Halloween!

 We had fun hitting up the straw maze at the pumpkin patch with the Hiatts again this year!

 Sweet little Adelyn was giddy over the petting zoo!

 I think Reed and Isabel are the cutest little pair ever.  Isabel was too scared for the slides so Reed held her hand.  So sweet!

 We also went with the Hiatts to a fantastic party put on by one of the pediatricians for all the hospital employees.  They decorate their huge yard with lights and life-size skeleton circus scenes.  It was quite the site!  I wished I had taken my good camera to this!

 We carved our pumpkins for family night the week of Halloween.  Gracen and I did one pumpkin from a computer stencil but the boys and Dad designed and cut theirs authentically!

 The nursing home around the corner is in the Hiatts ward.  We both decided it'd be a good thing to go make an appearance at the trick or treat they hosted.  What a great idea for both the kids and the residents!

 This year we had Steve from Minecraft, a creeper from Minecraft, a witch, Clark Kent, and Adelyn's gumboil costume didn't actually ever get done.  Haha. Mom fail!

 We came "this close" to not hosting our annual Halloween party this year.  I was in a funk for most of October that I can't really explain. Part of it was my mom's death.  Part of it was sicknesses and a few other things we had going on that I felt overwhelmed by.  I finally decided that I needed to consciously work to get myself out of the funk.  I've gotten back into reading more church literature (other than daily scriptures) and that seriously helps my mood.  I've also decided to cut back on junk food and start running again.  Running is also good for the soul!  I think I can say I've kicked whatever the funk is.  I feel more like myself than I have in months!

Anway, so the party did happen and I'm glad we did it.  The kids love it.  We've had a lot of no-show's to birthday parties this year so we went ahead and invited 14 kids, thinking lots wouldn't come since it was actually on Halloween afternoon.  With a few extra siblings that came along, we ended up having SIXTEEN guests at our party! Ack!  But I think everybody had fun and I'd call it a success!

 My sweet neighbor Nola came to help me out!  Thank goodness for her - Addie loves her!

 Our last activity is traditionally making a Halloween mural designing a haunted neighborhood.  This year I printed off haunted house clip art and glued them on and the kids loved it!  All of the houses on the boys' mural ended up being on fire, haha.