Pumpkins

Got to love the mess and craziness that comes with carving pumpkins.  The kids did a great job as always with their creations.  Carter did all of the carving himself and Ashlynn needed some assistance to make her Hello Kitty face.  Matt did some fine detail work on his this year.  It was so awesome!

Ashlynn's and Carter's pumpkins lit up.

All ready on the front porch.

All the pumpkins are lit up.  Matt's is in the middle.

I ended up helping Ashlynn so I decided to save my pumpkin for decoration for Thanksgiving.

6th Annual Halloween party

The Halloween fun just keeps on going around our house.  We had to fit in the kids annual Halloween party.  They just wouldn't let it go!  I had fun thinking of fun Halloween foods.  This is what I came up with after searching pinterest:  Donuts with fangs, Banana ghosts, ghoulish chex mix, crackers and cheese with spiders on them, dirty q-tips (marshmallows with melted butterscotch on the tips) and worms (hot dogs cut long ways and boiled).  All the kids loved the worms.  The hot dogs even curled up like a pile of worms would. 

These look so scary...ooh

I also have to add that the cupcakes were made by our cute neighbor Taylor that helped with the party as well. 

The Gang!
 Sorry that Gage is being attacked by the sun.  He is glowing in this picture.

We played silly games and had another scavenger hunt.  Then the kids just wanted to run around and have their own fun.  We still had neighbor kids hanging around after the party was over because they were playing hide and seek games until we told them they had to leave.  I am glad everyone had a great time and that we kept this tradition going.

Pumpkin Patch

Our garden only produced 1 medium size yellow pumpkin this year so, we had to head out to our local pumpkin patch and get some big ones to carve.  We always like to go to Pack's patch because it is a home grown patch.  You take your wagon out to the patch load your pumpkins and it is really fun for the kids to walk among all the rows of pumpkins to find the right one for them.


 

We ended up with 4 big pumpkins and 3 tiny pumpkins for Ashlynn to paint.

School Carnival

We look forward to the school Halloween carnival every year.  It is so fun with all the games, treats and seeing people around the neighborhoods with their kids dressed up.

Carter as a zombie/vampire and Ashlynn as a Princess skeleton

Games...

More Games...

Trying to win a 2 liter pop, but ended with a can of soda.  (This was a hard game)

We had a great time and Ashlynn was so proud of herself for being brave and not being scared.  She did say that this is her favorite Halloween Carnival because there are no masks allowed.  She is so funny!

Fashion Show

Since Ashlynn is 8, she now gets to enjoy the blessings of Activity Days.  These girls from the ages of 8-11 get together twice a month and learn about gospel principals and do fun activities together.  This month they learned how to continue to dress modestly and how everyone's personality is different in expressing by the way they dress.
This activity was a fashion show that each girl wore what they wanted. As they walked down the red carpet there was a statement read about them on how they dress modestly. 


The girls waiting for their turn to walk the red carpet.

Ashlynn chose to wear her Halloween costume with a fun scarf and tiara.
 (She loves to add accessories to her outfits)
 

She is just so beautiful!
(She chose to wear the tights with the hole because it add to the scariness of her Halloween costume)
At the end of the activity the moms each wrote a letter to our daughters and then the girls wrote thank you notes to the moms.  It was such a wonderful activity and a great message that the girls will hopefully remember throughout their lives.

Witchfest

While the cousins were visiting we took them to see the Witches at Gardner Village.  Our family has only gone to see the elves at Christmas time, but never to see the Witches.  They had a fun scavenger hunt to find all the Witches around the shopping area and then got a cookie for their award.

There were some funny things that these witches were doing.  They were all very creative!

After the Witch hunt we went to eat at Archibald's for dinner before we had to say good-bye to the cousins.  We a had great time while they were here!  Come back soon!

Frightmare with Cousins

The kids cousins came to visit and we had the best time at Frightmares together! 

The sun was out, the Halloween decorations were fun and we all enjoyed our time!

We love to hang out at Lagoon!  Although, Frightmares is not Ashlynn's favorite place because people with scary costumes walk around the park.  Aunt Laura was so good to shield her from them to make her more happy. Elliott gets the prize of being the bravest.  She rode some big roller coasters and didn't even hesitate being the smallest of the bunch.   

New workroom space..

This was my Birthday gift this year and love it!  I have been wanted to add more workspace in our office for some time now and it finally happened.
I love that the kids and I have more space to do projects and that the kitchen table is not going to be a catch all for all this stuff.  Matt did a awesome job putting everything together!

I didn't get time to get pictures without anything on the table because as soon as it was done the kids started putting their stuff in their spaces.  I also like the new shelving above the desk and Matt put lights underneath to add more light below.  We still have the computer on the other side of the room on the desk that my late Grandpa Otis made.  So, just the other half of the room got the makeover.

Pueblo Indian Project

This was Carter's school project before the Fall Break.  He had to make a Indian dwelling that represented a tribe of Indians.  He chose the Pueblo Indians and made their dwelling out of air dry clay. 
 

There is a main living house, a pottery dome that had a fire pit inside and a weapons building.  I love the cute ladder on the side of the dwelling.

Birthday Party Time..

I had a BIRTHDAY and what a great day it was!

Ashton came to visit from Idaho.

And Grandpa Tom also came along...

We had a YUMMY Oreo cake to enjoy!

Me with Silly Carter!

We also went to dinner to Tepanyaki.  This is a place where they cook your food in front of you and we got to watch some fun knife trickery and lots of flames.  Very Fun!!

Another lost tooth...

Ashlynn was very proud to once again pull out another tooth.  She was determined to have it out before she saw the dentist the next day.  Unfortunately, she has inherited my soft enamel teeth and with that comes a few cavities.  So, she had 3 cavities repaired and did very well with throughout the whole procedure.  She was very nervous, but was told she did better than the 20 yr old in the next room.  After the fillings, we went out for lunch to her favorite place "Noodles and Co." and had macaroni and cheese.  Then, she was back into school to tell all her friends that about it.

Her cute missing teeth smile.

The evidence of the tooth she pulled out.

Backyard Fun!

We have had some GREAT weather days to where the kids prefer to be outside and relax.  I snapped a couple of photos of them to document these fun times in their lives.

Ashlynn likes to read out on the trampoline...

Carter has been BIG into making origami projects. 
He sets up his nook and starts folding away.