Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I can't believe that we're at Halloween again...weren't we just celebrating this holiday yesterday...oh wait, we kind of were. We've been celebrating Halloween all week! We started our celebrations on Sunday (October 27th). I invited Laurin, Casey, Amber, Jacob, Gma, Penny, Katie, Scott, and his little family over to join us in a fun Halloween themed dinner and pumpkin carving. You know me and traditions...and well, I think this will be one we keep. It was fun to do this on the Sunday before instead of the day of because there are so many people going in so many directions on Halloween day. I think everyone really had fun! There were so many creative pumpkins as well. We finished the evening out by watching Disney's Coco. (That's the type of Halloween movie I can handle!)

The rest of the week was fairly normal for Danny, Jeff, and I, but Jonas had celebrations all week long! On Tuesday (29th), he got to wear his costume to music class and gymnastics. He also brought treats to share and received treats from his teachers.

Wednesday (30th), he had his Halloween party at preschool. He got to bring treats. With all the sugar going around, I decided to make some cute salty snacks for him to take instead. I decorated individual-sized Pringles packs. Jonas loves chips so it was a perfect choice!

That evening, our local Veteran's Home was hosting a Trick-or-Treat night. Since Jonas was a Special Forces Soldier this year, I thought it would be fun to attend. It was so cute! Some of the veterans even saluted Jonas. There were TONS of kids there so we decided not to fight the crowds for too long, but it was worth going to see the smiles on their faces and Jonas's face.

Finally, Halloween!! In the morning, I made another fun Halloween themed meal with spider eggs, bat skewers, jack-o-lantern smoothies, ghost bananas, and pumpkin waffles.

This is the first year Danny didn't really dress up. Instead, his friends came over to the house to hang out, eat candy, and eventually watch a scary movie in the shop (sorry...no pictures). Jeff, Jonas, and I decided to join Krystle and her little family for Halloween. Krys made some more fun themed food for dinner then it was off trick-or-treating!

Jeff made sure the boys knew the Southwick Halloween motto - Time is candy! The boys ran from house to house yelling, "Time is candy!" Poor little Lincoln tried to keep up but would often reach the door after it had closed and the older boys were already at the next house. Don't worry though...he still got plenty of candy! In fact, they all did! There were a couple of fun houses that went all out on decorations, but after two streets, the boys were done.

After we got home, Jonas dumped out all his candy to evaluate his spoils. Then he chose a few of his favorites to put in a small baggie and donated the rest to the Switch Witch. The Switch Witch gathers all the excess Halloween candy to give to little boys and girls who didn't get to go trick-or-treating and leaves a toy instead. Jonas was super excited to donate his candy. In fact, he woke up at 2:30 a.m. to see what the Switch Witch left for him. We had to coax him back to bed but by 5:30 a.m., Jeff was up with Jonas putting together his newest little Lego set. (If this is what Jonas is like on Halloween, what is Christmas going to be like?!) It was a great week to start off the holiday seasons! Now on to turkey, pie and stretchy pants!

Family pictures

A lot has changed in a year! Today we took family pictures. It was a beautiful day...until we went to take pictures. A wind picked up and dropped the temperatures about 15 degrees as a storm blew in. Jonas and Danny were freezing. All of us girls had to fight our blowing hair. It was utter chaos...just like most family pictures are. However, I wouldn't change it for the world. These pictures reflect the evolution of our family. Last year was the last year we would only have the "originals" in the pictures. This year, we added Jacob and Casey and lost Dallin. It crazy to think that all this happened in one year! Still, I'm grateful for this crazy, chaotic family. Life wouldn't be the same without them in it.

Danny's Eagle Scout

Finally!! After literally a year of encouragement, prodding, bribery, etc., Daniel finally earned his Eagle Scout award! He has worked hard in scouting to achieve all the merit badges and rank advancements over the last (nearly) 4 years. For his Eagle Scout project, he chose to make a dozen wooden benches for the Mosida Handcart Trek Site. He gathered donations, purchased supplies, rallied his friends, and executed the service project.

When all was said and done, Daniel chose not to have an Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Instead, he was simply handed his award at church and got to choose a special bolo type tie made by a ward member. Even without all the hoopla, we are so proud of Danny and his commitment to seeing it all through. Congrats Daniel!