HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

We were so lucky this year to have all four of our kids with us for Halloween and to be able to go Trick-or-Treating with all of them. Grandma Sue was nice enough to stay home and hand out the candy at our door so that I could go trick-or-treating with all the kids. Since Abby and Jacob have done this before, they were really excited to go door to door looking for some yummy candy. But since this was Connor's first time trick-or-treating, it took him a couple of houses before he caught on to what was happening. And boy, when he caught on he was so adorable. Throughout the entire time he insisted on walking himself and carrying his pumpkin full of candy. By the end of the night the pumpkin was pretty heavy with candy but he did not care. It was his pumpkin and he was going to carry it. Connor also was getting good at saying his own version of "Trick or Treat!" when asking for candy. Preston also did great. He slept the entire time he was in the stroller walking the neighborhood, but looked adorable while doing it.
I guess I should also mention how incredibly wonderful my husband is. Connor was so excited when he saw Dave all dressed up in his motorcycle gear for Halloween. Dave was one of the few dads that dressed up for the night, but he really looked great while walking Connor, Abby and Jacob around the neighborhood. One comment on the lighter side though.....a couple of teenage girls thought that Dave was Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story when they saw him walking around. Dave and I got a good laugh out of that one. On Halloween night, I took about 300 pictures of the kids and Dave. I tried to pick out the best ones to share below.

The kids in their costumes after trick-or-treating.


Mom, Dad and the boys.


Connor and Preston spending quality time together.

Our neighbors. Sandy, Jason and Kennedy

Dad and Connor at the beginning of the trick-or-treat festivities.

Abby, Jacob and Kennedy trick-or-treating. I think they looked great in their costumes!

The back of Abby's fairy costume. Do you like the tutu I made her? I was pretty proud of it.

Jaocb, aka "Optimus Prime", looking pretty impressive.

Preston getting ready for the evening. I thought he was the cutest Tootsie Roll ever. And I know some people might question why I made Preston be a Tootsie Roll for his first Halloween. Well, when Dave and I were dating he used to write me the sweetest little love notes on the back of Tootsie Roll wrappers as our inside joke. It was one of the many ways he made me fall in love with him.

One of the houses in the neighborhood. They had great Halloween decorations that really scared the kids! (In a good way)

Connor checking out the halloween decorations shown above before he would go close to them. But I think the prospect of getting candy made him overcome any fear he had.

The boys on the trick-or-treat walk of the neighborhood.

Carving Pumpkins with Dad

After we got home from the corn maze, Dave, Abby and Jacob carved up the pumpkins that the kids picked out on the pumpkin hayride. Abby and Jacob were allowed to draw on any face they wanted for their pumpkins and then Dave would carve it out for them. The kids had a great time sharing this fun with Dad and I have to give them credit, they actually thought about the fact that Dad was carving the pumpkin with a plain knife when they were making their designs. And they made great designs for their pumpkins!

Dad getting the pumpkins ready for carving.

Dad carving the pumpkin faces the kids drew.

Abby and Jacob drawing their faces on the pumpkins for Dad to carve.


The final product. I think they made the house look great!

The Pumpkin Hayride

At Black Island Farms, we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch so that we could pick out our own pumpkins to take home. The kids really enjoyed riding in the trailer that was pulled by the tractor. And they really loved being able to pick out any pumpkin they wanted from the hundreds of pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. We should have put a weight limit on the pumpkins though since Jacob picked the largest, heaviest pumpkin he could find. He was so proud of his pumpkin! Connor helped Mom pick out a cute smaller pumpkin that really was a great one. And Abby was a little pickier than the boys but she eventually picked a great one that made a really good jack-o-latern later that night.

Dad and Preston.

Mom and Connor

Abby and Kennedy looking cute as can be.

Jacob with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Jim enjoying the ride out to the pumpkin patch.

Abby and Kennedy looking for the perfect pumpkin.

Dad, Preston and Connor with Connor's pumpkin.

Abby and her pumpkin.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Jim with Connor's pumpkin.

Jacob and his pumpkin.

Preston sleeping in Dad's arms at the end of the ride. He was so tired from a very full day of fun.

Black Island Farms

At the Black Island Farms there was a large open area that had lots of activities for the kids to play on. A petting zoo, slides made out of haybales, a smaller haybale maze, musical instruments, playground, etc. So after finishing the corn maze we spent a good amount of time just hanging out and playing. All of the kids had a great time playing on the slides and seeing the animals at the petting zoo.

Dad and Connor getting to know the cows at the petting zoo. Connor loved feeding the cows his ear of corn and petting them on their heads.



Connor looking at the very large geese.


Connor enjoying riding the bull. He kept saying "vroom vroom" to the bull but hey.....that was close enough for his age. I do think he would have stayed on that bull all afternoon if we had let him.


Connor and Jacob making their way through the haybale maze.


Mom and Preston enjoying the afternoon and the animals at the petting zoo. Preston enjoyed being in the carrier when he was facing the front and could watch everything that was going on.

Abby and Kennedy playing with the rubber duck racing game.

Connor and Dad walking to the haybale slides.

Connor and Dad going down the slide.


A video of Connor and Dad going down the slide. You can hear Preston crying in the background because he was hungry. And don't worry, he was fed immediately after I took this short video.

Grandpa Jim and Preston. Preston was hungry so he was not too happy. But once he was fed, he was smiling at Grandpa alot.

The Corn Maze - 2009

On Halloween Dave and I took the kids including our next door neighbor Kennedy and my in-laws to Black Island Farms in Syracuse, UT to do a very large corn maze. The corn maze theme this year was two mazes made out in the faces of two characters from the new Twilight Movie. "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob". We did the "Team Edward" corn maze since it was the smaller, less intricate maze. The kids did great and Jacob really did a great job of leading the group through the corn maze to the exit. I took quite a few pictures of the kids and Dave while we were walking around the corn maze.

The Corn Maze. A beautiful view!

The family.

The rules for the corn maze. You would not want to get "Cornvicted"!

The group starting the corn maze.

Abby, Jacob and Kennedy

Abby and Dad at the exit of the corn maze.

Dad and Connor making their way through the corn maze.



Mom and Preston enjoying the corn maze.


Connor hiding in the corn. He loved to go between the corn stalks and playing hide-n-go-seek.

Connor showing off his ear of corn that he took from the corn maze.