Happy Halloween!

Despite Halloween falling on a Sunday this year we had a a great one! We attended two great trunk-or-treats, Landon and Tori both had Halloween parties at school, and Jared's parents came out and had some Halloween grand adventures with the kids(more on that in another post). Good times!

Levi wearing his cute Halloween shirt:My poor baby boy was pretty sick throughout all of out Halloween festivities. I dressed him up in Landon's old cow costume for our ward Trunk or Treat and that was the extent of his Halloween dress up this year. My oldest 3 kids' Halloween costumes ROCKED!

I have to give a big shout out to my Mom for making the girl's Halloween costumes! They turned out beautifully, and my girls were in love with them!

While my Mom made Ella's dress and headband I made the choker and gloves. Ella was such a cute Cinderella!

Tori made a beautiful Sleeping Beauty.

I know Tori's hair is in a Cinderella style, not Sleeping Beauty's, but it was VERY windy the day of our ward's trunk or treat and I didn't want her hair blowing all over the place. I put a ton of hair spray in her hair and I was pleased when in stayed perfectly styled the whole night.Landon was the cutest Harry Potter ever. I love how his costume came together. I took a chance with the black hair dye spray.You just can't have a blond haired Harry Potter. I figured that if it didn't wash out all the way I would just cut his hair, he needs a haircut anyway. It washed out just fine.I over heard some teenagers in Jared's sister's ward comment on how awesome they thought Landon's costume was. They were impressed that he "even had a Harry Potter tie."

Group Shots:

I will be posting pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch and pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch with Grammy, Grandpa, and cousins soon, so stay tuned.

Fall is Here!

I really love living in a place that has 4 seasons. I think that each season has its own type of beauty and feeling that comes with it. Fall is probably one of my favorite seasons. Growing up in Vegas I was never able to appreciate the beauty that Fall brings. I really love that my kids are getting to experience a true Fall here in Indiana.Last Monday for FHE we decided to go to a nearby county park for a Fall walk. We chose the perfect day to go, it was beautiful and the weather was great.I was super impressed with Tori during our Fall walk. She walked the and ran the whole time and didn't complain at all. I you don't know Tori you might not think that is a big deal, but Tori is my least athletic child and she moves Very slowly most of the time. She did great on this outing though and I think that she enjoyed our little "hike" the most out of the kids.After our Fall walk last week I decided that this park would be a great place to get some pictures on the kids in their Christmas outfits for our Christmas cards. We decided to go today because I wanted to go before all the Fall leaves were gone and before it got too cold. We got some shots of all the kids together on the trail and then I remembered a bridge that the kids really enjoyed playing on the week before. View from BridgeSo we headed over to the bridge to try and get some individual pictures of the kids. I was in the midst of taking a picture of Landon when I heard a splash. Panicked I spun around and saw Ella in the water. I looked down at her and luckily she was floating face up in the water (and the water wasn't too deep). I went to grab her out of the water but I did not get a good grip on her and my hand slipped so I ended up just grabbing her dress and pulling her up. She was pretty gross when I pulled her out, covered in slime and dirt but we were so relieved that she was OK. I am really grateful that things did not turn out worse. Ella is fearless (a quality I both love and hate) and in a way I am glad that it was her that feel in and not one of the other kids. She was scared while in the water but she stayed calm and once she was out she was ready to play again. If it had been Landon or Tori that feel in they would have freaked out (as it was they were pretty shaken up). When all is said and done the whole thing was kinda funny, not funny enough for me to want to experience anything like it ever again though.

Lesson Learned:My kids will be learning to swim next summer whether they like it or not.

Train Museum

Last Saturday Ariane invited us to go to the train museum with her and her boys. The train museum is located here in Elkhart and I have driven past it before, but we have never gone because it looked kind of lame from the outside. However, the train museum ended up not being lame, it was actually pretty cool, and the kids had a lot of fun.