Halloween 2013

We had a fantastic Halloween!  We went to 4 parties, with trick or treating at two of them, in addition to trick or treating around the neighborhood Halloween night.

 At our ward trunk or treat, we all dressed up for the fun.

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins the Sunday before Halloween. Evan and Mommy carved a silly face into our pumpkin and Daddy carved a scary face into his. Evan didn't like the scary face very much, but it didn't seem to bother the squirrels as that is the one they decided to eat.

On Halloween Day after going to a friend's birthday party in the morning, we headed into the city to go trick or treating at Daddy's law firm. Evan loves taking the metro into the city. We counted all the stops till we got to Daddy's work.













All in all, Evan made off with more candy than we could eat in a year.

We pulled out the shark costume that Evan wore when he was a baby and, though Bennet isn't crawling yet, he still makes a very cute shark.


Happy Halloween.

A BYU Football Adventure

We were so excited when BYU announced that they would be starting their 2013 football season with a game against the University of Virginia. With Charlottesville being only 2 hours away from our home in Falls Church, Virginia, we knew that we had to get tickets and go cheer on our Cougars.


It was quite an adventure, besides having two young children we had some crazy weather too. The game included a two hour weather delay in the middle of the first half with heavy rain and lightning requiring the stadium to be evacuated.








During the lightening storm we took shelter in UVA's physical science building. Evan took a nice long nap and Mommy wished she had something else to eat besides popcorn.

After two hours we were let back into the stadium. The lightening had stopped but the rain hadn't  We didn't get as wet as Uncle Scott and Aunt Elizabeth because we hid out under the bleachers but we did get rained on a bit. We stuck it out and stayed to the very end. Even though there was crazy weather, even though we didn't get home till after midnight, and even though BYU didn't win, we still had a great time and can't wait for BYU to play another east coast team so we can go to another game.

A Visit from Uncle Christian

On his way to Kurdistan, Uncle Christian stopped off to visit us in Virginia. We were so excited to take him to some of the cool things we have here on the east coast. As soon as he got off the plane, we headed for the Air and Space museum by Dulles Airport. Evan had so much fun showing Uncle Christian all the planes and especially the Space Shuttle Explorer.

Day two was spent on the National Mall. We took the metro to the Capitol where we took a tour and had a nice picnic lunch before spending the next 6 hours walking from one end of the mall to the other visiting all the monuments and the national archives.

We spent day 3 at Bethany Beach. Going to the beach on a Wednesday meant that we didn't have any traffic or crowds at the beach, so we were able to spend all day there. Uncle Christian and Evan had a great time playing in the waves and collecting 'sandy' crabs. Bennet and Mommy enjoyed the sand on the beach Bennet even ate a fistful before mommy could stop him. When it started to get dark, we headed into town for a yummy crab feast. We had so much fun with Uncle Christian we hope he comes to visit again soon. 

Yay Bennet!

Bennet rolled over for the first time today. (8/17/13) We were all at the table eating dinner when he did it. We all cheered!  It is fun to celebrate his little milestones.

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.