Our Fantastic Four...Plus Some More

Halloween Festivities

I know not everyone is a fan of Halloween, but we dig it! While the candy and super spooky stuff is not our thing, the fun of the season is and so we really love getting into it. This year seemed like somehow the whole season flew by in a flash and we didn't have many chances to enjoy it. We never even got in a spooky movie or watched Young Frankenstein, a family favorite. But we did have some Halloween fun.

The Joy school Halloween parade is always awesome. It's so fun to see the cute kids all dressed up.

The family theme continues! I love how much fun we have doing this. The kids always love planning out the costumes, almost two years in advance, and it's so fun to see it all come together. This year....the crew of Peter Pan! We had our first trick-or-treating gig on Friday at Ben's work. Ben was excited when we got there because then everyone finally understood who he was dressed up as. All day long he had been asked if he was Waldo, Papa Smurf, or Santa Clause. Really?! I think he was spot-on for Mr. Smee....especially with his nice gut, which we decided was a good investment because almost every costume that Ben wears needs a little more gut than he ever has. The rest of us? I was Wendy, Skylar was Tigerlily (she got Pocahontas & Sacagawea most of the time), Nick was Captain Hook, Kade was Peter Pan (but he got Robin Hood repeatedly), & Alexis was our little Tinkerbell. We were definitely missing our little Michael, what we had planned Gabriel to be for his first Halloween.

As for taking the character personality on to a tee, Alexis wins this year. She pouted every time Tinkerbell had to get her hair done, insisting every time that I was doing it wrong. What would Tinkerbell be with out a little stubbornness?

Since we hadn't gone to Cornbelly's for Fall Break, Skylar had decided she really wanted to check out Gardner Village's Witch Fest so we planned to go on Saturday. Poor Skylar wasn't feeling well so I don't think she was as excited as she thought she would be.

But Kade absolutely loved it! He insisted on a picture with every single witch!

We had never been to the Witch Fest before. I was pretty impressed with all of the cool displays they had. It was super crowded though & since Skylar was sickly we didn't stay long.

We had a fun time....minus poor Skylar!

Then we headed over to Living Planet for a few minutes to check out the Haunted Rainforest we had heard they were having!

There were all sorts of spooky displays

The boys loved that that they got to watch a snake dining on a mouse. Pretty creepy!

But of course, the spookiest thing there was the pirhanas, which my kids always insist I see!

Freakiest.Animal.Ever.

Have I mentioned I love having aquarium passes? We were able to go for less than an hour and have fun without having to pay a penny....the best kind of fun!

That night we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. The kids loved being able to see their friends and going through the spook alley that the YM put on. It was a fun night!

On Halloween, the boys had their Halloween parade at school. These were the best shots I got of them....awesome.

I got to help out with Skylar's class party. Skylar insisted that we do the donut on a string thing for her class. They had a blast! They also did mummy wrapping with toilet paper....Sky's team won!

The weather was absolutely perfect for trick-or-treating. I even went the entire time wearing my very thin nightgown and not freezing! It was the perfect night!

My favorite part of trick-or-treating is seeing all the cool Halloween displays. I love the houses that go all out!

There's a family in our ward that absolutely loves Halloween and our kids absolutely love going to their house. They take the cake when it comes to Halloween fun! They always have a few games for the kids to play along with tons of loot....little toys, cupcakes, candy, and a soda. It's always the favorite stop!

Arrrr....Captain Jack & Captain Hook!

We had such a blast this year! Poor Nick was starting to feel sick...and you know a kid doesn't feel well if he wants to go home early from trick-or-treating...so we didn't stay out too late. He ended up being sick for three days after. Sad.

We had plenty of candy though! After we got home we loaded up all the candy that we got from our three candy gathering sessions. There was so much candy!! Skylar was stoked that her loot amounted to the jackpot line on her bag....that's been a goal of hers for years. Luckily, all that candy, with the exception of a handful, has been cashed in to the dentist we give it to every year who donates it to local charities. I guess all that trick-or-treat fun pays off when we can give back!

We love Halloween!! Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkins!

We totally intended on supporting the pumpkin guy near our house this year but when we were ready to get pumpkins he wasn't selling them anymore! So off to Vineyard we went. The kids love going there for pumpkins!

The kids all wanted a really huge pumpkin....Skylar loved the ginormous seat pumpkin! Nick, however, just wanted a teeny one. After telling him he couldn't carve that small of one he begged for two. Since we got a super great deal we decided that would work.

The best little pumpkin that we took home...

On Sunday night, the night before Halloween, we finally got a chance to carve them!

We told the kids that we were just keeping the carving simple this year...just plain ol simple Jack-o-lantern faces instead of the intricate designs that we usually do that take us hours and hours. It still took forever, but the kids were pleased with their designs.

The kids had begged for us to buy a pumpkin for Gabe. No one wants to ever leave him out. I decided to be brave and just carve his name in it. It turned out perfect!

They looked awesome all lit up....

....especially Gabe's!!

Ben was nice and gave in to carving one pumpkin with a crazy design to go with our family theme. Of course, it was a big job. How dedicated was Ben to actually carve it in his suit because he needed to go do some EQ duties afterwards? That's my man...the best!

The finished product....awesome!

Fall Break

We had a busy Fall Break! I let the kids all choose one activity for us to do (within reason and budget). Nick wanted to go to the aquarium, one of my favorites as well. Plus, it's free for us now! I'm so glad I got that annual pass! On Thursday we headed up for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

The kids always love watching the penguins.

Then measuring themselves against the penguins.

Alexis and Nick are my brave kids when it comes to petting the rays there. They love it!

I love watching the Jellyfish!

The kids favorite thing is seeing themselves on the infra-red camera they have there in the Animal Superhero section. What a fun thing!

After the aquarium it was Kade's pick, which is always Trafalga. We usually don't make it to the Lehi one so we hit it on the way home. We didn't have time for a game of mini golf but since it was a nice day we decided we should take advantage of all of the outdoor rides they have there. We started with the bumper boat launchers.

Everyone got thoroughly soaked!! Some punk kid kept aiming right at my head and my hair was dripping when we got off....so were the kids!

We also hit the Tidal wave thing, the airplanes, and the carousel. It was short, but good enough to make Kade happy.

Ben took Friday off so that he could enjoy Fall Break with the kids too. We had some passes to Discovery Gateway Children's Museum that were about to expire so we headed up there for some fun.

Things are always more fun if Dad is there!

I guess sometimes Mom is fun too.

The kids got to a special craft class where they got to make masks.

The kids always love all of the things they can pretend to do at Discovery Gateway!

When were about done the Tongs called to tell us they were at the Clark Planetarium next door so we headed over to see them there.

The Tongs were going to see one of the movies there and we had planned on going to Cornbelly's, Skylar's choice for Fall Break. Everyone decided that they would much rather hang out with the Tongs than go to Cornbelly's (plus it was soooooo much cheaper) so we headed home and the Tongs came to our house after their movie. We had a fun night playing games & hanging out!

On Saturday my family got together for a Halloween party. We had all sorts of fun and spooky food to eat and then everyone put on their costumes. Ben and I were party poopers because our costumes weren't ready yet. Everyone else looked great!

Then we played the eat the donut off the string game. Look at Lex's pose as she gets ready to eat her donut...drama girl.

It is hilarious to watch! We had a fun time together!

On Sunday after church we took a drive around the Alpine Loop. It was beautiful up there!

I think we were about a week late, as usual, but there was still so many beautiful leaves to see.

We forced the kids to get out of the car for one picture. It's starting to get chilly!

Okay, this next picture is like the worst ever of me...I hadn't gotten my Sunday nap and I was sleepy but Ben looks good and so does the background.

Our kids are not huge fans of driving the loop but I make them do it every year because it's so gorgeous. They were so excited to get out of the canyon and even more excited to see this Halloween display that was really cool on the way home. They decided the whole ordeal was worth it in the end.

Another highlight (yeah, right) of our Fall Break was that Nick was the "lucky one" to get to take home his class guinea pigs home for the really long weekend. Ugh. I am not a fan of rodents....and I'm a fan of most pets. I have never personally had guinea pigs, but after a day I knew that we will never ever have them. They were so stinky and messy!! They also kept the kids awake at night and Ben so conveniently was allergic to them so I had to help with all of the guinea pig duties. Not fun.