This is Halloween

Finally, Halloween night had come after 2 weeks of parties, carnivals, and activities.  The kids got dressed and ready to go after dinner and I took them out this year while Joe handed out the candy.  Clark had planned to go with his friends, Jacob, Bridger, and Mitchell and they were going to hit the two neighborhoods adjacent to ours to really load up on the candy and get more than ever!  I took some pics and they were off! (They only hit ours for an hour and decided they had enough)  The other three wanted to go with me.  Jake trick or treated about 5 houses and said he wanted to head home to hand out candy with Dad so he ran home and the girls stuck with me.  We went around a few streets, ran into friends and neighbors and joined them for a while, and when their bags were halfway full, we called it quits and headed home.  We had our donuts and cider and watched The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane before officially calling Halloween over.  

This is my Halloween tree.  I was out for a "run" one morning but came across this tree out with someone's trash.  It was perfect for me to spray paint and decorate for my front porch.  So I picked this heavy thing up and ran clumsily home with it.  I was so excited about my find!!

 My Ninjas

 Rapunzel and my Greek Goddess

 

Carving Pumpkins and a Haunted Halloween Dinner

Sunday after church we decided to carve our pumpkins and I had planned a Haunted Halloween dinner.  Carving pumpkins is Joe's job every year.  The kids help him pull out the guts and scoop out the seeds and I take pictures and watch with a smile on my face.  I help the kids draw on their faces and cut the shapes out but my husband does all the yucky work.  He's fast and good at it! 

 The kids went a little more fancy this year.  The girls used some patterns--Carlee picked out Belle, Katelyn picked a monster, Jake had a spider in mind, and every year Clark always has his own creative ideas.  Usually he draws a selection and then takes a poll from his family members to pick the winner.

This is very intense!

Usually on Halloween night the kids are so excited to go trick or treating and get in their costumes that I make our Halloween dinner very simple, quick, and yummy.  We have homemade chili, root beer, and rolls with hot chocolate and donuts after the trick-or-treating.  I have thought about doing a haunted dinner for a couple of years now and Sunday was the perfect night to do it.  There were no after school commitments, no rushing to get somewhere for a party or activity and no hurry to get in costumes.  We had all the time in the world to eat our dinner.

I planned the menu of food that I knew everyone would like but every single item used to eat dinner had a spooky name, including the silverware, and glass.  The meal was divided into 4 courses and each person had to pick 3 items for each course.   I would serve them a course at a time and only what they picked so some of them might have been eating with their fingers, or with an empty glass, or even dessert first.  They couldn't trade or ask each other what certain things were.  It was so much fun and some of the kids were pretty good at figuring things out!  I was too busy playing server that I didn't get any pics of the funny plates of food or cute expressions but we had so much fun and the kids are begging to do it again.

The menu consisted of spaghetti and meat sauce, rolls, applesauce Jell-O, mixed vegetables, apples, grapes, green punch, and a slice of chocolate cake or spider cupcakes.

Joe's selections:
Course 1--Devil's Trident, Warlock's Ladle, Vampire Slayer
Course 2--Crystal Ball, Witches Brew, Ghost Smiles
Course 3--Monkey Brains with dragon's blood and chunks, Deer Droppings, Cold Blood with ghost cream
Courses 4--Frog Eyes, Spiders in grass, Skeleton bones

Clark's selections:
Course 1--Vampire Slayer, Monkey Brains with dragon's blood, Warlock's Ladle
Course 2--Witches Brew, Skeleton Bones, Crystal Ball
Course 3--Ghost smiles, Deer droppings, Mummy nuggets
Course 4--Bat Wings, Devil's Trident, Cold Blood without ghost cream

Katelyn's selections:
Course 1--Devil's Trident, Ghost Smiles, Monkey Brains with dragon's blood
Course 2--Warlock's Ladle, Crystal Ball, Witches Brew
Course 3--Deer Droppings, Vampire Slayer, Frog Eyes Goblin Tails and Mummy nuggets
Course 4--Skeleton Bones, Bat Wings, Cold Blood with ghost cream

Jacob's selections:
Course 1--Skeleton bones, Devil's Trident, Cold Blood without ghost cream
Course 2--Bat Wings, Ghost Smiles,, Vampire Slayer
Course 3--Monkey brains with dragon's blood, Crystal Ball, Witches Brew
Course 4--Frog eyes Goblin Tails and Mummy Nuggets, Deer Droppings, Warlock's Ladle

Carlee's selections:
Course 1--Vampire Slayer, Frog Eyes Goblin Tails and Mummy Nuggets, Devil's Trident
Course 2--Crystal Ball, Spiders in Grass, Witches Brew
Course 3--Cold Blood with ghost cream, Monkey Brains with dragon's blood, Skeleton Bones
Course 4--Deer Droppings, Warlock's Ladle, Ghost Smiles

Nevada Day Campout

The Bodilys and Aikeles organized a campout over Nevada Day weekend and invited us to join them so the timing worked out perfectly with our day at Staheli Farms and staying up there for a night at Sand Hollow and a day at Zion's.  We borrowed the Hathaway's trailer for the weekend and headed for our campsite after dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  The Oldhams beat us to the campsite and the Swaseys came over for a bit before heading to the lodge to spend the night.  The Aikeles and Bodilys were still hiking so we set up our camp and settled in.

 When everyone arrived back to camp, we shared stories, played games, roasted s'mores, ate desserts from the Dutch Oven and just talked until bedtime.  The next morning, we made breakfast and loaded up to head into Zion's National Park for some hiking.

Sand Hollow Reservoir

We decided to hike the trail towards Angel's Landing.  So we hopped on the buses from the visitor's center and got off at Emerald Pools in hopes of finding the Swaseys there.  We got about 10 seconds of cell phone service and connected with them but they had already started on the trail to the Grotto so we took off as quickly as we could to catch up.  Unfortunately we never met them on our hike due to the lack of cell phone service but we still had a great time.

Cute hikers!

Jake needed a rest right that second and right where he was.

We stopped at Scout Lookout for a break and decided on who would brave the hike up to Angel's Landing.  I was so proud of all the kids.  They all were great little hikers with very little complaining.  The ages ranged from 14 years down to 2 and they had a great time singing, hiking, talking, snacking, and enjoying Zion's National Park.  The hike was almost 5 miles and the weather was fantastic.  

After discussing the "dangerous" hike to Angel's Landing, it was decided that Kory, Kaleb, Sam, Jake, Mitchell, Nedra, and my Jake would go.  They started the hike and after a few more minutes of discussion, Marquessa, Morgan, Wynette, Brooke, Russell, Amber, and I decided to join them.  Joe stayed with the kids that didn't want to go since he had done the hike before.

Several people had warned us that it was a little bit scary and dangerous.  It is very steep on either side and chains are screwed into the rock to hold as you climb the cliffs.  Jacob really wanted to go since he loves adventure so I told him that he could as long as he didn't mess around and followed my instructions explicitly.  If he didn't, he would die.  And he did awesome.  He did everything I said and kept telling me that he was glad I was with him to "experience this together."  It made me smile that he was happy we were on this adventure, just the two of us.  He got a little bit nervous at times but would say, "I can do this!" under his breath.  It was a fun experience for us.

This is Angel's Landing.  You can see the people climbing up close to the steep part that drops down a bit and winds around to the right before you get to the narrow sandstone ridge that takes you to the top where the trees are.

The view was amazing and two condors were flying around the top.  Looking down at the ground below, it was unbelievable that we were 5,785 feet in the air.  We also wondered how we had gotten up and how we were going to get down.

My adventurer

This little chipmunk was eating crackers and trail mix right out of Paige's and Brooke's hands.  Not scared at all.

After everyone reunited, we headed back down the trail and the sun was just beginning to set.  We saw a gigantic tarantula at the trailhead (Amber has the picture of that) and deer were just starting to come out for dinner. 

Just as it was getting dark, we loaded into the cars to grab some dinner before heading back to Vegas.  We and the Oldhams stopped at their favorite local Mexican restaurant.  And about halfway home, I turned around and all the kids were sound asleep.  I guess that means they had a great day.