Halloween

Tonight we went to Josh & Rachelle's for Halloween.  Tyler and Blake spend so much money on decorations every year then they have a fire and hot chocolate on the drive way. Gator invited a few friends and dressed Willow up like a devil.  Willow wasn't a fan of the Halloween decorations, she was much happier when they all went downstairs so she could sleep while they watched a scary movie.  

Out of the many many ideas they were tossing around for what to dress up as for Halloween, simple white sheets won out and they were ghosts.  They had fun on the trail behind Josh & Rachelle's house taking pictures.  

Their original plan for a costume was Christmas pajamas.  So they wore those under their ghost sheets. 

Goal Complete!

 She did it.  Gator's goal of visiting every Utah temple in 2022 is complete.  We went in, and did baptisms, to every open temple, and visited the grounds of every temple closed for reconstruction, the new temples being built, and the grounds of the temple just announced.  I am so proud of her for completing this goal, and I love that I was able to be with her in every temple.  We both have had our testimonies of temples strengthened.  Over the weekend we went to the St George temple and the Red Cliffs temple. We were hoping for open houses by the end of 2022, but they will be done in the spring.  We went the longer way home and stopped in Manti, Ephraim, and Heber City.  And with those temples, we are done.  But Gators love of the temple will keep her going whenever she has the chance, and we have a lot of open houses to attend in the near future.  

Fall Carnival

Every fall my dad and Dianne have a fall carnival.  We haven't been for years because fall is football season.  Owen happened to have a bye on Saturday, and somehow I didn't work that Saturday either, so Gator and I went down to Toquerville.  We left on Friday and stopped in Payson and Cedar City to do baptisms.  I love how her goal has made every road trip this year, a temple trip.  Blake went with us and dad, Josh, and Millie met us in Cedar.   It is hard to choose favorites, but the Payson temple is definitely one of Gators favorites.  

Lots of cornhole.  Rachelle and I came back from a big deficit twice in this particular game, but lost by one.  Gator and Blake pretty much win cornhole anytime they are paired up together, but we gave them a very good game.  

I didn't take too many pictures of the carnival. We had yummy soups for lunch and everyone prepared a game for the kids to play.  We stuffed balloons with candy and had a "pumpkin patch".  Amazing how long it takes to stuff 100 balloons with candy and blow them up, but it only takes about 2 minutes for kids to pop every one of them.  We also had this spider ring toss game.  

Gator started off a M&M with me, but she loved Millie's flying squirrel costume better and pretty much stole that for the party, and the rest of the evening.  

Riding Lessons

Gator has always loved horses.  We have known a few people that have horses that let her ride, but she never had enough.  I've been wanting to sign her up for riding lessons, and it finally all worked out and she is having a great time.  

It feels like winter

We went up to Pocatello today for Owens game.  His poor body is pretty broken though and he didn't play.  He went in to start, but they pulled him after that.  He was not a happy guy at all.  I had bought tickets to a corn maze in Idaho Falls for after the game. I shouldn't have pre bought the tickets, because it was a freezing cold, rainy day, but we had to go so I didn't lose my money.  We had a fun time in the mud and cold, but we didn't last too long.  

I have to take about 50 pictures of these 2 to finally get a good one, but they are an awfully cute pair.  

Owen is losing so much weight, these football workouts are insane.

Rosy cheeks and a frozen nose, but still beautiful.  

Kylee and Kin climbed up to go down the slides, but I think Kylee got a little nervous remembering her broken tailbone from going down the slide at the Burly Straw Maze last December.  

You really can't tell it's Gator up there to go down the zipline, but look at the cool sky.  It was sure cold, but a beautiful night.  

Gator and Davis had a race up the climbing wall.  I don't know how they were even able to climb with their fingers so frozen.  

We were going to go out to eat, but wait times were insane everywhere so we just went back to Owen and Kylee's and ordered pizza, watched Ghost Adventures, and played with the dogs.  100% my perfect day spent with my family.  

Willow turns 1

Even though I didn't necessarily want another dog, Willow is here to stay, and we celebrated her first birthday this weekend.  Her and Gator are best friends, I tolerate her, and the boys love to tease her.  She is very hyper and loves to play with Steele and Joey, and a very very aggressive chewer.  And in case it isn't implied, she is extremely spoiled.  

Football Game

Gator and I got up early at the hotel, went and sprang Willow from the kennel, and went to Pocatello for Owens football game. We've never gone through Logan before to get to Pocatello and it was a pretty drive with all the leaves. 

Davis, Kin, Dave, and Sheila met us in Pocatello for the game today.  We were going to go for a fall drive, but Dave and Sheila wanted to take us out to dinner, so we all went to Sizzler after the game. It was still a fun evening just being together.  

Hard to tell in this picture, but all the hair is gone.  After years of having long hair, Davis decided he was done with it and cut it all off.  

 

Fall Break

 Fall Break is always a welcome long weekend.  Only thing is we plan fun for weeks ahead of time and then all the sudden it is just over and we are faced with going back to school/work with Thanksgiving break weeks away.  We drove up to Logan, and it was so pretty seeing the leaves and all the fall colors.  We met Josh & Rachelle at the American Heritage West Center where we threw axes, fed bison, went for a tractor ride, went to a magic show, saw lots of animals, ate junk food, and enjoyed the company and the beautiful fall day.  We went to our hotel and the kids all swam for a couple hours then we went back to Heritage Center for the corn maze and so Blake, Gator, and Ty could go in the haunted forest.  After dinner, I was exhausted, but Gator, Blake, and Tyler went swimming again.