"Take Your Dad to Work Day"

This Tuesday and Wednesday I traveled again to Las Vegas. The occasion was not to see Donny or Marie (had a request to get a different picture up to replace the "adolescent" Donny) but to spend some time with family. I got to have lunch with Fred , who has successfully completed radiation treatments and is now scheduled for his normal busy schedule traveling to Minnesota, Idaho, Utah (family) and Europe (business) in the next couple of months. We all miss Janice a lot.

The key reason for going to Vegas was to see Joel in action at his work. He got me into the annual convention of the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch / Priority Dispatch Corporation. I called it "Take Your Dad to Work Day" I met many of Joel's colleages from the Salt Lake corporate office and from around the world as well. This is an amazing organization, which, through it's founder, Dr Jeff Clawson, has established first responder protocals which have been intrumental in helping emergency responders around the world save countless lives by extending emergency medical care in the field through fire, police and medical response. If you hear of a 9-1-1 call, see an ambulance, fire truck or police car rushing to an emergency, think of Joel.

It was great to spend a little time with Joel and see how much he is loved by those men and women with whom he works. Thanks Joel.

Since Donny and Marie opened in Las Vegas last fall, we decided to check out the show. Up front and personal tickets were way over priced . . . so we tried the old wheelchair seating magic and . . . "poof" there we were on the front row with all the big spenders in the golden circle seats . . . at penny pinching prices.

I thought watching a few re-runs of the old shows would be good enough, but we went to Las Vegas and saw what was a really, really good show. Now in their fifth decade of show business, one would hope that their show would be entertaining . . . and it was delightful.

Marie and her dolls

We made a stop at the Marie Osmond doll collection at the Flamingo, site of the show. Here is Marie with her line of 'Dancing with the Stars' dolls and costumes.

Toby at Toby Keith's Restaurant, Las Vegas

One of Melanie's favorite Country Singers is Toby Keith. We regularly stop at his restaurant in Vegas at Harrah's where Melanie orders a cold meat-loaf sandwich. This weekend was the CMA Awards just down the street . . . and guess who we ran into at the restaurant ? Mr. Toby Keith himself ! This is what he was cut-out to be.