October

Spooky hair done two ways! I love how it turned out!!

The day after we got back from Oceanside, the Shaws stopped by to visit! I can't even remember why they were in town, but we were thrilled to get to spend some time with them! It was a Sunday so we made a big brunch then just let the kids play while we got caught up on life together. We miss them so much. After taking a picture of the kids on the stairs we decided the parents needed one too, haha.

My number one, asked for recipe, is PUMPKIN BARS! Crowd favorite. And it's just a Betty Crocker recipe. Except I double the frosting. That is key. I usually make several pans of them throughout October. I had a special helper this time.

Tanner still requires a bedtime sleeper helper. Sometimes I am so tired and wish he could fall asleep on his own, but then I also just LOVE our snuggle time. 

Cute Tanner on his first t-ball team! He is officially in Kindergarten so he gets to start playing team sports. The whole team just tackles the ball, dog pile style whenever it's hit into the field. Our #1 reminder.. stay on your feet! 

I LOVE THE FALL!!! It's my favorite season by far. And our annual, family outing to Vertuccio Farms is something I look forward to every year. Sure, there is always fighting and some years it's just too hot still, but overall, GOOD times!

They added a slide! 

Weston got invited to Bam Kazam, which is an arcade where the games are real and you are the player. When I saw the pictures I was surprised by how cool it looked!

Deacon's hike for mutual!

Got a few of my kids to Camilla's Kids For Kindness event! 

Liam's "Camping" themed birthday party got rained out, but the boys still had fun! Eating dried crickets, roasting hot dogs and doing a polar plunge!

Abbey was asked to speak in her stake conference and she did amazing! She has overcome so much in her life.

I feel like this picture got out of place. I know we didn't go on any dates in October. Our nights were packed with football games and practices, meetings for me and being out of town. In fact we didn't go on any dates for several months. Literally not a free night to be had. It was very frustrating.

Collin found this gorilla costume at Target for like $30! Crazy! McGuire and Lincoln got it too. Cracked me up!

Morrison Ranch Halloween party is always a success! I only got this one picture because I had to leave right when Trav got off work to go to another Planning Commission meeting. Ugh!

This one was held at the Gilbert library. Camilla came and sat through THREE hours of nonsense for me. She's an amazing friend. I spoke as well as many other neighbors. In the end, the board freaking recommended the project! It was insane. Only two members voted against it. I was in tears walking out to my car. These are the moments when everything feels rigged. It was like the whole meeting was for show. The board had been "bought" long ago. Stupid politics. None of it made sense. Many of the members had voiced concerns and reticence. Questions unanswered. But then they went ahead and recommended it anyway. I was really discouraged for awhile afterward.

Can't skip making caramel apples!

Collin had a great season playing flag football! It's always fun when Grandparents come.

I took the kids' Halloween costume pics before the Lindblom family party to avoid the chaos of trying to take them on Halloween night. 

I was OBSESSED with Olive's costume!! Oh deer!! And her cute, painted freckles! 

Tanner picked this ninja costume out from costco and was thrilled about it. Pretty sure it was the sword that sold him.

Weston was a glow in the dark stick man! Obviously not very glowy at 5pm. 

Collin's personality was MADE for this gorilla.

I made chocolate, Russian cream cups for dessert with homemade whipped cream, topped with gummy teeth!

I didn't have the mental capacity to figure out a costume for Trav and I, so HE came up with it! Even printed out the body parts to stick on me. My favorite were the salad tong tweezers. 

3 cheers for Austin's costume!

Casey was Ned Forrester from Dude Perfect and Shelley was a character from a Disney movie I've never seen. Her fake lips were hilarious.

Our traditional, spaghetti brains dinner! Some ghost and pumpkin shaped garlic bread too. 

Travis and I were asked to lead a self reliance class for our ward about emotional resilience.  It was shortened... only 4 weeks if I remember right. It was a wonderful, uniting experience for our ward. All the adults were invited, but particularly they wanted the parents of the YM/YW because the older youth were taking this course for mutual. It's a pilot program. Well, one Sunday afternoon when we got home, we found this note on the garage door. They kids were miffed they couldn't go to grandma's house that night. They hid on our balcony to make us really think they were gone.

Aunt Marcia was featured on one of the videos we watched during the self reliance course!

This scene made me so happy! I have spent SO.MUCH.TIME blogging and making scrapbooks. They actually do love looking through them.

Grumpy gus wanted nachos for breakfast. Sure, youngest child, sure.

I have also been known to make him a hot dog, chicken nuggets or quesadilla in the morning. The man wants what he wants.

When you want warm, cozy jammies, but then you don't.

Tanner was recognized at the quarterly honor roll assembly!

I've been reading Walker Hays book, Glad You're Here and LOVING IT. So inspired by him and his friend, Craig, who brought him to Christ. Here's just a little excerpt I liked. 

Grandma says this Halloween decoration is very loved and they play with him like he's a real person, haha. I'm pretty sure he was the "dad" all day!

While we were in NY with the older boys, Olive and Tanner got to carve pumpkins at Grandma Evans house!

We got back from Buffalo on Halloween day, just in time to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating! The boys ran off with their friends for the night and I walked around the neighborhood with Olive, Tanner, Livy and Allison Law. Then the Halls joined us and Harper paired up with the girls! Travis stayed back at the house passing out candy by the fire pit. Even Winnie got a costume this year... a lobster! Weston brought back quite the haul I think they weighed it in around 15 lbs. Ridiculous.