Pumpkins

 We carved pumpkins last night.  I loved Cameron sitting there in Daddy's hat.  He wasn't sure what we were up to, but it was kind of destructive so he was intrigued. 

 He wanted circles for the eyes and nose, and a "sad" mouth!

 Daddy thought this was funny.  Cameron was not amused.  

 Kenzie did her pumpkin all by herself, and then went right back to her bedroom to listen to her headphones like the teenager-to-be she is!

 Parker was at the table the longest.  I couldn't even tell you all the things he carved into his pumpkin.  He had explosions, and words, a ship with waves, and I'm not even sure what else, but he was very proud of his work.

This afternoon we put the pumpkins out.  This was the best picture I got of them.  Goofballs!  Happy Halloween!

Halloween Parade

The kiddos before school.  Cameron had just woken up, but he still came running into the picture!

 This morning was the little parade at the elementary school.  Parker was so excited.  He was asking me to help him with his shoes at 7:15am! 

 Kenzie went marching by in a big hurry, hence the blur!

I got to help during Parker's Halloween party afterwards, and was in charge of the cookie station.  I told the kids, "At this station, you get to watch me eat cookies!"  I had a few kids believe me, which made me laugh.  Parker told me later, "Mom, here's the thing.  You were joking!"  He's learning!

Halloween Sneak Preview

 Last night was our ward's Trunk or Treat, so the kiddos put on their costumes for the first time.  Cameron is Wreck-It Ralph this year.  Here he was saying his line: "I gonna wreck it!"

 Parker is Fix It Felix Jr.  He dropped his golden hammer about 2 seconds into the evening, but luckily it was found quickly. 

 Kenzie is Vanellope von Schweetz.  We are having a hard time getting the candy to stick to her hair barrettes, so we might have to come up with some other plan for Halloween.  Also, we used the entire can of black hair spray, so I need another one! 

Only 1 week until Halloween!

The Most Romantic Sight

 Pizza in front of the fireplace!  I had to take this picture, because I was so excited for our night away.  We stayed at The Chateaux at Deer Valley on Friday (thanks to Groupon making even Park City affordable for us commoners).  Rather than going out for a meal, we watched TV and ate pizza in the room.  

Drinking some Dr. Pepper in the wine glasses we found in the kitchen area.  We're dorks.  In the morning, we had a nice breakfast, and then headed back to the real world to pick up the kiddos.  They were having so much fun at Grandma & Grandpa's that I'm not even sure they knew we'd left!  Maybe we can sneak away again in another 2 years...

Mrs. Cavanaugh's

Parker and Cameron intently staring down a lady making chocolates by hand.   

 Yesterday we drove up to North Salt Lake and visited Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolates and took the little factory tour.  We got to try cocoa nibs (gross, but at least we got to immediately eat regular chocolate afterwards) and see the production lines.

 Here the kids are watching a video about how some of the candies are made, while sampling the chocolate covered caramels. 

 Eating some ice cream at the end of the tour.  Parker was so excited that he was getting ice cream before lunch!  He really giggled about that.

Our little teenager-to-be was excited to eat some ice cream, too!

After the tour we drove over to see the Bountiful LDS Temple.  I keep a list of places we need to see in Utah (yes, I'm a nerd) and this was one of the places the kids hadn't been.  A wedding party was taking photos, so we stayed in the parking lot.  Cameron was antsy anyways.

Parker wanted his own picture.  After this, we stopped at a little park and ate a picnic lunch, and then thankfully Cameron took a nap on the way home!

Temple Quarry Trail

 Yesterday school got out early for Fall Break.  Chris had taken the day off, so we headed out for a little "hike" (I use the quotations because my definition of a good hike is one considered wheelchair accessible!).  Parker had mentioned a while back that he wanted to go on a hike, so we started with something very simple.  Parker and Cameron ran ahead to check out every sign along the path. 

The main feature of the trail is all the granite, which was used for building the Salt Lake LDS Temple.  There were drill marks visible, which was interesting to see.  Of course the boys liked pretending they were in caves.

 I loved this picture Daddy took.  It captures their personalities I think.  

 Kenzie checking out the tool marks.  I would not have wanted to try and figure out how to get those huge slabs of granite onto an oxen-pulled cart!

 Our resident geologist picked up many sparkly pieces of granite along the way.  She was very excited.

 It was the perfect temperature outside, so we decided to spend some time...

...throwing rocks!  No surprise there!  Cameron yelled, "Kaboom!" with each splash!  (He was sad to leave, and insisted, "Go again!")  I guess we'll have to plan more "hikes" in the future!

Another Trophy for Parker

 Parker has really enjoyed playing soccer again this fall.  Yesterday was his last game, and he ran around, as usual, with a smile on his face (and with his tongue hanging out in concentration!).  Each week I tried to convince him that his socks did not need to be up so high, but he insisted!  

 It has been cute to watch him each week.  He is still quite timid about taking the ball away from the other team, but he's getting better.  He had several good kicks each game.  Mom and Dad had to always be ready with a thumbs-up each time he looked over, and then he was happy!

On the very last play, Parker got hit with the ball right on the side of his face.  He tried to be tough, but he couldn't help crying.  Thankfully the trophy helped distract him a bit.  Once his head felt better, he was very excited about his trophy and eagerly stated he wants to play again in the spring!

Cornbelly's

 Yesterday we headed out after school to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.  The kids remember everything we've done in prior years and make sure we revisit each activity.  It's kind of funny how they don't forget anything.  

 Chris was the only adult playing in Corn Beach (until I joined them after this picture!).  He's a good sport.  There was a lot of corn rattling around in the washing machine today!

 Parker had the biggest smile on his face at the duck races.  His scrawny arms were pumping away!

 This year Cameron got to play on the giant air pillow.  I didn't think he would ever leave, but luckily he finally got thirsty and I lured him away with his water bottle! 

McKenzie in the giant bird house.

Cameron in the bird house!  He loved it, and made me knock on the door and ask to be let in several times.  "You come in my house?" he would ask.  

Starting in the corn maze.

Every year I take this same picture because I think it's so cute to follow everyone through the corn maze.  At each intersection, one of the kids picked which direction to turn.  Cameron was especially excited to yell, "That way!"  We did pretty well until we got close to the end and suddenly kept going in circles.  We reached the same point three times before finally finishing the maze. 

Silly Parker pretending to sleep on the cow bench while we waited for the cow train to arrive.

Parker was so eager to ride next to his, "Best Buddy Dad."   

 When we told Cameron to pick a seat, he ran all the way to the front and tried to pick the tractor that pulls the train!  Funny kid.  It was a very bumpy ride, but it sure was cute to have Cam Buddy as my seat mate.

 A picture of the sun starting to set over the corn field.  Until next year!