Celebrating Halloween Before Halloween

We kept super busy this week doing all sorts of fun Halloween activities! 

Tuesday, after Hayden's Preschool, we stopped at Jaker's Pumpkin Patch in Springville.  Kylie didn't have school that day, so it was the perfect time to explore this pumpkin place we pass all the time on our way to Hayden's school.

It has turned out to be one of my favorite places.  Insanely cheap, TONS of corn to play in, so many slides and corn mazes, hay mazes, pumpkin patch, and animals to see.  We spent all afternoon there!

When we got home we made Halloween sugar cookies and decorated them after dinner.  Such a fun day!

Friday was our ward's trunk-or-treat.  We started off by carving our pumpkins.  The kids were hesitant to get gunk on them, but they loved it. I let them draw their faces and then carved it out for them.  Then off to the church! They did the trunk-or-treating first.  It was a small enough area and we were all lined up in one straight line, so I decided the kids could go by themselves (after extensive reminders to say "Trick-or-Treat!" and "Thank you!") and I stayed behind to pass out candy.  All the kids made the rounds 2-3 times before we closed up and went to eat chili.  We had a fun time eating and got to see Grandma Tess right before Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary arrived to take the kids for a sleepover!  They were so excited.

Kylie and Hayden had so much fun with Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary.  They helped rake leaves and jumped in the piles and watched some fun movies and dancing.  I met up with them at 3 and we joined Aunt Kendra and Uncle Jake and went to Cornbelly's!  There was so much to do and of course the kids wanted to do it all!

Kylie got to do the zip-line for the first time this year (she was dying to last year).  When we got up the tower and all hooked in, though, she started freaking out and crying.  Luckily we were able to talk her through it and she was really brave and went with me!  It was a lot of fun and she's already talking about doing it again next year.  Hayden's favorite thing was being in charge of the map and telling us where to go next.  We had so much fun and by the time it was dark the kids were tired and ornery and ready to go home.

Family Trip to St. George

This weekend was Fall Break, so I decided to go down south with the kids this weekend and visit some friends.

We traveled down Thursday and had tons of traffic and stop and crawl on the freeway thanks to construction.  When we arrived we went to Sophia's house and played for a little bit.  All the kids were so happy to see each other after a few months of not playing together.  They played together nicer than they have ever played before!  Then I dropped the kids off at Brandon's house for the night and I stayed with Angela.

Friday I went and picked up the kids again.  Technically it was Brandon's weekend, but he really took advantage of me being down for the week and had me take the kids more often than I expected.  That's ok, though, because it was fun taking the kids to all our old friend's houses to play and all the parks we used to go to.  We even found a little vendor fair with free bounce houses and trick-or-treating to do!  After five Brandon took the kids again and I went and hung out with my friend Angela again.  She was so nice to let me stay with her for the weekend and we had way too much fun together!

Saturday I got the kids in the morning and we went to Staheli Farm for a Witches Breakfast!  It was the cutest thing and Kylie and Hayden were enthralled the entire time!  We went with Sophia and Riley as well.  Kylie "wasn't scared", but then told me afterwards "I don't like witches anymore."  Hayden was very scared and clung to me the entire time.  There were about six witches who interacted with the audience and put on a show.  They played games with the kids while parents got food ready for them and it was just overall a great experience.

Then we stayed and played at the farm for another five hours until the allotted time Brandon wanted the kids back.  The kids could have stayed all day playing in the corn and the slides!

I spent the rest of the evening and Sunday morning with Angela and then at 1 I picked up the kiddos and we made our way home!  I though since fall break was one more day I might skip the traffic, but NOPE! PLUS there were two HUGE sections of construction, resulting in us spending 6 1/2 hours on the road.  Should've just stayed the whole day and drove home at night so Kylie and Hayden could sleep the whole way home!

We still had a fun time visiting with friends and doing lots of fun Halloween things this weekend!

A Visit to the Witches House

Hayden finished up his tumbling class early this month.  He did a great job and received a medal.  Next we need to do a swimming class!

This past Tuesday I decided that Kylie and I needed some one-on-one time, because I miss her being at school all day!  So we met Grandma Shari at the Orem mall where she watched Hayden while Kylie and I walked around and enjoyed ourselves.  We only bought her new church shoes (though, if she had her way we would've bought the entire mall...) but had tons of fun together window shopping and finding lots of fun stuff.  Then we met up with Hayden and Grandma Shari for dinner and then more playtime.  It was so much fun and I am glad we were able to do it!

On Friday we got all dressed up in our Halloween outfits and went with some friends to Gardner Village, which I told the kids was the Witches House.  It was during the Witchfest, so there were plenty of witches out and about!  We went with my friend Brittny and her kids Staeley and Harlee.  Hayden and Harlee are in Preschool together and already good friends.  Kylie and Harlee became fast friends as well, thankfully.

We left Provo together and decided to do something super fun and ride the TRAX system up there.  The kids all loved the train and the freedom to stand and try to balance (especially when we got on the red TRAX system).  Once at Gardner Village we visited the farm area, where I think Kylie could have held rabbits all day long!  They also had fun feeding some ponies and then getting a pony ride.

Then we got some balloon animals (Hayden was waiting so patiently for his! ) before heading over to the actual Gardner Village.

Everyone was dressed as witches over there! Kylie loved it, but Hayden was not very happy - though he was curious.  We grabbed some dinner and walked the shops.  We really enjoyed ourselves and the kids still had enough energy to bounce off the seats on the train ride home!

Now Brittny and I are planning our next TRAX excursion with the kids!

It's Fall Y'All!

The past two weeks has been full of warm weather, and freezing weather!  I'm about ready to break out the winter coats, but they are buried in the garage.

Last week I pulled the kids out of school for Thursday and Friday and they went to spend the weekend with their dad while I worked Comic Con in Salt Lake.  It was a fun experience!

This past week was a fun one for Kylie at school - Kindness week.  Everyday was something new - crazy sock day, pajama day, and crazy hair day!

Even Hayden had crazy hair on that day (a pony tail) and he said everyone in his preschool class liked it!  He has been having fun in tumbling, too - though since he is getting used to it he is starting to act silly...

On Saturday we took some family pictures!  Grandpa Pete was kind enough to attempt to get us all sitting nice and happy at the same time... no small feat!

Dinosaur Park

Our days are all full now that school is in session!  Monday and Wednesdays Hayden has tumbling, Tuesday and Thursdays he has Preschool, Kylie has full school days all week long... man it's exhausting!

On Monday we went to the Naylor's Hot Dog Roast up Provo Canyon.  It was lots of fun to see all the extended family again and to roast our own hot dogs and marshmallows.  Grandpa Gary even found a huge tarantula which terrified and fascinated the kids.

On Saturday we went up to Ogden with Grandma Shari and explored the Dinosaur park up there.  It was so nice and fun!  So many huge dinosaurs to look at.  Kylie and Hayden ran from one to the next, and they were actually nice and let us take pictures of them without being too goofy.

We brought a picnic lunch to eat, and afterwards we played on the dinosaur playground for a while.

Then we visited the last few dinosaurs and went inside the museum, where the kids were transfixed by an animatronic dinosaur scene.

Then we stopped by Smith and Edwards - a very interesting store - before heading home.  I was exhausted by then, but the kids went out and played for the rest of the day!  I need some of their energy!