Haunted Houses

Every Halloween the majority of the cousins get together to decorate Haunted houses.  We often miss out on this activity because it is done on a Monday night and its hard to make it after Ryan gets home from work.  This year some of the cousins mentioned it to Sarah and that it was going to be on a Sunday.  After much discussion (persuading by Sarah) we said we would go.  We had already spent Friday night up in Sacramento going to the pumpkin patch and drove back early Saturday to make all the soccer games.  So, after church on Sunday we hopped in the car and headed back to the Sacramento area for dinner and a Halloween family night.

One of my favorite parts of getting together so often with family is that the kids love their cousins and they are all great friends.  It is a huge blessing for them to have each other.

Everyone is ready to stick their Halloween peeps on the house or in their mouth.

Bowls of candy and chocolate frosting.  YUMMY!

The older cousins had a plan for their house and were more precise in their candy placement.

Inspecting the fine craftsmanship.  Can you find the half eaten peeps ghost?

They were starting to place candy corns on the roof to look like flames of fire.

The cousins had a gift for Ryder and Jack for their birthday.  They absolutely loved their Millenium Falcon.  Although they do lack some tact when they commented, "This one is not as cool as our Dad's.  We keep breaking his so he put it in the garage." (Ryan's parents found all of his old Star Wars toys and they are now packed in our garage.)

Silly Halloween Songs with Aunt Robyn.  She is great with teaching the kids songs.

Bishops Pumpkin Farm

Another quick trip to spend time with cousins.  After work we quickly left town and headed to Wheatland to meet the Lambourne's and the Alexander's at the pumpkin patch.  This year there were still pumpkins in the fields unlike last year.


Ryder and Jack having a little fun.

Ryder stood back while Jack fed the little goat.  In Idaho a little goat head butted his knee so he wasn't so sure about this little guy.  After seeing that these goats were a little nicer, Ryder started passing out his apple slices.

The hay trampoline and a bunch of crazy kids.

Ryder and his perfect pumpkin.

Jack found the one he wanted.

Sarah wanted to take home this one.

Sarah, Jenna, Lauren, Joey, Michael, Ryder, Abby, Jack, Matthew, and Josh

The kids always think the train ride is fun.

The hay ride is even better.  Lauren, Sarah, Jenna, and Michael.

Jack, Josh, Ryder, and Joey.

The perfect pumpkins they picked.

And on to the next activity.  We decided to stay the night at Ryan's parents and leave around 7 a.m.  to make Sarah's soccer game on Saturday.

Sarah (in the gold and pony tails) is set to score on this corner kick.

Soccer

Sarah has a great soccer team this year.  This year she is playing on an all girls team and loving it.  Last Saturday she was playing defense as the other team came toward her she ran up and kicked the ball away from her goal, over the heads of the other players and her teammates and the ball landed and rolled into the goal.  SCORE!  Her mouth dropped and all the parents cheered.  We just had to laugh at the crazy shot that crossed over half the field.

This week she started thinking about what would happen if she was goalie and kicked from her goal to the other goal... we'll see what happens.

Apple Hill

A quick trip to Apple Hill after early Saturday morning soccer games.  The boys had never been and Sarah hadn't been since she was 2.  We spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Smyth and the Lambourne family.  The boys asked if there really were apples at apple hill.  There question was answered as soon as they got out of the car and walked through the apple orchard to the little fish pond.  It was a fun quick trip.  We let the kids swim and play at their cousins after our adventure and then headed home.  I love my good husband who will drive four hours roundtrip in one day so the kids can be with family.


Ryder and Jack were so excited to feed the Koi.

Sarah, Jenna and Lauren found a huge sunflower.  They kept laughing and could not believe how big it was.

The crazy, wild, and fast wagon ride.  We had been warned how fast the little wagon goes.  It is pulled by two miniature horses.  I began to worry as the wagon came down the hill and rounded a corner and I saw Jack's face.  I could just picture him being thrown out and breaking an arm.  Fortunately, Lauren put up her leg to guard him.

Sarah

Ryder

Jack

Jack was more interested in the big red tractor than going on the little hike everyone else wanted to do.

Ryder and the scarecrow.