Halloween 2010

Alright, I'll be honest....the month of October was about half over and I was getting a tad bit depressed about Halloween. I knew that I had a 2 year old who was old enough to really join in and enjoy the festivities and when I checked the calendar I realized it was going to land on a Sunday. Boo.

Then I remembered all of our fun traditions in Utah that we'd be missing out on. I was bummed to miss all the Trunk-or Treats and primary carnival at Pleasant Valley Ward, corn mazes, haunted houses, pumpkin patches and our friends {Bagg's} annual costume party.

The more I chatted with people the more I realized...NOTHING was going on around here to fit our family. Nobody was throwing a party, I don't have a big enough place to do my own (and include everyone), our ward wasn't doing a Trunk-or Treat, our city wasn't changing Trick-or Treating to Saturday because of the OU game and all the pumpkin patches were too pricey for our wallet.

Tyson and I usually go all out for Halloween....and this year I was sad to not even have a reason to dress up, so I thought.

Well, I quickly decided to end my pity party and here is what I did.

I bought tickets to Haunt the Zoo, in Oklahoma city and invited some friends to go with us. I planned my ownTrunk-or Treat and invited 20+ families that have children and I sought out a Pumpkin Patch that was FREE!!!

Pumpkin Patch

My parents bought Lydia some clothes last summer for her birthday and it is finally cool enough to wear all the long sleeves. I thought these colors looked great on her. Thanks Mom!

The Elders- Siemen & Mortinsen joined us for dinner one evening. Barry too. I thought it would be a good test run to see if she liked wearing her costume. She sure did!!!

Haunt the Zoo

Here is Lydia ready to set out and save the world.

We have a great Zoo up in the City and they have lots of sponsors come and hand out candy as you walk around the zoo in the dark and look at beautiful displays. I think we chose the most crowded night of the week, but it ended up being a warm night and lots of fun.

Trunk-Or-Treat

Tyson handed out all the candy and I walked Lydia around. He was a dentist, I was the tooth fairy and our car joined in on the theme too. Not our most creative idea, I did come up with something random and crazy, but I'll save it for a real costume party or contest. Maybe next year.

Lydia was happy to see that all the kids were in silly costumes as well and these 3 were loving

being in front of the camera. This is Mason and McKenzie. Both of them are a year older than Lydia, she is sure tall.

This is my sweet friend Carolina Jensen and her daughter Hannah....

...and my other new friend Darlene King.

Almost all of these kids are in my Primary or Nursery. They are a great group of kids!

My pumpkin carving skills get better each year, but nothing to brag about so keep scrolling down. This is the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider." We had to spend time in the dark bathroom to enjoy him.

Sunday evening the Walser's invited us over for dinner and to decorate cupcakes. We are lucky to have good friends.

Here is Samuel & Lillian as a Frog & Lilli-Pad. Aren't they too cute?!?

With our left over pumpkins I made this for dinner. Mom never sent me the recipe so I just made up my own. I cooked up some brown rice, ground beef, mixed veggies, added a can cream of mushroom soup, salt and pepper and topped it with cheese. Then I baked them in the oven for 1 hour at 350. I am still curious to hear what I was supposed to make, I remember she mentioned something about water chestnuts. I am sure that would be good too.

Everything was a success!!! I'm still realizing that it is my responsibility to create our own family traditions. Heaven help me when December rolls around.