Halloween 2015

With getting back from our California trip just days before Halloween last year, we missed a few of our yearly traditions. And with me being sick and pregnant (have I mentioned much that I'm sick and pregnant?), we missed our caramel apple night this year. But I wasn't willing to miss carving pumpkins with the kids! So on Thursday the 29th, we put on the Halloween music and carved our pumpkins. Danny and I couldn't believe how big the kids are getting, and how much more they can do! Claire designed and carved her pumpkin all on her own, and Sophie chose her pattern, poked all the holes for carving it, and carved a decent portion of it on her own. I worked on my own and helped Sophie when needed, and Johnny and Danny worked together. As soon as Johnny saw the "31" pattern in the book, he had to do the "Sae Pumpkin"! The pumpkins turned out awesome, and the carving went so smoothly that we even had time to watch "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" before bed. It was a perfect Halloween evening. :)

We had a ward party on Friday night which was really fun, and then Trick or Treats on Saturday! It was a beautiful evening, and rather warm as well. Which is awesome, I hate covering up costumes with coats. I think our kids and our dog look awesome!! Even though Maese was a bit big for his Yoda costume. He was more like the Hulk of Yodas. :)

We picked up Claire's bestie Grace to go around the neighborhood with us. These girls are just too cute, and it's been so fun to watch them grow up together and stay friends these last three years. Our neighborhood is such a blast to trick or treat. All the neighbors love seeing the kids. And every once in a while I'd ask the kids to pose for a picture with their scary faces, and it was just too funny to see how they would pose! 

Our neighborhood is known not just for awesome candy, but for some delicious extras! One house does hot chocolate, and it was so nice to stop and sit and visit for a few minutes. And another family in our ward does fresh scones with honey butter! That house was my favorite. :)

This year was different for us in the trick or treating department. Our kids are so grown up, they'd run up to the door, do their thing, and make their way to the next house without any help or direction from us! So Danny, Maese, and I just got to enjoy walking. Since next year will be different with a baby in tow, we decided to let the kids trick or treat until they were done...which ended up being two hours! They made their greatest candy haul ever, and were three pretty happy Star Wars kids.

 I think Halloween 2015 was a success. :)

A Star Wars Halloween Photo Shoot

With me being sick and pregnant, I really procrastinated getting Halloween costumes ready for the kids. We had Johnny's Darth Vadar costume in the closet (thank you, Costco) but the girls are too big for quick pick-up costumes now. And I'm totally bummed about it! Finally, with less than two weeks until they needed costumes for school parties, we just got on Amazon to find costumes we could order with Prime.

From my procrastination, one of the coolest Halloweens we've ever had was born! Using Johnny's costume as a starting point, somehow we ended up with a Star Wars family theme! Claire was totally excited to be Ray from the upcoming movie, but Sophie needed a little persuasion to be Princess Leia. So Danny upped the ante and told her that he'd break his cardinal "no costume for the dog" rule and order a Yoda costume for Maese if she agreed to be Leia. That was all the motivation she needed! Once her costume came, she was tickled pink to be Princess Leia.

The costumes were so awesome that they warranted a special photo shoot! I'm pregnant, and this is the fifth time I've been pregnant. So you'd think I would have learned by now that everything takes me longer than I think and that it rarely works the way I thought it would! It was a pretty cloudy day on our photo shoot day, and we got to the park a little late. So the pictures are a little dark and heavily edited. But it was still a blast, and I still love the pictures!

The kids are now officially ready for Halloween!!

Family Pictures 2015

It's been a couple of years since we have done family pictures, and our last ones were with Luke. It has been hard to come to terms with the fact that from here on out, Luke won't be in our family pictures. And that just plain stinks. But there's not a lot we can do about that, so we went ahead and scheduled a session with Angela. I love having a friend that is so good at what she does! I told her to go ahead and let us know where she wanted us to meet her, and we'd be there! Angela picked the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City, and it was the most perfect venue! We even found a way to include Luke in some of the pictures. 

I also wasn't loving the idea of taking pictures with me pregnant. But again, this is my likely my last pregnancy, and I've never really done any maternity pictures. So hey! We did some of those, too. Danny and I had a hard time taking it very seriously. :)

The more I look at these pictures, the more I love them! Danny and I are both at awe with how grown up our children are. The scenery is beautiful, and as always Angela did a wonderful job of capturing the moment and the essence of our family.