Fall Festivities: Storybook Forest and Trunk or Treat

On Saturday night we took Easton to Storybook Forest out at the lake. We met a couple other families from our ward there and walked through the forest filled with Rapunzel, the 3 little pigs, little red riding hood, and other storybook settings and characters. 

My favorite part was going on the hayride by the lake at sunset.

 The parents were free but we had to pay for Easton, so we made him hold his own ticket!

You know he is being an elephant for Halloween, but it was SO HOT that we decided to just be Buzz for the evening.

I'm usually the one thats really into festive activities, but having Easton has opened that door for Blaine and he now loves festive activities... 

as long as Easton is there and he gets to hold him the whole time.

Rapunzel would drop treats down into the kids' bags

Of course we ran into Little Red Riding Hood in the woods.

Knocking on the little pigs' door

Flexing before pulling the sword out of the stone

We walked down to the water afterwards and the sunset was reflecting off the water

The inside of our house has been decorated for a while, but a couple nights ago Easton helped me get our orange lights on outside. He looks so cute with his little pumpkin, but we'll have to take a picture when he's in his halloween jammies :)

I brought these home and Blaine said, "I wish there was like some weird shaped pumpkin for Jake" 

We're all ready for trick-or-treaters at our house!

Then last night was Trunk or Treat at our church. I didn't get a good picture, but we turned the truck into a "monster" truck. We're going to set it up again in our driveway on Halloween night.

Since Easton was rocking the elephant costume, Blaine and I had to come up with stuff to match. So we became a jungle/safari family: elephant, cheetah, and hunter.

As Blaine was getting dressed and tying up his boots with high socks and strapping his knife to his belt he said, "I hope people know that this is my costume and I don't really dress like this." :)

A cute family of boys in our ward was the Utah State football team and their dad was the coach. It was SO cute and funny, but the real purpose of this picture is the sky. Look at that purple beauty. Completely unedited. I wish I would've gotten a nicer picture of just that.

Can you tell that Blaine is utterly in love with his son?

Wish I would've got a close up of my make up! I had to be sure that it was distinctly cheetah/leopard and NOT cat. (I do not appreciate cats)

Easty was pooped by the end but it was fun to dress up together!!

Fall Festivities: Decoration!

I LOVE Fall. I have for as long as I can remember. I love the smells of cinnamon and nutmeg and pumpkin spice. I love eating things that have those spices in them. I love watching football and going to games. I love the colors and the festivities. I love the crisp air and the cute clothes that go along with the season (granted, that was never applicable growing up in Florida). 

What I love, I LOVE. (and what I do not love, I DO NOT LOVE) 

To quote Cam on Modern Family, "I can't turn it down, its who I am!"

I've always loved festive decorations to go along with my season but have never had too many because I figured my money was needed elsewhere till I settle down and we have a real income. But now that Easton is here, I've decided to start now. 

Make my own decorations. Buy them from Hobby Lobby when the go on sale. Buy them after the holiday when they're on super sale and save them for next year. So here are a couple of things that I have made, bought, or had from previous years to bring the festive fall spirit into our home.

I bought the decoration below at Hobby Lobby... then came home and stared at it and realized... "Isn't caramel spelled wrong?" The hunter nutcracker my mom gave to Blaine a couple years ago :)

Me and Alivia found this cute sparkly halloween fabric on sale when I was in Florida, so we hemmed the edges and made it into a tablecloth.

I'm a little disappointed because these wooden blocks could have been so cute! A girl in my ward (who LOVES Halloween) hosted a craft night for us all to make these cute rustic pumpkins. Some girls' turned out wonderfully, but I rushed through mine and wasn't entirely into it since I was in pain and couldn't move very well as a result of an infection in my leg. Hours after the craft night I went to the ER, so I guess it's a good excuse. I'll re-do them next year.

Then in Florida, we did a trial run of the picture that goes around Pinterest of the baby in the pumpkin. Had to try it--and it wasn't so bad. But I definitely want to try again.

Easton is a good sport. A very happy, pretty mellow baby :)

(He was not harmed in the taking of these photos)

"Um... what's going on?"

I'm so excited to dress Easton up and take him out to festive fall things as much as possible in the next week.

Easton's First Trip to Florida, Part 2

The purpose of our trip was to be with my sister Abbie before she left on her 18-month proselytizing mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We only got 2 days with her and my parents before they left for Utah to drop Abbie off at the Missionary Training Center. She'll stay there for 2 weeks and then fly to her assigned mission in Nampa, Idaho. (She wasn't initially thrilled with the less-than-exotic location, but people need the gospel everywhere)

On Sunday, Abbie spoke in church along with my parents and all three of them did a phenomenal job. Plus my mom played the piano which is my favorite. Music has always been the strongest medium for the Spirit for me. 

After church my dad fell asleep holding Easton, but then he heard me take a picture so it turned into a joke and eventually ended with all 4 boys and only one of them was truly asleep. 

Isn't Easton a great actor?! :)

 And of course we had to try the pumpkin picture while everyone was there. 

Check out my cool braid. Alivia did it. She loves hair styling and is better at it than I am.

So then it was just me and the rest of the kids, which was special too.

My mom bought a pack n' play for Easton, but in place of his bouncer, I used this chair :) So cute.

See that blanket he's using? Its "blankie car." My mom made each of us a blanket when we were babies and this was Aaron's. It was always his favorite and lets just say... its not in storage yet. :) So he shared it with Easty while he was there. They were so cute. 

Aaron compared it to Toy Story, how the toys wanted to be played with and needed. Such is the case with blankie car--getting a new life with baby Easton. One time E spit up a little and I wiped it with a corner of blankie car and Aaron was like, "Oh! Oh! Well I guess its ok. This is "Blankie's Story."  :)

I swear, whoever marries my brothers will be so lucky. And I washed blankie car before I left.

And Alivia and I made Easton his own special blanket while I was there-- "blankie whale."

 (I'll have to show it off later)

Having us gone was hard on Blaine. We would FaceTime everyday.

We went for walks, carved a fun-kin, played basketball, went to Moe's, and Twistee Treat twice!

Alivia decided to join the basketball team at school this year so she's been practing a lot. I even wrote her a practice regiment. I wish I could be her junior high basketball coach :)

Easton was a good sport and hung out in the stroller and watched us.

One day we were outside playing right as the 2 cute boys pulled up in the Jeep after football practice, so they played with us. Me and my sisters tell Liv that she's so lucky to have 2 handsome, athletic big brothers. That means she gets to hang out with handsome athletic boys and will probably end up marrying one of her big brothers' friends. Especially when she gets to high school and is a cheerleader while Aaron is on the football team! Ow ow! :)

Oh, the special bond of the 2 left-handers.

Sadly, we had to leave. It's never enough time together. Ever. Its not fair. But we're glad we were able to go and especially to make some more fun memories with Abbie since we won't see her for a year and a half. (We'll talk more about her mission later)

On the trip home, someone had a blow out in their outfit... everywhere. 

And somehow, someone else forgot to pack a spare outfit in the diaper bag.

Consequently, one of us flew home naked, wrapped in blankets.

(Picture above is on the first flight. Picture below is boarding the second)

It's a blurry picture but it is so sweet. Look at those 2 smiles, so excited to be reunited.

We flew back on a Friday and later that night my family had a scare when my brother Aaron (QB) got carted off the field and taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He is fine, but it was surely scary. Austin made the game saving play that night. My brothers have had quite a rough year, but they're strong and blessed to have each other. 

(I didn't ask Aarie if I could post these pictures, but oh well. 

It shows how tough {and handsome and athletic} he is)