Halloween Festivities

When I was a kid our Halloween consisted of Halloween night...just the trick or treating.
Now it's like an entire week to ten days of festivities, at the school, at the church, with friends and family, etc.  So, it began for us this year at the school Harvest Carnival.  Our school does a fantastic job with fun booths and games the kids really enjoy.  The favorite is always the "donut on the string", especially this year as the ever popular Krispy Kreme just opened up again, after being closed for almost four years.  

On a personal side note, this year I discovered their pumpkin spice donut...oh my!  THE yummiest treat for $.99 E-V-E-R!  Get them on a day when they were just coming out hot, yummmmm!  

OK, back to the carnival...Aubrey wore her first tie.  Something so cute about Dad tying it for her.  With their red hair and freckles, they made perfect Harry Potter stars!

This is how the kids went.  Aubrey as Hermoine, Andrew as Ron, Katelyn and Megan as bumble bees, and Matthew as Spiderman.  

Always the longest line, Donut on a string!

The kids love seeing their friends from school all dressed up too!

Then there was the annual church, Trunk or Treat, another favorite activity!  My grandma Jensen was here visiting from Utah so that was especially fun to have her here.  She came on a fun weekend with all the Halloween festivities, soccer and flag football games, and our Primary program on Sunday where all the kids participated and Aubrey gave a talk.  We wore my Grandma out, but she loved every minute of it!

Katelyn went in to get her face painted by this darling girl in our ward.  I thought she wanted the same swirls, but she emerged with a simple, but very popular "BYU".  It was pretty funny when we got home and she looked in mirror, she was quite frustrated that Kayla had written it backwards!

At one point Tyler had to raid the kids bags to refill our trunk's supply.  

Or maybe it's just the Almond Joy's he was looking for:)

It's OK, we call these nights and experiences large "candy exchanges".

We found these two little love birds together.  

Remember, these two tell everyone that they are going to marry each other.  

She's constantly laying kisses on him and they are so cute!!

The kids begged me to dress up in costume, so I went as a Ragnar runner with my jersey, number, medal, and running shoes.  They were thrilled...and I was comfy!

Last, but not least there's always pumpkin carving.
We kept it simple this year with only a few pumpkins.

The boys chose a very simple, traditional face.

Aubrey thought it would be fun to dig out the inside and help contribute to our treat for the night, toasted pumpkin seeds.

However, she soon discovered she didn't like how the slimy "pumpkin guts" felt!! Ewwww....

 

Finally, the big day (aka candy exchange) arrived!!  The kids were so excited!  We didn't have our traditional soup this year, but opted for going to Chipotle in our costumes for huge $2 burritos.  

Then we enjoyed a night trick or treating with each other and friends.

It was so fun having my Grandma with us.
She figured she hadn't been out trick or treating in at least 15 years!

 We love to have our dear, country living friends, the Davis family come with us "city-folk" each year.  Ha ha! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her Eliza's darling candy corn dress too!

A great night and MORE candy than my kids have EVER gotten!