Snow White and the 7 dogs...Spiderman defeated by fatigue...

Here's how our Trick-or-Treating Went....

Started off all smiles and ready to go!

Cute, cute Snow White.....

Handsome Spider Man....

2 of our neighbors to walk with.....

Off we go!!! First stop....not bad, second stop only two houses away we're on a roll.....And then....the neighbors dog. No, I didn't get a picture of it...but it scared Zoe so bad that she immediately lost all desire to trick or treat at any house....

She was then on a mission to go to only houses she knew didn't have dogs....or pets of any kind...look at the hesitation in her eyes at this house....

and then approximately 7 houses later....this was her....alone, waiting for the other kids, not approaching the door "just incase" there was a dog.....

30 minutes from when we began the fun was done. Zoe had had enough trauma fearing every door was going to have a dog, T.J. was tired and so what did we do? Headed home after the shortest trick-or-treating of my life. One last stop at the neighbors and we were done.

I have to say...for as much as I dislike Trick-or-Treating myself, I was not disappointed at all to call it a night! Happy Halloween! I wonder how next year will go....???

Our Own Neighborhood Halloween Party

Last year we decided to let the kids invite some friends over for a Halloween Party...it was such a hit that we decided to do it again this year! I let each child invite over 3 friends. Throw in a few of their siblings, an extra cousin or two and we had a great group!!!

We started off making Halloween Ghosts...




Then we played a round of Halloween BINGO. And like a fool, I copied off the same BINGO sheet for everyone....so everyone was a winner....all at the same time!!!

Then it was off to do Musical Chairs...


Tristan took out Samuel and Casey to be the Victor!!

Then we played "Blow the Ghost Poop"....yeah, don't ask!!




Halloween Win, Lose or Draw was awesome!


And then to end the party we played "Penny in the Pumpkin"....


I seriously, seriously LOVE Halloween!!!!

It's not Halloween without Grandma's Party!

Every Halloween for as long as I can remember, my mom has thrown a Party! The best Halloween memories I have are at home eating a fun Halloween dinner, bobbing for apples, eating donuts on a string, playing games and then the best part: getting our treat bag from mom and dad! Back then you had to make a fool of yourself by performing a song or skit or something else embarrassing to earn your candy. Then we'd all head downstairs to do the annual "trading" where I inevitably got ripped off by my older siblings who always new how to trick me out of my best candy!!! Over the years the games have changed (not the bobbing for apples, and donuts) the kids have multiplied and now you don't have to perform to get your treat bag, grandma simply brags about you to the rest of the family. It still makes for the happiest memories and I'm so glad my kids get to make these memories too!!

The candy bar game....



Donuts on a string....






Grandma bragging about the kids as they get their bag of treats....


The best part of the night...the annual ritual of "trading candy"....



Cute little Spider Man and Snow White....

Family Home Evening on a Halloween Cruise...

So just down the street from us a family owns a ropes course. Every Halloween and Christmas they do a little cruise down the Provo River. We finally decided to take the kids this year. It's definitely meant for children our kids ages and not so much for older kids...but we loved the time out and the atmosphere none-the-less! I didn't try to take any pictures on the cruise because of how dark it was...but here are a couple of us on the boat and out waiting for our cruise.

I looked out my window and what did I see?

The most beautiful rainbow! I think this world is sooooooo beautiful! I love that I can step out onto my back porch and capture this! And the camera doesn't even do it justice!!




Oh so beautiful!!

Did I happen to mention....

That T.J. is in preschool? And that his preschool is at our house? And that I'm his teacher?? Yeah, I'm a terrible blogger!!!

Fun at Aunt Sarah's House!

My sister lives in the most quaint small town up in the mountains of Driggs, Idaho. She has been begging us to come visit for oh, about 2 years now and every time we've planned to go, something has gone terribly wrong. Well, finally we made it up there this past month and while we were there we celebrated Zoe and Kate's birthdays. It was such a fun trip! I loved every minute--even when all the kids got sick--and can't wait to go back! I love my sister Sarah. She is the most honest, humble, fun person! I wish we could go visit her every month!

Here are some pictures of our pumpkin-carving fest. It was so fun!






Sarah and Hyrum have a fire pit in their backyard which we had to enjoy one evening. Oh, I love it!!


Here's the crew with our carved pumpkins.