Virginia... the final post.

I don't know why it was so hard for me to get this final post on Virginia done! Maybe because I had a few other pictures that I would have loved to include, but just couldn't get to them... or maybe because I've been busy (always the excuse). At least I'm finally doing it. Then maybe over the next few months I'll actually be able to catch up, but don't bet on that!

We all met together at Jared's Grandmother's house to take a big, Stafford Family picture. Not everyone was happy about it. I wasn't sure I wanted to be the one in charge of it (especially since there were unhappy people involved), however, we don't know when we'll be back. We love Virginia, and getting to spend time with family, but good golly, it costs us a small FORTUNE to get our whole little family out there! We've got some major saving up to do before we can hop that plane again... and we've also promised our kids a trip to Disneyland at some point.

Since our last trip there, several marriages have taken place (including the one while we were there), several babies have made their debut, and all the other kids have grown by leaps and bounds. Everything changes. We had to document it! Not to mention the picture on my wall needed to be updated. Sorry to those of you who would have rather had forks stabbing your eyeballs. It may have been less painful. However, I do appreciate you at the very least standing or kneeling there, and being included in something I feel is so important. We miss Virginia and all the family out there. It's amazing how much I still expect Jared's dad to just walk through the door. We miss him. He leaves a hole in that big family picture. All these little grandkids that never got to know him are missing out. We are all missing out. It sure makes me thankful the Lord's plan and the knowledge we have that we will see him again.

Stafford Clan, we love and miss you all!

Birthday Boy!

While we were in Virginia, we had a BIRTHDAY! Hayden turned six. I still can't believe my baby is 6!! He was a little worried about not being home for his birthday, but he had a fantastic day. He loved every minute of it (well, all except for the part where he almost drowned... but we'll get to that in a minute!)

Since we were having a Stafford Family Reunion, the BIG reunion day with Jared's uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. just happened to be on Hayden's birthday. We went to a lake near Jared's uncle's house. Of course, when we got there we realized that Eryn was the only one to remember her bathing suit. Oops! So at first, we were just letting the boys put their feet in the water.

Kaitlyn and Austin (her "same age" cousin) hung out a little and chatted as they put their feet in. I still remember a trip to Virginia when the two of them were just little babies. It was interesting going to see sights, and having to find good diaper changing and feeding spots. Ah, memories. Now they are getting all grown up!

Well, you can't keep two active boys out of the water for long. We told them to just go ahead and get in. A little wet denim never hurt anyone! Woohoo!!!

ERYN

It's fun to have a big kid that can hang out and help watch the little kids one minute, then swim out to the middle of the lake with the grown-ups the next. Eryn had a great time!

KAITLYN

K had fun "swimming" with the tiny people too. She didn't even mind that she was wearing scrounged up, mismatched clothes from everyone and anyone just so she could swim without getting her OWN clothes soaked!

BRYSON

Our funny B-man! He spent the majority of his time in the water floating on his back and saying "Look mom!" He was in 7th Heaven!

HAYDEN

Oh, Hayds. The birthday boy. Too bad he nearly drowned on his 6th birthday! He was having a great time, floating around on a raft, when he got a little further than he could touch. I told him to paddle back (I was on the dock). But instead of paddling back, he decided to bail off. No bueno! He immediately just sunk down into the water. My brother in law was about a foot away, and I told him to grab Hayd and pull him up, but before he could even move his hand, I heard a huge splash and noticed that Jared was in the water already pulling Hayden up. He had come running from the pavillion (which was a good 50 feet away), shoes on and everything, and leaped over the dock into the water. Sheesh! Nothing can get in the way of a Dad rescuing his kid. He didn't realize that Matthew was inches away and was about to grab Hayden. Needless to say, Jared's new nickname for the day was "Baywatch." Glad I have such a fast moving hubby!! LOL. And glad Hayden came out of it in one piece. Phew! 

It was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was so fun to see family that we don't get to see very often. It was fun to eat the yummy Stafford potluck. It was fun to hang out and watch the cousins having a blast. It was just plain FUN!

Mostly it was fun to celebrate the fact that we've had this handsome little devil for six whole years!!

Aunt Debbie provided the birthday cakes...

Cakes, as in PLURAL, you say? Cakes, as in, MORE THAN ONE? Yep, because Hayden shares his birthday with his cute cousin Kylee! She was born the day after we left Virginia the last time we visited. On Hayden's third birthday! So she turned three. It was awesome to celebrate TWO birthdays!

Sweet Hayden: We are so happy that you came to join our family 6 years ago. We are even happier that you DIDN'T turn out to be a girl, like the Dr. thought you were. I can't imagine not having my little boy!!

Six things I LOVE about Hayden:

1. I love how creative he is. Give him a big box of legos, and that kid can build anything (including the Titanic!) Give him a shovel or any other tool, and he is in HEAVEN! And he can draw construction vehicles, trains, cars, and boats like nobody's business!

2. I love "Hayden Hugs." This kid can hug! And they are tight! He tells me "I love you, mom" a million times a day, and I never get tired of it!

3. I love his big, giant, sparkley blue eyes. You've seen them... you know what I'm talking about. They are CrAzY amazing. They've saved him on more than one occasion... saved him from being given away! LOL! They are also a huge indicator of his mischevous demeanor. ;)

4. I love that he wants to play with his big bro more than anyone else. If Bryson would let him, he'd go EVERYWHERE with him!

5. I love that he still wants me to play with him. He's not too cool yet! I always feel bad when I'm busy and can't play with him. I'd just sit and play with Legos with him all the time if I could!

6. I love his laugh. There is no better sound in the world.

LOVE YOU BUDDY! I can't wait to see what the next 6 years bring. Actually, don't let it go by too fast. Six years will make you a DEACON! It will be here way before I'm ready. ;)

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time I was a great blogger. I never let even a week go by without a post. Now I notice that I'm EXTREMELY far behind on my blogging. I still have VIRGINIA posts to write, for Pete's sake! I do have great excuses. Really, I do! Right now I'm in the midst of my 2nd photography workshop in just 2 little months. The weather has gone from hot to FrEeZiNg without my permission. We've had birthdays, soccer games, and fun times. The kids are fully immersed in school, homework, and sports. Yep, you could say we are busy, but the term that truly fits right now is CrAzY!! Jared and I crash into bed completely exhausted. And time just keeps marching on. We feel like we are chasing it, running to catch up, and it just doesn't seem to slow down. But somehow we are managing to tread the water and keep our heads above just enough to breathe. I'm crossing my fingers that I will find a spare hour to do a great blog post soon. And if not, well, life will still go on. We will still get up way too early every morning and go through the usual routine just to get to school on time, and the dishes will still get dirty, and the laundry will keep piling up. Stuff will just keep happening. And I will TRY to enjoy as much of it as I can.

Colonial Williamsburg

Just when I thought I was almost done with these Virginia posts, I realized that I skipped right over one of the most memoral days we had there! The reason it was so memorable? The heat... the expense... the long drive... the humidity... the heat... the humidity (oh wait, I already mentioned those!) We were so excited to take our kids to Colonial Williamsburg. Jared and I went when we were first married, and his family used to go all the time. I remember being able to go in many of the buildings without paying a penny. However, this time, things have changed. They've really added a lot of cool things, but they charge an arm and a leg just to be able to go in the buildings. We decided to just do the "free" thing, and didn't realize until we took the shuttle clear out to the village, that there really isn't much you can do without paying. Oh well! We decided we would just walk around, go in the shops (of course they let you in there!), and just SEE the old houses and buildings. And it was HOT! Everyone was sweating like crazy, and the kids, as brave as they tried to be, complained a little bit. I would hear "Mom. I think I'm going to DIE!" And my response? "I know. Me too."  BUT... looking at these pictures, I was reminded that there were a FEW things to do.

We could watch the ONE free little performance. A speech by President George Washington.

We could wander the lovely streets.

We could lock ourselves in the stockades!!

There was ONE old church that we could go inside of. It's still a functioning parish, and they kindly let people in to visit. This is a church building that Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others actually WORSHIPPED in. Pretty cool!

We could enjoy the outside of EVERY building. I love old bricks, so atleast there was that! LOL :)

One nice colonial lady let the kids play for a few minutes. They thought it was pretty fun. They were in need of some serious water afteward, though.

We got to talk to a kind, and very much in-character colonist. I loved his accent, and his proper way of speaking. The kids thought it was pretty funny. I thought it seemed like it would be fun to work there ;) LOL! And of course, a family picture during the one breeze that blew through, right in front of the palace. I wish we could have gone inside!

Although we were disappointed by the ridiculous cost (I'm talking AMUSEMENT PARK pricing just to tour buildings - it would have cost our family a couple hundred), and we decided that we'll visit somewhere else next time, I'm glad the kids got to see a little piece of Colonial Williamsburg. I think they learned a little bit, at least, and they definitely learned to be grateful for air conditioning!!

Virginia State Capitol

Still trying to get this Virginia trip blogged! There was SO MUCH, I just can't get it all done. One of these days... oh well, anyway, on to another fun day :) We spent the day on Tuesday July 12 touring some of the government sites in Richmond. Jared's brother Duane works for the Governor, so we got to have a tour of the Governor's mansion. It's so pretty. It's one of the oldest Governor's mansions in the country that is still actually LIVED in by the Governor. It was fun to hear some of the history, and some of the legends about ghosts, and things like that. Then we walked over to the Capitol building. I've been there before, and it's really a cool building. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson! And there is an amazing statue of George Washington (I believe they said it is the only statue that he actually POSED for. It's awesome). I love history, and Virginia is just FULL of history. It's fun to visit the historical sites and allow our kids to learn up close.

The next day, Wednesday July 13 we just hung out at Jared's mom's house. It was nice to just relax after feeling like we were running all over the place! The "boys" played basketball, the kids just played. It was really nice to just CHILL!!

A little B-ball! Must be nice to be so "tall" that you can dunk! LOL. They were funny to watch. The Stafford boys (and the married-into-Stafford boys) LOVE to play ball when they get together :)

Little cousin Lindsey and Hayden had a great time swinging, playing with sticks, and just being silly!

Kaitlyn enjoyed just sitting on the porch. We were pretty worn out from all the activities of the past week, and it was REALLY nice to just SIT!!

Well, I'm almost done with these Virginia posts. Just one or two more, then maybe I can get caught up to where we are now. School is going, soccer is keeping us hopping, and life is just generally FULL! Hopefully I'll post again before a whole week passes by :)

"Give me Liberty!"

When we are in Virginia, we try to make a visit to St. John's Church in Richmond. This Episcopal church is the actual place where the Virginia delegates met before the Revolutionary War to discuss what they thought they should do. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and several others were all there when Patrick Henry gave the famous speech where he said "Give me liberty, or give me death!" They do a re-enactment every Sunday evening, and men dressed as the delegates are spread throughout the audience. They sit where the real men actually sat. They stand and speak as they debate about possibly going to war against England. It's really such a neat way to learn about this part of our history. A congregation actually still meets and worships there each Sunday morning, and the church building is surrounded by a cemetary.

 

The inside of the church is pretty, with stained glass windows, beautiful chandeliers, and really cool pews. They are actually enclosed, with a little door to get in and out. I think the idea of the doors is genius. It would have been especially helpful when Jared was in the bishopric the first time, and we had REALLY little people that I had to keep corralled!!

 

It was fun to be there with cousins.

 

I love the flags, and the plaques throughout the building adding to the history.

 

The building itself is the original building. I think they built on at one point, but it's a VERY old church building.

 

Our little family outside St. John's Church.

Trip "through" D.C.

While we were in Virginia, Jared's sister Sarah was married in the Washington D.C. Temple. We left in the afternoon on Thursday, so we could take a few pictures that evening at the temple. We wanted to make the actual wedding day as stress-free as possible. It's always an adventure driving up to the Temple. It's a couple of hours away (and that's when there's no traffic... which means NEVER.) Traffic from Richmond to D.C. can be kinda nasty. It wasn't too bad this time, but it still took us a while, especially since the good ol' GPS took us through a really interesting part of the City of Washington D.C. A bit of a different route than we have taken in the past! The kids were really excited to see some of the monuments through the car window. As we passed, we promised them that next time, we would actually GO to the monuments, instead of just watching them as we drove by. Then we hit what looked like the business district. The architecture of the buildings was really beautiful, but it wasn't long before we hit the less-nice part of town. It was definitely not where you'd want to hang out on a regular basis ;) It seemed to be taking us longer to get to Maryland (where we were staying) than usual, but we just kept trusting the GPS. We finally got there, and the motel we were staying at ended up not being the best place, but we "camped" there anyway ;)

We headed up to the temple and tried to shoot a few pre-wedding pictures, but the clouds rolled in and it got dark pretty fast, so we just decided that we'd have to do the majority of the pictures after the wedding. The next morning we were up early and ready to go! The ceremony at the temple was really nice. The weather was beautiful. The bride and groom were so happy. We all had a great time. It wasn't until after the luncheon (at a buffet) that the weather got CRAZY! It started to really storm, and it took us F O R E V E R to get back to Richmond, where we would be setting up for the reception which would be the next night. We got the church all ready (and it looked so awesome) and ended up staying with Jared's younger brother Matthew and his family. We didn't get much sleep - we were having too much fun playing the Wii!

Saturday was just filled with errands, and last minute reception details. That night was the reception. The only pictures I took during this weekend were the wedding photos. You'll have to go check them out on my
PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

OH! And then there were these few pictures from the reception that I DIDN'T post on my photography blog:


Yes, somehow Bryson ended up with the garter. Not sure how, but it was pretty funny! :)



All the brothers got to "share" a dance with Sarah, since she couldn't have a Daddy/Daughter dance. We missed Dad, but we know he was there!



Then I loved looking over and seeing my cute Kaitlyn dancing with her daddy!



Especially this one:

Needless to say, this was one seriously exhausting weekend. My next post will be the fun thing we did on Sunday afternoon after church. It's one of my favorite things to do in Richmond!! :)

Pamplin Park Civil War Site

Oh my goodness, at the rate I'm going, it will take until Christmas to get our entire trip to Virginia blogged! I'm still editing my sis-in-law's wedding pictures (which happened while we were in Virginia), and I don't think I've even LOOKED at all our fun trip pictures. Soon... soon. Hey, life's busy!! All I can say is that I had better get moving. We've done plenty of fun things since we've been home from our vacation, and there is so much more to come. MUST. CATCH. UP!

Several years ago while in Virginia, Jared's dad took us to this awesome new Civil War museum. It was amazing. Unfortunately, at the time, I had a two-year-old and a nursing infant. I'm pretty sure Jared got MUCH more out of it than I did. And he was one the hanging with the two-year-old (which was Eryn, by the way). So this time, 11 years later, we knew it would be much easier to see everything and actually enjoy it since our kids are all old enough to not be quite as "difficult." It's called Pamplin Park. It's on an actual Civil War Battleground. The museum is amazing. Very interactive, and all about life as a Civil War soldier. The grounds are HUGE, and they have done so much more since we were there last. We stayed as long as we could before the clouds rolled in... and the rain started DUMPING. It was amazing, and our kids LOVED it. Enjoy the pics!

Everyone got to wear these sweet headphones attached to a little device with numbers. All around the park there were things to see, and each spot had a number on it. When you typed the number in, you got to hear about what you are looking at. It was pretty cool. The best part, was kids that couldn't read well, could still understand what they were seeing. We learned so much about the plantation, soldiers and their lives, and the battleground we were on.

Part of the park is on an actual plantation. Apparently the army came in and basically took over the whole plantation. They used the home as their headquarters. It was neat to go inside the house and see how they may have had things set up. And since it WAS a working plantation, there are barns, gardens, and farm animals, as well as slave quarters.

After seeing the plantation and learning a little about slavery at that time, we walked toward the actual battleground. Some of the family with small kiddos decided to leave (we went with aunts, uncles, and cousins) so we ate lunch and then explored the rest of the park.

The kids LOVED seeing the cannons, and how the soldiers set up barracades. They would dig trenches, and build up earthworks as a fortification, then protect it with huge wooden spears sticking out toward the enemy. Made it a little hard for the enemy to get very close.

Another thing we (especially the boys) enjoyed, was a gun demonstration. Two men, dressed as Confederate soldiers, showed how to load and shoot the rifles they used. Of course, after the first shot, our boys were begging them to "DO IT AGAIN!" So the second time, instead of again slowly showing step by step how they loaded, he showed how FAST he could do it. I was pretty impressed, and the boys were even more so!

There was a little log cabin full of fun things the kids could try. They all had to try on some clothes! There was a drum they could beat on (like the drummer boys would have carried into battle) and some other things. Too bad I had to tell a silly uncle to stop banging the drum... it was getting ANNOYING! LOL! Gotta love the serious (or attempt at serious) faces. Well, you never really saw people smiling much in pictures back then, so our kids thought they should be authentic!

We walked around the rest of the park, where the battle actually took place, and learned that it was one of the FINAL battles before the South surrendered just days later. The area was so beautiful and green, but the sky soon became very threatening. Once we saw lightning, we decided to head back to the museum (which was a considerable distance). We just barely walked through the doors, when the rain started DUMPING!! The inside of the museum was really cool. You "became" a Civil War soldier, and throughout the museum, you would hear about the particular boy or man in your headphones. It was really cool. There was one area where you walk through a "forest" into battle. The ground shakes as cannons go off, and you see soldiers shooting at you. (This was our boys' most favorite part of the whole museum... I think they went through it three times - maybe more!) All of it was really interesting. Sure makes me glad to live NOW and not THEN!

There is so much more Virginia to come. We FILLED our trip with activities. Probably too many, actually, but it was a great time.

4th of July x2!

A few months ago, we bought some plane tickets to Virginia. Soon we started counting down to July! It had been 3 years since we had been in Virginia, and it was definitely time to return. Jared grew up in Richmond, and most of his family is still there. It was going to be a great, big, fun family reunion!! My awesome parents drove us up to the airport REALLY late on Sunday, July 3rd. Our plane was leaving just after midnight on the 4th of July.

We landed at Patrick Henry Field in Newport News, VA around 10:30 am on the 4th of July. After a little nap (atleast for me) we got ready to go to Dogwood Dell in Richmond for the annual 4th of July concert and fireworks.

We parked quite far from the amphitheater and took a shuttle bus. You should have seen us dragging a huge cooler full of food on board. We got a few strange looks, but we were ready to eat some KFC and see some fireworks!

It was fun to see all the family there waiting for us. The kids were excited to see their cousins! The concert started out great!

...and then it happened. Clouds rolled in (thick, black clouds) and the rain began to fall. Not just any rain. The kind of rain that makes you grab everything you can and try to find shelter, because otherwise you will be soaked to the bone within SECONDS. With so many of us, and some of us carrying some seriously heavy objects (remember the cooler?), there wasn't anywhere for us to get to very quickly, so we picked up the tarps we had laid out under the blankets, and held them over our heads. I'm sure we were quite a sight to see. Imagine: Jared's mom, her ten kids, their spouses and kiddos all huddled underneath a couple of tarps. We were enough to draw the attention of a news crew! We were not aware of that fact yet, however. Jared decided that we needed to make a mad dash to the nearest building - a carillon about 100 yards away. We breathed a sigh of relief as we entered the unlocked doors. Phew!!

Jared and a few of the other guys decided to walk run through the driving rain the long distance to the cars and bring them back to pick us up. Meanwhile, the news crew found us! They interviewed Jared's mom and a few of the grandkids. We got home just in time to see our story on the Channel 12 news!

Since the concert and fireworks had to be cancelled, they re-scheduled it for the next night. We debated about whether or not to go, but decided that we HAD to go. We came for the 4th of July for a reason, so go we did! We spent most of the morning just hanging out, though. Our girls wanted to go outside and take a few pictures. We saw this cute little blue lizard just outside Jared's brother's house, and Kaitlyn thought these little daisy-like flowers were just so cute!

Then afternoon came, and we loaded up again. This time MINUS the cooler. We decided to just eat before we went. You know, just in case! LOL. The kids played for a while at a nearby playground, while some of the adults stayed by the blankets to make sure our seats were still saved.

Then as we were walking back, my sister-in-law saw the same news crew again, and stopped to let them know that "Grandma Nancy Stafford and her 10 kids and 17 grandkids" were back. Of course they wanted to do a second interview! This time, I pulled out the camera to capture the moment.

Then it was back to 4th of July festivities. Hanging with the cousins, listening to great patriotic (and movie score) music.

And of course, the amazing fireworks!

I loved the glow of the fireworks lighting up my kids' faces. Eryn trying to capture some with her camera, and Bryson in absolute awe.

It was a fun and memorable 4th (and 5th) of July, and only the beginning of a very busy two week trip. There are TONS of pictures to come, so stay tuned :)