To Zion We Go

We went to Zion for the weekend with Mike and Gina and their kids. Matt's brother has a resort up there so we were able to stay in the nicest cabin! I really couldn't believe how nice it was and immediately wanted to stay an extra night. The bath tub was amazing and probably my favorite part! Of course we ended up going on the first really cold weekend of the year. A storm was coming in but we went anyway. The main thing we wanted to do was take the kids fishing. It was actually really nice weather the entire time EXCEPT for when we were actually fishing. So what did we do? We went fishing in the snow.

Ella reeling in her fish.

Kash got to use his new Spider Man fishing pole that Mike and Gina got him for his birthday.

What made it so fun was that just about every time you cast out you would get a fish!

Adam is a pro fisherman by now.

Emily all ready to go!

Gina trying to contain Evie.

So when we got too cold we headed to the car to warm up. This is where I was most of the time. Someone had to stay with Evie, right? So the kids would warm up and then head back out to catch some more!

Mike and Matt were a little more disciplined than the rest of us and stayed out the whole time.

As we were heading home we pulled over to see the buffalo coming in for dinner.

Halloween Night

These kids were ready for trick or treating! They couldn't wait to get out there. We are so lucky to live in St. George with the nice weather. It was perfect for trick or treating.

Once again Mario all dressed up.

And little Luigi.

Costume change! Our neighbor offered us this Monarch butterfly costume for Evie to wear. She is the cutest chubbiest butterfly ever. Here she is spitting for the camera.

Our first stop is always Bob and Dobo's so they can see their great grand kids in their costumes. Dobo always has a special treat for them.

They were so excited to get their Halloween cups filled with candy.

Evie with her new Halloween book.

Evie with her sweet great-grandpa Bob.

Next we headed home to go trick or treating in our own neighborhood. I had to get one picture of the three of them together before we started.

Ella and her cute friend Megan.

Ella and Ella Kate.

This was the cutest ever! Ella and Kash have friends that are brothers and they were all matching! I love it.

Matt lives for scaring the kids on Halloween. He hid in the bushes with his mask on and when the trick or treaters started up the walkway he jumped out and started shooting them with his paintball gun! It was just air of course but the loud, "POP POP POP" combined with his yelling was pretty scary! I was so concerned about the little children and kept warning friends that I saw while we were out to not go to my house! Soon we started getting kids that were coming just for the "show!"

Mandy had lots of help passing out the candy.

Evie couldn't be happier!

We had a lot of fun and now at least once a day my kids ask how many more days until Halloween!

Pre-Halloween Fun

We had lots of Halloween activities this year. Both Ella and Kash had parties at school and we also went to two parties as a family. By the time Halloween was over we were all sick of dressing up!

Here is Kash all ready for his preschool party as Mario. Kash is OBSESSED with Mario so there was no question of what he was going to be this year.

He is constantly saying, "Me Mario!" in his "Mario" voice.

And Ella's costume? Luigi of course! She hasn't been something "girly" in quite a few years so next year I am pushing a princess! I want to do her hair and makeup for once! (She also mentioned she was ready for a change from the boyish costumes). This is her in the Halloween parade at school.

Our friends had a pot luck party with a huge bounce house for all of the kids. Matt and I even dressed up this year.
We were Spanish Dancers. These costumes were actually Matts' parents dance competition costumes! Matt went all out with his shirt unbuttoned, a gold necklace, and his hair was slicked back with a nasty little curl on his forehead!

Our little lady bug Evie climbing into the bounce house.

Corinne also had her annual Halloween party. We ate dinner, carved pumpkins, and the kids got to paint their pumpkins. It was especially fun because Mandy came into town! She went as Khloe Kardashian. Check out that booty!

Some of the girls that dressed up.

Corinne and I. She just whipped this pirate costume up straight from her closet!

Catching Crawdads

Mike and Gina invited us to go out to Red Cliffs with them. It was really fun and made me realize that we need to be doing more of this kind of thing with our kids! I think we keep using Evie as an excuse, but she did great. Mike brought glow sticks for all of the kids. He would throw them in the air and all of the kids would run after them and gather as many as they could. Then they had their own "flashlights" to hold plus we made necklaces for them so we could always see where they were at. I thought this was the best idea ever and they had tons of fun with it. Then we sat by the fire and roasted hot dogs and made yummy smores. Afterwards the Alton's showed us how to catch crawdads! Crawdads are the ugliest things ever but fun and easy to catch. It was such a fun night.

Here are the kids picking up the glow sticks.

Yes my baby crawled around in the dirt. Yes, she is barefoot. And yes, she LOVED it.

The boys showing off their muscles.

Emily didn't want to be left out.

Taking a break.

Mike is quite the multi-tasker. He can roast marshmallows and hold a fussy baby at the same time.

Kash and Ella roasting their mallows.

Emily and Evie

Crawdads are nocturnal so we had to wait until it was dark and then we would look for them with our flashlights.

This is the first one Matt caught and when he showed the kids it bit him and they started screaming!

Ella took it very seriously.

It took Kash a while to catch one but in the end he caught a fish and a crawdad so he was happy.

On the way home Matt and Kash and Ella came up with a plan for next time. They decided they would catch a bunch of crawdads and take them home with us and put them in our fish tank and keep them as pets! Great.