Halloween

The kids had so much fun this Halloween, we got their costumes early, and they've been looking forward to Halloween for weeks. They all had great Halloween parties at school. We had an unseasonably warm Halloween night here, so the kids were comfortable and happy trick-or-treating. Tasha flew in on Halloween afternoon so it was fun to have her with us. She was brave and kind enough to come watch our kids for a week while Nick and I vacationed. We left at 9:30 p.m. on Halloween to drive to Denver to fly to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Sidney, Nebraska

Nick has been encouraging Isaac to pick a sport to play, but Isaac is just not interested at all. Isaac is really good at bowling on the wii, in fact, he gets turkeys(3 strikes in a row) very frequently. So Isaac decided that he'd like to try bowling as his sport of choice. This was not Nick's idea of a cool sport, but wanted to give Isaac a shot. We had planned to go bowling here in Cheyenne last Thursday, but Nick ended up working late and we weren't able to go. We decided to go yesterday, so we loaded up and drove to the local bowling alley. We got there and the parking lot was overflowing, we walked in and the place was packed with people in halloween costumes. We came home and called the bowling alleys in Laramie, but they were booked up with "Bowling for the Cure". We called Ft. Collins, CO., but they had parties and leagues all day. Nick decided that we could drive the 100 miles to Sidney, Nebraska to go bowling and visit Cabela's. It was the kid's first time bowling, and they had a lot of fun and were very well behaved. None of us broke 100 points, and we were using bumpers(it's a lot easier on the wii!). After our game of bowling, we went to Cabela's, it is huge! The kids enjoyed eating at the cafe, watching the fish, and looking at the animal displays. I asked each family member what their favorite part of the day was, and these are their answers:
Savannah- "I liked the rainbow trout." She loved the aquarium with the different species of fish. We were there looking at fish for 30 minutes, and she still didn't want to leave.
Sophia- "My favorite part was the big huge elephant."
Isaac-"I liked the bowling alley, and getting to pick a treat from the vending machine."
Emily-The best part of the trip for me was buying a cute necklace at Cabela's. I also like spending time with the family and seeing the kids happy.
Nick-The best part for me was coming home."

Bowling Cupcakes

Isaac wanted to make bowling cupcakes, so I told him if he was good for the primary program and did a good job on his part we could make them. He did a fairly good job sitting still on the stand, and said his part pretty clearly. It is always a risk getting him in front of a microphone, so we were expecting the worst. A few months ago he gave a talk in primary on prophets, I was helping him out and he was reading along nicely, then he yelled very loudly, "Joseph Smith was an American!!" I guess he behaved well enough during the program to deserve the cupcakes. This was a big project and I ended up making them by myself because Isaac lost interest. Next time I bribe him, I'll make his reward something more simple.

Murder Mystery Party

Nick and I are in a dinner group with some great friends, it's so nice to have some adult time to just talk and enjoy each other's company. October was our month to host, and I thought since it was so close to Halloween, it was the perfect opportunity to dress up and play a murder mystery game. It was a lot of fun and even the boys were good sports and went all out on their costumes and got into their role playing. The mystery was called "Murder in the Haunted House." There were 8 rounds of scripts and clues, in the end nobody guessed who the killer was (except the murderer himself). Everyone was assigned a character and given costume suggestions to play their roles. The characters were:
Frank Stine (aka Marty Matsen)
Carrie Coffins (aka Angie Matsen

Ace Filmer (aka Nick Larsen)
Eve L. Dedd (aka Emily Larsen)

Drake Yewlarr (aka Paul Pratt)
Dawn Ovdee-Zombiz (aka Kristine Pratt)

Watt Madaxman (aka Jason Whiting)
May Cup (aka Annie Whiting)

Gore Underfoot(aka Sam Shumway)
Kat Peeple (aka Kim Shumway, who by the way just had a baby 7 days ago!)

Moore Bodies (aka Nate Smedley)
Elle Razor (aka Trisha Smedley)

Adam Family (aka Luke Smith)
Diane Screamin (aka Anna Smith)

Spooky Cookies

Isaac and I found these spooky cookies online and after watching the short instructional video, made them with ease. Isaac and I love baking together, it's our bonding time. As you can see, his favorite part of the baking project was licking the frosting bowl.

Miller Farms

The kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday this week, so we decided to do something fun. On Tuesday morning my friend Becky and her kids came to pick us up, we struggled to get 6 carseats in her van and pack all of our gear for the day. We drove an hour to Plateville, Colordado to visit Miller Farms. Becky and I were discussing how much of a chore it is to go on outtings with children, and sometimes it's not worth the trouble. Well I'm so glad we went, it was the perfect day! It was one of those days that all 3 of my children were happy and helpful. We met 2 other friends and their kids, so all together we had a whole wagon load of people. We let the kids play on the hay, dirt hills, drive tractor/bikes, petting farm, playground, fire engine, and other activities. After the kids ran off some energy, we all loaded up into a big trailer pulled by a tractor. We drove a little ways and then the tractor stopped in a big corn field. We were free to jump out and go pick as much sweet corn as we wanted. Isaac and the girls really got into it and we came home with 3 bags of corn. We piled back in and after a few minutes along the road came to a potato patch where the kids picked bags of nice red potatoes. We continued with beets, radishes, carrots, cabbage, turnips, onions, and ended in the pumpkin field where each of us picked our perfect pumpkins. It was so fun to see the kids so involved and eager to harvest vegetables. Isaac was an excellent helper and we ended up with a whole wagon load of produce. It was truly a perfect fall day.

Thanks Meridy!

Meridy, I have to give you credit for the new Halloween background on our blog, thanks a lot! You're a great sister-in-law.

Our ballots have been cast

Nick and I have done our duty, we cast our absentee vote today. We'll be out of the country on November 4th, and we didn't want to miss out on voting. I think Wyoming has enough conservative people that McCain won't have any problem winning here, but you never know. I certainly hope that Palin will do well in the V.P. debate tonight. I've tried hard this year to educate myself on issues and candidates so I'm not so ignorant. Only time will tell what our future holds.