Halloween Celebrations~

You would never guess that Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays because of all we had going on.. So bear with me...we begin with our Annual Randall Halloween Party. We have such a good time dressing up....this year I BEGGED Charissa to do another "costume theme". I thought it would be cute and fun to have my children dress up as bugs and me as the bug catcher. Madalyn already wanted to be a bumble bee and naturally Anna is our "ladybug'. So after she realized she could wear her favorite TuTu she relented! And Carson was the perfect bug...Transformer Bumblebee that is!

Here are a few of the grandkids waiting to get the party started!

We had lots of yummy, scary food!

Spent the weekend making cupcakes. The spider cupcakes were really fun to make.

Grandpa played the traditional Halloween Bingo Game with his grandchildren.

Charissa our pretty bug with her newest cousin, Preston the mummy! Such a cute costume~

 Our two bugs...Anna the Lady Bug adorned with her tutu and 

                Maddy the Bee sporting her look~And Carson as our mighty Transformer! 
                                                          Awesome Dude~

 And here is the reigning champion of the Donut Eating Contest. Warning...this is graphic :)

On Halloween Day we decorated our courtyard as a spooky graveyard! Seriously...we had so much fun and this is something I've never done before...but it turned out great and we have even better ideas to add next year! I know crazy huh? Keep in mind the pictures don't even do justice and as I tried to take some pictures the fog from the fog machine made it less visible...which was the whole idea. And the strobe light didn't show up either but this will give you an idea of what the little trick or treaters entered on Halloween night!! OOOOOO..

The bag of bones in the center even glowed in the dark. We had spooky music playing and we even had a remote control tarantula we would have crawl up their feet when they knocked on the door.

My kids want it known that it looked way cooler at night! We scattered leaves everywhere to give it a graveyard feel and had eyeballs staring at you through the windows. 

We had soo much fun~ The only disappointing part was that we had hardly any trick or treaters. So next year we want you all to come and visit!

Happy Halloween from our Haunted House to yours~

Happy Birthday Carson!

I can't believe my baby is NINE! Where has the time gone? Look at him~he is so handsome and as I look at him my heart is so full. Words don't give justice to how much I love this little man!  I remember when over nine years ago I had a very distinct impression there was one more child waiting to come to our family...it would be a boy...and he would be the last. It was a sense of urgency almost...like I had already wasted enough time. It's crazy to look back now and see the Lords hand in my life and how important it was for Carson to join our family! How blessed we all are to have his sweet and tender spirit in our home and in our lives~

For his party I copied my cousins great idea~LEGOS~ Carson has so many favorite things he likes to do and building with legos is one of them. We had fun decorating cupcakes (Thanks Am for the candies) and decorating the house in bright colors.  

The boys spent most of the time creating and building with the legos. We even had contests with prizes for the most extreme and silly creations. They seemed to have a lot of fun. I must say this was one of the easiest parties we've ever had. They are a fun group of boys...

After opening presents the boys went outside and played wall ball. 

Elder Randall...this one is for you!

Carson has been asking to get a dog for his birthday ever since we gave Duke away. So I thought it would be funny to give him a dog...on the Wii...the best kind of pet for us :) He wasn't too sure about that. Afterwords he told me he was a little disappointed it wasn't a real dog. Oops~ 

 We topped his birthday off with a family dinner at his favorite restaraunt...Applebees.

Here's to you Carson~ We love you~

FALL~

I love the trees in our yard. We moved to an area where we are surrounded by trees. I enjoy listening to the birds in the morning/night and the feel of the cool air. For so many years we lived in newer neighborhoods with hardly any trees. I do enjoy where we live~ It was beautiful to watch the leaves change color in our own yard and neighborhood. Anna waited anxiously for the day she could go out and rake up the leaves. One day last week she was out before I even got home, raking up piles of leaves....it was perfect timing because within minutes a huge gust of wind came and blew the leaves off of the trees and ground. It looked like a leaf tornado!! It was incredible! So Maddy, Carson and Anna and a few of their friends went up and down the street playing and raking up the leaves.

I was so proud of my children when the following days they helped an elderly sister in our ward rake the leaves in her yard. Many hands make light work. Good thing they enjoy this new found excitement....not sure how long that will last!