Halloween is Here Again!

The kids recently had their elementary school's Trunk or Treat, which was their first go-round for wearing costumes, grabbing candy, and officially celebrating Halloween and they couldn't wait to get there!! I made them pose for these pictures before heading over to the school, and although they were rushing me along they turned out so cute! 

Here's Miss Lucy dressed up like Padme Amidala from Star Wars. She looks so grown up to me in this picture, so no more makeup until she's at least 25. She looks 9 going on 19 with that lipstick!  

Miss Leah who reprised her role as Belle. She is so cute in her costume-- she walks and talks like she thinks Belle would, and just smiles so serenely she is the perfect princess.

Zach-O is his current favorite Justice League hero, the Flash!! He made sure to ask me how the Flash runs ("with his fists closed, or in blades, Mom?"), and he took representing the Flash very seriously.

Baby Lizzie was Princess Leia!! How cute is this Star Wars baby??? It was Jon's dream come true.

Here are the mother-daughter duo (at least in the movie, of course), and if I'd had my way, they would have all dressed up in Star Wars costumes! Zach could have been Darth Vader, Leah could have been R2D2 or something, and the Force would have been very strong in our family.

But alas, nobody liked that idea except me, so I was nice and let them pick their own fancy, and I think they're perfect just the way they are. I love how this picture turned out!! I didn't even have to pose them or anything. This was all them-- totally their own little personalities coming through on camera. HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2016!

We headed over to the school for good times and good company (and lots and lots of candy!!) The kids had a blast with all the different cars and seeing their friends, it was the perfect kick-off to our Halloween weekend.

Jon worked all day Saturday, so we went and visited him that afternoon as his last few appointments to get our own family cleanings done. It's always fun to see him at work and in his "element." Our neighbors the Barbers invited us over that night for a pumpkin carving party, plus we had our ward's Trunk or Treat. Zach and Lucy did a pretty swell job of gutting their own pumpkins all by themselves which is obviously the most terrible part!

Wee-Wee's wanted a "scary" pumpkin face for her jack o'lantern.

Zach picked the flaming skull for his pumpkin.

And I'm not totally sure what Lucy picked... she is the only kid who did everything herself start to finish, and I think it might be a scary witch face (profile)?

The kids had a great time at the carving party, and even better it was nice to get to hang out with our next door neighbors and get to know them a bit better!

Monday, October 31st was Halloween! I wonder if we could sign a petition to make Halloween be like Thanksgiving-- where it always falls on like the last Friday or Saturday of the month?? It really is a holiday that needs to be over a weekend! Those poor, poor teachers. But look how fun Jon is for dressing up for work. He is the hottest Clark Kent/Superman ever!! 

Clark at work with his super hero staff. My dentist has super powers, how about yours? Ha ha!

We had everyone over for pizza, salad, and root beer that evening before heading out to hit the neighborhood.

Lucy helped me brew up these "potions" for us to drink. They are a Pinterest tradition now!

Baby Yoda (Jameson) and Baby Leia were just too cute in their matching Star Wars costumes! "Hard to be babies it is, their mommies they need."-Yoda

Spidey and the Flash tag-teaming it to catch some bad guys this Halloween.

Two very pretty princesses! Love these two!

The whole Cardon clan all set and ready to head out trick or treating! What a fun memory these cute cousins will have of spending Halloweens together. 

I always have to get a picture of the aftermath. They got soooooo much candy, it should be criminal. I made them combine it all and from the two parties we went to, plus trick or treating, there has to be at least 10 pounds. I NEVER remember getting that much candy as a kid! These little monsters are so spoiled! Bye bye Halloween, hello November!

Guns, Guac, Ghouls, and Ghosties!

Who can believe it's already Halloween?? October just flew by!! We had so many fun things happening, plus all of our normal (CRAZY) amount of activities, that before we knew it-- November is just right around the corner.

This almost-four-year-old (her birthday is exactly one week after Halloween) is loving preschool. She really missed it over Fall Break, and I'm so thankful it gives her something productive to do, and to have something to look forward to during the week. Now it just makes the other days of the week feel really long and boring to her, but she loves her teachers, her friends, and learning her letters. She's been having fun picking out Halloween-y outfits all month long.

They made these cute poems one day, and I loved Leah's responses. She definitely has two sides to her-- the nickname Mt. Leah still fits!! 

They took a class photo recently and here she is with her cute new friends and Miss Ashley.

Speaking of school, here's Mr. Cardon giving his classmates their spelling test a few Fridays ago. He saved up all of his Class Dojo reward points (he gets awarded points whenever he does something good) and cashed them in for the prize of being "Teacher For a Day." How fun is that? His teacher said he did great-- and even got to experience "real life teacher fatigue," as he was so busy collecting papers he forgot to eat his snack during snack time.

Jon and I were long overdue for a date night, so last Saturday we hired a babysitter and tried a new taco place called "Torchy's Tacos." Whitney had raved about their tacos and guac, so I already had high expectations due to that, but we had actually tried to go the Friday night before and the line was literally out the door with at least 40-50 people waiting to order!! Now if that alone didn't recommend it, we'd be dumb not to try again...

So that Saturday around 4 p.m. (we figured we'd try it during an off-time) we ordered the green chile queso, and five amazing different tacos to share. So good!! The "Trailer Park" with fried chicken and chorizo was my favorite-- but Jon liked the shrimp and fried avocado. They were all definitely a hit and I can't wait to go back and try some more.

After our tacos and guac, we headed over to the shooting range to turn me into a gun-toting mama. Ha ha-- just kidding, but let's be honest, in this day and age it's a skill I'd rather have than not have. We started with the rifle (which I hated), then switched to the shotgun (which was fun), and finished with Jon's handgun which was great. This was my target after firing the handgun-- and let's just say, with how loud and disorienting it is I'm thankful I even hit the target! No bullseyes, but Jon says I shoot pretty much up and down the middle, as opposed to veering off left or right, so now I just need to get it dead center and I'll be a regular ol' Annie Oakley. 

Here's my super sexy "mans" getting tons of bullseyes and hitting everything right on target. With a new foodie place under my belt, and lots of explosions for Jon, it was what you could call a perfect date night for both of us.

That Sunday night we made out traditional Halloween sugar cookies-- as well as a huge mess frosting and sprinkling them. The kids had fun later on doorbell ditching plates of them to all of our neighbors. 

Here's beautiful Lizzie in her Sunday best. I keep reminding myself to take her picture every Sunday in her little dresses before she outgrows them all and there's not another new baby to pass them on to!

Leah had her preschool Halloween party this week and she was SO excited to wear her Belle costume that Grandma Cardon made for her. She had all the accessories and even a Belle wig, so she totally looked the part! She ended up wearing the dress all day long and had a great time at her party.

This little tiny peanut just keeps growing up. Now whenever we brush teeth, she wants her own toothbrush to be just like the big kids. She turned 9 months on the 25th, and had her 9 month check-up a few days later. 

She is just the sweetest baby and is SO friendly! I don't want to jinx her, but she doesn't have any sense of stranger danger yet, and I can't even count how many people she got passed around to during church today. At least 4 families consistently send a daughter to come get her during Sacrament, and if ever I have to take her to my 12-13 year old Sunday School class I can't even teach the lesson because all those kids want to do is play with her.  She just seems to know she's cute and loves being showered with any extra attention. How can you not love that little mug??

Here are her 9 month doctor's office stats:

Height: 26 3/4 in. (25th %)

Weight: 15 lbs. 14 oz. (15th%)

Head Circumfrence: 43 cm. (30th%)

Compared to Lucy's 97th percentiles at this age, she is sooo tiny for our family, but that's just fine by me because it makes her seem like our little baby for longer!

BYU Homecoming 2016

Our new tradition of attending BYU Homecoming over Fall Break has cemented itself as one of my kids' most favorite weekends to look forward to. They all ask about it weeks and weeks in advance-- and even Leah gets excited about going to "EYU" (BYU). We left late Thursday night. I picked Jon up in Castle Rock (he was working until 8 p.m.) and we figured we'd drive until we hit Grand Junction, arriving around 1 a.m. The kids did really well-- they all fell asleep around 9 p.m. in the car, and then fell back asleep pretty quickly once we got to our hotel.

From Grand Junction it's only about 3 hours to Provo, so we stopped at Cubby's in Spanish Fork just in time for lunch. We'd heard so many good things about this new fast-casual chain that we wanted to try it for ourselves! Hopefully it makes its way to Colorado soon!

We always have to swing by our old house on 500 N. 800 E. And there she is! Still standing, but looking a bit worse for wear. Can you believe we paid $545/month in rent for this little one-room, 400 sq. foot, spider-infested, basement apartment, with no dishwasher or washer and dryer??? I guess that's why I love vacations-- a) it gets you out of your routine and refreshes your perspective, and b) when you head back to your "roots," it shows you just how far you've come.

First stop was the BYU Bookstore which is like heaven to my kids. We've really started the brainwashing early with them-- and they all want as much BYU merchandise as we can afford! Zach had saved up his money and bought a little tiny lego BYU football player, and it is his most prized possession.

Posing with Cosmo!

We had to get our newest little Cougar a BYU shirt to match her siblings. Loyal, strong, and true!

We had to get some Creamery chocolate milk and BYU mint brownies at the Cougareat inside the Wilkinson Center before meeting Taylor at the library.

I just love Y mountain. It's such a beautiful backdrop to campus. Here the kids are making a (backwards) BYU with their arms. Rise and shout!

Uncle Taylor was probably a little embarrassed he was clobbered by my kids as he exited the library, but they were just SO excited to see him! We hadn't seen him since we visited Washington this summer. I think he's a pretty handsome single guy.

Here we are reppin' the Y! It was so fun to be back in Provo, back on campus, and remembering our fun college days....

That night we met up with Whitney and her friend Aubrey for dinner at Gurus. The Homecoming game didn't even start until 8:15 p.m., so I knew there was no way I'd be going with the two littlest. They would have been a hot, tired, mess! We figured Jon could just scalp tickets for him and Lucy and Zach-- but after dinner even Zach was looking totally exhausted so I convinced him to come back to my Aunt Patty's house (where we were staying) and watch the game on TV with me. Jon and Lucy headed to the game, and the kids and I headed in for the night. I got this beautiful picture of the new Provo temple on the way home!

Jon had no problem finding last minute tickets, and they got great seats! How cute are they on their little football date?? I don't think Lucy really knows a thing about football, but she just loved the "game day" atmosphere and all the fun things that are going on during the breaks.

And look who they found! Whitney and Aubrey scalped tickets too, and they happened to be in the same section! The game was a nail biter, in true BYU fashion-- going into DOUBLE overtime, with the Cougs finally beating the Mississippi Bulldogs 21-28. They didn't get back home until almost 1:30 a.m. I was sure glad Zach stayed home with me and got to bed early!

The Homecoming parade was the next morning at 10 a.m., so everyone had to be up and at 'em and out the door by 9:30 a.m. There's Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Tom Tom marching with the Alumni float!

There was TONS of candy, lots of fun floats, and even a little Pikachu in the parade this year. The kids had a blast.

Everybody met back up on campus at the Bookstore again, since Zach wanted to get his "hipster" haircut down at the BYU Barbershop like last year. I love all these BYU traditions!

We met Taylor for lunch at the Brick Oven for pizza. I hadn't eaten there in years! It's definitely a BYU tradition through and through though. It's one of the first places I can ever remember going on a date to my freshman year of college.

Taylor got the unlimited pizza buffet and homemade root beer, and we're not sure how many pieces he actually ate. We lost count. In fact, he may still be sitting there, eating pizza, and filling up on root beer as we speak.

Grandma Joanie got tickets for Lucy and I to attend the Homecoming Spectacular which is always awesome entertainment! BYU sure knows how to put on a "spectacular" show, that's for sure. They feature all their dancing and singing groups as well as some special guests.

This year's special guest was THE Gladys Knight-- as well as Lexi Walker and Peter Holland (both LDS artists). She was FANTASTIC!! Her "Midnight Train to Georgia" was my favorite of the concert.

Gladys also did some "gospel" arrangements of "Love One Another" and "I Am A Child of God" which were really unique. All the groups joined her and Lexi for the finale.

Right after the concert we swung by "Swig," which is a (Utah famous) little drive thru with homemade cookies and soda. It's home of the original "Dirty Dr. Pepper" which is what I have here, wink, wink. 

We met back up with Jon and the kids, Whitney, and Taylor for dinner at J-Dawgs. Basically we just ate and ate all the BYU things all weekend long. Jon and I shared one, and then on our way back to Patty's we also got an order of chicken tikka masala from Bombay House for old times. 

These Provo leaves were representin'! The weather was gorgeous.

Taylor had a date that night, so we had to bid him and Whitney goodbye. As you can see, Zach was devastated. He was so sad to say goodbye again. He is Taylor's best and most loyal little minion, and wants to do everything just like him. We woke up early Sunday morning and hit the road for the 8 hour drive back to Colorado. The kids actually did amazingly well, all things considered, and even though we were just gone 3 nights, it was still great to be back home. School started back up yesterday, and we are all so thankful we had a safe, wonderful Fall Break!