Our 4th of July Weekend!

I love the 4th of July!!!

I always have. I love the BBQ's, fireworks, events, patriotism, the decor, everything. Growing up in Prescott, everyone from there knows that the 4th is like the biggest holiday that town sees all year! There are parades, events on the Courthouse Square, TONS of tourists, fireworks, and of course we cant talk about the 4th in Prescott without mentioning the Worlds Oldest Rodeo! Which I have only been to once in my life, but one day I wanna take my boys there, just for fun. Not that we are Rodeo kinda people, but everyone has to go to the Prescott Rodeo at least once in their life... right?? 

When we lived in Utah, Patrick and I discovered that we LOVED going to Sugarhouse Park to picnic, feed the ducks, play, and watch the fireworks. It was really the only place in Salt Lake that had a big firework show. We did this every year we lived up there. The last time we went to the Sugarhouse Park Fireworks I was literally about to pop from being so pregnant with Conner. Seriously!! He was born 5 days later!!! The following year we joined in on the Prescott 4th of July festivities with my family, then we moved here to Vegas. The first 4th we had here, I remember being soooooo disappointed. I was still getting used to being in Vegas and trying like mad to survive my first killer summer here with temps hovering around 118!!! So we didn't want to melt by going to watch fireworks, so we just went and parked in the vacant lot by Patrick's office where you could see fireworks from all over the valley. This did NOT satisfy my craving for 4th of July festivities. I missed Utah a lot, and we still didn't 

even know anyone around here to even ask about where to go for good fireworks or events or anything like that. So last year, I wanted to get back to our normal way of celebrating, yet to no avail again... it was still 110 degrees at 10 pm as we sat in the back of Patrick's truck from the same vacant lot by his office watching fireworks. We were all roasting to death, and it wasn't that much fun. So this year I was desperate to find a way to make one of my favorite holiday's successful. We wanted to get outta town, we were gonna go up to Utah and go through the new temple during the open house, see our wonderful friends we left behind up there, and of course... go to Sugarhouse Park. However, the closer it got to the 4th, the more apparent it became that we wouldn't be able to go anywhere for multiple reasons beyond our control. I was really bummed!! I wanted so much to have a fun 4th of July all together as a family. After being depressed about it for a few days, I went to work trying to figure out what to do to make this a great 4th of July.  And I'm very happy to report that we were SUCCESSFUL!!

Here are the boys watching the ducks and hunting for turtles.

Such cute brothers!!

Conner being cheesy!

Apparently Brayden thinks he's Mr. Cool gangsta as he chows down on his pizza and lemonade.

Patrick finally getting some relaxation!!!

We spent the weekend at the Rec Center pool with the boys, who loved every minute we were there. We ate ice cream cones in the hot summer afternoons. Ordered take out one night. We took a picnic to the Dinosaur Park not far from our house and watched a pretty decent fireworks show from Aliante Station. And the best part of all.... it WAS NOT a million degrees and we didn't feel like we were melting! We all had fun, ate good food, laughed, and I am happy that maybe now we have finally found a good way to celebrate the 4th here in Vegas!