Leaving Las Vegas!

I have to say that my daily posting went better than expected. However, when it came to crunch time with the move, there wasn't much time for anything else but packing and cleaning and adding my final blog entries were not my top priority. Things got a little crazy the last 2 days that we were in Vegas. I was so organized and orderly in my packing to begin with...but it seemed to NEVER end!!! I couldn't believe how much stuff we had and it was a mess to pack! Even after the truck was loaded last Wednesday night, there were so many random odds and ends to take care of. It all ended up being shoved into random boxes, which are now sitting in my garage, unlabeled and who knows when they will be unpacked because we don't really know what is in them! The cleaning also took much longer than expected and we ended up leaving Vegas last Thursday about 5 hours later than planned. However, we made it and although we still have a LOT of unpacking to do (which I am learning may be WORSE than packing!!) we are here!
I have to say that I was a little sad when it was time to go, and even shed a few tears. If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would miss anything about Vegas, I would have thought you were crazy! The first year that we lived there, Darren and I were in 3 major car accidents, totaling all three cars and 2 of the accidents I was pregnant with Logan so I ended up being hospitalized. We had a few car breakdowns, one on the way home from the hospital after I had Logan and also had our car stolen from our home. If that wasn't bad enough, the car then broke down on the thieves and we had to pay a lot of money to get it out of the impound lot and have it repaired! I had a job that I didn't particularly love when we first moved there and not too many friends and Darren spent much of his time studying. We also had Logan the first year and he came 6 weeks early, so even that happy event was a little hard as he had to stay in the NICU for 2 weeks. After all of this, I couldn't wait to leave, but things got better and I will actually miss more about living there than I ever thought I could. I know I have posted a list of several of the things I will miss, but I never got a chance to finish my list, so here are a few "Honorable Mentions" that didn't make the daily post listings!

1. The Weather!!! How can you talk about Vegas without mentioning the beautiful weather! We could go to the park 9 months out of the year - (You can't go in the summer because it is SOOO hot!!!) We did leave at a great time though because it was up to about 110 the week before we left, which is TOO hot for me! I am happy to have seasons again, but I think when those cold Cache Valley winters hit, I might be hoping for some sun and palm trees again!!!
2. Visitors - We always had people coming down for something or coming through and it was so fun to see friends and family and show them some fun things to do in Vegas. I don't think Cache Valley has quite the same tourist appeal, but we hope that some of our friends and family will still come visit us sometimes! We also had some friends from Utah who were living in Vegas for different things. My old roomie, Mindy, moved to Vegas a few weeks before we did and she did so much to help us get moved and was so great to come over and hang out or babysit for us! Also, my friend from high school, Lacey, recently moved to Vegas for her husband to go to medical school and I have had so much fun hanging out with her and catching up this last year. There always seems to be someone you know in town or coming through for something, and we will miss seeing familiar faces!
3. Vegas has EVERYTHING!!! - There is pretty much one of everything in Vegas - There are so many stores, restaurants and other entertainment and pretty much every major show or concert comes through eventually. The downside to this is that we were poor college students and we couldn't really take advantage of all the cool stuff there was to do - For instance, I REALLY wanted to see Celine, but I could never justify spending all the money! Anyway - Maybe now we will have an excuse to come back and visit old friends and see some of the great things Vegas has to offer!!! There were a lot of cool free things to do, like the Bellagio fountain shows and other neat places to visit like Mount Charleston and Red Rock and Lake Las Vegas. We will miss having so much to do!
4. Our cute condo and community - The place we lived in was so great! We had some ornery old neighbors, but we also had some great neighbors too. Logan and Rylee got so much attention because they were some of the few kids living there and they loved it! They loved going for walks and to see our neighbors and their dogs, especially Phyllis and Angel. It was such a nice place and so quiet - We really loved our time there!
5. Darren will miss all the expensive cars! Everyone in Vegas seems to drive some exotic car and Darren loved spotting them all or driving by the Lamborghini dealership - I don't think he will be seeing many Bentleys or Vipers or Lamborghini's here in Cache Valley!

I do have to say, that there are also things I will NOT miss about living in Las Vegas! Here is a list: Traffic all hours of the day, crazy drivers, being afraid of being shot, mugged or broken into, all the naked billboards, the HOT summers, living so far from many of our friends and family, living so close to the Strip, not being able to see the stars at night, school and studying, student loans, and some not so friendly people!