We decided that since Katie's birthday was on Friday and Aidan's is on Wednesday, we'd throw them a party together. And since Erik wasn't here for his birthday, we'd add him in as well. The cakes (although a lot of work for Tara) were what the kids requested and they were all very happy with them. Sadly, none of Aidan's friends made it and only one of Erik's (who was also the sister of one of Katie's guests) came. Otherwise, the party was a lot of fun for all the kids.

Note: A combined party is a good idea, but more advanced planning needs to be involved!

Wedding Photos

The wedding photos are now up! There were so many that we decided against trying to post them all on the blog. Instead you can go to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92051&id=581668560&l=a2a5667812
to see the reception and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74137&id=581668560&l=60e906666b
to see the wedding.

Camping in Austin Nevada!

In this most recent installment of the adventures of Chris and Tara, we had a moment of pleasant circumstances, in which the both of us decide to turn lemons into some AMAZING lemonade! We needed to go out to Austin, Nevada to pick up the boys from their father after an extremely long 9 week period. The time together was wonderful, but both of us were missing the boys something fierce! The long drive to Austin, and having to sit in a car for 6 hours only to get out, stretch and do it again, can be very taxing. So together we formulated a brilliant plan... We are going CAMPING!!

Friday night after Chris got off work, we decided to drive all the way there. The drive was long, but enjoyable, dedicated time, just the two of us in the car together. We even stopped by the Reno temple just to take some pictures, and enjoy the nice weather.

When we arrived in Austin, we drove up the side of a huge mountain and parked in a small pull-out along the path (No dedicated campsites for us! Just wilderness!!) Since it was already after 11, we set up the tent and went to bed. The next day we had a HUGE breakfast (eggs, blueberry pancakes, bacon, orange juice AND hashbrowns), which we made with the camp stove, and went hiking to go explore the local area. The weather was perfect, if not a little warm. The time alone together was wonderful. We ended the day reading our scriptures around a HUGE campfire (thanks to Chris' pyro tendencies), eating hot dogs and smores, and playing around the fire! We got the fire so hot that when we poured water on the sand after moving the embers away the water actually boiled on top of the sand! (Chris' note campers... don't pee on the embers of a camp fire it smells horrible! Tara's note: listen to your wives when they tell you not to pee on the fire!)

The next day we got up and drove back into town. We cleaned up and went to church at the local branch. It was so small! But the people there were incredibly friendly. After Sacrament Meeting, we met up with the boys. It was so nice to see them again! The whole summer break is a LONG time to be apart! They were so excited to be going home and were very well behaved for the drive home. We stopped in Fallon to have a picnic at the park, and got back on the road. It was nice to be able to make it home by dinner and enjoy some quality time with the boys before they had to go to bed.

We will definitely be doing more camping trips like this in the future!

Memorial Day Hike

For the holiday weekend, we prepped the kids for some real outdoors time by camping out in the backyard. They loved sleeping in the tent! We roasted hot dogs and stuffed bananas on the grill. Very tasty. The kids all went to bed easily and our grass is pretty comfy for being ground and all. At the break of dawn, the kids are up (naturally) and headed out of the tent, when in bounds the neighbor's rat dog! Talk about a wakeup call! We cooked up hashbrowns and pancakes for breakfast.

We decided to take the kiddos out for a nice hike in the morning. Chris went all out with his cammies and binoculars. Hot stuff! We went out to the Dry Creek Salmon Habitat and walked on a nice trail for a couple of hours. The area was beautiful. The creek was nice and cool and the weather was warm, but not too hot.



The kids found lots of critters along the way.


Cute lizard basking in the sun


HUGE caterpillar. Aidan is all about caterpillars after his class had a few turn into butterflies.

Engagement Photos!!

The Card Says It All

If it's too hard to read, right-click on the picture and open it in a new window. Much better quality that way... And a LOT bigger!