Halloween-Party Time-Excellent!

We had a great Halloween this year. The weather was great and with Daylight Savings Ending later, we had great light. Our kids got right to it and I loved seeing the boys run from house to house, okay, it was Sam who was running house to house, James was content to take it slow with Chloe and Mom.
Don't get me wrong, just because Chloe took it at her own pace doesn't mean she didn't get what was going on. She didn't want to miss a house, and when there, she would ponder hard on what piece of candy she wanted!
Seth and I even dressed up this year thanks to his buddy, Spencer. They were Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World for a work party, so Spencer let me borrow his get up so we could strut in style. It was fun to dress up, although when I wasn't right next to Seth (so people could get who I was) I just looked like a very unfortunate looking person! :)

Home-Grown Jack-o-Lanterns

We're making progress...last year we carved our pumpkins after Halloween. This year we did it the day of! :) We grew these pumpkins and are very proud of them. The poor things could have used more attention and water, but with how bad I am at gardening, I think these babies are amazing! :)

Adios Padres

Well, the day finally came. My parents are gone! They accepted a call to serve 3 years in Madrid, Spain as the Temple President and Matron. I am glad for their example, worthiness, and willingness to go, but I will miss them.
My dad was a mission president in Barcelona and I was able to live there with them for 3 years, so they are no strangers to the country or culture. It is especially fun for me that they are going to Madrid now, since that is where I served my mission there (as well as did my brother, Mark) and even lived 9 months just a block away from the Temple block. I like that I had a very clear visualization of where they are, where they will shop, what metro they will use...It helps me feel like they are not so far away.
So, we had a little going away party for them...the traditional family meal of pizza and root beer floats. It seemed that it the meal we always would have when someone left or returned from a mission...so we ate it a lot! :)
We had to go back to the Halloween train so everyone could experience it. It was even more impressive at night.
I know that they will do a lot of good, learn a lot, and make many lasting relationships.




Nate flew in for the party and surprised us all. We sure to miss him. As you can see he is a fun burst of energy. We let him use our car so he could drive to the airport to help see Mom and Dad off and this is how we found it when we came home from church. Silly Nate! :)

Ward Halloween Party

We had a great time going to our ward Halloween party, wearing our costumes, and eating some yummy food. I flew solo at the event since Seth needed to catch up on school and work...and boy I must say, I really take him for advantage when we go places. It's hard work to get 3 kids dressed, fed, and watched!

Nightmare Express

In Lindon, there is an amazing block of families that have a train that runs all around their property. They open it up at Halloween and Christmas to the public. There is no charge. They just ask for volunteers. It takes about 200 to have it run for the holiday, and boy do they do a great job.
My sister knew about this and we just had to go with her. Sam and James were of course super excited when they heard where we were going, and Chloe wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she was just excited! :)
Everything is homemade and decked out. You even get to sit in this huge warm garage and watch a show until your train arrives. The ride lasts about 5 minutes and is worth every minute.

Frightmares

We finally decided to give "Frightmares" at Lagoon a try and now we can't figure out why we waited so long to go...it was AWESOME!
We had a blast. The kid rides (as usual) were not very packed. The decor was pretty good. There were of course some yucky looking stuff, but where we hang out there wasn't any.
The "haunted" house they had was awesome. Well done, fun, warm, and they got great treats and prizes. They also had a great hay maze where the kids were able to get prizes as well. The whole atmosphere was great and the most important thing was that the kids had a fun night out.



This was especially a fun night for Chloe. She has gone on rides before, but tonight she really got into it. She went on everything she could. When ever she would see a new ride she would get all excited and not be able to wait to get on. I love it when something new just "clicks"! :)

DONE!

I finally did it. This year's costumes are done! They turned out great, and what's even better, the kids like them and want to wear them!

Sam-Perry the Platypus, aka: Agent "P"


Now he's just Perry the pet! :)


James-Phenius


Chloe-Ferb

Barnyard BOO

We had a great time going to the Thanksgiving Point Farm and playing Halloween games. The farm was all decorated up as well as were the employees. We went with some friends to make it even more exciting.
This was the first time the kids got to put on their costumes. They had a great time, and I am happy to say that I love the way they turned out.
There was bowling, eye-ball toss, Halloween croquet, a spooky obstacle course, and a haunted house spider toss. They even got to milk a cow, ride a pony, and see the cutest baby goat that was only 30 minutes old.