Halloween

Halloween was perfect this year. The kids were adorable, the weather was incredible and everyone had a great time.

We started celebrating on Friday night. We had the Randall clan over for dinner, donuts and BYU football. We lost the game, but the food, company and costumes were great.

On Sunday, we carved pumpkins.

On Monday, Kate and I attended the Halloween parade at Enoch's school. I almost didn't go, but was so glad I did when Enoch walked by and his face completely lit up when he saw us. Later that afternoon, we got ready for trick-or-treating. The kids were so excited, they hardly ate dinner and were anxious to get into their costumes.

Usually Greg takes the kids out, but this year I decided to make the trek. The weather was amazing! Normally we just hit our cul-de-sac and Quail Drive, but this year, we went to three streets. We just kept going because of the beautiful weather. The kids were very excited with how much candy they collected.

We went with a literary theme this year. Kate was the most adorable Madeline you have every seen! She was so cute and everyone loved her costume.

Enoch has really been into Harry Potter lately, so that was his choice. It worked out well since we already had a Hogwarts cloak. We ordered some Potter glasses and a wand (that made noise and lit up!) from Amazon and he was set. He insisted on putting on his scar himself. He did a great job.

Gavin didn't dress up on Halloween, but threw a costume together for our Randall party. He went as...? Can you guess? Yep, Bronco Mendenhall (during his unfortunate choice of t-shirt and dress pants combo). It was great!

We had a great holiday!

Pumpkins

Yet again, Greg was in charge of our pumpkin carving this year. The smell was a bit too much for me, so I took pictures. Luckily, Gavin is getting very good at carving and he was a big help.

Kate chose to have a 'Y' pumpkin (we have to have one every year). Enoch did a traditional Jack-O-Lantern, which turned out very cute. Gavin made a pumpkin pi - very clever!

They all turned out so well. What a crazy thing to do, but so much fun.

Mom's Halloween Surprise

I've been telling the kids for a few days that this year I am wearing a Halloween costume. They were shocked! I never dress up for Halloween. They were very curious and excited to see what I came up with.

We lined up the kids on the couch for the big reveal. As you can see there was a bit of CONFUSION about my costume for the first little bit.

And then a range of emotions:

SERIOUSLY?!

NO WAY!

And finally, VERY HAPPY!

And the costume?

We are very excited to announce our pregnancy! Enoch kept saying, "Wait, you're going to have a baby? Really?" And then a few minutes later, "Are you sure you are having a baby? For real?" Yes! We are thrilled to welcome our new little one the first week in May. Our family is very happy and can't wait!

Our Last Day

Our last day in Colorado. We still had a few things we wanted to see, so we left Estes Park early and drove into Boulder for church. We got there a bit early, so we drove to the Denver Temple and spent some time there.

After church, we ate lunch and drove further west (I think? maybe south) to visit Dinosaur Ridge. They had a fun visitor center with some crazy dinosaurs. We then hiked a bit up the road to see the preserved dino footprints. It was quite cool to see real evidence of the dinosaurs out in nature. A section of the ridge is roped off, but a small part is open for you to climb on and explore. It was a lot of fun.

After Dinosaur Ridge, we drove through Denver to the airport. We said good bye to Grandma and Grandpa, who were riding the train home. We checked our one bad and lugged our five carry-ons through the airport and to security. As we were going through security, one of our bags was flagged. Greg was questioned and it was then that I realized that we had packed all our bathroom stuff in our carry-on! All our liquids, lotions, sprays. Really, how stupid could we be. We just didn't even think about it, since we rode the train over and they have no security. TSA was really nice about it. They gave Greg a pass to get back through security after he went and checked that bag. Luckily, we had enough time for Greg to make it to the gate before we boarded.

Our flight home was full. I'm pretty sure it was a requirement for someone in your party to be wearing BYU apparel to board this flight into the Provo Airport (Gavin had us covered). As we were taking off, Enoch and Gavin were still arguing over the window seat. I was trying to hold Kate's hand so she wouldn't be scared. She kept jerking it away. She finally said, "Mom, are you scared?' Yes! We ran into some turbulence early into the flight. Kate was grinning and giggling. She yelled out, "This is so awesome!" Obviously, she takes more after her dad than mom when it comes to flying.

We barely had time to finish our juice and cookies when we landed. We disembarked the plane by ramp, since there are no gates to pull into in Provo. We found Grandpa Dee quickly and he pulled the van right up to the baggage claim, which was a few luggage carts pulled by four-wheelers. We loaded up our luggage and we off. It was awesome - no waiting, no traffic, no paying for parking. If you have the chance to fly into Provo, take it!

We had a wonderful trip. It was so fun to be with our family and see new things. Now we can check off Colorado as a state we have been to with our kids!

Rocky Mountain National Park

We had a wonderful time today at Rocky Mountain National Park, just outside of Estes Park. We stopped by the ranger station and picked up Junior Ranger booklets for the kids and watched a short movie. We then drove around a bit, searched for a beaver dam, saw more elk and worked on Enoch's and Kate's Junior Ranger booklets (which we did finish).

The best part of the day came when we visited the Alluvial Flood Fan (I think that is the name of it). About 30 years ago, there was a massive flood that took out a huge swath of mountain. Left behind was a waterfall and boulders. Oh my goodness! The boys had the most amazing time climbing and exploring. I was convinced that I would never see Gavin again. He hiked so high and disappeared for quite a while. He did make it back safely. Enoch didn't go as high (remember he is terrified of heights), but he also did some exploring. Kate climbed some boulders, but stayed close to Dad.

We had a wonderful time - probably the highlight of the trip for Gavin and Enoch. It was very cold, but we still had so much fun.

Later that afternoon, we stopped by a park that we passed driving into town. The weather was warmer and with the sun out, it was quite pleasant. The kids loved to run and play. Really, again, why do we go on vacations when our kids would have just as much fun at the park? Kate liked the swings, Enoch was everywhere and went on everything (even getting his head stuck in some random round thing) and Gavin and Greg played with the kids.

We had a great day. We were all tired and slept well. Except Mom. Who slept with Kate. I eventually dragged a blanket to the foot of the bed and slept there because Kate was so active and kept kicking me. Oh well.

Estes Park

We started our morning in Denver at the US Mint. We reserved the last seven tickets for that day, so we were very happy. We took the hotel shuttle into downtown Denver and started our tour at 9am. It was very interesting, although not as thorough as I thought. I guess they can't give away all their secrets! And, no pictures inside the mint - that's illegal.

After the mint, we realized we had about an hour before our rental car was ready. We walked to the Capital building a few blocks away. We didn't have enough time to take an official tour, so we just wandered. A tour guide pointed us upstairs to the dome and we walked up 'lots and lots of stairs', according to Enoch. It was worth it though, the view was gorgeous.

We grabbed some lunch and started the drive to Estes Park. The drive wasn't too long and the kids mostly napped. When we arrived in Estes Park, the first thing we saw was all the elk hanging out at the golf course, just laying around. All the tourists gathered together and snapped pictures.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Estes Park. It is a town that caters to tourists and has the many shops to prove it. We didn't buy anything, but had fun window shopping. That night we went swimming in the hotel pool. It was colder than the hot springs, but the kids still had fun. That night we were exhausted and slept well.