October

 October recap:

After multiple failed attempts, a number of bribes, and a lot smarties put directly in James's mouth...James got his first real haircut. He looked so handsome and was pretty nervous. Thatcher held his hand the entire time and Hadley was part of his little cheer squad too.

 Hanging out at the cabin with the Mungers. This was our last time spent at the cabin and it was super bittersweet. The cabin is the number one thing on our list of what we will miss from our life in Flagstaff. The boys loved playing in the leaves.

 

We went to a pumpkin festival a few hours away. We weren't there for very long and the pumpkins were pretty pricy so sweet Thatcher let us help the boys pick out much smaller pumpkins than the huge pumpkin Thatcher searched for the longest time to find. We went on a carousel ride, a hay ride, pet a bunch of goats, and were able to squeeze in the corn maze as well. It was a fun afternoon.

 Thatcher LOVES Halloween. Every day he would ask me if we could make our house scarier and we started decorating in September. I love my little boy and his enthusiasm for life. Here is what we came up with to make our house scary. We also had bats hanging from our entry way that were a lot of fun.

Oh look, there's my beautiful baby smiling in her bed.

 And there's batman. The boys changed their minds a few times about what they wanted to be for Halloween. We went to a trick-or-treating night at an old folk's home and both boys decided to go as batman.

 

 

 Last time at the duck pond. I met my cute friend Javi there and the boys had so much fun throwing oatmeal to the ducks with their friends.

 My birthday present from Ty was tickets to a Brad Paisley concert. My friend watched the boys in Flagstaff and Ty and I spent the whole day in Phoenix shopping with Hadley. It was a fun day, then Kristi watched Hadley while Ty and I went to the concert. We were able to see Joan and Grandpa before leaving for the concert which was fun.

Riding bikes, playing at the park, and going to scouts are some of the boys favorite things to do.

Here is Thatcher showing off a picture that Liam drew for him. Thatcher was excited that there was a friend waiting for him at his new house.

 Why are they so stinking cute when they are naughty?

 One of Thatcher's favorite things the entire month was "booing" people. I spent a lot of time making goodies for all the neighbors we could find who hadn't been booed yet. Thatcher thought it was the greatest thing but he insisted that he and James go "boo" people as actual ghosts so I cut holes in old pillowcases. Poor Ty would have to carry the boys to and from each house because the boys could barely see out of their costumes. This picture just cracks me up.

 Cute preschool kids on our nature walk field trip.

 And what would a post be without a picture of Hadley? Logan took this picture for his photography class and it won as best picture of the day. I wasn't surprised.

Annual adult Halloween party. This was our third couple's Halloween party and we had so much fun. We went as Mary Poppins and Bert. It was fun to have a last party with all our friends before things got really crazy with the move. As I was getting ready, Thatcher came up to me and said, "Mom you look really pretty." which I thought was so sweet. Ty and I won the award for best couple costume too.

I was in charge of the Halloween party for preschool and we had a good time. We played mummy bowling, pop the pumpkin balloons, "ghost, ghost, boo", ate monster cupcakes and bloody bandaids, and did other fun things. It was fun to do it with Thatcher getting so excited about things like that.

The Pickups had us over for mummy dogs and dinner on Halloween night. The boys were so excited to go trick-or-treating with Simon. It was incredibly nice and warm outside and it was our first time to go trick-or-treating with them in a neighborhood. It was a fun relaxed evening and neither boy cared too much about getting tons of candy so we went home before too long. I love my little family and their themed costume. I was part of the fun at the ward trunk or treat when I went as a life guard. So we had our fish, our two sharks, our shark attack surfer victim, then me.

October was busy. We carved pumpkins, had our yearly dinner in a pumpkin (this year we had friends over for pumpkin casserole and pumpkin soup), and roasted a lot of marshmallows thanks to the Mungers' borrowed fire pit. It was a fun month and good to have some fun before the stress of November hit!