Better Late than Never

So I have been meaning to post pictures of our trip to Cleavland and Halloween for quite sometime. So without further ado . . .

While visiting Cleavland we visited what Meagan called "Castle Park". Spencer was absolutely ecstatic to find that it was an actual old Castle ruin that everyone was allowed to look through. We followed that up with a walk through the near by woods and some major leaf collecting. If anyone needs any beautiful colored leaves for any projects let me know. We have more than enough for my plans. It was the absolutely perfect week to go. The trees we so beautiful. I can't believe how many colors we saw of leaves and the weather wasn't too bad either.

We also visited the "Kirtland" sites including the Johnson Farm, the Kirtland Visitors Center, the temple quarry, and the Kirtland Temple. Jacob and I had been to the Visitors Center before, but the rest of it was all brand new to us. The kids behaved pretty well throughout all of this and we were grateful for that. We only took one picture of all of this however (I don't know why, we just never pulled out the camera). The one picture we have is at the Johnson Farm. This is the Room that Joseph and Emma slept in the night he was drug from the home to be tarred and feathered. Spencer wanted a picture in it because he thought the floor looked like a giant checker board. We really enjoyed these sites and had some wonderful spiritual moments.

We also went to lunch while there to a little down home restaurant called RJ's. If you are ever in Kirtland it is the place to go. I had the best BLT I have ever had in my life. (Yes, it was even better than Angie's.) So to sum it up, we had a great weekend filled with loads of fun. Thanks again Doug and Meagan for being willing to show us around, again. You guys are the greatest!!

We enjoyed having my mom with us during this trip to Cleavland and then the week after. Thanks again mom for coming and of course, for your help in the kitchen. We miss you already.

So now on to Halloween.

The children enjoyed a whole array of activities the week of Halloween. We started with a Halloween Party for Wives club with lots and lots of Halloween Goodies. (and toys of course, which my children tend to notice more than the treats)

We had the Ward Trunk-or-treat as well. The kids had a blast with all of the activities. Their favorite was the balloon creations. Jessi got a princess wand and Spencer got a bat. They were so excited they didn't mind waiting in line for over 10 minutes for theirs. Then the trunk-or-treat began. We ended up doing this inside the church as they were concerned about the weather so the kids went around from chair to chair and loaded up on candy. Another fun evening.

The night before Halloween we carved pumpkins. They were all excited to start until they remembered what was in the pumpkins and then they decided they didn't want to "help" as much as they offered. Spencer was excited to draw his own face on his pumpkin and then had dad cut it out for him. He chose to do a pirate face with a patch on its eye. Too fun!! Jessi and Kris just watched while we told them we were working on theirs. It kept them happy.

And we finally made it to Halloween. I stayed home to hand out candy which turned out to be unnecessary. Apparently the trick or treating in our neighborhood starts on the block behind us. Next year I won't be staying home. But I did get my book finished. The kids had a great time with dad and brought home quite the stash of candy. In South Bend you are only allowed to trick-or-treat from 5 - 7 which turned out just perfect for the kids. All in all, I would say it was a very happy Halloween for all.

And that about gets me through all of the recent pictures I have taken. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mark and Krista for their Residency interviews tomorrow. And then we will have Doug and Meagan for Thanksgiving. I am so grateful to have family that can visit us. It really is a blessing for us.

One last quirky story about me. 2 nights ago Jacob was reading a story to the kids at bedtime. It was called Mars Needs Moms by Berkeley Breathed. I was completely tear streaked by the end of it. It is a story of a little boy who is frustrated with his mom for always being on his case. One night Aliens come and kidnap his mom to Mars and he follows. On Mars he learns a valuable lesson (which caused the crying) but I won't give it away. It is a good thing the kids didn't ask me to read it because I never would have been able to get through it. I would blame it on the pregnancy but I am pretty sure I would have cried even if I wasn't pregnant. So if you ever want a good cry while reading to your kids, it will do the trick. (Still though, I loved the book!!)