Last night we decided to carve our pumpkins for Halloween. MacKelle wanted a mad kitty, and Trace wanted Yoda (Who else?) Let me tell you, I don't think Yoda is supposed to be made from a pumpkin. Trace kept telling me that it didn't look like Yoda. When I told him that I was trying my best and that it probably won't look just like Yoda (and maybe it'd look like a goblin) he started saying that it looked "Just like Yoda". Maybe next year he'll pick something easier. Ü
The other day we came back from a trip to town and we noticed all the leaves on the ground. We had to rake them up and jump in. Trace missed the fun because he was at school, but there are more leaves for another day. MacKelle whipped out her plastic rake and we got a pretty good pile. 
Mason LOVED the leaves, he thought they tasted fantastic! He loves being outside. He kept crawling everywhere and putting stuff in his mouth. He had a great time exploring. Ü Being with the kids when they have fun reminds me of when I was a kid. It makes all those activities more fun again. Childhood is so fun and carefree.
After seeing the fun some of our friends/family had going to pumpkin patches, we decided to find one. We found The U-Pick Red Barn in Idaho Falls that was so much fun! They had pumpkins EVERYWHERE! Not only pumpkins, but watermelon, and other yummy produce.
Here is a picture of some of the pumpkins (they were like this in every direction).
You can also get eggs, and behind Trace and MacKelle you can see some of the chickens. The kids were so cute! There was a lot to do there and they were excited!
We are starting the search for the best pumpkins. We made a rule that they had to be able to carry their pumpkin (So we didn't end up with the biggest one there and we had Mason to carry Ü).
Mase seemed to like the pumpkin search too.
The kids went through the straw maze (about 5 times).
Justin and Mason too. I think Justin and I had as much fun as the kids (Maybe more, check out Mason's and Justin's faces Ü)
They also got to ride on a "train". Trace was very excited and MacKelle started off a little nervous. As the ride progressed they both relaxed and had more fun.
Trace even jumped off and back on! I'm sure they were ready to kick him off, but it was a great day and a fun fall activity.
We started getting ready for our yearly Halloween party (awesomely hosted by Brooke Ü) . Trace decided to be a vampire this year. I think we have past all the cute Halloween costumes with him. The scarier the better! I made a Halloween cake with a hand coming out of it(See cake blog for pics), and when I asked him if it was too scary he said I should make the hand holding an eyeball!!!
The rest of us are Scooby and the gang. MacKelle is Daphene and Mason is Scooby. I am Velma and Justin is Shaggy (We didn't get pics of Justin or me yet-we'll have to get it on Halloween).
Here are some of the kids (the ones we could get to hold still long enough for a picture) and their awesome costumes.
We played some games, this one is the mummy wrap. Thanks to all the dads that became Mummies.
Here is another team (a very competitive one-Trace still claims that they won Ü)
Here is the winning team. The dads were as fun to watch as the kids!
How fun!!
The other game we played was pin the hair on the witch. The kids are waiting in line for their turn.
Here is MacKelle's (Daphne's) turn.
With a little help she got the hair to the head "on her first try"-she was so excited!!
Then it was Trace's turn. He found his mark and was quickly. . .
Looking through the goody bags to find the perfect one. He couldn't even pause to look up for a picture. Ü It was a fun night!
So we woke up the other morning and look outside and see a good few inches of snow. We do live in Idaho and it IS October, so I guess we're due. Trace and MacKelle were SO excited. They asked me first thing if they could go out and play in it. I knew it wasn't going to be around long, so I said ok and by 8:30 a.m. they were out in the snow. It was really wet snow, notice how the tree is all bent over in the background. We had several branches break off our trees from the weight of the snow.
Here they are ready to go out.
We decided that to be festive since it was October and we had just put up our halloween decorations that we would make snow pumpkins. When I told Trace we could use food coloring and water to make them orange, he said "or we could pee on them". Ü Could you imagine our neighbors waking up and looking outside to that sight! I opted for the food coloring.
Here is MacKelle and her pumpkin.
And Trace with his. . . Are you loving the ski mask?
And this is what the living room looked like after they got cold enough to come back in. Of coarse you have to search through ALL the gloves and hats to find the right ones, and there is no time to pick up when you have fresh snow waiting for you outside and hot cocoa waiting inside. . .isn't it great to be a kid.
Say that 5 times fast! Mason got a hold of Ariel's fins and thought they made a good teething toy! Ü
I just thought it was too funny. You never know what kids will do.
On Monday we went Raspberry picking with the Jemmett family. We were so excited all day.
MacKelle was the photographer here.
Trace took this one. I'm not sure why MacKelle is making that face (Probably something Trace did Ü).
They are such cute kids. I love that we're able to do a few more things not that they are getting a little older.
Here is Bryan and Mason. Mase seems to like Bryan quite a bit. He has been a mommy's boy lately, but didn't seem to mind at all hanging with Bryan while we finished picking our berries. We love the Jemmetts! It was nice of them to invite us and so fun to visit with Bryan, Wendy, and Riley while we picked.
Here is MacKelle counting our loot. You can't see in the picture but she and Trace picked their berries into one of those square green baskets. She held her basket against her. By the time she was done she had raspberry juice ALL over her shirt!
You can't see it well in this picture, but we all have berry juice on our hands, and Trace has a raspberry on his tongue.
There were raspberries EVERYWHERE! Trace was picking and said "Mom, this is a good place to come when you are hungry." Ü We had so much fun. Trace and MacKelle started singing to each other as they were picking. It was kind of like a raspberry picking musical. They were having a conversation, but singing instead of talking. When we were done Trace and MacKelle played in the mud while I loaded our stuff up. It was a GREAT day!
Here is Mase and I picking. Mason seemed to have fun too. He had a lot to say and said it LOUD. He sat happily in the backpack almost the whole time. I have such GREAT kids! Poor Justin was at work when we were having all our fun, but maybe he can come next time.
