Happy Halloween

After all the Halloween parties and trick or treating we did this year, there was enough candy at our house to rot the teeth of a small army. The boys enjoyed it all and had as much fun handing out candy as they did stuffing their mouth with the candy they had collected. Evan was a Lego minifigure again, Bennet was a Train, and James had his turn with the baby shark costume.

Family Picture

We added a new family member, so we needed a new family picture. This time we headed out to Manassas Battlefield, where a few major Civil War battles were fought. We wanted something that said "Virginia" and nothing says Virginia like a Civil War battlefield.

We think we have some really cute boys!

Go Cougars!

This year we were lucky enough to have BYU come play a game at FedExfield in Maryland. That is only a quick metro trip from our house. We couldn't pass up the chance to go cheer our cougars on. Grandma and Grandpa Saunders as well as Uncle Alec and Aunt Tania flew out to go to the game with us. Unlike last time we went to a BYU game in Virginia, the weather was perfect. It was a very exciting game, but sadly we lost to West Virginia 32-35.

Philadelphia Temple Open House

We don't live that far from Philadelphia, so we were so excited when our friends said they had extra tickets to the open house and invited us to go with them. It is such a beautiful building and I was impressed with the how well they incorporated the colonial architecture that Philadelphia is famous for into the exterior and interior of the temple. Though we have a pack of rowdy boys, they were very reverent throughout the whole tour. Even Bennet, as little as he is, seemed to understand how important it was.

Summer 2016

Summer 2016 was long and hot, but we survived by taking almost daily trips to the pool and monthly trips to Busch Gardens.



We had a great time at the pool this summer. Our boys are a bit bigger now so we spent most of our time in the big pool. Bennet showed no fear and with his puddle jumper safely strapped on he would jump in and swim all over even into the deep end. Ever our timid swimmer, Evan liked to stick to the shallow end where he could safely touch. It took a lot of convincing, but by the end of the summer Mommy had taught Evan how to swim across the pool and dive head first to the bottom to pick up toys.

We bought summer passes to Busch Gardens for the family and once a month we made the trip down to Williamsburg to ride the rides. Bennet, it turns out, LOVES roller coasters. He would ride them non stop if they'd let him. Evan likes the spinny rides better and liked to help Mom spin the teacups as fast as they would go. Evan's favorite ride though was the sky coaster that took us from one end of the park to the other. He loved looking down on all the activity below. Bennet liked to get around on the Train that runs all around the park.

Near the end of the summer, a friend of ours invited us to come stay with them at Great Wolf Lodge which is a hotel chain that has a huge indoor waterslide park. Everyone had a great time, especially Bennet. He couldn't get enough of the waterslides and insisted on going on the biggest ones again and again and again. Mommy climbed a lot of stairs over those two days.

Boston and the Cape

Grandma and Grandpa came out to visit us again this year on their days off from working at the Temple and Family History Center.
While they were here, Paul and the boys took them to see the space shuttle and the other interesting planes at the Dulles Air and Space Museum.

On the Fourth of July, we tried to take them to see the Capital fireworks in D.C. Paul had access to the roof of his office building and it would have been a spectacular view, but sadly it was so foggy we couldn't see a thing.
The next morning Grandma, Grandpa, our family, and Uncle Brent's loaded up our cars and headed up to Boston. It was a lot of driving, but the bag of twizzlers Daddy packed made it more enjoyable.

 On our first day, we started the morning by visiting Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower. It is hard to believe that many people came across on such a small boat.

After Plymouth, we headed out to Chatham Lighthouse on Cape Cod. Most lighthouses on the Cape are private residences these days, but Chatham is an active U.S. Coast Guard Station so we were able to climb all the way to the top.








Mommy had wanted to spend the rest of the day clamming, but we weren't able to make it to the the city office in time to get a shellfishing licence so we played on the beach instead. At low tide, we walked out into the cape for about a mile and probably could have gone farther. The farther we walked out, the more marine life we saw. We saw hermit crabs, razor clams, quahog clams. fish, and seabirds. Evan even got pinched by two crabs, but he didn't think that was very fun.

Day two was spent at the Boston aquarium. Mommy liked the giant sea turtles that are over 100 years old.


We broke for lunch at the famous Boston public garden, where we ate lunch while watching the swan boats travel around the pond. We stopped to say hi to the ducklings before taking the T back to the aquarium to see the rest.

One if by land two if by sea

Day three started off with a Boston Harbor cruise.

Private pew at the Old North Church

We finished the afternoon with Freedom Trail stops at the old north church (made famous by Paul Revere), Paul Revere's house, and the Old State House (site of the Boston Massacre).






We ate dinner at the Faneuil hall Marketplace, where mommy had some delicious Boston clam chowder. After eating our fill, we capped our vacation off with a visit to the Boston Children's museum.

On our way home, we stopped at Uncle Brent's house to see cousin Matthew being blessed and to celebrate Grandma Kraczek's birthday. Mommy made her a Lemon Raspberry cake. It was delicious even though it fell apart when we cut into it.

Beach Day

When it's too hot to think, you just have to go to the beach. Not the ocean exactly, that is too far. Our go-to is Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay.


Evan probably had the most fun. He was in the water and covered in sand within seconds of our arrival.





Bennet and James weren't that into it at first.

Once they got over the shock of hot sand on their feet and cold waves chasing them, they had a great time too.