HALLOWEEEEEEEEN

Halloween is a favorite around our house. I just love the whole month of October. It is so nice when the weather starts to cool down and we can spend time outside. We love going to Staheli Farm to play and go to the corn maze. We also go to Breakfast with a Witch at the farm and then out to the pumpkin patch and we always have a good time.

We love to pick out a few good pumpkins from the patch so that we can carve them later. Claire loves carving pumpkins and insists on doing the whole thing herself so it is always a struggle with the knife trying to let her help but making sure she has all 10 fingers at the end of it! Claire knew exactly what she wanted the face of her pumpkin to look like....

and she was pretty proud of it

Because I love Halloween so much I start looking at Halloween costumes for Claire around August until we find the perfect one. Now that she is getting older she is getting pickier and wants to pick her own costume. I miss when I could just put her in anything I wanted to and she couldn't say no. She really wanted to be a princess this year but I was having a hard time finding a cute costume that was cheesy looking. Then I found this adorable Belle costume that she loved and found the perfect wig to pull the whole look together and I think it turned out pretty cute. The day of Halloween we had way too much fun. We went around to so many different places and got to see lots of our friends and family. Claire's preschool has the cutest Halloween carnival and have a different game in each classroom.

Then we met up with some friends at Dixie Middle school to go trick-or-treating around to all the classrooms. This was really fun and all the middle school kids were so funny and loved the little kids. I wish I would have gotten more pictures because Claire and her friends thought the middle school was awesome! They looked so funny standing next to the lockers.

After that we met up with Liesel and her kids and one of the car dealerships that always does a trunk-or-treat on their car lot. They always have music playing and candy and some of the cars.

By the time we were done at the car dealership it was almost evening time so we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa McMullin's for some food and to take pictures with some of the cousins. Everyone looked so cute and I wish I could get better pictures of everyone and their fun costumes.

At last it was time to do some real trick-or-treating! We decided to go back to the same neighborhood we went to the year before in Santa Clara. This neighborhood goes all out! They decorate their whole entire street! Some of the houses even pass out food like cotton candy, kettle corn and corn dogs. They have train rides and people dressed up walking around and movies playing... it is just such a fun place for all things Halloween. I love that Claire loves Halloween and does not get scared. She wanted to take pictures with everyone that was dressed up.

This year we got Claire's pictures taken again in her Halloween costume. We did them last year too and they were  so cute I can't wait to do them every year. I am so happy that we got them taken I love how they turned out!

First Haircut....

I know I shouldn't be that emotional about a first haircut considering it was only a trim and Claire is like 4 years old!!!! but it is still a first. Well it was mainly emotional because it was not exactly planned. I knew Claire needed a haircut and I was planning on taking her into a salon for a trim but she decided that she didn't need a professionals help with this one. 

I didn't think we would every have to worry about Claire cutting her own hair since most kids do that when they are like two and don't really know better but Claire! She is 4! Thank goodness she wasn't too crazy and cut bangs or anything. She tried to just give herself a little trim but I knew right then that I couldn't wait any longer to take her in for a real haircut. 

She was a little worried that it was going to hurt because we were "cutting" her hair but she was very brave and held super still. We hardly took off anything because Claire wants her hair really long "like a princess" but at least now we can comb through it a little better!

STG ->SLC ->PC ->STG

In August we decided to make a little trip up to Salt Late City. It was kind of a last minute trip to go buy a new CAR! Trevor had been looking for a few months for a truck. He found a Toyota Tundra in Salt Lake that was exactly what he had been looking for so we decided to make a vacation out of it. The first we did when we got up there was go get Trevor's new truck! Right after we picked up the new car we went straight to the aquarium. One of my favorite things to do in Salt Lake is go to the aquarium. I know some people can go once and that is enough but I could go every single time we go up north and love it the same every time, and I know Claire won't complain if we go. Some of our favorite animals to look at are the jelly fish, teeny tiny sea horses, sea otters and the penguins! 

After spending the evening at the aquarium we went to our hotel to get some rest so that we could wake up and go to the zoo the next day! The zoo is another place that we could never get sick of. We love looking at all the animals and I always notice when we get home that I have taken waaaaay too many pictures and I fill up my whole memory card just taking pictures of the animals. I think some of them are so funny and cute!

We spent the entire morning at the zoo and then we decided to get a little crazy and drive up to Park City! We have never taken Claire to Park City to ride the alpine slides and Trevor and I couldn't remember the last time we had gone on them so we decided it was about time and it was SOOO MUCH FUN! I would love to make this a yearly trip for us because we had a blast. Claire loves all roller coasters and anything that goes fast so I knew she would not be scared. She rode with Trevor on the alpine slide and then with me on the alpine coaster and we just floored the gas the whole way down while she had her hands in the air! 

It was so pretty up in Park City and such a perfect day to go have some fun. By the end of the day we were exhausted and had way too much excitement for one day! It was such a fun quick trip up north that we definitely will have to do again!

First annual Johnson/Cowley Reunion

This year Trevor's side of the family decided to have a family reunion which we are trying to make an annual tradition! Trevor's mom, Nancy, is awesome and planned the whole entire weekend and got a cabin in Zions that we all got to stay at. Almost all of Trevor's siblings came which was so fun since everyone is spread out. We went up to Zions on Thursday and relaxed until Saturday night. We actually stayed at an RV Park outside of Springdale that is right by the river. Loni and her family have an RV and were on their way back from driving across the county so they met us there and we rented the one cabin they had at the park. The cabin was so nice and was just like a hotel room but even better. The RV park had so many fun activities that we got to enjoy. One night they had s'mores around a fire pit, the next night they made brick oven pizza and we got to reserve the recreation hall and watch a movie. I loved that  we were so close to the river so we could just walk down there and let the kids play. We also loved being right outside of Zion so we could take a little trip up there for a hike at Weeping Rock, which the kids loved and it was so gorgeous! It was such a relaxing trip and so nice to get away and let all the cousins get together and play. Nancy did such an awesome job planning everything and I can't wait for next year!

Birthday Boy

Well another year has come and gone and Trevor is just getting older and not quite sure if wiser but I guess we will see. This year for his birthday I gave Claire a couple dollars and let her pick out what she wanted to get him. Then she helped me decorate the house a little and surprise him when he came home from work.  She was so excited to give him her presents and I am pretty sure he loved and will use ALL of it....

Claire chose a lovely birthday hat, some HUGE star glasses, then had to put her sunglasses on too for a photo shoot, some bubbles and a ceramic cat and dog which she painted so he could put them at his office.