Fun with the Saunders

For phase two of our vacation, we headed up to Riverton for some fun with our Saunders cousins and Grandma Heather and Grandpa Jon.

 Evan, Jonny and Tommy were thick as thieves. Aunt Scooby and I often had to send them outside to run through the sprinklers and jump on the tramp because they were just too wild to be inside.
Bennet spent his time opening and shutting all the doors, including Grandma's fridge, and emptying all its contents. We had to tie it shut with a grocery bag until Grandpa invented a neat strap and buckle to keep it shut.

 Grandma had fun giving the boys preschool lessons when she had time. Evan loved practicing his writing on the dry erase boards Grandma had for them.

Because we were going to be at Grandma Heather's house for long enough, we signed Evan up for Swimming lessons at the nearby pool. It is the same pool Mommy used to go swimming in when was little and worked as a lifeguard when she was older. Evan had so much fun and his confidence in the water was much improved by the end of the week.

Grandma took us all to This is The Place Monument Park for some pioneer fun. We rode on two trains, panned for gold, explored a pirate ship, had a pony ride and saw some Professional native American dancers preform. Jonny and Tommy could have ridden the train around the pond all day. Evan was so excited to find some "gold" in the river. Bennet liked petting the sheep, though I don't think the sheep was overly fond of the experience.

On another day, Grandpa and Grandpa took us all to play mini golf or "golf balling" as the boys kept calling it. We had oodles of fun. Grandpa tried to teach the boys how to hit the ball properly, but they didn't quite get it. It didn't matter though, there were smiles all around as the boys tried getting their balls in the hole. It was sad when they learned that the didn't get their ball back on the last hole.

Grandpa and they boys had been working on building a model rocket all week, just like Mommy used to build with Grandpa when she was a little girl. On the last night, it was ready for blast off. We found a nice big field and the boys all took turns blasting it off. It was a excellent way to end a wonderful vacation.

Alec and Tania get Married!

We love to visit family and this summer a special occasion brought us to Utah.  Alec and Tania were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on the morning of July 11th.

It was a wonderful ceremony that reminded Paul and I of our wedding 9 years earlier, especially because we were also married at the Mount Timpanogos Temple.

Uncle Alec was so happy and excited to be marrying Tania, he couldn't stop smiling.  It was a little bit more of a challenge to get the nephews to smile for the pictures.

Daddy was initially skeptical of the color, but Evan and Bennet and their cousins all looked very debonair in the ties that Mommy made for them.

waiting for the REAL cake to be cut

Though they looked so handsome, the boys got tired of having to spend the whole day in their nice clothes. After one time too many of having mommy re-tuck his shirt, Evan looked up and pleaded, "No more hands in pants!"

Aunt Emily made a beautiful wedding cake. Evan was so excited to get a piece, he flat out rejected the ice cream cake that they were serving and spent the whole reception guarding the big cake to make sure no one touched it. He was very happy when he was finally served a piece.

Bennet, on the other hand, would not stay in one spot and spent the whole evening trying to weave through the legs of every guest in attendance.  He even managed to shake off his parents once or twice.

Fun with the Kraczeks

In addition to the 4th of July, we celebrated Grandma Kraczek's 70th birthday. Mommy made a Schwartzwalder Kuchen or Black Forest cake that Grandma had requested. It was the very first birthday cake I made for Daddy after we were married and it has become a bit of a Kraczek family favorite.


We went out for a nice dinner with just the adults, made possible because Abby agreed to watch all of the little kids. We followed the dinner by singing to Grandma and enjoying a yummy piece of cake. We love our Grandma Kraczek and hope she has a great year.

On our last day with Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek, we determined that walking around the Hogle zoo in 95 degree heat for four hours would be a good way to test their stamina.  We like to use our National Zoo pass to go to The Hogle Zoo because it has different animals, as the DC zoo has more Asian animals and Hogle has more African animals. We took our cousins Sam and Kaitlyn because everything is more fun with cousins.

 

We were very tired when we had walked around the whole park but we had a lot of fun. Bennet got a cute new hat to keep the sun out of his eyes and Daddy got to see giraffes for the first time.

We miss our family and having cousins to play with when we have to go back home to Virginia, but, by the end, we are ready to go back to our house, even the kids.

Balloon Fest 2014

Even though we were up so late for fireworks and 6am didn't seem like a fun time to wake up the following day, we did it anyway as we didn't want to miss the last day of the hot air balloon festival.















We packed up breakfast, pulled our kids out of bed and Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek took us out to the field where they were taking off. We all had fun watching the balloons fill up with hot air and then float away into the sky.

Happy Independence Day!

This year we spent the 4th of July in Utah with Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek and some of our Kraczek cousins. Evan has enjoyed playing with his cousins Abby, Sam and Kaitlyn everyday and Bennet has enjoyed having more space to run around in with lots of cabinets that aren't safely locked that he can explore.










Provo puts on a big Freedom Festival with lots of fun 4th of July events that go on all weekend. Thursday we went to Colonial Fest where Evan learned how to make barrels and was put in jail before Grandma brought us fresh squeezed lemonade, which is Evan's favorite.

Dancing in the dance contest with Abby and Sam

HIYAH!

The morning of the 4th, Aunt Marianne and I woke up early to stake out a spot for the Grande Parade. Cousin Sam and Abby came too. After we found the perfect front row spot, we had a great time watching and participating in the pre-parade festivities.

 Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mike brought Evan, Bennet and Kaitlyn just in time for the parade to start. It was a really fun parade, Mommy liked the BYU float the best, Grampa Kraczek was partial to the marching bands and Evan liked the candy that the advertisers threw.

Even little Bennet enjoyed it so much he sat and watched the whole time without trying to wander off once.






After the Parade, Grandma and Grandpa picked up Daddy from the Airport. He got here just in time for a fun family barbeque before we headed off to Thanksgiving Point to watch the firework show.  At first, Bennet didn't like the loud booms, but after a while he decided they were okay.

Evan came prepared with his headphones as he wanted "to make the fireworks nice and quiet."
As soon as the fireworks stopped, Evan and Bennet started to fall asleep and were fast asleep before we even got to the car.

Big Trucks

Having two boys who like big trucks, I couldn't pass up the opportunity this year to take them to the Town of Herndon's "Big Truck Days." Each year they fill a parking lot full of the city's big trucks and let kids climb all over them. It was a beautiful spring day and Evan and Bennet had a blast. There were so many cool trucks with buttons and switches all over them just begging to be pushed by little fingers.

Bennet's 1st Birthday

My baby Bennet celebrated his 1st birthday last month. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing this little one home from the hospital.



So far Bennet is a very happy boy who loves his family and adores his big brother. He has been walking since he was 10 months and now runs around this house like he owns the place. He is a great eater and will mostly eat anything you put in front of him or that he can steal of your plate. His favorite game is peek a boo with the curtains or his towel after his bath. He loves to play outside and will bring me his shoes to put on him and then stand by the door until I take him out to play.

In addition to all the boring stuff Mom and Dad got him, Grandma and Grandpa Saunders sent him a great big dump truck to push around the house.  He loves it! Happy Birthday to my happy baby.