The Haunted Train Ride

Halloween night was a dark cold night. Just standing still for a few minutes brought shivers up and down our spines. And we were crazy enough to stand out in the cold for an hour and a half just to ride a train.

A mysterious scary clown showing up in our pictures was enough to spook anyone, but the train ride itself was pretty darn spooky! Poor Mandy was terrified. Heck even Nathan jumped and I screamed when we passed a line of trees and a fire engine suddenly came to life.

The train robbers with their guns blasting were pretty scary too. Not to mention the goblin jumping onto the train and trying to grab at us, the chain saw murderer, the witches, the monsters, and every other scary creature you can imagine. We had to pry Mandy’s hands away from Dallin’s legs because she was hanging on so hard that she was hurting him!

I asked Dallin after the ride if all the waiting was worth it. He responded with a resounding YES! I think one the best parts for him was that Meme (my mom) was waiting inside the train station helping out with directing people onto the trains. And while he was happy just to see her, he was even happier when she surprised him and Mandy with their very own train engineer hats. It is now one of his most prized possessions. We are looking forward to going back to ride the Christmas train in December!

Mandy loves hers too.

Trunk Or Treat Bristol Style

We were lucky enough this weekend to go visit some of my family and since it also happened to be Halloween, we went to the Trunk or Treat there too. Both wards participated and it was so much fun to see so many extended family and friends, some of which I haven’t seen for years.

People really went all out with their trunk decorations!

A few of my favorite ones were “Happy Hallo-McQueen”

“BEE-ware” with a couple of very scary bee keepers

I tried to get Layton to take a picture with the Bee Keepers, but this is what I got instead:

This one was my absolute favorite – the “Woman Cave”

One really cool thing about this trunk-or-treat is that they open it up to the whole community and even serve soups/chili for dinner. Talking to a few people the following day, they estimate that they handed out little treat bags to over 400 kids. Add in all the parents and that was quite a crowd!

The Pros and Cons of Sisters

Having a sister definitely has lots of positive aspects for Layton. One of the best ones is that she teaches him all kinds of fun things to do. One of their favorite new things to do together is jumping off the couch:

I am sure you remember that Mandy is an expert at this, learned it from Dallin and has now passed on the fun.

And while this is definitely a benefit as far as Layton is concerned, having an older sister does occasionally have it’s downside. Like continually being used as a dress up doll. This time she tried to make him look like a butterfly fairy princess. The odd thing is, check out that smile, I think he actually likes it!

Wouldn’t it be Great

to spend everyday just doing this:

Ever since seeing “Where the Wild Things Are” the movie, Dallin has been wanting to us to sleep in a pile, just like Max and the Wild Things. This is about as close as we’re going to get :) The only one missing is the Wild Thing taking the picture. Don’t worry though, he is always there when our three little wild things find their way into our bed to make a pile every Saturday morning!

Open House and Parade

Last Thursday was Dallin’s open house. It was a very crowded but fun night. Have I mentioned that Dallin got a new teacher? About a month into the school year, his other teacher left for a different teaching position and Mrs. White was moved into her place. Mrs. White had been teaching ESE classes at Coppergate for the last couple of years and had been waiting and waiting to get her own regular class. And surprise, this opening came up and she jumped at the chance. Dallin loves her and seems to be doing really well with her.

After a little visiting and picture slide show in the classroom, we navigated our way through the crowds to hear all the first graders perform a few patriotic songs. I think it is always nice to hear the good fun patriotic songs even when we are not celebrating a national holiday. It is great to be reminded of what a wonderful country we live in!

The following day, we went and watched Dallin in the costume parade at school.

My favorite costumes were by the media center/music/art/computer teachers. They all dressed up as a mariachi band, complete with real musical instruments that they actually played. It was awesome seeing them walk by to the tune of La Bamba!

Good times at Coppergate Elementary!

A Sad day for Bumble Bees

You would think that Layton would love being a little bumble bee. He fits all the requirements. He is tiny. He can buzz around you like a little pest. He loves flowers. He is addicted to sweets and counts on sugar for his survival. And he’s a real stinker uh… stinger, well that one doesn’t really fit, but all the rest do. He HATED that costume. He screamed for 20 minutes after I put it on him. Eventually he gave in with a whimper and decided he would just have to deal with this crazy thing that I had put on him.

After a little while, I even got a half little smile from him.

When he wasn't screaming, he reminded me of this other bumble bee from so long ago:

Dallin loved his costume. He adores Ironman.

And Mandy, well, when has she NOT loved dressing up? She especially loved her wings and pretending to be a fairy.

It made for a great night of fun at Trunk or Treat! Nathan’s Tin Man costume totally stole the show!

What’s with all the blocks?

I love red, yellow, and blue. They are so bright and lovely and primaryish. So why do I have all these blocks? Well, our primary president, Kelly, had this adorable idea for our primary program. Since our theme song for this year is about building an eternal family, she thought it would be cute if the kids ‘built’ a home out of blocks during the program. So Mandy and her amazing husband Aaron, built a house with a plexiglass front and cut all these blocks for the kids to stack inside the house. Then I got the job of painting the blocks. Yay for spray paint! All painted and done within 1 hour. Awesome.

Then Kelly had another fantastic idea. To personalize each block for each child, we asked the parents for a family picture and put that on their block. So after each child said their part in the program, they walked over to the house and added their block. It was adorable. I wish I had a picture of the finished house, but the only place it was ever set up was in the chapel and I didn’t know if I should take a picture in there. The kids each got to take their blocks home with them as a keepsake of this year’s program.

I was so proud of Mandy and Dallin saying their parts. Dallin is an old hat at the whole program thing and didn’t have any trouble at all marching up there and saying, “I love reading the scriptures with my family.” Mandy on other hand was experiencing being in the primary program for the very first time. Not only that, she was also the very first child to a say a part in the program!!!! But she did amazing. She went right up there, spoke right into the microphone and said, “Pray always” nice and loud so that everyone could hear. Perfect!

All of the kids did a fantastic job. One of the most touching parts of the program was at the end when Kelly read off each child’s name and all of the people that were there to see that child in the program stood up. I was sitting on the front row helping our chorister so I could see all of the kids faces very clearly. They each looked so happy and proud to be recognized and to see their families standing up and beaming back at them. It was a program we will always remember!

A window into our home

This little quote that I am about to share from Mandy is not one for those squeamish about normal bodily functions. So if you are, just skip this post. I think her words will give you a pretty good idea of what goes on often at our house.

After a faint little passing of something of a gaseous nature, Mandy said, “Mom, I guess I am just a pooter like Daddy.” The sad thing is, she said this with pride.

How to jump out of a swing

First – swing really high and prepare to let go

Second – fly through the air with a goofy expression on your face

Third – allow gravity to take over and begin your descent

Fourth – land with finesse

Still not clear on how to do it, just ask Dallin. He’s an expert.

Zoo Day

One of our favorite times to go to the zoo is at the end of October. They fill the main walkway with hundreds of carved pumpkins. It is always so cool.

And luckily, this year we got to go see all the pumpkins with a few of our friends. Our playgroup went, so Dallin had to miss out, but that’s ok, he told me that he had a great time at school that day.

Layton and Mandy had a great day too. Full of time with friends

and wonder at all the things we saw.

Mandy even attempted to feed the giraffe. She didn’t actually do it though because she was afraid of his tongue. Looking at it in this picture, I can see why!

Layton spent most of the day in the stroller. But that’s ok because he had no shortage of friends who joined him.

When he did get out, he slid down the slide (honest he really is having fun in this picture despite the look of terror).

He crawled around in the spider web.

And he pretended to be a cute little monkey.

And Mandy found lots of things to enjoy as well. Flowers.

Slides.

And lots and lots of animals. She loved climbing on the edge of the fence to get a closer look.

Thanks to all our friends who joined us. We need to go again soon!