Halloween 2010 Pics

Are you thinking to yourself, "Well it's about time!"? 'Cause I sure am. To be perfectly honest I was really not into Halloween this year. The kids did most of the decorating, and the only thing that helped the costumes happen was Savers. Poor kids. Oh, perhaps I shouldn't say that. After all, things did work out :)

Our first pic is of Mr. J, who is sporting a Snake Eyes costume from G.I. Joe. We darkened his face and hair for the night. Next comes Mr. B as Spiderman. I have to admit, as his makeup came together I started to get a bit more excited for the night.

Here's Miss A. as a ballerina in boots. At least, I think that's what it ended up being. She just loved it because it was sparkly.And this is my gorgeous Miss M. She started out dressing up as a dead witch, but decided when we were done with the makeup that she looked more like a vampire.

Here they are all together.

We did two closeups of M. Even dead I think she's pretty gorgeous.

This is daddy as a last minute pirate. We even gave him some rotting teeth.

I hadn't planned to dress up, but my friend Erin began threatening me. Something about eggs and my house. I really didn't know what I would be until I'd finished with everyone else. That's when I created "The Aftermath". Basically I took elements from everyone else's costumes and put them on me.

Do you like the shirt? Totally my favorite.

This next picture shows what happens to unsuspecting ward members when my kids are high on sugar...

Actually, he knew exactly what he was getting into, lol.

One last picture. Proof M came back to life. Whew!

Playing Hooky

My hubby and I are, for the most part, those individuals you can trust to be where they need to be. For example, church meetings. We try to make it to all of them when possible. If we don't, you can bet it's for a very good reason.

The month of October has been especially busy for the both of us. We've had more going on than usual, and it's taken a toll on our sweet children. When my youngest is begging me not to leave just for a few minutes on a Saturday morning, we know it's time to play hooky.

This weekend was our stake conference, a time when extra meetings occur. My husband did his duty to the priesthood meeting, but we made the decision to take the rest of the evening, and most of today, and spend it with our children. It wasn't an easy choice to make, I'll be very honest about that. Yet it was the right one.

I wanted to share with you some of the pictures of today's adventures enjoying some of God's most beautiful creations. We started up one of our favorite canyons, intending to drive along Guardsman Pass through to our home. Here are a few pics from a few stops we made along the way.






































Picking leaves and throwing rocks in a stream.


















Isn't this a beauty? I love the intense colors of Autumn in the changing leaves.
















I tried to capture the incredible colors of our surroundings in this and the next, but the pictures were mere echoes to what we saw in real life.

We finally found the turn off for Guardsman Pass, traveled up a ways only to find...

SNOW!!!

The kids had some fun throwing snowballs at eachother and Mom and Dad.

View of a nearby mountain top.

A few minutes later in our drive and we realized there was no way we'd be making it through this weather, so we carefully turned the car around and headed back.

Before going home we figured it would be nice to stop in at our favorite area, Silver Lake up by Brighton Ski Resort. There was a good bit of snow up here too.

Mr. B began to freeze. Of course, he's the one who threw the most snowballs, fell and slipped in the slush, and didn't bring a jacket along. Silly boy.

Daddy finally took pity on this poor, shivering boy and draped his coat over him.

Isn't this pretty? The color of the stems were almost as pretty as the leaves themselves.

Here's our last look in black and white. We headed home after this, all the kids wrapped up in blankets in the car, Dad and I wishing we could open the windows just a smidge due to the heater being turned up high. The moment we got home I took out our hot cocoa maker (thank you Errin!!!) and soon we were warming up inside and out.

My husband and I were grateful we took the morning off, especially as we ended up doing hospital visits to a few ward members that had us gone most of the evening. Each and every one of our kids told us how much fun they had today, how nice it was to have daddy with us, and how they hoped we could do it again soon.

As I lay with my youngest, listening to her ramblings just before she fell asleep, I knew we'd done the right thing for our family. We might get in trouble with certain people for not being where we were supposed to be, but that's okay. There was no doubt in our minds our choice placed us where we needed to be.

Good Times with Laurie's Family!

This post should be titled: more pictures than you probably want to see. However, it's my blog so I get to put up all I want!!! (Blogger went weird with the pictures and setting of the words, so I apologize now for whatever just doesn't make sense!)









My big brother came for a visit with his little girl. This was the first time I got to meet Baby B, as her family keeps her locked away in Kentucky so I don't have easy access. For rude, I know.
























Some of Baby B's favorite activities include: pulling Daddy's leg hair, sucking on necklaces, and making sure Aunty Laurie stays at least five feet away at all times.

On our first visit little Miss A and I got to spend some time with Grandpa R. TOO CUTE, I say.

Daddy was not allowed to go anywhere without his baby girl. Here's what happened when he needed to use the bathroom. Like any good aunt, I grabbed the camera to get a good picture of the horror.

Fortunately it didn't take long for the big giant to rescue the princess. Wait, what fairytale is that?

We invited Uncle J to come at our house when his cute wife arrived in town (she'd been gone at a work conference). Seeing as how they were the givers of the xbox that saved my computer from rough handling, we thought he should get the chance to come battle the boys in some fun Star Wars games. Aunty M and I were giggling cause Uncle J has a habit of moving his jaw back and forth while concentrating REALLY hard.

Baby B stayed close to Mama as much as possible (still making sure Aunty Laurie didn't get too close), but it didn't stop various cousins from trying to get close and cuddly.

"Why, Mama. Why don't they just go away?!?!?!"

The next day all of the Reynolds clan got together for a big family picture. Here are a few pictures of us playing together.

Like any good uncle, both my brothers ganged up on my oldest for a tickle-fest. (Yeah. Notice I just RUSHED right over to help her!)

This little Troll doll has been around from the time my bros and I were teens. And his eyes still light up! He became a bit of a fixture during our escapades.

This is the newest addition to the Reynolds' clan. Isn't she ADORABLE!?!?!?!

Baby B finally gave up and fell asleep.

Here's Cousin S chillin' away from all the craziness.

And what's a family reunion without some torturing of the boys? Frankly, I was rooting for my brothers.

I think they won!

So there you are. Good times were had by all. Only a few meltdowns happened. And though Grandma R was probably offering thanks when we all finally left, she was sad to let everyone go. I'm missing them all, already.

Halloween 2009!

Ah, another Halloween gone. I've decided getting ready for Halloween is WAY more fun than the actual experience. There's something magical about putting up super spooky decorations and getting the kids all ready for the big day. Perhaps it's that unsatiable kid lurking inside me who likes to come out and play every now and again.

So, here we are with the final decorations up. We added some more garland and "Beware" tape. Then we stuffed two colorful "Jack-o-Lantern" bags with leaves, and another garland to the tree on the right.

Our one lone tree out near the street needed some spooking up as well. I love the green spider webs.

And here we are on Halloween day!

Miss A looks stunning as a little angel.

But check out those smashing tights!

Here we have B as a Clone Trooper (as opposed to a Storm Trooper, which he made sure to point out). He had a mask that goes with it, but I wasn't thinking straight and didn't think to have him put it on for the picture.

Next we have J as a vampire. His was my most favorite to "make up". He loved the point we did with his hair and the blood down his chin. Veeeeeery scary, right?

And here's Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. M had a lot of braids to make her hair look wavy. I worked for hours crocheting a scarf you can barely see in the picture and which barely lasted a half hour before she wanted to take it off! Still, get a load of those eyes. Aren't they fantastic!

And here is the awesomest couple in the WHOLE WORLD!!! My hubby was so sweet to let me dress him up! We darkened his eyes and cheeks, and I found this hilarious goatee that my hubby honestly LOVED! Okay so it didn't last the whole night, but that was due to lame adhesive. You can't really see them, but he's also wearing fake tattoo sleeves on his arms.

He faked out more than a few ward members at the party that night.

I couldn't decide if I was a frazzled witch, or Mrs. Weasley. So I called myself a frazzled Mrs. Weasley.

I didn't get any pictures at the trunk-or-treat due to being the parent handing out the candy, but afterward there was a dinner and carnival. Here's J doing his best at eating a donut off a string. The kids would start off with no hands. If it went too long they could use a pinky finger to help.

I helped out with the cake walk. Here's M as she walks in a VERY slow circle. Doesn't she look just thrilled?

So there you go! We had a blast, but boy was I done when we at last tucked all the kiddies in bed that night. Here's to another year of the kids trying to decide what they want to be ♥