Fall Fun

We've had a lot of fun in the season these past two days. It started off with voting early. Deb and I took the kids to UVU and got in and out of there in a half hour. The kids were great and had fun playing on all the unique things in the hallway while waiting.

Then they got rewarded with a Krispy Kreme afterwards. And, I'm afraid I've found a new wonderful seasonal treat: Pumpkin Spice donuts. YUMMY! Anyone have a recipe for pumpkin spice cake or donuts?

Laura's preschool class went to Pumpkinland yesterday as well. We made it through the corn maze and had a ton of fun playing and picking out our pumpkins. Unfortunately, my camera died, and so my pictures are the terrible quality Phone Pics.

Then, it was one of my favorite things about fall: the beginning of NBA basketball season. Check out how prepped we were for the first game. And, yippee, the Jazz won...even without Deron Williams.

This morning we went and played in the leaves (also with Deb). And took some great pics of the kids. I'm sure you'll be able to see some others on one of her blogs soon too Here or Here.

Then Laura went off to her preschool halloween party. She was SO excited. I can hardly believe she is big enough to be wearing a costume to school. What fun!

Halloween Fun (With Steph and Larry)

We have done lots of things around our house to celebrate the impending holiday. (Please excuse the ridiculously long post/recap.) The girls have gotten lots of mileage out of their Minnie Mouse costumes. (This may be the way of justifying their cost.)

Cuteness

Naturally, I made halloween bows for the girls and dress them up in their halloween shirts very regularly during the entire month of October. I think they look adorable. And, we also enjoyed spider-web cupcakes.

Witches Brew

Steph's adorable and crafty mom invited me to her Witches Brew. We each had to design and make our own witches hat. Mine was covered in hand crocheted flowers and spider web. It was a great time with yummy food, fun activities, great company and adorable decorations. Going to Steph's Mom's house during a holiday is always a great time! You can see much better pictures and description of the evening HERE and HERE. This was so much fun that it inspires me to want to do a similar party for all you local gals next year...alas, this one was so great that I'm a tad intimidated.

Barnyard Boo

Steph and I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo. The kids adored riding on the ponies, making crafts, playing games, seeing the animals and just walking around together. Aren't they just so cute?!

Some more of the favorites were the spider rings and face painting.

Garden After Dark

We all went to Red Butte Garden's Garden After Dark Halloween celebration. It was based on a Storybook theme and the activities were really geared towards a younger audience. It was so fun to go to a Halloween event where the kids could do everything without fear.

There were lots of crafts and activities: a monster who needs a haircut from Where the Wild Things are, a Curious George puppet, Shrek Karaoke, Alice in Wonderland Maze, and lots more. Steph gave a much better description of the event HERE.

Boo at the Zoo

Boo at the Zoo was ridiculously crowded (we should have gone at 9 am like we planned, but work hit for both Larry and I) but still a lot of fun. I think the Zoo should make this a multi-day event! The kids loved wearing their costumes, trick or treating, playing the drum and seeing the animals.

Ballet

Laura got to dress up for Halloween at this week's ballet class. I taught a fun class with the girls where we danced to Halloween music and customized everything around Halloween. The kids seemed to have a great time!

Fun With Friends and Family

We have been blessed to be able to do quite a few fun things lately. We have had some great times with family and friends.

Family

We were able to go out to dinner with both of our parents. We went to Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster with my folks. And yes, the girls ate great. They both adore fish and shrimp. And, we ate ourselves silly. (Somehow, I have lost the pic I took there)

Then we went out for J's Mom's birthday to Thai. The girls love curry and Pad Thai and I dream of Beef Waterfall Salad. We had a great time. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friends

I have had several great opportunities to go out with the ladies. We all went out for sammies. Then Andrea M. introduced me to my new obsession: Red Mango. It was completely needed for me. Laughter and fun with them is the best! (You can read more about it on Andrea B's blog HERE)

Then we did my favorite outing ever! We went to Park City for shopping and food - the annual trip to celebrate both Andrea's birthdays. We ate great at Baja Cantina. We shopped ourselves silly. And I got myself the most beautiful (and bigger) purse - Coach red leather! Check out our haul. And check out Andrea M's much better write up on the event HERE.

Also, I went to a great sale at Thanksgiving Point for Downeast Outfitters with Steph. I got the girls some great things and some under Ts and Camis for $2.50 each. Thanks for the invite Steph! The kids were glad when Jason came and played with them in the stroller...they were sick of shopping Mommies!

Family Photos - Success or Disaster?

Instead of going to a studio for our family photos, I suckered my artistic Mom into taking pictures of our family with our nice camera. She did an awesome job: Thanks! Here are my three favorites.

Sara was a major pain for the event. Laura was fantastic, but Sara, well, she was awful!

But, we achieved my goal and got one that will go over the fireplace. And, did you know that you can get a 16 x 20 enlargement at Costco for only a bit more than $10?! We can regularly change the one over the mantel for that price! I think we are going to use the first one from above for the mantel. Do you think it's the best too?

Finally, she took a couple pics of Jason and I. It's nice to have a new one of us. Isn't he (and aren't we) so cute?!

Halloween Time at Disney

One of the best parts of Disney this time was getting to see and do all the special things offered at Halloween time. We went to Mickey's Trick or Treat one night and got to trick-or-treat, meet characters (lots of fun villains), and dance. California Adventure was totally decked out for the night and there was lots to look at.

We also enjoyed some of the other things at Disney. We loved characters in their costumes, Woody's Halloween Round-up (Sara really loved Woody), and all the decorations everywhere.

I also got some serious chuckles about the candy corns that were growing everywhere in California Adventure. I hope they can make you smile too.

Jason and I particularly loved the Haunted Holiday Mansion. I forgot to take pictures of it, but it was completely decked out and changed both inside and out. We had seen this on our Honeymoon six years ago, but they have definitely done lots more to it since and it was really great; totally decked out with Jack the Pumpkin King everything!