Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had a great time this year for Halloween. Last year we chose not to do trick or treating and instead had a super awesome party with Jenna's kids instead. As much as we loved that, the kids were so excited for traditional trick or treating this year.

One other quick note before I get into Halloween itself. Halloween this year fell on a Sunday, which traditionally in Utah means that trick or treating will be done on Saturday. I think there was some discussion on social media about this and I don't think everyone was as kind as they could have been. My feeling is this - we want to keep the sabbath day holy and so we will be trick or treating on Saturday night AND we will gladly welcome any children who are trick or treating on Sunday. Standing up for your own beliefs while being understanding of those who don't believe the same thing is very difficult, but I truly believe it can be done. Not only that, but there will be many times when we have to do it in the days to come. Now - on to Halloween. 

Introducing:

Lydia & Rugby - Jack-o-lanterns: I'm not sure when Lydia got the idea, but she starting talking about wanting to be a jack-o-lantern and kept saying that she knew mom could help her make it. Lydia and Shantel worked together and made a custom for her and Rugby and they turned out so fun. 

Caleb - "Red Lion": Caleb starting talking about being a red lion which turned out perfect, since Shantel had just recently got this lion costume. However, it is not a "red lion." Any time Caleb mentioned what he was going to be, Shantel said, yes, you will be a lion with a red cape hoping to convince him a red cape would be enough. It worked and Caleb was happy to wear a lion costume with a red cape. Caleb joined the Safari crew below. 

Austin - Safari Driver: Austin did not have anything he felt strongly about for Halloween this year, so as Shantel was talking she suggested he could be a safari driver to go with Caleb's lion and Lucy's monkey. Shantel told him she would build him a Jeep and I think that convinced him. Austin talked that night about how glad he was that he was a safari driver and I think he really liked his costume. Shantel did build him a jeep and it turned out amazing!

Lucy - Monkey: Shantel had a monkey costume and it went perfect with the Safari theme. Plus it was nice and warm in case it was cold. 

Here is the whole safari crew, also joined by Shantel who dressed as an Elephant. She is such an awesome mom and so fun. 

The Haderlie's came down to our house to join us and the kids loved having them with us. 

We did Halloween pictures, then we did cookie decorating, dinner and then got everyone back into costume. 

It was probably the most beautiful Halloween weather you could ever ask for. It was warm and comfortable and so great. The kids loved going around. Lucy was so cute saying "trick or treat." Amy came down as well to join us going around with the kids. Shantel took them around 1/2 of our block and I did the other half. Then I take Caleb and Lucy in while Shantel took the kids to the Bull Hollow side of the neighborhood. 

Amy was nice enough to carry Austin's jeep after it came off of his bike. 

I feel like another new element this year was the kids having friends they wanted to hang out with. It worked out really well. After the Bull Hollow section Lydia was over at the Young's house with Lily and Iris while their Dad told "scary" stories. Austin really wanted to go to another neighborhood so we went to the Thanksgiving Meadows 1 section. It was so nice to have the one on one time with Austin and he loved it. One of the houses had a baseball toss to knock over milk bottles. If you did it, you got a big prize and if not a regular candy. Austin had three throws. He threw the first to the left, but you could tell the person was impressed that such a small kid had a big arm. Then he threw again and it went right. His last throw was right down the middle and knocked it all over and he got to pick a big prize. He (and I) was so proud of himself. 

As I was bringing him home, Lydia really wanted to go to that part of the neighborhood too and so I took Austin home and took her out. We had a great time going all the way up the street together. 

The next day was time for graphing candy colors. So fun to see the kids sort and graph out all the candy they got. 

As Austin was picking candy, he tried to pay special attention any time there were jolly ranchers with a plan that he could take those and make cotton candy. So on Sunday Shantel got out the cotton candy machine and he turned them into cotton candy. Then we gave everyone the option to trade in 2 candies for two jolly ranchers to make cotton candy as well. 

We were so happy to have Jenna and her kids and Amy join us for Halloween and loved celebrating together.