Happy Halloween!!!

I have to say that this year was my favorite as far as Halloween costumes go. I love Halloween! It is the first holiday of the big holiday season, and it is very simple. The kids pick out costumes, put them on, and then go door to door and get candy, come home and dump it in piles for the big trade, eat tons, crash on the floor or go to bed, and then Mom and Dad pick out some of our favorites. It doesn't get better than this!

This year, Talie struggled trying to figure out what she was going to be. It's hard to find an outfit that's not, how should we say, trashy? for her age. But she ended up being an 80's girl and looking super cute! My only complaint, is that every time I teased her hair, she would look at me as if I had completely lost it, and then she'd calm it down with her fingers.

Hmm, does that bring back any scary memories?

Dallin wasn't sure at first what he was going to be, either. We went to the pre teen boy section and every costume either had a mask, a weapon, or tons of blood. Well, for school, you could wear anything except a mask, or a costume with blood. And, absolutely NO weapons. Hmm. He and I went back on our own and he found some fake hoop earrings and tattoos, and the idea was born!
He looked good! A little too good. And then when we were at Target, he started sticking one of the earrings on his nose whenever I wasn't looking, because he would get a lot of stares. I started to get a little concerned, that my sweet boy was turning on me. But no worries, the day after Halloween, he handed me all of his bad boy paraphernalia and wore a button up shirt and slacks to school. Dallin was back =).




Ashlynn knew exactly what she wanted to be when we first started talking costumes, and she played the role perfectly!

Yes, that is Ashlynn! The funniest part about it was that all of the 3rd grade teachers dressed up as nerds too. So now guess whose teacher's pet as well as a big nerd.

Peyton's pre kindergarten Class.

This year Peyton was to the rescue as Batman.

Kennedi played the role of Cinderella. Everyone at the Trunk or Treat said that she was even more beautiful than the real Cinderella. Of course she ate that up! As she went to each door, she'd come running down the steps yelling, "Mom, they're so nice! They gave me two pieces of candy!"And without stopping, she'd run to the next door with both of her arms up like an airplane, so that she wouldn't trip over her dress.


I guess she forgot that she was Cin- der- ella, and not Sleeping Beauty.




I found the cutest turtle costume at a consignment store and had to buy it! Tanner fell asleep in Benson's arms during Trick or Treating, but did not miss out on the big candy trade! He may be slow, but he's fast enough not to miss out on the big candy trade!














I even got in on the action a little bit this year, and wore a Hippie outfit. The next week at the Dr.'s office, our doctor was asking Kennedi what she was for Halloween. She told her, "Cinderella. And my Mom, she was a Rock Star!!" I thought that was pretty cool. It's not every day you can be a rock star.

Carving Pumpkis

I have to admit that in the beginning, carving pumpkins was a lot more work than it was fun. The kids thought the pumpkin guts were disgusting & their attention span lasted about 5 minutes. But now that they're older, they can carve them by themselves and they love to help the little ones with their's (Ok., obviously, some still find pumpkin guts disgusting). It was a beautiful fall afternoon, which made it even better, because we could carve in the back yard.

Ashlynn has outgrown the disgust over the pumpkin guts . . . .

but Kennedi has a few years to go, I guess.

Dallin and Peyton were pumpkin carving buddies. One of the great things about having six, is someone always has a buddy.

If this doesn't scare you, I don't know what would=),

The Log Walk

One of the things we love about Highlands Ranch, is the Rec Centers. We don't use them as often as we should, but when we go it's always fun. Our favorite Rec Center is South Ridge and one of it's greatest features is the Log Walk. Usually it's an activity for the older kids, but one day Peyton and Kennedi decided to dawn some life jackets and brave the gauntlet.
First, there is Kennedi. No matter what, she is determined NOT to let go of the rope and fall into the water. Even if the log is a long way from the edge of the pool, she hangs onto the rope, pulling her whopping 27lbs. along until she gets to dry land.
Next is Peyton. He holds onto the rope until he gets to the end of the log and just jumps into the water and swims to the edge of the pool.
And last is Dallin. He doesn't find the log walk challenging anymore, but Dallin is always up for a challenge, so he tries to run across both logs, without stopping and hopefully without falling. (He usually comes home with some bruises).

Fort Collins

Kind of last minute, we decided to head North to Fort Collins to check out the area to see if it was a possible future home site. Well, it also happened to be Homecoming for CSU, so most of the hotels were full. Well, Benson found a hotel with vacancy . . . our first warning sign. The rooms were very inexpensive, so we rented two rooms to fit all of us in for two nights (2nd warning sign). I looked the hotel up online and saw that 36 people had given this hotel a one star rating . . . uh oh! Well, we get there, and as we are walking down the hall, the kids are noticing that some of the number signs next to the doors are missing and in their place is a number scribbled on the wall with sharpie. We open our room and there is a hole in one wall, stickers on the pictures hanging on the walls, and no warm water in one of the showers. We go downstairs to swim and discover that the hot tub is not working at all, and the pool heater is broken, so it is freezing cold. Only Kennedi is tough enough to jump in. After a very short time at the pool, we go back to the rooms to go to bed. The rooms are right next to each other, connected by one door. Luckily, we leave it open and Talie, Ashy, Dallin and Peyton are in one room, while Benson, Kennedi, Tanner and I are in the other. We go to sleep and the next thing I know I hear voices in the next room . . . our kids room! I shoot up in bed and start yelling at these two drunk men who are in the other room. Benson, groggily wakes up and when he realizes what's going on, he goes in the other room and yells at the men and kicks them out of the room. The hotel had actually checked these two drunk men into the same room as our kids at 2:07 in the morning. Needless to say, we didn't stay a second night and we got all of our money back.
The rest of the time we went driving around, checking out the neighborhoods, the town, and the new temple sight. If you were to ask the kids what they thought about Fort Collins, they would say that it has the worst hotel in the world, and that all we did was drive around. We did have two highlights though. We went to a little ice cream shop in old town Fort Collins and the kids ate at Cracker Barrel for the first time. Oh, if you're wondering, no I don't think that Fort Collins will be the location of our next home.

Mhmm Good!

Tanner on his first day of rice cereal. You can tell it's been a successful feeding when there are no tears and more food gets into the mouth than on the face.