Halloween

Well, I've had a little trouble with my blog, but I think I've got it figured out (Thanks Rachel!) Here's a quick little note about Halloween, which has come and gone ages ago, but because of blog issues I haven't been able to post.  Here's hopin' it works.

The community center here in Vernal had a huge carnival and trick-or-treating around the building that was fantastic. The carnival was really fun but VERY crowded. The original plan was to go do that and then head on over the ward's trunk-or-treat, but we didn't get that far.  On the way home from the community center Dalin kept saying he had a stomach ache, which I thought was probably because he had eaten too much candy and we hadn't had any dinner yet, but it turned out to be a nasty little bug that caused him to puke his guts out the rest of the night.  He was so bummed.  What a bummer to be sick on Halloween, so we missed the trunk-or-treat but at least they got to go to the community center.  I hope we didn't get everyone there sick.  Two days later Landon and Braden got it and so it wasn't a very fun week.

Earlier in the day Braden wanted to be a skeleton, but you can see later on he opted for a pirate.  Dalin wanted to be Darth Vader so bad, but when I wouldn't let him get a $45 light saber he refused, so he choose to be a pirate again.  This is what he was last year, but he insisted that if I wouldn't let him have the light saber then that's what he wanted to be.

Landon was the cutest elephant ever, but hated putting the hat on.

Braden changed his mind and went for a skeleton pirate rather than just a skeleton.  

I hate spiders, and these are no exceptions.  But the boys loved looking at their pictures when I showed them they were spiders.

Little pirates and an elephant in swan lake.

For some reason Braden loved this guy.  It was one of those statue things that would moved and say "whahaha" like a vampire.  He got some vampire teeth from someone in his bag and fell in love with them.  I had to deal with those nasty things for a week after Halloween until they finally fell apart. 

Duck Pond

Over UEA break we had a chance to head up north and visit family.  Unfortunately, Grandpa Ron was very sick and we didn't get a chance to see him and Grandma Anne.  The kids were so bummed, but we're glad he's feeling better and that Grandma Anne is doing better too.  Hopefully everyone stays well.

Anywho, while we were at my parents we all got together and headed over to Beus' Pond to feed the ducks.  It's rare that all of our schedules coincide so this was great since it was put together very last minute.

The geese were bullies and scared most of the kids.  Look at that goose behind Landon.  It's almost as big as him!

Braden was holding a piece of bread in his hand and a goose came up to steal it and ended up pecking him.  He kind of freaked out, but I told him to just put his foot out and shoo them away.  After he realized they would run away if he kicked at them he did fine.

Dalin off foraging in the bushes.

Here's all the cousins, minus two babies.  Dalin, Bailey, Makayla, Leah, Landon, Braden, Kyla, and Korbin.

It was also fun to climb the mountain and get filthy.  Here's Braden and Kyla climbing.

Then of course trees are too much of a pull.  When Makayla and Korbin saw Dalin and Braden they too had to join in because of course they want to do everything the big kids do.

Then we got to play at the playground.  It was a fun filled day.

On a side note Braden loves leaves.  So when we got back to Grandma Sylvia's house he and I had fun playing.  What a cute boy.

I Love Fall

Fall is probably my favorite time of year.  It's either that or spring.  The only crappy thing about fall is that it's followed by winter, my least favorite time of year.  I just don't handle being cold very well.  I love the vibrant colors and the smell in the air.  It's absolutely intoxicating.  I love the sound of crunching leaves and I love that the sun seems so much more happy when it shines through the bright yellow leaves in my front yard. 

This was a bad day for me.  Snow before Halloween is never a good thing.  My kids loved it and couldn't wait to go out and play in it (or eat it in Braden's case), but I hate it.  Snow mustn't come until after Thanksgiving, preferably not until December.  

But the sun came out, melted the snow, and warmed us up again.  This was a beautiful day and Braden and I decided we should go out and jump in the leaves.  No one else wanted to join us so we went out on our own.  As I said in a previous post, Braden loves leaves and we have some LEAVES in our back yard.



Is this not the best picture ever?!!?  Nothing better than jumping in a huge pile of leaves.

And then the smiles when he turns around.

Finally Dalin heard the noise and came out to join us, only he didn't want to jump in the leaves, he wanted to blow the leaves.  Any chance he can get to use any kind of tool.

He thought it was pretty fun to blow the leaves in my face.

Finally Dan joined us and got to work.

Just look at that cute face.

Dalin finally started jumping.

That is one big pile of leaves!  And that's just one tree. We had two hauls like this and filled the gigantic dumpster in front of our house twice.  

I had a ton of fun playing with the boys in the leaves.

The had fun throwing leaves at me and burying me.

Then of course who doesn't love a good wrestle in the leaves with dad.  This was one fun day.

Pumpkins

This is the first time since....actually I don't think I've ever grown my own pumpkins.  But this year we did and it was so fun. All we got were three little pumpkins but we only had two plants and they didn't get enough sun so I think it turned out as a success.  The kids had tons of fun watching their pumpkins grow and Braden got so excited when they finally started to get orange.  He wanted to pick them so bad, but I made him wait until there was no more green left on them.

Here are my cute boys in front of their little pumpkin patch.

It froze hard the night of October 7 and it killed all my plants, including the pumpkins so I had Braden run out and pick them.  He was sooooo excited.  He couldn't figure out how to get them off the plant because as he stated "they have lots of pokeys". He finally came out of the shed with my trimmers in hand and got them off and brought them in.  Landon loved them.  He loved to pick them up and it was all I could do to keep him from throwing them. He calls pumpkins "monkeys"

Here they all are.

Finally it was time to carve.  What a fun tradition this has been.  My poop of a husband says "that's your thing" and won't help us, but we had fun nonetheless.  It was hard work for those little fingers to get the guts out.  That's what Braden calls the innards. 

Dalin did his all by himself with a little help with the tooth.

Braden helped me hold the knife and we carved it together. He decided what shapes to do.

Here we all are!  Landon has serious skill ;)