Happy Halloween!

Halloween Day:  I sent Casey and Brooke off to school all dressed up.  Casey as a ninja and Brooke as a soccer player.  Mind you she could have been a number of princesses or fairies that we have, but she wanted to be a soccer player.  She was so proud of it and hoped that someone else would dress up as a soccer player so she could play soccer with them at recess :)  When Brooke got home I took the kids to the mall with Lisa and her two kids to do some trick or treating.  It was perfect.  Not too crowded yet fun and lots of candy.  We got a good laugh after taking this picture of them below...Brooke's eyes threw us for a loop!  Lucky for me that day Daniel Tiger (a new cartoon show that Corey loves) aired that morning and they were playing dress up.  I saw my opportunity to get Corey into a costume, which he had not yet agreed to wear even after many attempts (and once again we had a lot to choose from).  I grabbed the tiger one and asked him if he wanted to dress up as Daniel Tiger...and it worked!  He loved it.  But don't dare call him Daniel Tiger, because he will correct you and tell you he is Corey!

After the mall I took the kids to see their Great Grandparents Bracken.  Grandma loaded us up with Chili and cookies and candy.  The kids raked a sack full of leaves and then we headed home in time to meet Casey off the bus.  Casey and Peter got home at the same time so we took the opportunity to carve out our pumpkins.

Oh, and Peter took the opportunity to give himself a haircut...and become a soccer player with Brooke:

Stacy and Jeremy came over to go trick or treating with us...which then brought over my parents and Nathan and Paige to watch.  Then Kent flew into Utah and dropped by as well.  So there was a whole gang of us walking around trick or treating.

As you can see Casey changed his costume to be a ref/soccer head.

My little ladybug:

Corey was adamant that we push him in the stroller.  He only got out to run up to the door and then would promptly get back in to be pushed to the next house as he dragged his bucket.

All done and eating candy:

Cute kiddos:

Earlier this month my mom and I drove down with the kids to go visit Stacy and go to Gardener Village which is just down the road from her place.  It was fun to get out and the kids enjoyed seeing all the Halloween decorations and doing the witch scavenger hunt.

And last but not least a bit of reminiscing.  The haunted house I built in school all from paper.  It was pretty intense and actually pretty well built.  My mom kept it all these years and pulled it out to show me before it went in the trash.  I loved this ugly house :)

Howl Fun Run

Howl Fun Run!  It's a new fundraiser that the elementary school started this year which I highly support!  Brooke was stoked about training for it and was always asking to go running in preparation.  The kindergarteners did a dash.  She wanted me to run with her so I said great!  When they took off they were gone!  It took me a fair distance to catch up to my quick runner...all the mom's were behind!  She gave it her all!  I'm so proud of her!

Then I was headed back to go run the actual mile with Casey.  That's when Nathan showed up and said he would run it with him.  So I gladly accepted...and it was a good thing I did!

About half way I started running with them and they had a dang good pace going!  I could tell Casey was in a lot of pain with a side ache and the mom in me wanted him to walk and take it easy but Nathan kept pushing him.  I was having a hard time keeping up with them so I cut the corner to make it to the finish line to watch him come across...but they still beat me to it!

Casey's time was 8:10!  No stinkin' way!!!!!  Way to go buddy!  In all honesty though I think with how the cones were placed the kids were able to cut it down a hair to under a mile, but still nonetheless there was no way I could have ran the whole thing with Casey.  I'm a terrible runner.  My second grader is faster than me and I'm so proud of him!  Way to go my cute kids!

Nathan the awesome supporter and runner.  Him and Paige and my mom also came to watch.  Peter couldn't make it even though he really did want to run with his kids!

Last but not least here is little Brielle with her first piggy and what...curls!?!

Peter turns 33!

Happy Birthday Honey! and the world's greatest Dad!  Peter turned 33 :)  We celebrated twice, once on Sunday with a cheesecake, which he no longer needs to request, it's just a given.

 Then on Monday for his birthday we gave him what he wanted...a Blentec.  I thought I would be sneaky and order it online.  Well the One day that he came home for the hour time slot that I was gone was when it was delivered.  Of course.  So it wasn't a huge surprise :)  Casey wrote a heartfelt birthday note to dad.

 and the kids each wrapped up a small gift to give him. Brooke was especially concerned about giving dad a gift from her.

Happy Birthday!  We love you honey and all the work you do to provide for our family.  We love your enthusiasm for life.  Kids love to wrestle on the ground with you and get horsey rides to bed.  We love you!

Fall: nature walk, leaves, farm, Halloween party

Stacy and my mom and I grabbed lunch one day and took the kids to first dam to eat lunch and let the kids run around and see the ducks.  The ducks were super friendly and loved bits of our food.  Then we headed up the canyon a ways to Stokes Nature trail and spent some time in the mountains climbing hills, collecting sticks, etc. Casey loved climbing up all the side trails but then all the kids wanted to follow.  It was an adventure!

Afterward we headed over to Great Grandma Calls to say hi before she left for AZ for the winter.  She loaded us up with goodies.  Then we headed 4 doors down to our other Great Grandparents.  Their freezer went kapoot so Stacy and my mom went in the basement to help cleanup and get ready for the new freezer to be delivered and I took the kids outside and raked up leaves...or rather I watched the little girls crawl around while the older kids raked ;)

Then later that month we helped Stacy and Jeremy move from my parents basement to Midvale.  They live on the third floor which created a good workout hauling boxes.  While we moved them the kids found some tools and took over a box and spent forever in the breezeway working on their boxes.

After moving them we took our kids to Wheeler Farms.  It was a bit more crowded this year than last year but still fun to get out.

After Wheeler Farms we drove a bit further south to Pleasant Grove and went to Sheri and Trevor's Halloween Party.  They do a fabulous job with good food and fun games to keep everyone busy all night long.