Trunk or Treat

Our ward's Halloween trunk or treat activity was tonight. It was a lot of fun! Definitely chilly but with delicious food and a great turn out for the kids to fill their pumpkins and eat themselves sick with candy. (Literally sick - Jack threw up while taking his bath tonight - I think I'll  have to monitor exactly how much candy he is actually eating tomorrow night). 

In keeping with tradition, Jack is the infamous pirate Jack Sparrow and Ivy is the cutest, sweetest, prettiest little ladybug you'll ever see. Taking their pictures tonight was an absolute chore. When one is smiling, the other is not. Why is it so difficult? And I couldn't resist posting a few pictures I took of Ivy with her cute little girly cousins tonight. 

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins tonight. I must say, this is one of my favorite family traditions (even if after 15 minutes its usually just me and Daniel left carving away). I love that Daniel spends serious time carving Jackson exactly what he wants on his pumpkin... this year... a Ninja Turtle. Jack Jack still won't touch the pumpkin guts... was hoping he'd grow out of that but not yet. Ivy is always just happy to be involved. We are a blessed family,

Tricks AND Treats!

These two fancy ladies just put on the Halloween Party of the year! Thanks Kara and Eva for all your hard work at making a special day for our kiddos.

Yummy food complete with witches cauldron smoking over.

 Donuts on a string. Super cute in theory. Total torture for the kids and impossible for anyone under the age of 5 to comprehend that you can not use your hands.

 All of the cousins.

My little Buzz Lightyear and Clown. Fun to put Ivy in Jack's Jack in the Box costume from 3 years ago. Not to worry... these are not their costumes for the year - we are busting those out next week.

 My kids ate donuts, cookies and candy the entire time. I'm lucky no one threw up.

 Kara put on a magic show. The kids were totally mesmerized. She had quite a few tricks up her sleeve.

A little fishing for treats. This was a hit with everyone except Ivy. Jack was delighted with his catch. 

 These kids were VERY interested in what was going on.

 Popping the pumpkins for candy... another score.

 Ghost bowling. When all was said and done, Jack claimed this to be his favorite. Which was funny to me because it took all of about 3 seconds and there were no prizes involved.

 And Spooky Storytime told by our very own gypsy. The kids loved it. 

What a fun day, fun party, with fun friends! What lucky people we are!

Utah Revisited

We went to Utah!! We were in Utah for 11 days and had a wonderful time! Here is the run down of our trip.

We'll start with the flights. Not so bad actually. We had a layover in Houston but traveling with Daniel make quite the difference. Here - our kiddies were really causing a stir by camping out in the middle of the terminal but I didn't care... I wanted them to get it all out before boarding the next plane. 

 We traveled on our anniversary!! Happy 9 years to us! We celebrated that night with some frozen yogurt after the kids were asleep. We are a lucky couple. 

Jack Jack was in HEAVEN with these boys. Duce and Jett... we need you in our lives every day. Noteworthy - Jack Jack's first sleepover at the Anderson house was a success!!

We ate out a lot. A lot a lot!! Too much. But it was all oh so good! We hit up the Pizza Factory among many others. 

 While Daniel was hunting elk in Wyoming with Jordan the girls finagled several girls nights out once the kiddies were in bed (thanks John and Tyler!) 

 I've already posted pictures from our family photo shoot and here are a few more that we took that same day as we spent some time in the canyon. It was so pretty and nostalgic. Wish we could have stayed longer but the kids were cold and pretty miserable. 

Our accommodations at Shelly's couldn't have been better!

 We went to a little pumpkin patch that the kids loved. They ran through mazes, played in corn and went on a hayride. It was a good time!

 We spent a lot of time at the Anderson's. It's pretty much all my kids wanted to do. It's a kids dream home. Lots of toys, a trampoline, bikes and an entire culdesac to run a muck in. I wasn't always the most diligent about keeping my eye on Ivy. Markers and the cat litter were her personal favorites. 

We went to a cute children's museum in Salt Lake City.  

 Painting pumpkins!! Jack's ended up black. 

The trampoline was a favorite. Ivy wasn't often allowed on because she always ended up in tears. But when we had a chance to get on it alone, she was thrilled.

 We went to a witchfest at Gardner Village. It was cute but crowded. We got a few cute pictures at least.

I think one of my favorite activities was a leisure bike ride on Saturday. The weather was absolutely beautiful. 

I was lucky to see some of my old college friends a couple of nights as well... wish I had taken some pictures of us. Daniel had no luck in Wyoming hunting elk.