4th of July

This year we had the opportunity to spend the 4th of July down in Utah at “Grandma Cindy’s” house.

We started off our epic adventure with a trip to Temple Square with Grandma Cindy’s family and Uncle Kelly’s family.  We don’t get to see them nearly enough.

We started things off at the Conference Center.

Maggie was very impressed.

Alex got to try out the Prophet’s pulpit.

Sammy tried to lift the golden plates.

The rest of us tried to measure up to the Angel Moroni.

On this trip, we finally got to meet our new cousins Ellie and Hunter.  They are such cute kids.

For our finale, we decided to have our own “freaking awesome” firework show.

Can you just feel the excitement?

We were quickly reminded that the Little Princess is not a big fan of big booms.

Happy 4th of July!

On a side note… we went to bed quite late that evening in an effort to prepare ourselves for a very bright and early start to the excitement for the next day (the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Provo).  We had to be out of bed at about 4:30 in the morning (sounds totally worth it, huh).  Somehow, we managed to get everyone up and out of the house just in time to make the mad dash down to Provo (complete with a few unanticipated detours along the way… thank you Mr. GPS).  We arrived at the park in Provo just in time to witness the lift off for all of the balloons.  It was going to be amazing… except for the lighting.  Apparently, some people have a slight aversion to launching hot air balloons into the sky in the middle of a lightening storm.  Wusses.  Instead, we got to settle for breakfast at Kneaders and a showing of Despicable Me 2.  Equally awesome.