Sunday, November 4, 2012

jack o'lanterns, costumes, and trunk or treating

 
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Carving pumpkins was so much fun this year, because Aiden got to do his own.
He did it almost all by himself.
 
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We was much more excited about "harvesting" the seeds than he was
about carving pumpkins though. He loves eating the roasted pumpkin seeds
and looks forward to the every year.
 
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I picked this big, warty pumpkin because I thought it looked cool. Little did I
know that it had a hard exterior that made it almost impossible to get a knife into it.
 
I gave up nearly immediately, and Kenny took over with his saw.
 
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Capri doesn't like loud noises.
Saws included.
 

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He even worked hard at scraping out his pumpkin, and did a pretty good job.
Kenny had to finish it off, but Aiden got every single seed out of there first!
 

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Capri wouldn't get very close to the pumpkins, but she did like trying to
stab them with knives.
 
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She got a little bit of slime on her hands, and had a fit.
So we went and washed them off.
 

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They took a break to go for a ride on the princess car.
Capri doesn't mind pushing her brother around. In fact, she loves it.
 

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He carved out every piece of the scary face on his pumpkin,
except for the eyebrows. I helped him with those.
He really impressed me this year.
 
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Here are the finished pumpkins. Kenny's is the furthest to the left,
mine (and Capri's) in the middle, and Aiden's on the right.
Aiden's was by far the best one.
 
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Just before we went to our ward's trunk or treat, I took them
to take a few photos of them in their costumes, because I didn't know if I'd
get any later while they were trick (trunk) or treating.
 
I was mostly right. So I was glad we did.
 

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Aiden originally wanted to be Darth Vader, but
I didn't want to send much money on Halloween costumes.
We had already been given a Jedi robe, so I convinced him over
time that it would be way cooler if he were Mace Windu,
the African American Jedi from the newer Star Wars movies.
 
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He was pretty cool looking, and I didn't spend any money on his costume,
other than getting him a new light saber, which he can at least use more than just for Halloween.
 
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Capri's cute little Care Bear costume came from Kid to Kid and was pretty cheap.
And she looked dang cute in it!
 
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Then we headed to the trunk or treat that our ward held.
 
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We had soup and chili for dinner, then we went from trunk to trunk,
got some candy, and called it good.
Honestly, I prefer the traditional trick or treating, going from door to door.
But since Halloween was on a Wednesday, it was nice to get it done with
so we could get home and get to kids to bed for school the next day.


Friday, November 2, 2012

Grafton, Utah

There's this little tiny pioneer ghost town out by Zion's that we had never heard
of until recently. One evening we headed out to see it ourselves.
It wasn't very big, just a few houses/buildings scattered around.
Most were locked up and fenced off. But there were a couple we could walk through,
and some others we could get up close enough to look into windows.
 
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This building was so pretty! It didn't have a sign saying what it was though.
 It was locked, but there was a cellar underneath we could walk down into.

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I made them sit on the porch, but they wouldn't look at me. Or smile.
 
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This little house was open, and we were able to walk through it.
So tiny! It always amazes me how pioneers were able to live in such small houses.
 
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Daddy and Capri in the window. And if you look hard,
you can kind of see Aiden. Or maybe at least one
of his eyes.
 
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The sunlight was so pretty! Once again, the kids wouldn't do what I
wanted them to. That's nothing new though.
 

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There was this rope/wooden plank swing outside.
 I'm not sure if it's really as old as the house, but it was homemade!
Capri sat on it for one second before jumping off, and she wouldn't get back on.
 
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Peeking in the windows, to see what we could see.
 
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This is an old church building that they used as a school as well.
It was locked up too. There were some stairs outside one
of the windows though, that we were able to look through.
 
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Just down the road a little from the church was a little old graveyard.
There were all kinds of different headstones, they must have just used what they could.
There were some places that were obviously graves, but there was no more headstone.
 
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There were some made from wood (I couldn't believe these ones have survived).
 
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This was the gravestone of some guy who was killed by Indians
when he was in his 20's. It was all fenced in by itself.
 
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This may have been my favorite though, all it said was "Cedar Pete".
 
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Such a pretty view from the graveyard!
 
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There was another little house down the road kind of by itself, but it
was fenced off as well, and had a private property sign. So we just looked from the road.
 
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I made Aiden go sit by this tree to take a picture in the pretty light,
even though he was freaked out and was sure there were snakes in the grass.
 
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I am in love with this light. I just wish one of my kids was in this photo.
 
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After we were done in Grafton, we drove around trying to find a park
to have our picnic dinner. We found this place that has a store, restaurant and
"you pick your own apples". They had some convenient picnic tables outside, and
were nice enough to let us use one even though we didn't buy anything.
 
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This is my favorite. This is Capri saying "Rawrr!" to Kenny.
 
The end.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

cabin getaway

It was about a month ago...
 
I took the kids and headed up to the mountain, to meet my family
and hang at the cabin for the weekend. It was the best thing to get away and be
able to see all the colorful fall leaves.
 
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We had a great view right from the back porch of the cabin.
 

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Maybe it's because I live in an area that doesn't really have "Fall". Where we live,
the leaves don't really turn colors, they just turn brown and fall off the trees.
All in a matter of one or two days.
 
So to be up there, with Fall all around, was so wonderful.
I couldn't stop taking pictures of the colors.
And the sunshine.
 

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While the bigger boys went with Gramma down to the creek to play, Capri and I went exploring. I pretty much just followed her around. We'd walk down the road a little way, then Capri would decide we were too far from the cabin, so she'd turn back.
 

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Then we went the other direction. It was easier  this time to decide when to turn back,
because she wouldn't cross the cattle guard.
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She loves her "pack pack". I make her carry her own stuff around in it.
Diapers, wipes, binks and toys all go in her back pack and she gets to pack it around.
 
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Since all the bigger kids were gone, she had the trampoline to herself,
and she discovered that she loves it.
 

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I put Capri down for a nap, and the kids had gone with Gramma to play in the gravel pile
down by the horse corral, so I went on a little nature walk to soak in all the pretty colors.
 

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Chase let Aiden borrow his sock (that he found outside) to fill with rocks. And he took his job seriously. He wouldn't even smile at me.
 

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Capri and Brody, jumping on the trampoline together. Capri was content to just lay
there and let Brody bounce her around. It's the same thing she does on bounce houses :)
 

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It didn't matter how many times Brody's mom washed his face, he always had this
dirt mustache. He sure can rock it though!
 
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 They also spent a good amount of time playing with Capri's princess car.
 
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Capri thought it was great to have Brody to push her around.

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The next day (the day we had to leave) we headed down to the corral to play again.
The kids loved playing around in the corral and on the gravel pile that was right by it.
 
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Capri mostly just enjoyed opening and shutting the gate.
 
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This picture makes me laugh every time!
Every time one of the kids would get close enough to my dad, he would lift
their shirt over their head. So, with gramma's help, they all ganged up on him at once.
And they triumphed, and Chase was the only casualty :)
 
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Aiden and my dad, gravel fighting. Aiden thought it was so funny :)