Halloween

 This was our first Halloween in our house. That meant it was the first year we could go trick or treating in our OWN neighborhood. We didn't have to drive to another neighborhood. It was really nice. This year Erik was a vampire (he wore black clothes, a cape and fake teeth) for the trunk or treat and Darth Vader on Halloween, Lily was going to be a vampire as well but couldn't find her teeth before trick or treating so she grabbed a cape and a monster/ninja mask out of our dress up box, Drew was SpongeBob (also from the dress up box), Alex was a race car and Rose was a devil.

Drew wearing his "BOO" mask he made in school. 

Rose the skeleton. 

Alex's Halloween shirt. 

 We carved pumpkins a few days before Halloween, which was a lot of fun. Alex actually liked scooping out the seeds. Daniel roasted the pumpkin seeds with two different flavors. They were wonderful! The kids liked snacking on them too. (After Halloween Daniel baked 5 of the pumpkins and made pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread. We have lots of pumpkin in the freezer so we're looking forward to many more delicious pumpkin treats.)

 The Friday before Halloween was our ward Trunk or Treat. Daniel had to work so I took the kids by myself. It was a chili and cornbread cook-off, with hot dogs for the kids. Things weren't going too badly until Rose grabbed the tablecloth and pulled....spilling the water in the process. The kids enjoyed the games and went around the parking lot a few times, getting a good start on the Halloween candy. Drew had a blast and ran around and around getting candy...he even lapped Alex, Rose and me. I got Alex to say his version of "trick or treat" at each car, which was quite adorable! Everyone thought Rose was extremely cute in her little devil costume. Unfortunately, since I was on my own and I don't have a smart phone, I have no pictures of the evening. The kids had a blast and looked very cute.

Alex was crying and wanted to go out trick or treating and refused to stand here for a picture.

 Halloween night we had the sister missionaries over for potato and sausage soup with french bread. Then, Daniel took the kids up and down our street while I stayed home and passed out candy with Rose. Just from our street they filled their bags about 1/3 to 1/2 full. It was pretty windy and chilly so after about an hour the two younger boys were done. Then Daniel stayed home with the little ones and I took Erik and Lily out a bit longer. We had quite a few trick or treaters come between 6 and 8:30. Daniel heard one lady while he was out with the kids say, "I didn't realize there were so many kids in this neighborhood." Haha
 Today is Sunday, November 10 and we finally finished the last of the candy. We also had stake conference today and our stake was split. We are still part of the Denver North Stake, but to the east of our ward is now the Brighton Stake. We lost our stake presidency, which is bittersweet because I really liked President Johnson. (This is my uncle Vaughn's brother for those who don't know. My mom's sister Patty is married to Vaughn Johnson, who is stake president in Durango. Our stake president was his younger brother. Small world.) No wards were reorganized in this split, but I know things will change as they start calling stake presidencies for the various organizations. I'm just glad our ward stayed the same. I know our new presidency will be great as well.