Trick-or-Treat

 The kids were excited and off-track all day as they waited for trick-or-treating to start. We finally made it through school and other daily chores and the kids couldn't wait to get going. It was difficult to get them to eat their early dinner as they kept running to look out the window to see what the neighbors were doing in their costumes and who was starting trick-or-treating early. We finally started about 6- which I thought was a bit early, but their were hoards of kids out already. We tried to avoid getting stuck in big crowds, but there are way more kids in our neighborhood than I realized. The kids had tons of fun and got more candy than anyone needs in less than an hour, so we came home and watched the traditional It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

If you're observant, you might notice that three of the kids (Natalie, Asher, and Leif) are wearing the same costumes they wore last year and the other two (Heidi and Trevor) are wearing costumes previously worn by their older brothers. I was just not up for making new costumes this year and convinced the kids that they could just find costumes I'd already made. They didn't put up much of a fuss since they really liked their costumes from last year and we have some pretty cool stuff from previous Halloweens. Hopefully next year I'll have the time and energy to make something new, but I was glad they were such good sports this year.

Leif was pretty proud of his pumpkin and wanted to make sure I got it in a picture. This is the big one he grew in our backyard and tucked in with a towel on the chilly nights. 

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins this weekend with Austin's sister and family and with his dad. Many of the pumpkins came from our little backyard garden where they were planted by the previous owners, then taken care of by Leif once he realized what they were. Leif has been keeping an eye on the largest pumpkin and throwing a towel over it on the really chilly nights. He finally decided to cut it a few days ago even though it wasn't entirely orange. Natalie's pumpkin was still quite green too, but we convinced her that it was cuter that way and she was happy. We used to carve pumpkins with the cousins every year before we moved to Canada, so it was fun to get together and do it again. The older kids were completely independent and even ended up carving all the extra pumpkins as well. I had to help Trevor a little bit and carved Natalie's for her while she told me how she wanted it. Afterward, she carved a few extra holes in it, but it wasn't noticeable. That little green pumpkin in front of her in the first picture got experimented on until it was completely destroyed as Natalie practiced using the little (dull) carving knives after everyone else had finished their carving and run away outside to play.

 

Utah Trip

 We haven't been to Utah since we moved back from Canada because I've been waiting for it to cool off a bit. We finally decided to go visit our Utah family and see the National Parks near Moab. We spent the first few nights with Austin's cousin's family in Salt Lake. The kids had fun playing with their younger kids and especially loved playing in their pool. 

 The whole family spent one night at my dad's house (although two of the boys had to stay other nights to help with Torben who stayed with my dad for three nights). We really enjoyed going on a hike with him which is something that he does daily with his dog.

I didn't get any photos, but I also got to visit my grandmas twice, which was a big reason for the trip. We had a birthday party for my sister one evening and on another evening, she took the three older kids to Lagoon (their first time at an amusement park) while the two little ones went to the park with me then watched a movie and had spaghetti with grandpa. 

After a few days, we headed down to Moab where we met my mom and stepdad. They brought their trailer and we brought a tent. We stopped for a picnic along the way in Spanish Fork Canyon and only had time to settle in for the night once we got there. 

 

We got up early the next morning to go to Arches National Park where we hiked to Delicate Arch and explored the other rock formations. 

Asher was a good sport and hiked with my mom the whole way while the others ran up in front. She was having some trouble with balance and such, but Asher helped her the whole way.

The kids said this was their favorite part of the day- they loved sitting quietly (for several minutes) before jumping all over and exploring the rocks. I took plenty of pictures of all the kids doing this, but they are so small that you can't really tell its them, so I didn't post them.

The next morning, we went to Canyonlands National Park. The kids became Junior Rangers at both parks by completing workbooks and doing several activities at each park. Heidi was also excited to add a little round metal badge from each park to her collection. She already has 4 or 5 from different sites in Canada and was glad to add two new ones.

We had s'mores that night back at camp. We also went back up to Arches National Park on two evenings after sunset to do some stargazing. That was my favorite part of the trip, but obviously there are no pictures because it was completely dark except for the billions of stars!

 

We drove back home though the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and it was beautiful with the fall colors! Here is a picture of Torben at one of the rest stops.