Our drawn out Halloween and AWESOME pumpkins!

Halloween has never been as eventful as it was this year! It began the Wednesday before, when I got to chaperon the Stake youth Halloween dance, which was ridiculously fun. Here is a picture of Lara and I representing the Harmony Hills ward... dressed as nerds (like you needed an explanation!) Jason told me after looking at this picture that it almost seems like I was going for the "hobo" nerd look. Wow, does it get any worse than that!?
(by the way, that is nasal spray there on the lanyard around my neck!)The next day Weston had his Halloween party at school. He had planned to be Spider man, but when the teacher requested that the kids wear costumes that allowed them to still go potty by themselves, we had to switch plans. Weston was Elmo last year, and convincing him to be Elmo at the school party was actually much easier than I thought it would be!He was pretty thrilled with all the candy he brought home, but not as thrilled as Sophie!Sophie hasn't ever even tasted candy before, and yet she instinctively knew that she HAD to have it! Here she is digging through Weston's bag, dishing me up a darn cute camera smile! The next night, on Friday, I took the kids and met up with both Grandmas and Aunt Shae-Leigh at this super cool carnival/festival activity in my mom's Stake. This, again, was Sophie's first real exposure to Halloween activities (she was only 2 months old last year) and yet she "trunk or treated" like a pro! If I believed in re-incarnation, I think I would have to believe Sophie was a professional candy beggar in her previous life... it was truly impressive! Here's my little "fairy" in action:

This tiara was actually the one I wore the day we got married! Weston wasn't in the best of moods... we kept offering him food, which he did not want. Finally Auntie succeeded in getting him to eat cotton candy! (I'm sure she really had to twist his arm!)I couldn't seem to get enough pictures of my angelic little fairy!Saturday morning was pumpkin carving time! Jason is a pumpkin carving genius. Usually he does something really difficult - for example, he did President Monson last year and President Reagan the year before that. This year his pumpkins weren't quite as elaborate, but they were still extremely impressive I thought!Hard to believe that pumpkin was transferred into this:

This second pumpkin was done, of course, at Weston's request.

While daddy carved away, the kids found all kinds of treasures in the garage. (We still haven't unpacked everything that we recently got out of storage) Here is cookie monster from when my brother was a baby like 35 years ago. Now that I mention it, he may want that back. All I have to say is that he'll have to fight Sophie for it! Judging by her hair, I think she had just woken up from a nap in this photo.

Jason's dad gave us some various Halloween novelties and decorations including this skull which, when you pull the lever, opens it's mouth, belches, and then says (in a British accent): "Pardon me!" Weston pulled that lever at least a thousand times, or so it seemed. He was so BORED waiting for Jason to finish Lightening McQueen. He eventually fell asleep while waiting.But not before discovering his Nemo costume from a couple years ago! The second he laid eyes on it, his formerly intense need to be Spider man for Halloween completely vanished. While in the Nemo costume, he also rediscovered his "hulk hands" that Uncle Chris (who is currently serving a mission in Argentina) gave him for his second birthday. He got so crazy with the Hulk Hands that I ended up having to take them away, but I'm sure Uncle Chris would be proud!

Oh yeah - and Winnie The Pooh, formerly a character of no interest, suddenly emerged as a new favorite for both the kids too upon finding the Pooh bear and the Pooh sing along book!Ironically, the "real" Halloween activity - our own ward's Trunk or Treat, was a huge disappointment. We didn't even take any pictures. We just came home and watched Jason's favorite movie of all time - Ghostbusters!

However, the next night (we're talking day 5 of celebrating), was REAL Halloween. So, we went to visit Grandpa and boy did he let Weston load up on goodies! It was fun.

I think my favorite part of Halloween this year - besides Sophie being so darn cute that I melt every time I look at these pictures - is the fact that Weston got to dress up in all of his different costumes at least once. I never really cared much for Halloween before having kids - but now I genuinely look forward to all of the traditions we have created around it. I have managed every year to be very lucky when it comes to great deals on costumes... who knows, maybe next year I'll get ambitious and even make my kids' costumes! (Well, stranger things have happened, you know.)

Pumpkin Patch: More Fun Than We Bargained For!

Going to the pumpkin patch this year was a blast. I'm thinking it had a little something to do with the guy pictured here (Grandpa Glass):Our first destination at the Pumpkin Patch was the petting zoo (if you can even call it that... it was about the size of my kitchen! Not that the kids cared.)

Run, baby, run! Who knows what that crazy looking rooster might do! Those animals were nicely fed, to say the least. How many pellets can one billy goat eat, after all?

Sophie's goal was to grab onto the goats, and try to ride them if possible...It didn't work out too well for her. She ended up getting knocked over a couple of times - mostly because the goats tried running away from her while she was hanging on to them for dear life!

Finally it was time to leave the petting zoo and move on to some of the other fun activities...

While Weston bounced around in the bouncy house, I took Sophie down this gigantic slide. I thought she'd love it, but there was virtually no reaction at all! She gets a thrill out of jumping on the bed, but this massive slide just didn't do it for her. Go figure!

I think Weston did this obstacle course 10 times... not even joking!

Finally it was time to find the perfect pumpkins...

I'm still not sure if Sophie was trying to hug the pumpkin or pick it up...

Daddy has at least as much fun as the kiddos pumpkin searching - if not more!

Before leaving, Weston wanted to try this bouncey thing. I really don't know what it's called, but man does it fly high!!

A slightly reticent but brave Weston...

What a blast! He totally loved it.

Picking out pumpkins is always fun, but this year it was extra special because we went to such a great pumpkin patch - and most especially because Grandpa joined us.

Grandpa's Visit, Part 2

So, the first day that Weston took the bus to school also happened to be the first day that he went on the big kid swings! Grandpa was delighted to be apart of it. For some reason Weston would start losing his grip after swinging awhile, but then dad would say "Wow, Weston is a really big, strong boy! Look at the way he is holding on so tight with those strong hands!" It worked every time.

The first picture is from the baby swings, and the second is on the big people swings.It was such a treat to have Grandpa at the park, and Weston was not content to have him just "be" there. He grabbed Grandpa's hand and took him all over the place, leading him up and down stairs and all around! It was great. Here they are, going down the slides together. While Weston was at school, Sophie and Grandpa had some fine cuisine...

Or at least they sat at the table together...

On Tuesday evening we went to the Strip, so dad could see the conservatory at the Bellagio (among other things.)

I find it just amazing that those gigantic pumpkins are real.

This is Weston demonstrating the way the water splashed all around. He is a rather animated little guy!

I always feel like such a tourist taking pictures downtown. Oh well!

In the morning it was time for presents. After all, what grandparents do not come bearing gifts?

Weston was pretty darn thrilled to receive a whole container full of groovy cars modeled after various insects.

Sophie received a cute little bag with a brush and comb inside... she just loves to brush her own hair. She also loves hiding things in the cute little bag.

We also went to the Children's Discovery Museum during dad's visit. What was Sophie's favorite thing there? It had to be the cash register at the "grocery store." Every time I turned around she was running back to that stinkin' register just so she could push the buttons!

Weston enjoyed just about everything. Here he is making huge bubbles.

This thing is a mini tornado.

Dad had Weston climb up there to get a closer look at it...

It was about then that we noticed a sign saying "no climbing." But since he was already there, I figured it wouldn't hurt to snap one more picture!

Working a pulley...

Working on a car... definitely more fun! This is unquestionably one of Weston's favorite parts of the museum.

Sophie is not one to be left behind. If brother was working on the car, well then so was she!

The other exhibit with endless appeal (and I do mean ENDLESS!) is the contraption that sucks in balls and shoots them up into these tubes, where you can watch them work their way back down. You can control how the balls come back down to you through a series of pulleys and wheels, but Weston and Sophie were really only interested in watching the balls get sucked into the tube... it was more fascinating to them than pretty much anything else around! On the last day of Dad's visit, he was invited to read a story to all the kids in Weston's preschool. I thought this was a special treat. Plus, I got to go along and finally see what they actually do there and how Weston interacts in his class! Sophie, always the involved one, kept trying to leap off dad's lap to do what the other kids were doing! Here is Weston having snack time with the other kids.

It was cute to watch Weston. He was so excited to have Grandpa come and visit his class. He was also really well behaved, and did an especially good job of tidying up after himself - which I find incredible and amazing considering how much difficulty I have getting him to clean things up at home. At least he puts his best foot forward when in public!

I was happy with all of fun things we did while Grandpa was in town. Ever since he left two weeks ago, Sophie has been repeating "gram-pa" over and over and over and over and over again! She calls everyone Grandpa, too. I am so happy she finally got to meet her Grandpa Knapp!