon and can only make a few trips a year. One or two, and they've already said they're coming down for our wedding. Anyway, after the typical "get to know you" questions from the family TR and I brought in our bags and grandma showed us where we were going to sleep. At this time it was about 9 o'clock their time, 10 ours, and I was EXHAUSTED. So TR popped in Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, because he had never seen it. I watched the opening with the dolphins and was OUT. Even after the movie was over and TR and I were kneeling to say prayers I fell asleep with my head resting on TR's chest. I didn't realize it until he pulled my shoulders back, looked in my eyes and said "AMEN" because apparently I didn't respond the first time. He kissed me goodnight, lead me to the bed I was sleeping in, turned down the sheets and made sure I was actually in bed and not just kneeling on the floor with my head on the mattress before going to his own bed. And thus ends day one.
Day 2: Friday March 23
There is gonna be pictures with this day! YAY!! Alright, so I slept for almost 12 hours straight that night, but apparently I needed it cause I felt completely rested when I woke up. Also, I was the only one who slept in that late too apparently. Grandma and I were sharing a room, and she was already gone. I didn't hear Sharon yelling at her kids so I assumed that they were all at school and she was at work. Troy and Darrin go to work way way early, so I knew they were gone, so I went in search of my beloved. I turned the corner into his room (he was staying in the other room in the mother-in-law apartment), and there he was, just finishing up an e-mail to Eric (which reminds me I need to write him...I'm terrible). I gave him a hug from behind and he kissed my temple, asked me how I slept and so on so forth. It was one of those mornings where you look at life and think "How could it be more perfect at this moment in time?" and you can't think of anything. 
Grandma made us pancakes for breakfast, and we got ready for the day. The plan for the day was that TR, Lettie, Don, Jacob, Grandma, and I were going to go and see Hoover Dam, and take the dam tour, since it was pretty close, and TR and I hadn't been there since we were kids. Grandma hadn't been there for 10 years or something, so she came with us too. It was great fun. The dam tour was kinda lame...but it was alright. I was mostly just enjoying the company. Have I ever mentioned that I love TR's family? They're so great! And funny and just really, all in all,
they're a heck of a lot of fun. I like 'em a whole bunch. By the time we got done with the tour and taking pictures on the observation deck Jacob was STARVING so he, Lettie, and Don (did I mention Don is blind? He's way awesome. Great great guy) went to the car and TR, Grandma and I walked the dam over to the Arizona side, where Lettie was going to pick us up and we were going to get lunch. W
ell, where we happened to stop and wait for Lettie apparently wasn't a loading zone and we got yelled at by the dam police. (hehehe I particularly like that part. Lettie was hilarious!) We scuttled into the car and hurried off to lunch. We went to this little Cafe in the little town by the dam (I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. I've heard the name before, but can't remember now) and Grandma bought us lunch. It was a lot of fun. Just casual, but very nice. Then on the way home I fell asleep on TR, I don't know why but I was so tired again. We got inside and TR was going to take a nap with me on the couch (no worries, we don't ever lay down on the couch. I just rest my head on his chest and he rests his head on my head), but I ended up falling asleep while he watched "It Takes a Thief" on TLC or something like that. He likes that show. Anyway, after I woke up from my nap it was about 4:30 or 5 and instead of going out to dinner like we had planned (apparently that's a big thing in his family) we just got take out from Panda Express, again, thanks to Grandma. After dinner Don, Lettie, and Jacob went home, Joshua and Sharon went to football, Grandma and Eric went to Eric's pinewood derby, Troy had volley ball, and Darrin and Alex...I dunno what happened to them. 
So TR and I were free to go see the sights of Vegas. TR had never been to the strip before, so it was a first for him. I really enjoy the night shows on the strip, so that's what we did. Our first stop was the Bellagio were we saw the fountains soon after dark. They're SO cool!! I love 'em. TR was quite impressed too. Further on down the street, we went and saw the moving statues at Caesar. One word: L-A-M-E!! Goodness, that was a waste of a good 10 minutes of our lives. Ugh. Needless to say, after that Caesar lost all
appeal to us. On to the Mirage. I like the volcano there, so we thought we'd stick around and see it. I thought it ran every half hour, but come to find out it's ever hour, so we figured we'd hit it on our way back, and we walked down to Treasure Island. I've always wanted to see the show there. I've only seen it from the other side of the street, but it always looked cool. So TR and I work our way into the crowd, and start watching the "Siren" show. TOTALLY not the show I thought it was. It used to be 
all cool and acrobatic and everything, now it's just scantly clad women and men basically doing a strip club act, minus the stripping. Sarah later told me that she heard on the news it's more "Adult oriented" now. I'd say so. I felt so bad for TR cause he could see a lot more than I could. I wanted to cover his eyes, but didn't. Instead we just left and walked back to the volcano. 5 minutes of the siren's show was too much for us. Luckily, we were just in time to see the volcano erupt, which made TR happy cause of all the fire and stuff. After that, we crossed the street over to the Venetian where TR and I took a Gondola ride. You heard me right, GONDOLA RIDE. It was the bestest ever!! Our Gondolier was a funny guy. Way funny, and a great singer. We got serenaded and stuff. It was so cool! There's not much else on that side of the street that we wanted to see that wasn't clear in the heck up there, so we crossed back over and watched the fountains at the Bellagio a few more times, took some pictures of the Paris hotel, looked in the window at Tiffany's and Georgio Armani before heading home. All in all, quite the successful trip down the strip. I loved every minute of it.
Day 3: Saturday March 24
On this morning I woke up to my cute TR poking his head around the corner to see if I was awake with a HUGE grin on his face when I looked over at him. He's so cute! XD He came and sat by me, gave me a hug and said "Good morning Beautiful. How'd you sleep?" It was so cute! Since there wasn't much planned for this day except eating lunch at In and Out Burger (neither of us had ever been, so we thought we might try it) and dinner later in the evening, most of the morning was spent just chillin' in our pajamas around Grandma's house. Lettie and Jacob came over and several phone calls later Don said he would like to go to In and Out Burger, so they were going to treat us. Lettie had to go pick up Don, so I hurried and got ready while she did so. Off to In and Out Burger we went. It wasn't the best food, but it was just the idea. TR and I decided we wanted In and Out shirts, and we rock/paper/scissored for it. See, when I play that game, I generally always go with ro
ck, so the other person has to decide if I win or lose. TR knew that, and I wanted to win, so I tried to play it so I would. Best two outa three.....TR won both times. -_- So I had to let him buy me a shirt and I filled up our drinks. Then Lettie, Don, Jacob, TR, and I headed out to red rock. TR's aunt Beckie that lives with them said we HAD to go see red rock, so we went. On the way out there I was sitting between TR and Jacob. Jacob started trying to tickle me, so I tickled him back. During one of the breaks betwe
en tickles he looked at me and said "No, Rachel! It goes like this." took my hand, and interlocked his little fingers in mine. It was so cute!! Lettie looked back and said that Jacob hasn't held anyone else's hand but hers and Grandma's, and said that I've officially been accepted into the family and can't leave. That made me happy inside. All the way to red rock Jacob held my hand, and hugge
d and kissed my arm. It was the cutest thing EVER. When we got to red rock we just played around and had a grand ol' time. It was really quite a lot of fun. Then on our way home Lettie said we should probably decide where we wanted to go to dinner because Grandma wo
uld say that it didn't matter to her so we could go where ever we wanted to. TR and I didn't have a preference so Lettie asked Jacob. He responded, "That's not our assignment, Mom. That's Grandma's assignment, so we don't have to worry about." Just imagine that coming out of a little articulate 4-year-old's mouth. It was hilarious. We ended up eating at Joe's Crab Shack with all the family and stuff, minus Darrin. I didn't see Darrin much actually. Anyway, Joe's was fun. TR was cute with his little bib thing on. Awww, so cute. After dinner Lettie and Don took us down to Fremont street so we could do th
e Fremont Street Experience. Basically we went and walked around for an hour until the screen overhead (about 3 city blocks long and covering the whole street) did it's little show. It was pretty cool. Something that it's nice to see, but you don't go to Vegas specifically to see, ya know? After we got all done with that we went home and TR and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I watched most of it...but again, I fell asleep. I'm lame like that, but I was tired! And on vacation! I'm allowed to sleep right? Anyway, after the movie TR and I read our scriptures and he had to lead me into the room I was sleeping in. Good guy that.
Day 4: Sunday March 25
I decided I like waking up a lot more when TR is there. I woke up on Sunday to him sitting in a wicker chair, watching me. He's funny like that. It was cute though. I got up and got ready for church and things while he took apart a chair and put it in the back of the car. We went to church with Lettie and Don (we hung out with them a lot actually. They're WAY cool.) and it was an AMAZING testimony meeting. A very strong spirit was there. After church Lettie, Don, and Jacob all gave us hugs and Lettie said she was excited to have me in the family. I almost started crying right then and there cause I was excited too. It was so cool! We went back to Grandma's where she had dinner on the table waiting for us. Well, almost. It was mostly done. We threw our bags into the car and TR's mom called Grandma. Angie (TR's mom) fell off the curb on the way to church and shattered her wrist! Sad huh? That was quite the topic of conversation at the dinner table. After dinner, we said our goodbyes, waved to Troy, shook Darrin's hand, got rounds of hugs from Sharon, the boys, and at least two or three from Grandma before walking out the door. I was sad to be leaving, but happy to know that I was accepted into the family. On our way home we stopped in Cedar and saw Dave. Oh goodness Dave. I love Dave, I do, but I can only handle him for about...45 minutes or so, then I have to leave. At the end of that 45 minutes, however, Dave's little brother Jim came over. Oh dear goodness. I could have lived my whole lifetime without ever seeing Jim after high school and been completely content with life, but it was not to be apparently. He walked in with his little Leopard print collar, name tag and all, his snazzy leather jacket (bleh!) and horrid ski goggles tan line. Ugh. Then he kept on looking TR up and down. No good. That was our cue to leave. So we left and went and saw my friend Shelly. That was good times. When we were there though the whole Lacy fiasco from last year came up and after we left I had to tell TR all about it. He got really jealous that I had kissed Devin, even though it didn't mean anything and it happened long before he was home from his mission. Still, we did a lot of talking and there was quite a lot of self-discovery for me on the ride home. We also stopped in cove fort again on our way back and saw the Joseph Smith movie. BAWLED!!! It's amazing, but don't forget your tissues. Lots and LOTS of tissues. I think between the two of us TR and I went through almost a whole box. It's amazingly powerful. I highly recommend it. And then, we came home. And that was the end of our vacation.
Apparently Grandma just went on and on to his mother about how cute I am and how I obviously adore him and we're perfect for each other (I'm sensing a pattern here). I'm glad she liked me as much as I liked her. ^_^
Shout out goes to Lettie, Don, Grandma, Jacob, Alex, Joshua, Eric, Sharon, Darrin, and Troy. They're way awesome, and they totally made me feel like family right from the get go. I loved it. And there you have it, my vegas vacation. :D
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