Josh and Angie

Congratulations to Karen’s cousin, Angie, and her new husband, Josh!  They got married on Oct 25 in the beautiful Valley of Fire State Park outside of Las Vegas.

Josh is a great match for Angie and fits really well into our family – although that may not be a good thing since we’re all a little nuts! Welcome (officially) to the family, Josh and Aubrey!

Tags: Belouseks, wedding

The boys pose with their pumpkins

Last weekend we took the family to see the Shrine Circus. This was the first trip to the circus for Zach and Alex (although our house often feels like one).  They really enjoyed it; all week long they’d tell anyone they talked to all about the acrobats, clowns, elephants, the ringmaster, and their favorite part: the boom! (the crazy guy that shoots himself out of a cannon).

On the next day, the three boys had a ton of fun decorating their own pumpkins.  Zach and Alex each had their own little pumpkin that they colored with markers.  Cole carved his own Jack ‘O Lantern all by himself after his brothers helped him clean out the “pumpkin guts.” They all did a great job and were quite proud of their creations as you can see here.

Check out the pics from this weekend plus lots of other great ones from the last couple months in the Sept – Oct 2008 album.

Tags: circus, family outing, pumpkins

The Vandermarks recently got some opportunities to get out and have some fun with some friends – Alex and Zach with neighbors Brooke and Stella, and Karen and Joe with friends (and Joe’s co-worker) Phil and Heather.

Last weekend, Zach and Alex attended the birthday party of sisters Brooke (5) and Stella (3), and they had an absolute blast.  The birthday girls celebrated with pony rides and a little petting zoo complete with chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, rabbits, and a hedgehog.  The animals where huge hits with the kids, although Alex preferred to look from the outside and spent most of his time playing with the girls’ toys.  Check out the pictures in Brooke and Stella’s B-Day photo album.

Karen and Joe actually got a little playtime too recently when they joined friends Phil and Heather Rodemann on a trip out to Treasure Island to eat, drink, and laugh our booties off with comedian Ron White.  We spent a couple hours playing the tables (blackjack can be a mean, mean game…) and then went on the casino’s dinner cruise for a nice relaxing dinner on the Mississippi River (check out our pictures).  To cap off the evening, we saw Ron White perform. He is one incredibly funny person, but I think the funniest parts where when he screwed up his jokes and then just went with it.   We all had a great time!

Tags: animals, birthday, friends, playtime, Ron White, Treasure Island