Uncle John & Aunt Marilyn's 50th Anniversary Party

Pictures taken by Jeffery and Michelle Kraczek

While we were in Utah for Uncle Scott's wedding, we were able to attend a party that celebrated Great Uncle John and Great Aunt Marilyn's 50th wedding Anniversary. We had a great time, nearly all our Kraczek family were there. What a fun way to celebrate eternal marriage with two wedding celebrations in one weekend.  

Unce Scott Gets Married!

The main reason we flew to Utah for our summer vacation was to attend Uncle Scott's Wedding on August 9th 2013 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. We are so excited to have Aunt Elizabeth join our family. We are even more excited that they will be living in Virginia so we can have more family living close to us.

Evan was so excited when we told him that we were going to the temple today for uncle Scott's wedding he couldn't wait to get in the car and go.
It was a very nice ceremony. Both Paul and I were able to attend because one of Paul's cousins and his wife agreed to watch Evan and Bennet for us. I was so worried about Bennet but it was Evan I should have been worried about.

During the ceremony, all the kids were in a waiting room coloring pictures of the temple. As I was told later, one moment Evan was coloring his picture of the temple and the next he was missing and they couldn't find him. Paul's cousin and his wife were all over looking for him. He had gotten out of the building and had run across the grounds to the temple when they eventually found him he very proudly told them "I found it! I found the Temple! We need to go inside for the wedding!"

He was so upset when they brought him back as he wanted so badly to go inside and was very upset when no one would take him in to the temple. At least we know he is paying attention in primary.

Bennet however was the star of the show. Scott and Elizabeth's photographer just loved that he was wearing a white shirt and a tie and made sure the "cute baby with the tie" was front and center in all the family shots. He must have shot about a hundred more pictures of him at the reception too. I hope Uncle Scott and Aunt Elizabeth don't mind pictures of their nephew because they are going to have a lot of them.

Bedtime is more friendly with two.

Vacations can be hard. The kids were worn out and ready to go home by the time we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek's house and we were only half way done with our vacation. Our first night at Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek's house, I put the kids to bed in their separate beds but when I was getting ready for bed this is what I found. Evan had climbed into Bennet's pack-n-play and had fallen asleep snuggled up with his baby brother. It was so cute, I hope my boys always love each other. 

Despite being worn out, we had a lot of fun with our Kraczek uncles, aunts and cousins. 

Over lots of rivers and woods to Grandma's house we go

This year we went to Utah again to see both sets of grandparents for our summer vacation. Evan and I were so excited to go on vacation. Bennet being only 3.75 months old probably didn't know what was going on. We had been talking to Evan about our upcoming vacation for days. He was so excited that the night before we couldn't get him to go to sleep till almost midnight and when we woke him up at 5 am the next day he was wide awake and and talking a mile a minute about going super fast on a plane to grandma's house.











Both Evan and Bennet were so good on the long flight from Virginia to Utah. Evan was so happy to have a new Look and See book for the plane ride. That, a fruit cup, and some new kid friendly headphones to watch nickelodeon with, and he was in heaven. We met Grandma and Grandpa Saunders at the airport. Our coming was a big surprise for Grandpa Saunders who didn't know we were coming to see them before Grandma moved to Kurdistan to be with Grandpa while he works over there.

We had so much fun at Grandma Heather's house. Grandma took us to the ice cream store, the chocolate store, and the french fry store while we were there. Grandma even took Evan along with Jonny, Tommy, and Ethan to Evan's first ever movie in a movie theater complete with popcorn and bubble juice. We had lots of fun swimming in the pool at Jonny and Tommy's apartment complex before they moved out to go take care of Grandma heather's house while she and Grandpa are living in Kurdistan. At the aquarium we saw lots of fun fish, seahorses, and we even got to pet a stingray. Evan loved swinging on the big green swing that Grandpa Jon built and playing squirt guns with Jonny and Tommy in Grandpa Jon's backyard. Grandma Heather knew that Evan had missed the fireworks on the fourth of July because he was too tired to stay up and watch them, so she bought a big box of fireworks for the boys to share. Evan, Jonny, Tommy, and Ethan all took turns picking fireworks out of the box and Uncle Jon lit them for us. We have so much fun when we go to Utah to visit our family and we can't wait till we get to play with them again.

Bennet is given a name and a Blessing

We recently had the opportunity to give Bennet his baby blessing at church.  We are so grateful for the uncles, aunts, and cousins who came to share this special day with us.

Forth of July weekend and the Beach

This year for the Forth of July, we spent the day at Uncle Brent's house with Evan and Bennet's cousins. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle along with Uncle Scott and soon to be Aunt Elizabeth were there too. We all had a great time together laughing, playing and Eating. Bennet had a great time being held by his aunts. Evan went through 3 pairs of clothes between the food and the water fight. He also wore him self out so much jumping on their trampoline that he was too tired to wake up for fireworks. With tears streaming down his face he told us that he just wanted to go home to his bed and blankies. Even though we missed the fireworks, it was a great day with family. 

on Saturday, all the Uncles, Aunts and cousins went to the "beach".  Gunpowder Falls State park has sandy beaches along the water with shallow water for the little kids to swim in. Although Evan loves to swim when I take him to the pool, all he wanted to do on this particular day was play in the sand.

Bennet enjoyed the water splashing on his toes. 

Best buds playing in the sand. 

Smiles

Bennet learned to smile this week.

We are still not sure who he looks like, but we love having him as a part of our family. His big brother Evan has adjusted to life with a sibling very well, he rarely complains about sharing his parents or all the time mommy has to spend with the baby.

At church today, a friend of ours was commenting on what a cute baby Bennet is, when big brother Evan piped up with a definitive: "That baby belongs to us!" Just in case she was getting ideas.