Halloween Fun and old memories

Halloween this year turned into a VERY busy day. I was up early to go running with my friend Laura, which turned out to be a very great trial for me since I was so sore from aerobics the day before. Word to the wise, dance instructors know of more muscles you have never worked before than anyone else I know. I tried to keep up with her on Friday and ended up walking home with jelly arms and legs from the experience, which stiffened up in the night and made running an interesting experience.

After running, Laura (same friend) took our family pictures. I'm so excited to see how they turned out. We took them up at the Castle Amphitheater behind the mental hospital in Provo. We had to share the location with no fewer than 4 brides and 2 families taking pictures, but it was worth it. I had no idea how hard it would be to find warm outfits that also coordinated for our family. Most of the clothes the girls own are pink, or a shade of it, and I didn't want to go all pastel, but we did what we could. The girls did really well up until the last 15 minutes or so, but we solved that problem by picking some apples in the orchard they have their (all the apples go to waste, which is sad because it's a huge orchard) and so the last few pictures of just of the girls eating their apples, very content. :)

After naps we packed up the car and headed up to visit my Grandma Kartchner in Clearfield. It's hard to see her often because one, she lives far away (over and hour each way) and two, she does not live in a kid friendly house, at all. She never really has, but that's ok. All her grandkids are grown and I'm the only one with great grandkids, so she really doesn't have a need. It was a short visit, but well worth it. In fact, if anyone knows of a rental house near Salt Lake that is cheap and nice enough for an older lady to take care of, she is looking to move soon. Just let me know!

After Grandma's house, we trekked down to Dale and Marrianne's house in Highland to do our trick or treating. They have an awesome neighborhood for trick or treating and the girls had SO much fun. Evelynn was Tinkerbell and Eloise consented to put on the lion costume that Doug's mom had gotten, and they were both adorable. We only did two streets, but the girls got MORE than enough candy to satisfy them, and Doug and myself as well. In fact, they went to three houses that gave out king size candy bars. Nice huh? Trick or treating brought back so many memories of my trick or treating days. My brother Jesse and I would take a map of the neighborhood and map out our route, making sure we hit specific houses that gave away the good stuff. We would start right before dark and run, literally, to as many houses as we could in two hours. At the end of the night, we had an entire pillow case full of candy. My dad would drive behind us and let us empty our bags in the trunk of the car when they got too heavy. At the end of the night we would weigh our stash. Quite frequently we would hit about 20 lbs of candy. Jesse was the best at rationing, frequently having candy from Halloween that would last until Easter. Then one year my parent's instigated the three day rule. We had three days to eat as much candy as we wanted, and then all the rest of the candy got confiscated and trashed. The first year we did this, we all ate so much candy I don't know how we didn't go into sugar induced comas. But the next year, Jesse and I got smart. We ate candy solid for three days, but we also made up little stashes and hid them all over the house in our secret places. When we moved from St. Louis to Joplin, my parents, and us kids, were surprised to find random candy hid all over the basement storage. What fun memories!

This is right before the play group Halloween party. My girls were just TOO cute and I had to get some pictures. Cheeser Eloise!

Sweet girl Evelynn!

Halloween sisters

This is the only picture we have of Halloween trick or treating since we didn't bring our camera. Eloise was adorable because every time someone would say "Are you a lion?" she would roar in response. Both girls caught on to the concept of trick or treating very quickly. I mean, how hard is it to learn that if you swallow your fear, knock and a door and say three words to a complete stranger that they will give you candy, and mom says it's ok! Halloween may be the coolest day of the year, aside from Christmas. By the end of the night, Eloise would go to doors, give her little knock and then stand there saying "TREAT!" until the door opened. My sister Lori and I had such a good time taking them. Doug stayed at Dale's house using their shop to cut up wood for Eloise's Christmas present (sshhhh don't tell... he's making her a stool to use in the bathroom so she can reach the sink like Evelynn). What a great, very busy day! The best part was that because the girls went to bed an hour and a half later than normal, they slept an hour later this morning for day light savings. So they got up at 8:00, which was really 7:00 this morning, which was SO nice, instead of them waking up at 7:00 which was really 6:00 today. I wish they could do this ever year.