Halloween 2009

Halloween festivities have been in full force this past week as we have made caramel candy apples with Aunt Cath, Uncle Jay and cousins, attended the Ghostown carnival at the elementary school, trunk or treated at the Ward Fall Festival, carved pumpkins, and trick or treated around our neighborhood. It's been a great time!

The Ghostown Carnival included the Lollipop Tree, fishing pond, car races, tossing rings over the bottle tops, throwing balls at milk bottles, eating snowcones, cotton candy, and chili cheese fries. We even checked out the pumpkin patch for a quick picture!

Here we are at the ward Fall Festival. Joe, the wizard, was taking pictures as I am leading the children's costume parade with my little Alice in Wonderland. Katelyn was the Queen of Hearts, Jacob was a pirate, and Clark decided last minute to dress up as a missionary because his costume arrived late. Unfortunately he is getting beat up by a knight in shining armor, Carter!

And the pumpkin carving happened for Family Home Evening. The kids drew out their pumpkin faces and set to carving the shapes. Great job, kids!

The pro carver, cutting and shaping to every child's wish!

Clark's favorite part of the carving

The final masterpieces!

And here they are...all dressed up to trick or treat!

Alice and the Queen of Hearts

The Mario Brothers

My Sweet Girl in White

Katelyn was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, October 10. She had her bishop's interview about a month ago and she said that she felt really good about talking with our bishop. Even Carlee must have felt pretty good about an interview because she told our bishop that she wanted to have a talk too. (We teach them real young at our house) When Katelyn walked out, Carlee rushed right into his office beckoning the bishop to follow her and she shut the door. A couple of minutes later, the bishop came out laughing but Carlee said she wasn't done yet. We had to practically drag her out of there. The bishop said that he had asked her what some of her favorites are. He asked her what her favorite food was and she replied, "Cafe Rio!"

It was a wonderful day for a baptism and several family members drove down to celebrate this experience. Kate was a little bit nervous throughout the week because she thought Joe was going to hold her under the water too long. I told her that he just dunked her for a few seconds and that he would hold on to her the entire time. They practiced the motion a few times and I told her that she didn't have to get baptized, but she looked at me in shock and said, "I am going to be baptized, Mom. I'm just a little nervous." She did just fine and was very happy when she came out of the water. I was a proud mom of her choice to be baptized. Afterwards, we decided to have her confirmed that day since all of our family was here. Then we headed outside for pictures and back home for a dinner of Cafe Rio-like pork salad and rolls. The evening was spent playing games, watching movies and just enjoying each other's company. A big thank you to the family and friends that came to support Katelyn in this important choice. We love and appreciate you!

Grandma and Grandpa Holt

Grandma and Grandpa Stuart

Staheli Farms

Due to the lack of pumpkin patches and corn mazes in the city of Las Vegas, we drove up to St. George to get in our Autumn fix. The kids were out of school so a group of moms and cute kids drove up to Staheli Farms for the day. It was so much fun. We got lost in the corn maze, slid down the corn slides, teeter-tottered up and down, petted farm animals, swung on ropes in the haystacks, galloped on horses made from tires, took a wild ride on the barrel train, climbed on the playhouse, rode in the big wagon to the pumpkin patch, and picked the perfect pumpkins. The weather was perfect and so was the farm. All in all, a perfect autumn day.

Barrel Train Ride

These lil' punkins just keep on growin'!

Giddy-up!

Swinging into the hay

Landing in the corn kernels

Movin' on up

Here you go, goatie! Here's some hay.


Perfect Punkins!

Cinderella Carlee

Carlee has been taking a fairytale dance class at Hollywood Kids Academy this fall. It is a musical theater company that teaches dance, singing, and acting to children. She absolutely adores going every week and counts down the days. She loves wearing her leotard, skirt and ballet shoes to warm-up, stretch, and dance across the floor. After the dancing portion of the class, they get to go up on stage for "acting", storytime, and getting in costumes to act out the story she just heard. Each month they read and act out a different story. September was the story of Cinderella. She loves it and "teaches" her dolls at home the same things Miss Jessica teaches her during classtime. It is so cute to listen to her be the teacher. Aww...things to come.

Taking their final bow

Cinderella Carlee

Girls and Curls

Do these two look like sisters or what?