Happy Halloween

The kids were so cute this year that I took them to the park for a photo shoot before Halloween. Vince loved being Buzz Lightyear and got into character running around. Benji loved looking at himself in mirrors and was able to growl pretty well for a jaguar. I was surprised how well the group picture turned out. Vince was even holding Benji's hand. Now imagine him growling!Zoom! To infinity and beyond!

To celebrate we had a pumpkin carving party with a few of Vinson's friends. It was a lot of fun!

Rain Boots!

Vince and Benji both got rain boots and we decided to have some fun! Benji loved splashing!

Vince had fun on his motorcycle. Maybe a little too much fun!!

Utah Trip!

We had so much fun in Utah! Now our family has met Benjamin and the boys got to know their aunts and uncles better. It is cute to hear Vince talk about his "papa's" - grandpa's. I had a hard time deciding what to write about so I'll just post some of highlights. The absolute best part about being in the states was seeing family! We also missed the mountains, and got some good mountain time in.We went hiking up the canyon!And hiking to Timpanogos Cave.We had a birthday party for Benjamin!And went to our cabin.Then we played at the dinosaur museum.We weren't in Hooper very long but we still fed the sheep.And went canoeing at the bird refuge.

Trip to Slovakia

So I was able to attend a conference on the geography of religion at the University of Prešov in Slovakia back in August. We did some cool and "religious" tourism, while we were there. Geography conferences usually involve some kind of field trip(s) and this was no exception.

We visited several wooden cathedrals from the Greek Catholic Church (notice the uniquely different crosses and the three tower architecture). The Greek Catholics are something of an inbetween in that they acknowledge the Pope in Rome but they use the Eastern liturgy for their masses and ordinances, like the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches.
A number of these traditional wooden churches are listed jointly as a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
This first wooden church is in the village of Ladomirova in northeast Slovakia. They have just recently replaced the wood on the outer walls. It was originally built in 1742. The design of the towers is really amazing!

This church in Bodružal is one of the oldest eastern churches in Slovakia. It was built in 1658. All of these churches have fascinating interiors, but they do not allow pictures inside. They have a lot of icons (symbology-rich pictures of apostles and Christ) which make up an iconostasis -- a barrier of sorts beyond which only certain members of the church and the clergy can go.



This Catholic, wooden church in Hervatov (note the single tower and its basic Catholic cross... which you actually can't see in this picture) is one of the oldest wooden churches in Slovakia. It was built around 1650. I was able to take some pictures of the interior, which had some neat wall paintings (St. George) and wood carvings.


This is the main square of Bardejov, a pretty town in northeast Slovakia. I took this picture from the tower of the old Gothic cathedral, which contains the intricately designed alter below.

On our way back to Prague, we (I was traveling with a professor and two other students) stopped at Spišský Castle...
...and Vlkolínec, an old mountain village with unique and well-preserved architecture.I really liked this Slovak landscape with the flock of sheep. It was fun to hear all of the sheep bells ringing.

Phone Call

This probably doesn't need explanation, but "jo" pronounced "yo" is "yeah" in Czech. I love when they start pretending to talk on the phone.