October Rundown

It was a busy October... Here is the rundown of all the fun activities!

The Annual Halloween House, along with new Halloween jammies:




The most amazing Halloween party at Steph's house! Fantastic food, amazing decorations, and awesome costumes. Yes, my costume was a real homecoming dress from 1990. My favorite costumes were Axl and Slash... They also set up an incredible spook alley on their property! Even Charlotte wanted to do it over and over. I have to say the masked evil man with the Fisher-Price chainsaw gave me nightmares.







Then of course we had our ward Trunk or Treat, and then followed up with the 7th ward's Trunk or Treat the next day. We clearly did NOT get enough candy after the first outing. Charlotte and Heidi had to be together as the Belle twins, so we couldn't miss their party! And by the way, the CHiPs guys are our missionaries, who of course have no idea who Ponch and John really are since they are 20...







And finally, pumpkin carving! Charlotte and Scott did a great job helping with our masterpiece:



And for those of you keeping score, Charlotte chose 4 different "official" costumes, including Tinkerbell for the party at Steph's, a ballerina for preschool, a flapper for Trunk or Treat #1, and Belle for Trunk or Treat #2. And there were several other costume changes in between... Here is a little fashion show for you:

Thinking ahead to Halloween

Scott told me today who he wants to be for Halloween...


John Henson (on the right), cohost of Wipeout

Maybe we could make it a family thing and Charlotte could be Jill Wagner and Trevor could be John Anderson. And Drew and I could dress up as the Big Balls, or maybe the Motivator...

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

I have learned when we go to the pumpkin patch NOT to have any crazy hopes of taking an adorable picture with all kids smiling. I didn't even attempt to get Scott and Charlotte in cute picture attire... And it was a good thing my expectations were low, because here's the best shot we got:

But other than these silly pictures, we did have a wonderful time! Scott loved sliding, the train ride was awesome, and both kids really enjoyed the animals. I was a little surprised about that last one, but Charlotte thought the goats eating out of her hand were hilarious! And as always, the apple cider and apple-pumpkin muffins were amazing...

And we came home with one GIGANTIC pumpkin! Check out the one Scott is sitting on:

Trunk or Treat!

The week before Halloween was the annual ward Trunk or Treat party. We just got home from Arizona (that post to come soon!) and Scott and Charlotte both crashed on the couch. We had to wake them both up from a dead sleep and bribe them to put their costumes on. But it didn't take long for them to perk up once they realized the candy that was waiting for them...

Before the actual trunk or treating, there was a costume parade and contest. I am proud to say that we took home 2 awards! Trevor was most adorable, obviously. Poor kid - the costume took away any mobility that he has!


And Scott and Zach won best couple! Mario and Luigi were surprisingly popular that night. People really loved their costumes and thought they were very creative! I don't know that I would really call their costumes 'creative'. They both just picked them from a catalog, despite Annette's attempts to get Zach to dress up as something a little more, uh, manly. But the boys have already announced than next year they will just switch and Scott will be Luigi and Zach will be Mario. Easy!


Charlotte was Snow White, and although she didn't take home an award, she did look adorable too! In the end, they came home with LOTS of candy and had a great warm-up for the real trick or treating on the 31st!

Fun at the Notley farm

Our awesome friends Jen and Charles (who in the near future will be moving from the Bay up here - yea!) invited us to hang out for an afternoon at Charles' parents' home in Orangevale earlier in October. Drew and I both knew Jen and Charles back in our single days in Palo Alto. By the way, once they do move up here, all of you living close by HAVE to hear this girl sing...

Sorry - back to the point of the post! Scott, Charlotte and the cute Notley boys, Henry and James, went on a hay ride, picked pumpkins and watermelons, fed the goats, ate cookies and brought home tons of pomegranates and tomatoes. It was great to meet "Charlie's" parents and they were so kind to entertain us for the afternoon. We weren't that far from our house in suburbia, but it felt like we were way out in the country. Thanks, Notleys!

The Main Event!

What an exciting day! It started with Scott's soccer game at 9am, then Charlotte, Grandma and I went to see Disney Princess on Ice, then we did our annual pumpkin carving and yummy dinner in a pumpkin, and last the grand finale - trick or treating! Scott did crash on Grandpa's lap around 5pm, but he woke up, inhaled his dinner (it's a Halloween miracle!) and was ready to go get candy...


Scott of course was Mario, although he was pretty disappointed we couldn't get the black moustache to stick on his face. Lots of people commented on his awesome costume! Charlotte made a game-time decision to be the "blue princess". The alternatives were the purple princess, Snow White or Tinkerbell. And Trevor was an adorable, happy monkey. We'll see if he keeps it up for next year.

The quote of the night came from Charlotte... We were trick or treating at a house that had a ghost hanging from a wire across their entry way. Charlotte LOUDLY exclaimed, "Look! It's the Holy Ghost!" And there were lots of people around who heard and cracked up along with us.