Halloween seemed to last months this year! We decorated the house up, and also got some cool inflatable pumpkins for the yard. We put them in the back since no one really goes past the front of our house.  The girls loved plugging them in.  There were many parties, including Sara's preschool party, church trunk or treat on saturday, school carnival, and regular trick or treating on monday.  There were amazing amounts of candy, which are thankfully almost gone!  Whitney found her new favorite food group, which used to be cheese, but now is candy! She asks for it so nicely, it is hard to say no. 
We took a trip to Grand Junction for a little visit with old friends, some shopping, and the Pumpkin patch. I didn't take my camera, but we had fun in the corn maze and got some good pumpkins.  It was hot, But it was a good trip.  The girls had been asking about going for months, so it was nice to finally be there.  We carved the pumpkins the week before halloween and it all went pretty well. The girls got busy in the goo and picked out ever single seed for us to roast.  Usually I grab enough for a pan full, but this year we had two full pans! And every seed was gone within a few days.  Whitney stayed strapped in her seat and helped pick out seeds, so she had fun too, away from the knives. 
We invited Scott's parent's down for the weekend because we had the Trunk or Treat\Chili cookoff on Saturday and the Primary program on Sunday, where the kids sing and do a little part in church.  So that was exciting.  We spent the day very busy and came back in time to grab a few things from the grocery store and get cookin' chili. Last year I won 2nd place, this year I wasn't even sure if i was going to make any, but I signed up, made my chili and won the Golden Ladle! So I was happy about that, although now I have to babysit the ladle for a year and not lose it. In this house, that may be tough.  The party was pretty crazy, and the tunk or treating went quickly, with most kids making two rounds of the parking lot before we ended it. Whitney figured it all out VERY quickly and had a great time. She was so cute.  She was a cupcake.  Abby was Brittany Chipmunk again, although she lost her ears 5 min before and I found them 2 days ago.  Isabel was a lion, and sara was an Ice Cream cone.  At the school carnival, she won a prize for "most unique" and was so happy. She got a jack o lantern bag for a prize.  We all had fun at the carnival, and Sara won the cake walk and got a cake, too! She was lucky that night.
Sara Says:   I am an ice cream cone. and don't lick me! and I love love candy and I love halloween cuz there's candy. My favorite part was the halloween carnival. I liked the fishing (game) and I loved the treats and the cake walk cuz I won a cake. and the most thing I love is the coin search and that's it.
We took the girls around close to home, then the little ones stayed back and I took Abbby and Isabel up to a more populated street. i let them run alone and I followed in the van. I think they had a good time. We got a bout 5 kids at our door, so they got a lot of candy. 
So after a lot of anticipation and planning and incessant asking about wearing costumes and how long until halloween, coupled with dressing up fully twice, we had fun and are happy it's over.  well, I am ;)

Isabel goes short!

Could she be any more beautiful?  After many a hair-brushing battle discussion, Isabel decided she wanted her hair "short like Abby's"  Well, I didn't want to go that far, but I was happy to take out my scissors and lose a little length.  We also lost a lot of blonde! I think it turned out well, not perfect, but she was happy with it and it has definitely been simpler every morning before school.  Both girls are pretty good about doing their own hair, so we're all happy with it.  Isabel also has a wiggly front tooth that she is anxiously waiting to lose, this is a BIG DEAL.  love our Isabel.

The Dollhouse

A few weeks ago we had Scott's dad over for the weekend to help finish up the Blazer. Also in town was one of Scott's colleagues and his family who live in St George.  They wanted to go somewhere cool, so Scott decided to take us all out to a place called The Dollhouse.

It takes a good couple of hours to get there, with the majority of the trip on very bumpy and windy roads.  We set out after lunch and it just seemed to go on forever.  The road took its toll, and by the time we finally arrived most of our stomachs were not feeling wonderful.  But if it was easy, it wouldn't be an adventure.  So we got out and headed down the trail. The top photo is of the steep decline to the ruin.  This ruin is really cool because it is so well preserved and not many people know about it. The house has two tiny rooms. There is also still ancient corn cobs in them.  The wood and stonework is all amazingly preserved even though it has been centuries since they were built.  The girls had a lot of fun running around, and loved having Grandpa to ride with them in the back of the suburban.  After we looked around, we headed back to the cars for a snack.  The trip out seemed a little shorter, and better because at the end, the road was paved and smooth.  I am thankful we could go out there and that Scott knows about all these amazing places, but I also am not planning to go out there again any time soon! After we got back, we were able to take Grandpa out for steaks at an amazing little place outside of town, which was yummy. The girls got to play with the babysitter, which they always love.  It was a busy day but great memories were made.