Happy Halloween!

Ward Halloween Party

We went to our ward's annual Chili and Chocolate Halloween party tonight. The kids always love going to this party because they get to dress up for Halloween. This year they had the kids walk across the stage showing off their costumes. It was so cute to see all the kids in their costumes.

 Andy wanted to be a power ranger for Halloween this year, of course when we were going through all our old costumes he found his Darth Vader costume from last year and changed his mind. (Money well spent.)

 Merida and Tangled took our little monkey across the stage, she didn't know quite what to think of that.

 Hyrum sneaked a photo of the kids as they came down from the stage.

 I love this, Merida is looking to see if Darth Vader is coming down.

 Andy (Darth Vader) and Samantha (Merida)

Lyllee (Tangled) and Madelyn (little monkey)

(The little monkey was excited to get a sucker at the other side of the stage)

Pumpkin Haven

We took the kids over to Pumpkin Haven this morning. Lyllee had a sleepover with her cousin Abby so we brought her along too. The kids had a blast going through the Haunted maze, picking pumpkins and the petting zoo. They had a bounce house but, it wasn't set up. The first thing we did was go through the maze. Not the most scary maze I've ever been through but, the kids thought it was cool. They had a scavenger list of things to find while you found your way through. Lyllee and Abby found everything five times! (They kept going back in again and again.)

These two silly girls found everything on the scavenger hunt and needed a picture together!

 Madelyn really liked seeing all the animals and petting them.

 Madelyn was giving the baby goat loves. It was so cute!

After we finished petting the animals we headed over to the pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins. We had a lot of fun today!

Bear Lake

Hyrum's brother invited us to spend a few days at Bear Lake with their family, and since our kids were out of school for UEA we thought it would be really fun to go. We didn't get there until late Wednesday night because I waited until Wednesday morning to pack for the trip and Hyrum worked until four. It was kind of scary driving through all the curvy roads in the mountains in the dark of the night! I am really proud of my kids though, no one puked this time! Every time we drive through a canyon with really windy roads one of the kids pukes.

The kids were all so excited when we finally made it to the hotel, they were all wide awake so it took a while to get them to sleep. Andy and Ammon (my nephew) got a room to themselves and they stayed up after eleven. It was really nice to sit, relax and visit with Brent and JennyLyn and watch a few shows on TV after the kids finally fell asleep.

The next morning we took the kids over to the Garden City Park so they could play. 

 They spent most of the time swinging. They liked having Hyrum and Brent push them high up in the sky!

 They have a boardwalk down to the lake at the park so after the kids were done swinging we headed down to the boardwalk. The kids wanted me to take some pictures of them playing in the leaves. They turned out pretty cool.

 The lake is really low right now. We walked out to about the middle of where the lake used to be before we got to the water.

 The kids found sticks and drew lots of pictures in the sand.

 Just chil-laxin'

 Lyllee built a little city with all the little shells she found, it even had a large tree in the city.

 I was so happy that I was able to take a picture of all the kids together, this only happens once in a blue moon.

 Such beautiful scenery.

 Best buddies.

 Madelyn was so intrigued by the leaves she found.

 Love this girl!

 Madelyn and her cousin Ruthann. They are only three days apart..

After dinner we took the kids to the pool at the hotel. Madelyn really enjoyed splashing with dad and watching her siblings playing in the water too.

 Ruthann seemed to have mixed feelings about the water. She wanted to get in and out of the pool a lot.

 Silly Ammon posing for a picture.

 My cute girls.

 This was Madelyn's favorite thing to do in the water.

 Andy saw Samantha jumping in and got up enough courage to try it himself.

 Samantha practiced all the skills she learned from her swimming lessons earlier in the year.

We had a lot of fun with Brent and JennyLyn. It was a nice little vacation, I hadn't ever been to Bear Lake before. Next time we go we will have to stop at the place that shake place that is known for its raspberry shakes. They are supposed to be really good.

I love driving through the canyons in the fall, so pretty!