Halloweeny Happenings Part 1

We have made it through 3 of the 6 Halloween extravaganzas we have planned for this holiday. I figure I should blog now before it gets to be too much that I just give up on life and never document it. Anyhoo...

Halloween Extravaganza #1: Livy's First Preschool Halloween Party

She was so excited! She talked about it for weeks leading up to it. And she loves her costume - can you tell? She wanted to turn her hair red but when it came to game time she was scared because she thought it would be red forever. I explained it washed out and she was back to super excited. I may be biased, but I think she's the cutest little mermaid ever!

Here's Jakey - a pirate - they went perfect together! They were so excited for school.

Halloween Extravaganza #2: The Gables Parade

We have so many cute little kiddlies in our neighborhood and this sweet little pathway that goes through all of the townhomes and ends at our clubhouse - so I helped a couple other mommies in our community to organize a little costume parade that ended with treats, milk and donuts.

The kids were so cute! We had around 30 join us in the fun!

On the way down the path we had neighbors pass out candy to the kids for a trick-or-treating experience. This is Jodee our next door neighbor - Livy is OBSESSED with her. Jodee is so awesome and will invite Liv over to help her make treats or decorate her house for holidays. I think Liv might actually love her more than she does me... :)

Adam was loving this concept of going up to people with a sack and having them fill it with candy! I also love how Liv is always ready with a smile :)

The second he got into the clubhouse he went to town on the candy!

Who's had too much candy and it's only 10 in the morning!?! Here we have Jami, Alivia, and Olivia - Livy always makes me emphasize the O on Olivia's name - it's hilarious. 

Here we are at the clubhouse. Somehow we managed to get almost all of the kids in one picture together. We have such awesome neighbors! I love that Liv has so many little friends - because that means I get to have friends! :)

Halloween Extravaganza #3: Adobe Hallowen Party!!!

Jake's mom got us tickets to go to the crazy Adobe Halloween party! It is so crazy! First you have to stand in a line to get in the line. Then you finally make it in the line. Then you get to go through the buildings. It's pretty sweet once you get in. 

Livy ready with her mermaid stance.

Everyone LOVED the boy's costume. People were constantly taking pics with their phones of him and then they would give him some of their candy. It was hilarious. Also, a bum costume is PERFECT for an 18-month-old. He could get as dirty as possible and it didn't matter!

We met up with Donnie and the boys! Aidan is a zombie in case you were wondering. These cousins were so awesome to Adam and Liv the whole time.

While you're in line they have treats, music, and entertainers. Here we are all happy not knowing what horror is about to literally fall on us...

This year they had all of these crazy scary animals. I thought I would take Adam close because he seemed interested. It took all I had just to get this close.

And then this happened AGAINST MY WILL. Adam and I were NOT happy. That snake stayed by my face for what seemed like years!!!

Here's a better form of entertainment while we were in line. Livy got a cute little flower.

So I held a tarantula a couple weeks ago and then was forced to hold a snake that could kill me - I decided to go for it and just hold the GINORMOUS scorpion. What was I thinking!?!? Aidan is taking too much joy in this!

We really didn't take pics while inside until we encountered the Harry Potter themed section... You know that Matt and I spoke non-stop Harry Potter lingo. Matt even had Adam throwing some unforgivable curses with the wands they passed out to the kids. haha 

 Too much butterbeer for Liv Lou.

 Undesirable No. 1

 I could totally hang with them. My serious face is awesome.

Matt was going to break in, but was scared of dragons. I mean he had his life and Adam's to think about.

Enemies of the heir beware!!! This was the closest I could get to a scared face from Matt. Work with me!

Sweet quidditch set up! You could even take in brooms and play. And of course their was a snitch flying in the air the whole time.

This has nothing to do with Harry Potter and everything to do with El Dia de los Muertos!

Then we encountered story book land. Adam was really playing the homeless part by refusing to leave this red box and claiming it as his home.

The end. The kids left with SO MUCH candy. We're trying to hide it, but Adam has a sixth sense for finding hidden candy - it's almost scary.

They were pooped. This was only minutes into the drive home!

Livy likes to "borrow" her testimony...

At a testimony meeting at our church, Livy wanted to go up and talk and we told her that she can go up when she's a big girl and can do it all by herself. So to prepare her, we've been having family home evenings once a month that are just family testimony meetings. Livy amazes us every time! She has such a sweet testimony and surprises us by the things she knows. She always asks us if she can "borrow" her testimony at random times when we're out and about. This video is pretty long - the good stuff happens about a minute and a half in...

I love Fall

I really do. In Utah, it is my favorite time of year. The mountains turn gorgeous! Or they spew lava as Matt likes to tell the kids. On Sunday, Matt loved me enough to take us on a drive up to good old Squaw Peak. This phone pic does not do it justice. It was so beautiful! We took the kids on a teeny hike to collect some of the leaves like my grandma used to do with us when we were little. Livy was SO excited to see pink leaves and Adam was just excited to be outside - despite the mad face in the picture. We're trying to fix that. Anyway, it was some fun family time!

Hunting Extravaganza 2011

Here are Matt and his buddies on their NV hunting trip that they have been planning for the last year. I mean, Matt was so excited he couldn't sleep the night before. It was his first real hunting trip. And they even got a coyote! Hurray (?)

Guns make men manly...

Here's the beard he prepared for the trip. So gross. Luckily, when we got back from CO, he met me with a clean shaven face. Now that's love. The only downside from the trip is that now Matt makes me listen to this song called "Coyotes" by Don Edwards - a super old cowboy singer. I've had to give him a limit as to how many times he can play it when we're in the car together... Seriously - go youtube the song. Then you'll understand my pain. Oo-yip.

The Butterfly Pavilion!!!

 The kids and I took a little trip to Denver while Matt went on his first hunting trip with his buddies in NV. My mom has had Liv excited about the butterfly pavilion for like the last 2 years. Livy had me pack her butterfly wings for the trip. 

 We finally made it to the pavilion! Livy was well equipped with her wings and binoculars. She was taking this very seriously!!!

 The first stop was the bug room. It was horrible. There were ginormous bugs EVERYWHERE. Adam thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 Then my mom was brave enough to hold Rosie. Do you see what Rosie is??? The most terrifying tarantula EVER. My mom kept trying to get me to do it - but if you know me at all - you know that I start crying just at the sight of a big spider - so that was of course a no-go.

 The second section was water themed. In this huge tank are the Nemo fish - Livy kept screaming Nemo when she saw them. It was funny until some disgruntled worker yelled at her. Uh - sir, how about you don't work with kids if you hate them??? He was a jerk.

Then we made it to all of the butterflies:

 The butterflies were EVERYWHERE! They were flying over your head and almost running into you. There were huge ones, too! I had to stop Adam from stomping on the butterflies sitting on the ground. Livy was in heaven. She had to look at every butterfly through her binoculars. Hilarious.

 Afterwards, there was a little play area with a zip line. Livy thought it was so fun, despite the face here...

 Then after all was said and done - I decided to conquer my fear. I kept my eyes closed the whole time. But I did it! I held Rosie! And I got a sticker to prove it.