Fourth of July

Before I tell you about our exciting fourth of July, I'll tell you about some things that happened before that. In June, we had dinner with George and Susan in Farmington. After dinner, we took the kids over to feed the ducks. Little did I know they had ducks and geese that would eat right out of your hand. The boys were a little scared at first, but then loved it.
Brad feeding geese

Ross feeding the geese


Also in June, we went to my cousin Caryn's daughter's first birthday party. Her name is Morgyn, and she is a cutie! My uncle Kent and aunt Tina were there too. I love it when I get to see family I haven't seen in forever! It was so good to talk with everyone, and the boys had lots of fun too.
Morgyn and Spencer

Me

Uncle Kent and Ellie

Brad and Ellie

Aunt Tina and Ellie

Caryn and me

The kids


Alright, now on to July 4th. We went to Vegas for the weekend. It was so much fun to get away from the daily life and daily routine. We stayed at the Hampton Inn near the airport. It was nice not to be right on the strip. Plus the free breakfast made the hotel stay like almost free. We got there Friday night. On Saturday, we went to the lion habitat at the MGM. It was lame since the lions were just laying there sleeping. Then we went to M&M world. The kids liked it, but weren't too sure what to think of everything M&M. We did let them get a little something there. They wanted this little container of different colored M&Ms. It had at most 1 pound of M&Ms in it. Well $16 later, we had some M&Ms. Ben swears they different colors taste different. We did a taste test for him (2 of one flavor and a 3rd different), and he couldn't pick out the different one. hehe
Ross

Ben, Me and the boys

Dad and the kids

Me and the kids


We saw Tom & Jerry on the way back to the car:


After that short time on the Strip, we headed to the Children's Museum. Wow, the kids LOVED it. When they were closing, we had to bribe them with candy to leave. They had like a little minature city where they could earn money, withdraw it from the ATM, buy groceries (or act like the cashier), etc... They had like a little mini airport (with a pretend security line). Ross loved dragging the luggage through security and on to the plane. You could make giant bubbles bigger than me, play dress up and put on a play on a real stage, record a song in a recording studio, wind tunnel, etc, etc, etc... Brad's favority was this green screen you could stand in front of and it put you in a video game where you were playing sports.
Ross on the boat fishing

Brad as the cashier

Boys in front of the green screen (sorry for the blur)

Brad fixing the car

Me and Ellie

Ben and Ellie


After the museum, we went to the pool for a little bit. The next day we went to Circus Circus. We walked around the Adventuredome, but didn't let the kids do anything (I know I'm a mean mom). I wanted to see what we could do for free first! hehe We went and saw a free circus act, then walked around the arcade. We went to the outdoor mall for a few minutes, but it was WAY too hot and miserable. We went to 1 store and got some ice cream and left. We were going to go back to the hotel to swim, but then there was a flash flood thunderstorm. So we ordered pizza and ate it in the hotel room. Ben took the boys out for ice cream afterwards.
Boys with a pirate


We left the next day and stopped in St. George to see George and Susan. They watched the kids for a little bit, so we could go to lunch and Old Navy. It was nice to be alone, but I wasn't feeling well (maybe food poisoning). We headed back to Payson then. I really can't believe how good the kids were during the long car ride and dragging them all over Vegas (especially Ellie). We did figure out that if we put Brad in the way back and Ross up by Ellie, the fighting was almost non-existant.

We have other fun things planned this summer. We will be going to Chicago this summer and to a demolition derby in Spanish Fork. I'm super excited for both!

As if you didn't see enough pictures, here are some random ones:
Ellie got a purse from Aunt Tina. She looked too cute holding it up.

Ellie uses her feet when she can't reach things.

Ellie just looking cute!