Happy Halloween!

We had a special treat for trick or treating  . . . Aunt Jackie came from Salt Lake to go with us.  She dressed up as a football player but we didn't get her in our photo.  {sad face}  When she said she wanted to come I told her the boys costumes were a little disappointing this year but she underestimated my description.  Every Halloween Kade and Clint have had a fascination with these

masks that the kids squeeze a tube and "blood" (red colored water) comes down the mask.  They are too gory and scary for me so I've always refused.  Well this year I was feeling a little guilty I guess and so I caved and let them get them.  Why was I feeling guilty?  Partially because every time we drive by a house decorated for Halloween with creepy spiders, skeletons, and scary displays the boys tell me how lame our decorations are.  What is wrong with a cute witches' hat covered in sparkly ribbon, a mummy that says "I Love my Mummy," or sign that says "BOO" next to a pumpkin with a silly face painted on it.  I like Halloween as long as you take out the scary, the gory, and the spiders.  Is that asking too much?  Apparently for these two boys it's the same as taking everything Halloween out of Halloween.  {sigh}  All month they had said they wanted to be the bloody masks for Halloween but I kept trying to find other ideas for them that they might like.  Well the day before dress up day came and they needed something.  We shopped and shopped but all they really wanted were those silly masks!  I think it is just neat to them that there is a "button" to push that does something.  Every time we'd find a new costume idea I would ask them if they wanted to do that and they would put their head down and mumble, "Maybe," I could tell they were trying to convince themselves that it would be okay but I could tell they really just weren't excited about anything.  Every time they would say, "I just really want to be the mask."  Kade, being his dramatic self, even said once, "I just really want to be the mask. I've been dreaming of it my whole life."  Such a funny kid.  Well as their luck would have it we stumbled upon some masks that were really cheap and so I let them get them.  Hopefully next year we can be something a little less gruesome!   Mr. Cole wanted to be Darth Vader and I was stoked about that because Wendy Spencer had a costume in her dress ups.  This year for trick or treating the Phillips invited Clint to go with Tyler.  I was thinking they'd all just go around the neighborhood but they were planning on going to other neighborhoods.  So... we packed up Kade and Cole and tagged along.  Scott Phillips know Pres. Uchtdorf so we went trick or treating in his neighborhood, and a couple other larger neighborhoods.  I couldn't believe that people were handing out full size candy bars-- to me that is insane!  One of the neighborhoods we went to was Cobblestone, it has a reputation for handing out full size candy bars, apparently everyone has heard.  The streets were lined on both sides with cars.  People were covering the sidewalks.  I was so worried about hitting someone.  We didn't stay in that neighborhood for long.  We came back and they ended the night in our neighborhood, then it was home for Spooky Dinner-- take 2.  The boys had asked if we could do spooky dinner again since when we did it with Grandma it was still light outside so it just wasn't the same.  The Spooky Dinner tradition is from the Bosshardt family so I thought Jackie would appreciate being part of that.  Darryl didn't go trick or treating with us, he stayed home to answer the door and he got dinner all ready for us.  He's so great.  {happy face}  After dinner the kids went through their bags and sorted out the candy they wanted to keep, the rest went outside for the Great Pumpkin.  The next morning they found a 20Q game for Kade, and Clint and Cole got a Magic 8 Ball.  I love that we're not eating candy for the next week but most of all I love eavesdropping on them as they sing to the Great Pumpkin about what they hope he brings. That addition is something the boys came up with all on their own.  I don't know why but they think you have to sing to the Great Pumpkin or he won't come.  They are so stinking cute!!!

An Adorable Halloween Party

Cole has a cute little friend named Annie.  She is the second from the right in the photo.  Annie told her parents she wanted to have a Halloween party and she would plan it all by herself and she did just that.  She wanted to do it on Halloween afternoon.  Her mom sent out an email for the invites-- informal but it isn't necessary to have a formal invitation!  Saves on time, money, and paper!  Annie decided they would meet, have pizza, play games, and have a little prize booth.  Annie took charge and explained the events to everyone-- it was adorable!  Cole said it was "SO fun!"  Kudos to  her parents for aiding her in her desire of hosting a party.

Dress Up @ School

There has been a ban on the kids dressing up for Halloween but this year the school decided to let the kids dress up with the stipulation that they couldn't wear masks or bring any type of weapon.  The Elementary schools did a little parade where everyone walked around the school showing off their costumes.  I was at work during the main parade where Clint walked through but they did another parade with just the afternoon kindergarten and preschool classes and so I was able to see that.  Since Kade and Clint's costumes were based solely on their masks (*see Oct. 31st post) they came up with costumes to wear to school.  Kade was crazy BYU fan, and Clint was a baby.  Cole's Darth Vader helmet detaches from his mask so he just wore the helmet.  He had the Darth Vader costume on as well but it was covered up by his jacket.  They had a great time dressing up but they were all super excited to go to school and just see how everyone else was dressed.  

Spooky Dinner!

Darryl and I got up this morning early, way early, like 3:30 am, so we could get to the airport for our flight back to Utah.  We flew in from San Diego, drove home, hugged the boys, changed our clothes, and went to Zeth Roberts mission welcome home lunch.  My mom came with too because she use to know Zeth when he was Cole's age.  After the lunch we went to church then came home for Spooky Dinner night.  Our schedule was going to be crazy, and Darryl would be gone some of the nights so we figured it was now or possibly never.  The boys were excited to have Grandma there to participate in the tradition.  After dinner Grandma head back to Aurora and we carved our pumpkins.  Cole made up his designs and drew them on his pumpkin and then we cut them out.  Kade drew a rattle snake.  Clint found his design from one of our carving books;  he went with the grim reaper.  They all turned out great and the boys had a great time doing them.

Phew!  What a day!  Can we go to bed yet????????????

Go Cougars!

Grandma Brown came to watch the boys this weekend while I went with Darryl to a blogger show in San Diego for Redmond.  We left Friday afternoon and came back Sunday morning so it was a quick trip but super nice to spend some time together.  Grandma traded Uncle Ross tickets so she could take all 3 of the boys and boy were they happy about that.  Clint was a little skeptical about watching a 4 hour sport event but in the end Grandma said she could hardly get him to leave.  We were worried that Cole might get bored and not enjoy it too but he didn't want to leave either.  Kade had been before and so he was stoked to get to go again.  They cheered hard because the final score was: BYU 70 - Seahawks 6.  Grandma said it was so much fun to have them there.  She said they were being so cute and funny.  She wishes she would have had a camera recording them during the game.  Thanks so much Grandma for watching them and being willing to attempt a game with 3 boys by yourself!  You're a champion!

Fall Break-- Rappelling

Buzz and I took the kids rappelling a few times this trip.  They loved it!  It seemed to start to rain every time we'd get set up.  One of the rain showers was more of a down pour and so we hung out under trees and over hangs until it let up.  The first cliff they did was about 50' and then we found them one that was about 100'.  Kade and McKylee were all about rappelling.  Clint was not interested in trying.  He hiked up, put the gear on, and rappelled over a boulder we were using for practice but that was all I could get him to do.  I think if Darryl had been there he would have felt more comfortable and would have been willing to go.  Maddie tried and tried but the first couple cliffs were just too much for her to do.  We finally found a little one to do and she did it over and over!  I made her pose next to this cool rock we passed on our hike up the hill.  It was like a little arch.  They all did really well rappelling.  There was only one time Kylee's foot slipped and so I had to break her but none of them looked like your typical first-timer.  

Fall Break

Darryl went to sell pianos with his friend over Fall Break and we went camping with my mom and Buzz.  They went to a little spot out in the sticks near Fremont Indian State Park.  It was a golden camping spot.  We had a little stream running behind the camp that the boys spent hours throwing rocks in and floating leaves.  There was also a little "cave" (crevasse) that was up the hill behind the campsite where the kids hung out and pretended it was their "headquarters," (they called it HQ).    It was also very convenient to have some great little repelling cliffs in front of our campsite.  Grandma could sit in her camping chair and watch everyone descend along the wall.  Kia was the only one that didn't seem to love the spot.  We were told there had been some bear sightings in the area so I'm not sure if that was what had him acting strange but he was wound up tighter than a spring.  He was so antsy and when we took him up to HQ he was so jumpy and anxious to follow scents and sounds that he kept trying to jump off the cliffs.  Yikes!  Needless to say, we only took him up the hillside once.    

The Tricks On YOU!

Cole was trying to play a trick on Kade, Clint and I by acting like he was asleep.  It's a funny thing, if you pretend like you're asleep, before long you won't be pretending.  He was out in a matter of minutes.  Apparently he needed a little morning snooze. Such a cutie.

Spinnin' the Honey

We had a much smaller crowd this year for our honey harvest.  It was just the 5 of us until Tommy, a neighbor boy, came to see if the boys could play.  He was quick to jump in and help with the crank.  We only had our hives which was around 38 frames to spin so it took us about 6 hours to prep, spin, and clean up the honey.  Clint had a soccer game this morning so we didn't get started until after 11 and we had to be done by 6:30 because Darryl and I were headed to Hale Theater with the Goodes, so we made sure we were staying on task.  When it was all done we ended up with about 102 lbs. of honey, most of which we gave away to people who had helped throughout the year.  It was a good family time and I was proud of the boys for working as hard as they did and sticking with it until it was all done.  I sure love those three boys!  

Soccer Season for Clint

Clint had a wonderful soccer season this year.  His coach was great and both Clint and I learned a lot about soccer this year.  His teammates were all great and they all had a wonderful time.  Clint decided this season that defense is his favorite position.