HaPpY HaLlOwEeN

I hope that everyone has a great night filled with ghouls and goblins- tricks and TREATS!

Happy Halloween!

(don't you love these vintage halloween postcards!)

Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was our ward's trunk-or-treat!
Ella was snow white! She looks so beautiful! She makes a perfect Snow White!

And Jack was- A JACK-O-lantern!

Ryan was the one who found this costume, I just LOVE it SO much! I think that he looks so adorable! I think that he might have to be a JACK-O-Lantern again next year!

Ella had so much fun running around with all of her friends from church and getting a TON of candy! Jack was in a terrible mood when we first got there, but after a couple of suckers he was nothing but smiles! He did however get his costume so super sticky, I had to wash it as soon as we got home!
Brother and sister so sweet! I love this shot!

Pumpkin Carving

After picking out our perfect pumpkin we went home to carve it! Ryan and Ella teamed up to work on the larger one while Jack and I (although he was asleep almost the entire time) carved the little one. I don't think that Ella really remembered about carving pumpkins. She doesn't always have the best memory. ( I don't know where on earth she got that from? ;) We all had a great time!

I love these two pictures of Ella- I think that they show her personality so well!
All done! We had to go test them outside. Although it's too hot to leave them out there with Halloween a week away.

We all thought this turned out to be a pretty cool shot! Now we're all ready for Halloween!

Family Pumpkin Patch

Family Home Evening at the Pumpkin Patch

Ella is really into pulling some weird faces latelyJack loved the pumpkins and something that I didn't expect-hay! He kept wanting to eat it and I kept having to get it out of his mouth. Gross.The pumpkins there were huge!
Ryan always likes to surprise me and take pictures. Instead of saying- hey Rach, say cheese. He just takes it, it startles me. Then I look stupid as I'm saying "that scared me". Why can't you just take a normal picture Ryan?
To get him back, here's a kind of weird picture of him too!

Happy Birthday Baby Preston!

My dear friend Lisa gave birth to her baby boy this afternoon! He's a BIG healthy boy! Congratulations Ballard family!

Adult Halloween Party

Last night Ryan and I went to a Halloween party at our friend and neighbor's the Stedman's! (Ryan's parents were kind enough to come down to our house and watch Ella and Jack so that we could go. They even did our dishes! Thanks you guys, we couldn't ask for better grandparents! The party was so much fun and it felt so good to get out of the house without any kids! There was good food, good friends and good games. One of the games was a relay where two teams had to race to eat random cups filled with different things. With only seconds to go before defeat Ryan picked a cup with a small pickle.. and swallowed it whole! Our team won! Everyone cheered and couldn't stop laughing that Ryan had swallowed that pickle whole. Everyone was dressed up-Captain Hook and Tinkerbell, King Tut and Cleopatra- however... Ryan and I won for best dressed couple! WhooHoo! Don't you think that Ryan looks like he was made for being a mobster! We seriously had such a great time! Thank you Stedmans! Sara, it was so fun hanging out with you guys! You have to come over sometime soon! Who knew that our Ryan's would have to much in common, even politics! ;)

(I don't know why I look like I'm crying or why Ryan looks so mad in this picture? I'll have to try and get a better picture from someone. Yikes.)

11 Months old!

These are the only pictures that I have of Jack-Jack that I haven't already posted.

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He's 11 months old today. It feels like I just brought him home from the hospital. I can't believe it's almost been a year. It has gone by way too fast. When I look back on the struggle of getting him here I can't help feeling overwhelmed by the miracle that he is. He is so smart, so sweet and just such a blessing to our family. I am so happy that he's mine. I love him so much.

Field Trip to Schnepf Farms

For weeks now Ella has been looking forward to going on her very first field trip with her Kindergarten class to Schnepf Farms. Its only 10 minuets from home. It's a pumpkin patch with rides, food and shows. The most exciting part- going on a BUS!

Waiting to get onto the bus!

After what seemed like forever the bus finally got there!Is it just me, or does Ella look so tiny. She looks too little to go on a bus. (Yes, I'm a werido and got on the bus to take pictures of her sitting in her seat) She sat with her two best friends in school- Dylin and Ava.I was so sad when I thought that I wasn't going to be able to go with Ella on her first ever field trip- until I found out two days before that I could go, just not on the bus. So my friend Melissa (Ava's Mom) and I plus our little ones followed the bus and met them there. Parents were able to volunteer (we couldn't, we have babies) to go and were then assigned a small group of children. It was so nice because Ella was assigned to a Mom in our ward who had volunteered along with her little boy, Ava and Dylin. Perfect! Ella, Dylin, Justin and AvaFirst off to the petting zoo! Ella loved the HUGE cow, the nice donkey and this fat little pig!Ella, Ava and Dylin
They had so many fun things to do! They had this huge slide that all the kids went on a million times. Ella loved the airplane ride! She knew she wanted to be on the "fire" one with the flames! Poor Jack-Jack he wasn't feeling so great. It was still pretty hot (something we aren't used to in October) and I tried to keep him in the shade. At first Ella chickened out on this ride. Which was weird, she's always so brave. After the first round of seeing her friends on it she decided that it didn't look scary at all and that kid who said it went super fast was wrong. She loved it.

Bee ride! Then it was off to lunch. The only thing half as good as going on the bus was that she got to take a lunch. As soon as Ella found out she said that she HAD to get a lunch box. How else would she take a lunch? She knew exactly what kind of lunch box she wanted- Hello kitty with a flower. Thank goodness Target had exactly that! The only bummer was when the day before the trip we found out that she couldn't take it. Disposable lunches only. Major disappointment. However, when I found out that I could go I had to take a lunch too right? So maybe she and I switched, me taking the sack lunch and her the hello kitty, so what? After lunch the kids got tickets to ride a little train!

Ella, Justin, Ava and Dylin!
Yippee! Jack was asleep in the stroller so he and I didn't go.
Dylin, Justin, Ava, Julie, Ella, Melissa and Dillon

Ella was sooo afraid to go on the swing ride, yet didn't hesitate at all to go on the huge roller coaster. She actually went on it twice, the first time she sat in the front row with Ava! Second time in the middle/back with Dylin.

By now it has been a long day. It was so dusty and dirty and hot. Poor Ella, Jack scratched her on the chin.Pumpkin patch! They each got to pick a small pumpkin to take home!Jack hasn't ever been to a pumpkin patch- he loved it! I think that he liked all of the pumpkins because they resembled a ball. He just wanted to throw all of them. Such a boy.All three of us looking tired and ready to go home and take a nap. Heading back on the school bus. It was so fun, I'm super glad that I got to go too. We were only able to do and see about half the things that were there. Next year we'll have to go again. Thank you Melissa for coming with us- it was SO much fun hanging out with you guys!