Food Storage

When mom makes such a good dinner that you just have to save some for later...

It's good to know that you can use the inside of your shirt as a handy food storage area.

The Second Battle of Manassas

On 28 August, we went to Manassas National Battlefield Park to enjoy the ceremonies marking the 148th anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas. In 1862 when the battle was fought, it was the bloodiest day of combat in American history claiming 23,000 casualties. The battle also is considered the high point of Confederate military power during the war. Pictured above are re-enactors of the Confederate Cavalry. The kids really didn't care about that though. They just liked watching the horses.

Notice how Eve is not pointing at the Confederate soldiers in the back ground, but is instead focused like a Blue Tick Hound on the nearby horses.

The kids loved the horses.

It's tough to beat the artillery when it comes to re-enactments. The 10 pounder with a little extra pounder made a very nice boom!

Kjersti's Big Day!

On August 29, Kjersti was baptized and confirmed by Cody. What a happy day it was.

Heidi and her mom, Elaine, spoke at the service. It was a very special day for everyone!

Prior to the baptism, Cody managed to get his hands on a sweet jumpsuit. Unfortunately, it was deemed "distracting to the spirit" and was ultimately shelved. Cody had a hard time getting over that one.

Home Sweet Home

We enjoyed some time in Utah from 2-18 August. One of the many day trips we took was to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. We toured the gardens and they looked beautiful as usual!

One of Kjersti's favorite places at Thanksgiving Point was the Secret Garden. She couldn't have been happier.

Eve also enjoyed the Secret Garden, but for completely different reasons.

We spent a day up in Heber City with Cody's entire family and enjoyed eating at Tommy's Texas BBQ. Cameron and Grace just had a great time playing in the gravel. Soooo fun!

The family loved the restaurant, but Ruby thought it kind of stunk. She went on to say that she's had better BBQ out of a bottle.

Heidi and the kids along with a bunch of cousins went up to Tony's Grove. Again, the water was the dominant feature for Eve.

And guess who loves to do dishes? Not Eve!

Grand Teton National Park

We had a wonderful trip to Grand Teton National Park from 28 July - 1 August. We went there with all of Heidi's family so it was an action-packed trip full of fun and excitement!



Beautiful kids and beautiful mountains. Here we also see Kjersti practicing the "Kjersti Hip-Out". This is a technique that enables Kjersti to actually hold Eve for more than a few seconds. At this stage of Eve's young life, she hasn't missed many meals.



Eve had been in camp for about five minutes when this picture was taken. I'm not sure if she found the dirt, or the dirt found her, whatever the case, the two were inseparable for the entire trip. As it should be.


We stayed at Coulter Bay on Jackson Lake. The kids loved going down to the lake to toss in rocks and just hang out with their aunts, uncles and cousins. We managed to add a few rocks to the lake before a classic summer storm rolled in.


We hiked into Hidden Falls and the troops loved it! You can see in this picture that Eve became a bit nervous when she thought she saw Bigfoot. We told her it was just a bush and she was fine.



We then trecked up to Inspiration Point and Eve and Heidi are seen here enjoying the wonderful view over Jenny Lake. Spectacular!


The kids loved hiking, but it was the fat squirrels along the way that seemed to intrigue them most! Kjersti kept a cracker in one hand and an apple in the other as she moved carefully down the mountain.

We drove down a dirt road and stopped for lunch on a dirt ledge overlooking the Snake River. The kids loved throwing rocks into the river from way up high!

The wide view of the area. Amazing!

In the lodge we ran across a few odd animals. The Eve Moose.

The Big Horn Kjersti.

The Single Antler Eli.

And the Insane Lopsided Mother.

Birthday Girl!

Eve: "Everyone was making such a big deal about my first birthday and for the life of me, I just didn't get it... that is until they brought out an entire cake just for me! Ohhhh, I get it now!"


Eve: "No way was I holding back! I was going to enjoy all of the goodness in a single sweeping bite!"


Eve: "As I learned, birthday girls go to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. It's a good thing you're bolted into this car Chuck, because you're about to witness some of my insane driving skills!"


Eve: "What could be better than riding a pony on your birthday?"

Eve: "Birthday's bring out all of my cuteness. How long until my next one?"

Lunga Park - 4th of July

As we have done many times in the past, we went out to Quantico Marine Corps base at Lunga Park to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks. Finding a good place to sit is easy. Getting all three of the kids to hold still enough to take a decent picture isn't.


Heidi always makes sure we show up to these types of events prepared! Uno, snacks and a host of other distractions keep the kids occupied until the sun goes down and the fireworks shoot up!

As in previous years, the base set up some free activities for the kids prior to the fireworks starting. One of them was the watergun maze. On a scale of 1 to 10, Eli thought this was about an 11. Too bad his gun rated about a 2. As you can see, he probably could have spit the water out of his mouth with more pressure than it was coming out of his gun.

Sometimes, the firefights were intense, but that didn't stop Kjersti from trying to get a good drink of water from her enemy's watergun. So clever!

The humanity! What is it about shooting a watergun at someone else? I mean no one aims for another persons body. They go for the face. Kjersti it seems would have it no other way. She drinks it right up. Mmmm, high pressure water... so tasty.