A Visit from Dave, Kylie and little Evan

There are so many things to tell about our last couple of weeks here in Vegas...but this one was definitely a little highlight for us...

Dave and Kylie (and Evan) came from California to visit us for 2,5 days..yay!

We really enjoy visits from friends since we don't know many people here..there is only one other couple in our ward that is about our age... 

Anyway, it was great having the three here and it was a pleasure for us to meet their 5-months old baby Evan. He is sooo cute!

On Friday morning, we sent them out to the world on their own, since we had a doctor's appointment. The worst experience ever!!! Every time I go to the doctor here in the US, I miss the German health system...

Anthon and I were super super mad after the appointment... 

When we arrived, the person at the desk told us that we would have to wait 1 hour because the doctor had had an emergency that morning. The time passed by.... and after about 2,5 hours and not many patients left in the waiting room (and we had asked around to see how many people there are before us), that desk woman called somebody before us that was supposed to have an appointment 30 min after us. A black young lady next to us then asked the desk woman, what's going on and why she let that other person go before us.

The desk person only looked through her papers and said: "Oops!" She never said sorry or explained why. She had all the papers and schedules there... so she shouldn't have made that mistake.

 After 3,5 hours (although we had an appointment) we finally saw the doctor, with super messy hair. Didn't look too trustworthy... She is supposed to be one of the best doctor's in town though. She asked me about 1-2 questions... and after 2 minutes she sent us home.

 We waited 3,5 hours in her boring waiting room for 2 minutes of her time?!? After the appointment, we had to go to the check-out where a superficially friendly woman asked us how we are doing... the most stupid question at a doctor's office. I would have loved to tell her how mad we both were.  

1st I'm at the doctor's because something is not right and 2nd, we just had to wait 3,5 hours for 2 minutes, had to pay 25 Dollars and knew as much as before the appointment.

You can imagine how "willing" we were to pay the 25 Dollars co-pay... 

I've only had bad experiences going to the doctor here in the US. I've gone to so many doctors in Germany, but I've never had such bad experiences....

Anyways... after that we went to the Las Vegas temple with Dave and Kylie, which was a nice contrast to our stupid doctor's appointment. ;-) 

 Just taking some pictures at the temple...

After that, we went to the Ethel M Chocolate factory. Although this chocolate is pretty expensive, it tastes pretty cheap. I wouldn't buy it...  just go to the Springdale Candy Company- there you get some good quality..

Kylie and Dave wanted to go to a buffet, so we did- you shouldn't leave Vegas without having gone to a buffet. There are sooo many buffets here!

We decided to go to the Red Rock casino and try their "Feast Buffet". It really was a feast!

Here is their website:

http://www.redrocklasvegas.com/dining/feast_buffet.php

 Kylie showed us how to even eat ice-cream with chop sticks... :-D

 Wow... we were sooo full after this buffet!

The Feast Buffet was good, but I don't know if I would go there again. Buffets are buffets, unless you pay more money. Anthon and I prefer quality over quantity... and not feeling stuffed like a huge turkey...

But it was still fun going there.. and hey.. 7 Dollars for a buffet is pretty cheap! ;-)

After the buffet we went to the strip and walked through the Bellagio. I love the Bellagio! I like the garden that is displayed inside the hotel.. and of course I LOVE their fountain shows!

Since the strip is only a 1.2 miles away from where we live, we often go to the strip, just to watch a couple of fountain shows. Yay for cheap dates!

It was so cute to see Anthon so baby trunky...haha... he LOVES babies and always plays and talks with them... He always wants to hold them and throw them in the air,....but I guess we still have to wait a while until Anthon can play with our own baby...

I'm glad I have a husband who is so excited to have kids one day. Since Anthon is the biggest, silliest kid in the world, our kids will love playing with him! :-)

 Isn't lil' Evan so cute?

It would be so nice to live closer to Dave and Kylie- they are really such a nice couple. Just fun to be around!

2 days went by so fast! But it was so much fun having them here! Thanks for coming Dave, Kylie and Evan!

Dwight's "Springdale Candy Company"

You always thought that heaven is far away?!? Growing up, I knew that heaven couldn't be too far away because I found a piece of heaven here and there in our home. In the living room drawers, next to my bed, on grandma's and grandpa's table,....

But... 2,5 weeks ago, I really was in heaven!

At first, I thought I was just dreaming and dreamed that I had a delicious super creamy chocolate praline. 

But wait..I was not dreaming- I was in Dwight's Candy Shop!

 At the feet of Zion's mountains, surrounded by this beautiful nature, stands this "candy temple", as we could call it.

 The nice thing about it is that you immediately enter the celestial kingdom. ;-)

 I told you- it's heaven on earth!

 As soon as you enter the Shop, your nostrils are filled with an amazing chocolate smell. It must be sooo much nicer working there than working at McDonald's in its greasy air as I did.

Everytime customers came into the shop, they took a deep breath and said to each other how good it smells there.

 I don't think I've ever seen so much candy in such a small area.

 I was so excited to see that they had different kinds of licorice. I LOVE European licorice- but I'm not a fan of American licorice that taste like sugar with plastic. It was sooo good to have good licorice again...

 Jelly Belly Beans and different kinds of ice-cream.

Anthon showing off his scooping skills from back in the days when he worked at Baskin Robbins.

 And this is: la crème de la crème!

The chocolate altar!

 The cool thing about it is that many of these pralines are made right behind this counter.

..and you can definitely tell the difference!

 Absolutely mouthwatering!

 Dwight Burch (who is Frank's cousin Cindy's husband), his brother-in-law, Dwight's sister & Anthon.

Dwight was so kind and gave us two bags of brittle- one with peanut and one with pecans. Anthon took the pecan brittle to his work and it was all gone the next day.

I only tried the peanut brittle and it was amazing! Sooo addictive!

At Brian and Leslie's Open House, I also had the thin mints, the candied oranges, pecan turtle...and we've tried some of the chocolate pralines. As most of you know, German (and Swiss) chocolate is really good...but Dwight's chocolate is amazing! Very creamy and flavorful. You just taste the freshness and the good ingredients. In addition, their candy doesn't have all that artifical stuff in them. I also find their prices very reasonable for such quality products.

If you ever plan on going to Zion's National Park, you should definitely stop by the Candy Shop!!! But be aware that you will probably never wanna have Hershey's chocolate ever again after eating this delicious chocolate. ;-)

You can also visit their website and order some candy online: 

http://www.springdalecandycompany.com/ 

Brian and Leslie's Open House

2,5 weeks ago, we went up to Cedar City to go to Brian and Leslie Grady's Open House. Because they got married on that Tuesday before and Anthon had to work, we were not able to come to the wedding. So it was nice that we at least got to go to their Open House.

 It was really fun getting to know more family members- especially Anthon's cousins Karen and Leslie. I had never met them before. I love them- it was so much fun getting to know them!

 Aren't they adorable? Lisa and her girl Lydia.

 At the open house, they had a sweet buffet. Anthon and I were glad that we hadn't started our diet yet. :-)

 Dwight was so kind to deliver some fancy candy from his Springdale Candy Company Shop. Yummy!

 

Busted! Anthon robbing the candy...

 No, Anthon doesn't have a tummy like that..I was just messing around with Photoshop (Anthon was there when I did it).

 Busted, too. Isn't he cute? This is Karen's boy Dylan.

 

It was impossible to take a picture of the wedding couple. There were constantly coming people that stood in line.

 Leslie and her baby Colin.

 Karen and Dylan.

 It was good to see Larry and his wife Teresa Topham again. They are such a nice and funny couple.

 Pat Magleby and Leslie George.

 I'm glad that Grandma Petty was able to come. I love her, she is always so nice to us. She is like the typical grandma you always wish to have. It was good seeing her again. I think because we have met her several times over the last 1,5 years, I know her better than my own grandmas and grandpas. 

Almost over... Bride Leslie was so excited to get out of her dress..

 It was really nice going to the open house and seeing the newly weds. I think this was the first wedding thing I went to after our own wedding. It is always neat to look back and to think of your own wedding. I'm always so excited when somebody is getting married, because being married is the best thing in the world. I love being a wife and having such a great husband like Anthon. He's really amazing. He is the most caring, loving, understanding and silliest man in the world!