Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year.  Of course we started out with carving pumpkins.  Somehow in the hustle and bustle I didn't get a single picture of the finished products!  But they sure were fun carving!  Even Claire was brave enough to put her hands in one...finally!

 Carving pumpkins to Wee Sing for Halloween.  Our favorite Halloween CD.

 Go Dallin!

 Time to Trick-or-Treat!

Check out this crew!  I love it!  They all came up with their own costume ideas.  Coen's stance just cracks me up in this picture.  He's doing something different in every picture I took but this one is just too funny!

 Austin was a mad scientist.  Scary!

I bought a few wigs on clearance last year for 90% off! As you can see Austin put one to use this year.  Then he stuffed a backpack and threw one of Tory's lab jackets from chiropractic school over the top.  With some false teeth and some makeup...he was set!  He looks great...in a mad scientist sort of way!

Dallin was Venom from Spiderman.

 Dallin made his costume all by himself! He found all black clothes, found a spider picture, printed it, taped it to his shirt, and threw on a black cape.  He told me exactly how he wanted his makeup to be.  He was quite proud of his costume.  I couldn't believe how much the makeup changed his eyes!  He was pretty scary!

 Coen chose to be The Incredible Hulk!

He may have a slightly smaller physique than the Hulk but he is mighty fierce!

Plus, his favorite color is green and he got to be covered in it for hours.  It took some serious scrubbing that night to get him back to a healthy pink glow again.

 Claire was Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon.

She's had this costume for a long time in her dress-ups and finally decided to wear it for Halloween.  She wore her Rapunzel wig braided for her hair.  Cute!

 And Beckham was a little cowboy.

A very CUTE little cowboy.  I did suggest this one to him and he said, "Sure!"

So easy to please at this stage!  Although he really did NOT like the rope hanging from his belt loop. It took a lot of convincing to get him to walk out the door wearing his lasso rope!
Three year-olds...they think they know what they want or something.

 Trick-or-Treat!

They did pretty good!  They were a little disappointed that they only got a few before bed but they were so tired that they didn't really make a big deal about it.  Besides...

...school tomorrow!!  I feel sorry for all the teachers!

Sunny California

This October 24-27 we had a siblings retreat...plus Mom.  Levi was the only one not able to be there.  He was off enjoying his own ocean on the beaches of Hawaii where he and his wife, Dara, and daughter live. It was a little far to ask him to travel.  We missed him!  It was originally going to be a "sisters" retreat but since we picked Dana Point, CA, where our brother, Ben, lives...of course we had to include him as well.  :)

 The siblings.

L-R:  Heather, Ben, Kirsten, Amy, & Brooke

 Dallin made me a goodbye sign and put it in my suitcase.  Unfortunately, it was solid wood and a little heavy so I had to leave it at home.  Sweet boy.

 Ben and Amy's brother-in-law, Greg, picked us all up at the airport.  We were coming in from Texas, Arizona, Chicago, and Utah!  We all aimed for the same time but 2 or 3 flights were changed by the airlines and we ended up being hours apart.  Of course it was fun chatting for those of us who got their early and no time was wasted.  Finally everyone got there and we all loaded up in Ben's pickup and off we went to our condo we rented.

 Morning 1:

Mom and the girls in our condo getting ready to have a fun day!

McCormick and Schmick's

Of course we had to eat some seafood while there!  It was delicious!

 We had a lobster bisque which was divine and a stuffed salmon I think it was.  So good!

 We also stopped to see the Newport Beach Temple.  It was beautiful!

 We also spent some time walking around a fun outdoor garden nursery which also had fun shops mixed in.  It was so fun!

Morning 2:

Eating breakfast at this fun cafe.  Super good and we had the best waitress.

We went on a boat ride to go whale watching.  Unfortunately, our day was really foggy so we didn't get to see any whales but we did get to see sea lions and lots of dolphins that swam along with us.  The boat ride itself was so fun.  Chilly and wet...but super fun!  I loved it!

 Here we are on the boat all ready to go!

 Some sea lions resting on a buoy.

 Dolphins swimming with us.

On the beach.

 Our condo was right off the beach.  We were sure to spend some time on the beach!  What a difference in temperature here compared to Texas!  It was very cold!  But the beach was so smooth.  That is Heather and Ben in the distance going for a walk.

 Mom, Kir, Amy and I on the beach.

 The sun started setting...

And getting darker until it was time to go in for our last night.

On the way to the airport we stopped by the plant where Ben works.  It is Amy's husband, Mike's, brainchild.  It was fun to see it in real life and in action.  

We also stopped by Porto's for lunch on the way to the airport.  Wow!  It had the best sandwiches and pastries.  It had the longest lines!  But they moved quickly and they also had the best prices!  Come to Texas please!  Ben got us each a mango mousse for dessert.  Wow!  I was so busy enjoying that I didn't get a single picture.

And before we knew it it was over!  Time went by so fast and we had such a great time.  We talked and ate and did a "favorite things" exchange, shared favorite books, songs, and movie recommendations, did a surprise redecorating of Ben's new appartment, and talked some more.  So thankful for all of our husbands who watched a total of 18 children so we could all go childless.  What a VACATION!  :)

But it was also so good to see my little family again!  I missed them!  Tory did a good job watching them, taking them to school, picking them up, finding costumes in our costume bucket to take them all to a Trunk-or-Treat party, and getting them all dressed (AND fixing Claire's hair!) and taking them to church alone.  He did great and they had so much fun I doubt they realized I was gone!  Thanks Sweets!

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to our favorite pumpkin patch once again.

It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad we have our yearly family photo.

 Our Family

Look at those kids!  How did they all get so big?!  Where are all the babies?

 Austin

 Dallin

Coen

 Claire

 Beckham

And of course we had to save some time for some haystack jumping at the end!

October

Here are a few other things we did in October:

 Beckham & Claire on the new park equipment.

 We like this park because it has a merry-go-round.  We were surprised to come this day and find that they had replaced all of the playground equipment.  This merry-go-round is fun...but not like the real thing.

 Grandma & Grandpa came up for a quick visit and to watch General Conference with us October 4-6.

 Austin & Grandpa playing a game of Stratego.

I don't know how Beckham fell asleep like this on the computer chair.

 He's lucky he stayed on!  That chair is tipsy!

 Dallin running in his school Freedom Fun Run to raise money for the school.  The 3rd and 4th graders ran on one side of the field.

Coen running in the Freedom Fun Run.  The Kindergartners-2nd graders ran on the other side of the field.  Claire, Beckham and I were busy going back and forth between the two races to cheer them both on!

 One of the fun things I got to do this month was go to Time Out For Women!  Tory surprised me with tickets for the entire weekend event!  It was so fun and such a needed break and pick-me-up as a mom.  When I came home the second day, this is what I found.  All of the kids playing in the gutter after the big rain storm.  Tory was "watching" them.  At least they had fun!

 Who knows where his other sock ended up!

 For scouts one day, I was in charge of the activity and we talked about temperature, weather, and rain gauges and then made weather vanes.  Tory cut out the roosters and the boys assembled and painted them.

 Coen was chosen for the character trait of the month in October:  Responsibility and Good Citizenship.  He got to have a special breakfast at the school and be on the announcements.  Way to go Coco!

I took the kids to the library's annual Harvest Stew all by myself this year.  Tory had to work.  Too bad.  We ate the stew, cornbread, and lemonade, had some popcorn, went on the hayride around the neighborhood, and then checked out the petting zoo.  We wanted to check out the fire trucks and other things but it started sprinkling.  And then I got a call from Tory saying he had a flat tire.  Poor Dada!  But it was a fun night.  Not as many pictures as usual since I was trying to round them all up by myself but we did have fun.

Petting the little donkey.