And a wonderful Halloween night it was

It was the perfect weather for our Halloween evening festivities this year.  Not too hot, and not too cold.  We did our usual, set up tables and the whole family came over for some food, trick or treating and entertainment.

Ryan and I in our costumes.

 And, here is another video, so those of you getting email updates, you need to go to the sight to see the video of Ryan's costume in action.

Baylee dressed up as Jesse from Toy Story.  Too cute!

Ryan and his friend trick or treating.
That's right, he's a banana!

Doug made Boba Fett for our pumpkin this year.

And Ryan's pumpkin had a ghost.

Part of the family enjoying the movie of the evening -
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone



My dad getting a closeup view of the movie.  Ryan and my dad recently
read this story for the first time, so I thought they would enjoy seeing
the movie.  And, I think the rest of the family enjoyed it as well.



What Do You Do With Your Pumpkin Guts?

Well?  Do you just throw them away?  Do you make pumpkin seeds in the oven?  This year we did something totally different with ours . . . we fed them to the chickens!  Now, if you receive this in email, let me tell you right now you need to go to the sight to view this post.  I'm including a video in this post and they do not go through email.  Happy viewing!

One of the twins enjoying the squishy pumpkin
goodness - I guess.  I don't eat pumpkin myself.

This picture cracked me up.  She was so excited
about getting pumpkin look how fast her head
is moving!

Pumpkin and Chili Festival

On Friday night, we attended a local Pumpkin and Chili Festival with my niece and her family.  This is our third year going with them and we had so much fun this year - I think it was the best time yet!  I took tons of photos - over 100, so get ready for some viewing. (And for those of you that get this in email form, you may want to go to the sight to view it - it looks so much better there.)

Me, Ryan and Doug
At the beginning of the day ready to have some fun.

Ben, Baylee, Payton and Brittany

Baylee and Ryan got their faces painted.

Ryan's ghost

Baylee's pumpkin

Ryan and I waiting to get on the hayride to the corn maze.
This year we decided to go to the corn maze before it got dark,
with the hopes that we might actually make it through the maze
this time.

On the way to the maze, the hayride driver stopped and let everyone feed
some reindeer that are at the farm.

Baylee getting some more hay to feed the reindeer.

Baylee, Ben and Payton hiding in the corn
maze.  I think they were going to try to scare
Brittany and I.

By the time we made it through the maze, it was starting to get dark.
It was perfect timing.

After the maze, we all decided that food sounded pretty good.  And, we
were hoping that they would have some fresh corn, after looking at all
that corn ready to be picked in the maze.  We got chili, pulled pork, hot dog
and fresh corn - for all three of us to share.  It was yummy!

Then it was time to hit the rides.  Ryan and Baylee went on the bumble bee
ride together several times.  It was fun to watch Ryan help Baylee get in
and out of the ride.

They have these totally cool pedal yourself go cart things.  On one course,
they are big enough for four people to go on.  And on the other it's
for one person.  This was on the four person.  The two people in back
do all the pedaling.  Ryan decided he wanted to be pedaled around by
Doug and I.

Ryan, Ben and Doug getting ready to race on the Individual Course.

While the boys were racing, Baylee entertained
herself waiting for them.

Doug at the end of the race.  Those carts are so fun, but they are quite the
workout.

Ryan and I went on the swings a few times and the roller coaster.

Here was a fun tennis ball launcher where you
try to hit some targets.  Ryan hit several of them.
It wasn't very crowded on the night we went so
no lines to wait in.  That was very nice.

At the end of the evening, they even had some fireworks.

And we couldn't leave without getting a
pumpkin.  Ryan picked this one out.

October Calendar Pages

This is one of my favorite months of the year.  We have so many fun Halloween activities that we do all month long, that I really look forward to all the fun.

2007

Don't you just love the sword in the pumpkin?  That is courtesy of my nephew Parker.

2008
This was the last year that we went to Young's Farm in Dewey.  We loved going there every year and were very sad that they were closing.  Here are pictures of our trips there over the years.



2009
Our first year going to Schnepf's Farm for their festival.  We had such a great time we went again the next year and have already scheduled a trip this year with my niece and her family.



2010
Last year we got to do a lot of non-Halloween activities, including a free day at Arizona Science Center and Star Wars in Concert.  It was also our second year going to Schnepf Farms.

Trick or Treat Fun

On Halloween night, we had our traditional festivities - going strong for 13 years! My family came over for a fun evening. We have a buffet dinner before the kids go trick or treating. Everyone brings their favorite crock pot dish - so we can have warm yummy food all night long. We sit out in the driveway and pass out candy all night long. The trick or treaters that come to our house get candy from every household that comes over! Can you say jackpot?!?! While the kids are trick or treating, we watch a movie shown on our garage door. This year we watched one of my favorites - Shanghai Noon!

Ryan wanted to be something scary for Halloween this year, so this is what he chose. That mask is pretty scary!

Some of the yummy food we had to eat this year. We had soups and chilis! YUM!

And mummy meatloaf!

Some of attendees:

My brother Warren dressed up as a pirate this year - and talked in "pirate speak" all night long. It was pretty funny.

Jack-O-Lanterns:

Watching the movie. Trust me, we could see this better than the image is showing up in the picture:

Cleaning up! What a great evening. Thanks to everyone that joined us and shared their yummy goodies!

Happy Birthday to Doug

Doug's birthday is just before Halloween. This year, we carved our pumpkins on his birthday. So, we decided to wait and celebrate it the next evening - which was a Friday - and then we would have Halloween the next night. I planned it all out and didn't tell him what we were doing.

For dinner, Ryan and I made Hot Dog Mummies with chips. They were very yummy.

A close-up of one of the mummies:
The only thing Doug knew was to dress warm. We went to the first Howl-O-Ween at the Zoo. We got there a little bit after the opening time and actually had to stand in line for about a half an hour. I've never had to stand in line at the zoo before. The line did move really quickly. It was a blast! Here is a horse drawn carriage with a coffin in the back. The coffin was full of cereal samples.

The only animals we got to see were a couple zebras.

We did go on the Haunted Train Ride. It was totally cool. Along the ride there were different characters dressed up that would chase the train - they had a mummy, Frankenstein, a werewolf, and a Dracula. The guy that drove the train was pretty funny. At one point he asked if anyone got their blood sucked. It was pretty scary and fun at the same time.