The 4th in Utah!

We recently returned home from an amazing vacation back to Utah.  Brandon has been working in St. George a lot the past six months and has earned a lot of miles, so we decided it would be worth it to tag along on his last trip out.  Is it sad that all our vacations are spent in American Fork and Vernal?  I mean really, how many times can you vacation to the same boring ol' place before it gets old?  Well, I don't know that we will ever tire of it, not so long as that's where our families are!  We flew in to Las Vegas July 2nd, on what seemed to us a red eye flight.  It could have been ugly, especially since we started off kinda rough in Jacksonville (our flight was delayed due to engine troubles and once we finally got a flight out, we got stuck yet again on the tarmac with no AC for a good 30+ min) but it worked out.  The kids were pretty excited for the trip but with the help of a familiar movie on Dad's laptop (why every cross country flight can be equipped with tv's is beyond me...) were finally able to power down and ended up sleeping most of the 4 hour flight (and Austin slept like a dream the whole time...).

 Once in Vegas we stayed with "Uncle Neil,"  who is really Brandon's cousin, but in the interest in not having any interest in trying to explain that to the kids, we went Uncle Neil.  It's a role he plays well, and the kids loved him, and we appreciate him letting us crash his place in the middle of the night.  Then Tuesday morning we woke up and headed north.  We stopped in St. George and dropped B off at work for a few hours and the kids and I met up with our friends at the park, just like old times.  After letting the kids be free for a couple hours it was time to hit the road again so we could be good and rested in time for the festivities of the 4th.   Grandma Nancy had all sorts of fun activities for the kids, including sidewalk paint and Tie Dye shirts but of course the best part was playing with the cousins!  

 Cute Cousin Friends!  

 Always the big helper, helping Austin smile...gotta love her!

Happy Family of Five...what you want a pic where all 5 of us are looking at the camera and not pulling a face?  Well, where's the fun in that...we don't believe in such a photo at our house, this is as close as it gets!

 The whole Dansie Fam.  (It's been a good year, all 3 families will have added a new baby this year!)

Aren't they cute?

Tayven making sure Pooh Bear can see the fireworks  (We were a little afraid we've have to skip the fireworks this year with all the fires, but we got to have a little show on the street)

 And even Austin was impressed with his first fireworks!

 And last but not least, the kids all got to have a sleep over at Grandma's house!!

And that brings us to the next chapter, which will be continued later, so stay tuned!  

Side note:  I'm in the market for a new camera.  My DSLR is in being repaired and I want a little point and shoot.  I first went with a sony like my last 3 (one wore out, one left on an airplane last year, the other, only a week old, stolen at the beach in March...), because I loved them so much, but this one, from walmart, just wasn't the same.  The pictures are crisp (see photo #1, on the bus) but it took horrible pics indoors, so then I tried a fujifilm, which seemed to work pretty well but the pictures just seem so dull and flat (See all other pics except the group shots, and esp.  the one of the cute lil girls) in comparison to the sony...so, my question to you (if you are still reading) is do you have a point and shoot camera that you love and would recommend?  Or should I just go with a Sony a step above the walmart model?