October

 October really flew by! It was a very busy and fun month.  

We started off the month with one of my favorite weekends of the year, General Conference.  Alex and Brandon were supposed to be hunting but because they shot a deer so quickly they were able to come home early and watch conference with us.  It was great! 

At the beginning of the month we finally got our cabinets replaced after our flood that happened almost a month ago.  The ended up replacing all of our cabinets.  We had to go without a kitchen for a week and half which was a little rough.  They also broke some of our black splash and our counter tops so now those will have to be fixed as well.  It never ends! 

Mia enjoyed a picnic of snacks in her room one day while the workers were here and we couldn't get into our kitchen.  

There is no explanation for this... 

It was Red Ribbon Week at school in October.  This day was "backwards" day.  

There was also pajama/walk to school day.  

And finally, crazy hair day.  Mia never wants to do anything too crazy so she decided on Rey (from Star Wars) hair.  It was super cute! 

Mia has been working very hard at dance this month including doing her first solo.  It has been so fun to watch her growth. 

We got to go to Zayne's birthday party this month.  Mia loved making her own Olaf. 

The kids were marveling at how tall our trees in the back are.  They made me take a picture of them standing by them.  

Mia did some pre-Halloween dressing up.  She even made her own rocket ship.  If she is at dance or playing with friends she is almost always doing something creative and artistic.  

Alex and Brandon got to go back up to Logan and help Trevor prep all the meat from the deer he shot.  We now have a freezer full of deer meat! 

When we heard that this would be the last year for Thriller we decided to get tickets because I thought Mia would love it.  Alex even wanted to go so we all went.  

Mia was a little nervous before the show started but once it got going she really loved it.  There was one part that scared her pretty good and she screamed very loud and started crying.  Everyone around us had a good laugh at how scared she got.  Luckily the next dance was a funny one and she immediately got excited again.  It was a fun night! 

At dance before Halloween the girls got to wear costumes.  We didn't think she'd be able to dance in her Queen of Hearts costumes so she really wanted to go as a nerd.  She looked very cute! 

Mia really got into the photo shoot. 

We held our annual Hettinger Halloween Party again this year and it was lots of fun!  

For dinner we had a pasta bar.  It turned out great! 

For the activity we had four teams decorate a Halloween House.  We got lots of candy to decorate with.  Everyone worked very hard and by the end the houses were very creative and crazy! We had awards for each of the houses.  It was a lot of fun!

We cooked a few of the deer steaks from Alex's poor deer.  They weren't bad. 

The kids had a full week off for Fall break this year.  It was fun but felt more like winter break with all the snow.  Mia made a snow man and Alex went sledding.  The snow with the trees with full leaves was a weird combination.  

Green trees and grass with the snow! 

We didn't let the snow and very cold weather stop us from making it to Cornbelly's this year.  It was very cold and a little muddy but it was still fun.  I think it also helped keep some of the crowds away.  

We thought our kids were to old to play in the corn this year but they proved us wrong.  We had to drag them away after staying for a half an hour.  They were having too much fun burying each other. 

At one point in the night Mia took about 100 selfies on my phone.  Here are a few of the best ones.  

We finished the night with a very random Halloween parade that included a corn man and the count! 

The next fun activity for fall break was the kids each took a friend to Altitude. I should have been smarter a long time ago. Since they both had a friend I didn't have to jump with them.  I got to just sit in the comfy chairs and watch. 

Later in the week we took the kids to the Symphony to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.  This is our 7th movie we have seen with the Symphony.  We just have one more to go which makes me sad.  They are always so fun!  This time Mia even wanted to dress the part.  

I was excited to hear that the kids still wanted to go to Garnder Village and find the witches again this year.  I think they like it because they always get to choose a treat.  It was a bit crazy when we went but it was beautiful weather and lots of fun! We were also glad Brandon had the day off work and could join us.  

Mia even got to make a spider out of yarn.  

Our next stop was the pumpkin patch.  We picked some great pumpkins and the kids liked playing in the fun zone for a bit.  

Alex living his best life! The night before he and Mia got to sleep over at Sarah, Jen and Bayley's house with some of their cousins.  They always love doing this and had a ton of fun.  Plus it meant that Brandon and I got to go out to celebrate my birthday.  We went to Freshies for dinner for some amazing Lobster rolls.  It was so good!  Then we went to see a scary movie.  We were in a theater with lots of crazy teens which was both funny and annoying.  They got very scared and were very loud about it! 

We spent the rest of the day as a family which is my favorite way to spend my day.  I was very spoiled! 

Brandon had to run an errand and while we waited for him to carve pumpkins the kids pulled out our photo books for awhile.  

Then it was pumpkin carving time!  Mia did a lot of the work this year on hers which is a first.  Normally she is too grossed out to do much.  This time she cleaned a lot of it out herself and even did some of the cutting.  She did a great job! 

Alex cleaned out and carved two pumpkins this year! 

Alex did Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy's and Predator, Mia did Harry Potter, I did the Swedish Chef, and Brandon did the Hat Box Ghost.  Thanks to Brandon cleaning them all up they turned out great! 

After carving pumpkins we ate some dinner at Firehouse Subs and then toured some very cool Halloween Houses in Daybreak.  It was crazy busy but the houses were worth it. 

This Stranger Things house was the coolest! 

This Harry Potter one was also crazy!  So much detail! 

The next day we celebrated my birthday at the Hettinger's house.  

Finally it was Halloween day!  It was also the first day back at school for the kids after fall break which made things a little rough.  Mia was ready for it though! 

I had my usual preschool party.  This year I tried to up my costume game and be a minion.  I thought the preschool would be impressed by this.  They were mildly impressed at best.  

In the afternoon we got to go see Mia's Halloween parade. Brandon made it from work just in time.  

Finally it was time to trick or treat! 

I was so happy Alex still wanted to dress up this year.  I loved his costume choice of Marty McFly from Back to the Future.  He was less thrilled about all the pictures we wanted to take of him but he took pity on us.  

He was real annoyed when Brandon made him recreate the movie poster but he did it any way.  He is such a good kid! 

We got to stop in at Sarah, Jen and Bayleys and the Everitts first and then it was time to head out.  

Alex went with his friend Connor this year.  They met up with some other friends throughout the night.  

Mia wanted to go with some school friends this year.  These girls were very sweet and made it so fun. 

Mia got tired quicker this year.  I think fall break was catching up with her.  She powered through until about 8:00. 

Alex was out until after nine.  He came home with a ton of candy including this package of potatoes.  Very random! 

This month made me tired but it was so fun!