Halloween Festivities 2018

Halloween is a fun/busy time.  I made a yummy Halloween dessert for an adult friend party.  The kids stayed home while we were are the party so I made extras so that they could have a treat parfait at home too.

We love mint and chocolate!

Made for some happy kids!

Mckay and I went as vampires.

This was all his idea!

During Halloween we also like to make and decorate pumpkin shaped sugar cookies.

It is a fun tradition and who doesn't like a good sugar cookie!?

Finger licking good, huh Gavin!

I love to see how they each turn out when you turn things over to the kids!

Payton thought they were yummy.

Taylor squirting on some green frosting now!

One to another tradition of carving pumpkins.  Gavin was not interested in reaching into that pumpkin!

He eventually gave it a try.

Helping Daddy cut out the Jack-O-Lantern face...looks like he is having fun now.

The big kids are getting better and better at doing more of this process on their own.

Taylor had fun carving.

Brielle and Dad getting hers finished.

Payton is a pro by now!

Fun times together.

Kenzie and me working on her pumpkin.

She did pretty good!

Left to right = Oldest to youngest

Nice job!

Pretty good if you ask me!

The kids behind their own pumpkin.

Scary kids!

At library time we also got to decorate sugar cookies.  Gavin enjoyed dressing up as a red dragon.

Cute!

Visiting the class party with Brielle (she was a wizard).  Gavin and I paraded down to the assisted living center with the younger kids and Brielle's class.

Gavin was spotting all things PJ Masks and this Gecko sure had Gavin's head turning!!

Kenzie made a darling scarecrow.

Taylor was a ninja.

They love classroom parties with their classmates!

At home dressed and ready to go out.

Brielle as a sorceress/wizard, Payton helped Gavin and was the vampire Mckay had been earlier, Gavin wanted to be a red dragon (so there went the kids all being Star Wars characters...oh well), Kenzie was a scarecrow, and Taylor was a ninja.

Cute face paint.

My fun crew!

We went to the community trunk-or-treat and the Purcell's made their station Harry Potter themed and it was A-Mazing!

Happy Halloween!!

Tithing Settelment Crack-up

This year the Bishopric is doing tithing settlement early to leave the holidays open.  As a family we headed to the church to our appointment in our Sunday clothes.

Gavin got into a funny mood while we were in there, plus he is pretty comfortable with our dear Bishop.  At the conclusion of our appointment Gavin couldn't take it any longer and went into full blown entertainment mode and Bishop Giles was cracking up and wanted to snap a picture of goofy Gavin!  We all chuckled a bit as Gavin's headstand was probably a first during tithing settlement for our Bishop.  In my defense...I tried to correct Gavin, but the Bishop almost encouraged this from Gavin...Oh Dear!!

Annual Library Fall Hayride

Each fall right during story time we go on a hayride.  Gavin enjoyed strolling around town on my lap and the wind in his face.  It was actually perfect weather this day so that was a perk!

Sunshine and a fun ride with my little buddy!

Cheesy smile!

Gavin loves to be outdoors in the fresh air and going on rides.  We had a good time!

A Girls' Get-Away for Sarah's 60th!

For Sarah's 60th Birthday, Dick was so sweet.  He planned a ladies weekend for Sarah and us girls (we were missing McKell who just had a baby).  He bought tickets to the Time Out for Women in Denver because Nathan Pacheco was going to be one of the presenters there and Sarah LOVES his music.  We all flew in and were able to get together for a nice weekend.  The presenters were great!

Being in Denver near Bronco territory, we were able to hear from a special surprise guest, Garret Bolles.  He plays for the Denver Broncos and his adopted mom, Emily Freeman was the real speaker who told us all about their journey in adopting this young man.

It was so touching and yes... I was totally taking pictures and texting them to Mckay.

Of coarse Mckay knew right away who he was!

It was pretty cool!

We ate at a few fun places while we were there and I wanted to show the kids this mini cone, they would have loved!

Stacie, Sarah, Megan, Myla, Maren, me, and Lindsey

We had a lot of fun together!

We hit up the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert the last evening there.

While waiting for our late afternoon flight, we stopped by the Denver Temple to look around the grounds.

It was such a nice weekend.

Meanwhile back at home, Mckay was taking great care of these cuties of mine.  We didn't make it home in time for church as our flight would arrive in Bozeman later that evening and we still had more of a drive to get to Fairfield.  So Julie Pitcher and her girls helped to finished my girls' hair and anything else the others needed to get ready for church (Mckay had a busy morning with meetings) then Denise came and picked the kids up for church.  I appreciated this help as I wasn't sure how we were going to manage the Sunday morning routine!

Fun times!

A few more pictures from the weekend...

While I was away, Dick helped the boys finished up their weapons with him.

Gavin hacked into a package of cookies while Mckay was outside helping to fill some potholes with gravel in our driveway.  It was a funny story as Gavin found some scissors to assist him in the process.  Gavin felt pretty bad when he was busted sneaking into the treat they would have a little later.

Bath time is one of Gavin's favorite things!

I appreciate my good husband holding down the fort while I was away.  I never have to worry if the kids are being taken care of, having a good time, or fed.  I have no doubt that they are left in good hands with their amazing dad!  I also appreciate Dick for making this a special weekend for us ladies.  We shopped, played games, chatted, went to our conference, and had a good time together...I think we will have to bring husbands along next and do a couple's getaway!