Halloween Day 2017

I love that Halloween is on the last day of October.  It's like the entire month centers around the holiday and on the last day, it's the grand finale of fun.  I volunteered to be Gavin's room mom for his kindergarten class so I was in charge of the class party.  It went off without a hitch thanks to the other party helping moms that did the grunt work.  I just had to coordinate it all. Before we left for school, I had to take some pictures.

Kitty Laynie and Iron Man Gavvy

Me and my little black cat

Gavin's class - his head is barely poking out behind the cute little unicorn.

We got home from school and Grandma/pa Anderson came by to deliver Halloween treats to the kids.  The kids were ecstatic and loved their little treat bags.  Then we ate an easy meal and headed out to trick or treat.

Laynie would stare a the candy bucket forever trying to decide which candy to choose.  Then after each door she would exclaim, "I love trick or treating!"

It's always fun to walk around the neighborhood and see our neighbors out and about.  We left a bucket of candy on our doorstep so Matt and I could both go around with our kids.

Laynie started getting cold, so we headed home to...

see all the loot the kids brought home.  They were pretty excited.

We went to Grandma/pa Anderson's house afterward and just visited.

Pumpkin Carving Time!!!

Matt is really good to make sure we get our pumpkin carving in each year - even when I'm not feeling so great and need to sleep in the other room!  Luckily he took pictures so I could see the kids' excitement.  There really is something magical about carving a pumpkin then watching it glow.

Aunt Greta's Halloween Dinner

On Sunday, Oct. 29th, we went to my cousin Neldon Mellor's home in Mapleton for Aunt Greta's Halloween dinner.  She invited close to 50 of us that live in the SL and Utah Valleys, but only about 30 of us came.  Aunt Greta loves to get her extended family together.  And she loves to spoil her great, great nieces and nephews.  She gave out loads of candy in a little trick or treat walk and then we ate a nice meal and chatted.  I got to chat with my cousin Kim for a while.  I've always had a special connection with her due to us both teaching kindergarten, and believe it or not - we even had the same student once.  The student had Kim for a teacher then moved the next year and repeated kindergarten and had me!

Matt and Laynie with Aunt Greta and Cousin Kim in the far background

Matt and I dressed up as Susan and George this time.  The possibilities are endless with "Guess Who?" as your theme!

A Good Ole Southern Boy Birthday!

Since Matt served his mission in the south, it was only fitting to have a "Good Old Southern Boy Birthday."  I made him a southern breakfast complete with grits, biscuits and gravy, bacon and a fried egg.  Then we dropped the kids off at a sitter and did a session at the Timpanogos Temple.  We ate dinner at Dickey's Barbecue Pit, had fun at the dollar theatre, watching Despicable Me 3, and finished off the day with Matt's parents for cake and ice cream.

Gotta love the grits!

We love the birthday boy!

We gifted Dad with socks, 2 work shirts, drinking glasses, and caramels.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit

(Gavin isn't mad - just imitating the minion behind him.)

Kathy and Loren came over for southern caramel cake and ice cream for dessert.

Boo Day 2017

We had Boo Day on October 21st this year.  To get ready for it, the kids watched Hocus Pocus (complete with broomstick) while I baked the food.

Laynie asked if she could next have 10 olives on her toes.

Gavin wanted to be Iron Man this year.

Laynie wanted to be Poppy from the Trolls movie.

Matt was Alfred from the Guess Who? game,

and I was Claire.

Here we are together.  No group costume this year.  The kids are getting old enough that they want to decide on their own what they'd like to be.  However, Matt and I are still up for couples costumes!!

We had the Souzas join in our fun this year.

(Erica, Caroline, Isabella, and Daniel)

Me and Doctor Britt

Mummy pizza with gruesome greens salad and Britt brought some breadstick "ribs."

So fun being around good friends.

The kids made little foam halloween picture frames that Grandma Sorensen gave them.

We played a plethora of games:  Pin the wart on the witch,

Guess the number of candy corn in the jar,

Cat 'n' rats game,

pass the witch's broomstick, Spider toss, etc.

Then we had dessert.  Gavin told me that this year's ghost cake was too fluffy.

We sang "Happy Boo Day to you."

And even though the ghost was a little on the fluffy side this year, he never ceases to amaze with his flaming eyes!

October 2017

Cousin Amelia comes over each Tuesday and the kids love having her.

Mad-Eyes Laynie

We finally got to see Cars 3 at the movie theatre!!  Gavin had waited a very long time for this - 4 months to be precise.

I went to check on Laynie before I went to bed, and this is what I found.

Gavin's artistic side has been coming out in full force.  He loves to color and he's getting quite good at it.

He drew our house - complete with every detail.

The kids got flu shots and I told them they could go to Mc Donald's if they were brave.  Gavin said, "Ouch!" and Laynie cried for about 3 minutes after it was over.  Not bad.  So worth the happy meals.