Halloween Success!

After two years in a row of Halloweens gone awry, we finally had a Halloween go right.

I really, really wanted to make this Halloween work, so I started worrying about it weeks in advance. The worrying didn't churn out too much in terms of productivity, but it did motivate me to drag the husband and children out into the local U-Pick Pumpkin Patch. This visit was mildly pleasant, though Soren was afraid of both the straw bale maze and the mini train rides and wanted to be carried the whole time. I decided to go ahead and count that as a success.

For Family Home Evening the following Monday, we decorated the pumpkins, lazy people style. Soren LOVED this.

So things were off to a good start.

Then, today, Saturday the 30th, we were invited to my sister's house for some good old-fashioned pumpkin launching.

This is the kick-butt trebuchet that my niece and her dad made last year for a school project. They're donating it to the North Bingham County park, so this was its last hurrah on the home front.

The masses turned out to watch. (l-r, My niece Tessa's friend Brylie, niece Tessa, my mom holding Liam. Behind them is my newphew Marty; the half person in the front is their "other grandpa")

(l-r, my niece Arielle dressed as a fortune teller, niece Calysta dressed as a photographer, Arielle's friend Alexis wearing 19th century lady's garb, and their cousin Steven wearing camo, as per the usual Southeast Idaho custom.)

Me holding Liam, who is throwing a fit. Mom holding Soren, who was being really sensitive. Hey, what's a holiday without some emotional angst?

After the pumpkin launching, Collette fed everyone homemade doughnuts, cider, and caramel apples. Mmmmmm. Then Abe and I snuck away to take a quick walk through the crisp fall afternoon.

When we returned, it was time to get ready for the ward Halloween party!

The ward party was nice, the food was tasty, and the boys rounded themselves up a lot of candy loot in a short amount of time. Abe and I even won the adult portion of the costume contest with our awesome impromptu costumes.

So there were no major catastrophes, everyone had a moderate amount of fun, and we WON. Halloween can't get much better than this.