Matt's friend and business partner is branching out into the photography business. He is needing some practice to gain more experience. Knowing this we asked him if he would do our family pictures. Not bad for just starting out. These were our favorite shots! Thanks Dustin for taking our pictures. The first one is my favorite!
I absolutely love Halloween, it's one of my favorite holidays!!! So yea I realize that Halloween has come and gone. I'm a bit late in posting, but better late than never, right? We did some fun things this year, I would have liked to do more, but we weren't able. We had to keep up with family tradition and decorate sugar cookies. It is so fun to decorate with different colors of frosting, (Purple, Orange, and White) M & M's, and the autumn mix of Candy Corn, Indian corn, and pumpkins. This year we added Halloween sprinkles to decorate with. We had a lot of fun decorating, eating, and of course sharing them with our friends.
I made a Dinner in a pumpkin 1 night for dinner. The girls got a kick out of it! I posted about it earlier. It tasted delicious, we snarfed it down. The girls weren't too fond of the leftovers though. Shocker? I think not! Next time I will get a smaller pumpkin. =)
We wanted to be on top of it this year with the girls costumes. Last year we procrastinated; we went the week of Halloween, and there were slim pickings to choose from. We decided it would be best to not procrastinate and go at the beginning of the month. We weren't disappointed! McKenzie wanted to be a Vampire. Madisynn wanted to be Rapunzel. Then she changed her mind after watching Treasure Planet. She wanted to be a pirate captain. So we all went to Walmart to look for costumes. McKenzie found a Vampire Queen costume, and Madisynn found a Pirate Princess of the sea costume. They were itching to wear them all month long. I couldn't let them until it was time for trunk or treat, trick or treating, and school parties. I'm glad I waited because both of there costumes got ripped up pretty quick.
Madisynn's school had their annual Fall Fest. We went as a family to support the school. We ate pizza, hot dogs, chips, and drank soda. The girls went around and played the games, and won prizes. Got balloon animals. They wanted to go outside and do the jump house and slide, but we didn't have time. Plus it was freezing outside. We went and got free Ice cream cones from Arctic Circle which made it all better!
We went to Gardner Village and got our family pictures taken. Matt's business partner took them. He was needing practice. He did a really good job! Thanks Dustin! I love our pictures and will post them soon. I love Gardner Village at Halloween time. They have all of their witches, and pumpkins on display. It's so Festive!
We went to the Cruise the nights car show in Magna. They were doing a Trunk or Treat, as you looked at all of the cool cars. There were a lot of beauties, and Matt was coveting them. We saw a delorean, and they had put a flux capacitor in it. Too funny! The girls had never seen Back to the Future, so they had no idea why we were laughing. We had to educate them, so we borrowed the collection from my Mom. The girls loved it! I think we all love number 3 the best. The girls got plenty of candy, but could have gotten way more if we had shown up a half hr. earlier. Oh well, we had fun!
We went to our wards Trunk or Treat. They had it the Saturday before Halloween. We were supposed to be doing it with 2 other wards. We were kind of disappointed when hardly anyone showed up. One ward opted not to do it, the other decided to do it on Halloween. We had 15 cars or so for the kids to go through. Thanks to those that supported it! The kids went through about 3 times.
The Sunday before Halloween my family had a Halloween get together. We had Clam Chowder, and Taco soup, Salad, Rolls, Salsa and Chips, and Fruit salad, and Pumpkin Pie from Costco topped with Whip Cream. YUMMY! We took pictures of the kids in there Halloween costumes. Carved Pumpkins, Ate candy, and just spent time together. I love family time!
Halloween night I wasn't sure of it we were going to do. My brother Quinn brought up the night before that he was going to be playing video games, and Matt asked if he could come. Matt doesn't get to hang out much, and who better to hang out with than my brother, so I agreed. It was good to see Matt's face light up. He needs that male bonding time! I still wasn't sure of what the girls and I were going to do until my friend Jacoy asked what we were doing. Problem was instantly solved. Her husband had to work, so we decided to take the girls to the other wards trunk or treat and then drive them around to the houses that we knew. They were still able to get that experience of going door to door trick or treating. They had so much fun, and didn't want to quit. They both got pretty much a whole bag full.
Just as some side notes. My girls aren't wearing make up until they are 30. They were gorgeous without it on, but even more gorgeous with it! Just a reminder that they are growing up, and i'm not ready for it.
Next side note- before Jacoy came and picked us up we had some trick or treaters come to our house. I told them to choose 1 candy because I needed candy to hand out at the trunk or treat. Well they were so rude and started to take a handful. I was like just one piece please. I had to tell them several times. I wouldn't be complaining to much about it but it happened 3 different times. And one was a mother. It was so rude and disrespectful. Losing the trust in people I started to just give it to them and not let them choose. Teach your kids how to be polite, is that asking too much? Gee Whiz!
It was such a fun month, and i"m glad we got to spend it as a family! I have pictures posted below. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Dinner in a pumpkin. I posted the recipe on a earlier post if you want it:
Day 3 we went to my Sister's house out in Cedar Fort. Yes it's in Utah past Sarratoga Springs, and Eagle Mountain. It's a small town. Lot's of land perfect for 4 wheeling! My Mom picked up the 4 wheeler. Kenzie and Maddie wanted to go with her. Matt had worked the night before, so he was sleeping and would meet up with us later. I had to run some errands before going to my sister's house.
To start the day out Sarah had flags and bean bags for the kids to decorate with their country for our family Olympics. She had also made them medals to wear for it. After the kids played in the swimming pool. We took turns riding on the 4 wheeler. Well those that wanted rides did. I went with Sarah. I get a little nervous when I'm riding on 4 wheelers though. I had a bad experience back when I was in high school. My parents, my brothers and I were 4 wheeling. I was on the 4 wheeler with my older brother Chris. We were going up a hill, and it was a little too steep and the 4 wheeler started to tip backwards. It rolled over us. It was very scary. Luckily we weren't seriously hurt or killed. I can't go up any steep hills like that anymore, I would prefer to hike it. Anxiety just thinking about it. I gave Kenzie a ride, which she loved and wanted more. When Matt came he gave Maddie a ride, which she loved as well.
We had a little tournament with the washer game. What is the washer game? You have 2 slanted boxes made out of wood. At the top of the slanted top is a skinny slit, and below that is a circle. The goal is to get your washer to go in the slit, the hole, or land on top of the box. The first one to 21 wins. The slit is 5 points, the hole is 3 points, and landing it on top of the box is 1 point. I really suck at this game. I'm very uncoordinated, or maybe just very self conscious. The top dog was my Bother Chris. Matt was up there, and I think my Brother in law Justin was too. My Mom was pretty good as well!
We had lunch, and had cupcakes that Sarah had made and decorated with the Olympics. Then Sarah set up the obstacle course for the Olympics. First you started out by doing a ring toss, then you ran and had to crawl through a tunnel. Then run back and forth through some orange cones, wave a streamer wand 3 times, run and and do a bean bag toss, go on top of a picnic bench, go down the slide on the swing set, jump rope 3 times, sit down, stand up through 3 small camp chairs, make a basket, fill up a water gun and spray, I think hopscotch was involved, and to finish it all off ride the tricycle to the finish line. It was a lot of fun, and very tiring.
We were timed and the one with the highest score won. We did Gold, Silver, and Bronze, with the kids, and the adults. The winners for the kids were Gabe, Jack, and McKell. The Adults were Chris, Sarah, and my Mom. Go Kotter's!!! Then somehow I got involved in a water fight with Kaleb, Jack, and Gabe. So much fun! We then had a Hula Hoop contest. Another thing I totally suck at. The winner of that was McKell. She is dang Awesome! I wish I could Hula like her! Go Kell! Then it was time for dinner. We celebrated Kaleb's birthday. He turned 14. I can't believe he is 14. He looks like he is 17. I love that he wants to hang with me, he is a lot of fun! Well all of my nieces and nephews are a total blast!
We 4 wheeled till it got to dark. My Mom had to leave to get them back before we were charged another day. Matt had to go to work. We had brought our big tent to camp out in it. We got it set up, and Chris and Sarah and their kids, and the girls and I slept in it. In the morning we had waffles which I made. I'm so glad Sarah asked me to be in charge of making breakfast. It's my favorite. Waffles with strawberries and whip cream, and different syrups, it's the best! Then we had a family photo shoot. I was so mad, I forgot my makeup. I feel like less of girl if i'm not wearing it. I feel totally blah! The pictures still turned out good though. It was fun to be with everyone. I wish Matt and Quinn could have been there for it!
After the photo shoot we decided we were going to go see the horse show in Fairfield which is about 5 min. form Kate and Justin's house. Kate's family and my Mom who took my girls, Gabe, and Mckell left first. I went with Chris and Sarah, and Trace. We weren't too excited to go. We pulled in, and just as we were going to get out Sarah decides that she doesn't want to go, I instantly say the same thing. Then Trace says he wanted to see a horse. So we drove over and when we were going to get out he threw a fit about it. It was really funny! I'm so glad we didn't stay. It was funny because we passed my Mom and the way there. She said it was pretty lame, and the kids were ready to come back. We said we would take our chances. Which obviously didn't last long. LOL I'm glad we didn't stay.
We hung out for a little bit longer, and then it was time to go home. Chris and Sarah were going back to New Mexico the next morning. They needed to get home and packed. Matt had to work that night, so the girls and I went to my Mom's to hang out before Chris and Sarah left. So that is the end of our family reunion staycation. It was a total blast, and it was nice to just stay in the area, and relax. Thanks Sarah for doing such a wonderful job planning it all, you are the best! Next year it's Matt and I's turn to plan the reunion. What to do? What to do? Matt jokingly suggested having a Movie Marathon watching the Harry Potter Collection, The Lord of the Rings Collection, and 1 more collection maybe it was Twilight. LOL Not going to happen. Hopefully everything will work out and we can all do and go somewhere fun next year!
Decorating for the Olympics:
