Halloween!

It was Halloween week! We had several activities leading up to the main event. On Monday (26th), we all picked pumpkins out of our garden (one thing that grew well this year!) to carve and/or paint. (I'm not too fond of the carving part so I opted to paint mine.) It was cool that we were able to get pumpkins out of our garden that we had grown. We had fun creating our pumpkin masterpieces!

Mine is the pumpkin at the top, followed by Jeff's cat silhouette, then Dallin's bat, and Danny's creation. 

On Wednesday (28th), my friend and neighbor, Cathi Chisholm, hosted a "Witches Lunch" for several ladies in the area. Cathi absolutely loves Halloween!! She goes all out...and this lunch was no exception. It was so much fun to associate and laugh with friends. With Jonas, I am not always available to attend these functions so today was a nice exception.

Friday (30th) was the day Danny had been anticipating all week - the Halloween parade! He was so excited because I agreed to let him walk with Jonas in the parade. The boys have kind of gone with a football theme this year - and Jonas is the football. Danny was so cute with him. I could tell that he enjoyed showing off his little brother! I just prayed that he wouldn't "fumble the ball" during the parade.

Danny with Jonas and his friend Noah.

Danny wanted me to take this picture of Jonas's "first day at school".

Finally Saturday arrived - Halloween! We spent the morning completing all our chores and errands so we could enjoy the evening festivities. We started with our traditional Halloween dinner. I love making holiday themed meals. 

After our dinner, the boys quickly got in their "costumes", and we headed to the church building for the ward's "trunk-or-treat". The boys LOVE the "trunk-or-treat". Basically they walk around to several cars for a duration of maybe a half hour and come out with a HAUL of candy! Dallin got a little extra this year because he was carrying the cutest football EVER! We ended the evening by making an appearance at my brother, Scott's, Halloween party. Jonas, Jeff and I headed home after that, but Amber and the boys decided to hit up a couple neighborhoods for door-to-door trick-or-treating. It was a great Halloween!

Danny the referee, Jonas the football, and Dallin the football player.

Amber as the Queen of Hearts with her friends, Jake (Flynn Rider) and Rachel (Lioness)

Jonas was wiped out! Too much trick-or-treating!

Fish Lake

This weekend we headed out on the last camp out of the season (at least for me because I start to hibernate once the snow falls!). Danny needed to plan and execute a family camp out as a part of a cub scout requirement so we headed to Fish Lake. Can I just say how much more comfortable camping can be with a heated trailer?! It was pretty chilly at Fish Lake, especially on the lake, but it was beautiful. We just missed most of the fall colors, but there were a few leaves still hanging on to their yellow, red, and orange brilliance. Since the kids had no school on Friday, we headed out that morning then returned Saturday before dinner. It was a quick camp out but fun nonetheless. We got to the lake around lunch time on Friday. After we ate, we explored our surroundings a little before we headed to the marina to rent a pontoon boat.

The boys wanted to go fishing. Let's just say that we aren't the best fishermen (or woman). Dallin actually caught one though! It was a rainbow trout. Luckily for Dallin, the hook didn't get too far in, and we were able to throw the fish back out into the lake. The boys don't like to eat fish. Try as we did, no one else was able to catch a fish during the 3 hours we were on the lake. Still, we all enjoyed being in the boat on that beautiful lake (except when the wind picked up and we were all freezing!).

That evening we hung out in the trailer playing games and laughing until we cried. These are the memories I will cherish forever. I love being with all my boys! We missed the girls though. The next morning, we enjoyed a fire before participating in some activities (e.g., scavenger hunt) that Danny had planned. Around lunch time, Jeff and I packed up the trailer while the boys tried their hand at fishing from the shore. Still no luck! We had lunch then headed home. It was a short camp out, and Jonas's first. He was a champ (as usual)! He did really well with the cold weather and foreign surroundings. It definitely helped to have a heated trailer and room to bring his swing. Thank goodness for "glamping" amenities! Fish Lake will definitely remain on our "places to camp" list!

Jeff's birthday

Happy 42nd birthday to the one man who still makes my heart smile!! Today was Jeff's birthday. He is never one to really want the attention or to have some grand celebration (unlike me who likes to milk her birthday for all it's worth!) so we celebrated quietly. Jeff attended to some of his work responsibilities in the morning, then, after dropping my parents off at the airport that evening, Jeff and I went to dinner at Wingers where we enjoyed watching the first quarter of the BYU football game (not my first choice but "when in Rome") and indulging in a gigantic piece of asphalt pie (pretty much a slice of heaven disguised as mint chip ice cream with Oreo cookie crust drizzled in salted caramel).

On Sunday (18th), we celebrated with family. Amber was able to come home for the evening. Jeff's parents and sister, Katie, also joined us. The kids got Jeff an Apple TV for his birthday. Jeff has this thing where he always tries to guess his gifts before opening them. They spent the entire afternoon bantering back and forth as Jeff made guess after guess. Let's just say that Danny is not the best at keeping secrets. Jeff was pretty much able to guess it before he opened it. I actually think Jeff enjoyed the guessing more than the receiving of the gift. After a salmon dinner (not the boys favorite!), we sang happy birthday then tore into one of Jeff's favorite desserts, banana cream pie. While I'm sure Jeff enjoyed the gifts (I got him tickets to see his favorite comedian, Brian Regan) and the food, I'm certain his favorite part of the day was spending it with family. I am so grateful that this incredible man came to this earth. I couldn't have asked for a more patient, loving, inspiring, positive man to be my husband and my best friend. I am an extremely lucky woman! Happy birthday Jeff!