It's the Great Pumpkin

Our first Halloween as a family has come to an end. I can't imagine a more perfect fall day to celebrate such a wonderful Peagan holiday. Last night we carved three of the pumpkins from Tara's garden and created a miniature version of our little family (check out Little Pumpkin Kennedy with her two teeth). Once they were lit, throw in some scary music, a bowl of candy, and let the trick or treating begin.

Since Kennedy is still so small, most of the evening involved her giving out candy (although for her giving out candy consists of grabbing a candy and sticking it in her mouth!). We were fortunate to have several visitors at the house, including different members of the ward and especially the Duncans! After Tara and Kennedy hit up a few of the neighbors for candy we went over to Alicia's house and spent a few minutes checking out everyone's haul. You can tell from the picture that the kids were pretty much finished with Halloween by the time we left. Oh well, good times!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Every year seems like the same thing. Thirty one days of anticipation and within a few hours, it's over. Like with so many different aspects of life, you just can't live up to the hype. More over Halloween, here comes Thanksgiving.

Grandma's House

Kennedy and I once again made the trek to Utah County today (4 times in 4 days!). How's that for some good gas guzzling! We wanted to visit Grandma and Grandpa Houtz on Halloween, so we drove down after work to spend some time with them. Grandpa ended up having to leave before we got there, so we spent the afternoon with Grandma. After feeding us some great chili and donuts, we played in the backyard, rolling around in the leaves. The we visited a couple of neighbors and went for a fun, long walk in the foothills. I reminisced about the days when I was younger and would hike around in the hills with my dog, Nick. I would bring home acorns and oak leaves to make collages. Now those hills are filled with big, expensive homes. It's still fun to walk up there, though. Now there are just paved roads everywhere! We had a great time visiting Grandma!

Coleman's Blessing

My cute niece Candace and her husband Willie blessed their new baby boy, Coleman, today. It was fun to see the whole family and spend some time together. As always, when the Houtz's get together, there was some good food to be had. After eating, Kennedy loved playing with all of her cousins and seeing her Grandma and Grandpa Houtz. She also got to hang out with baby Coleman and Uncle Dick after the crowd left.

Fall Back

You've got to love Daylight Savings time in the Fall. Today I woke up at 5:30 am, thanks to the time change and it seemed like I got a lot accomplished before church. Of course, the downside to our little time change is about 5:45 pm I took a little pic of Kennedy and Tara outside (I had to add the artificial spotlight). Maybe the time change isn't all good.

Cabin Party

Today I packed up Kennedy and headed up to the family cabin for a little shindig with the old college friends. Although it was a little rainy and cold, we had fun catching up and corraling the many kids that we all have. There were plenty of stories about softball and crazy nights in Ephraim, some were a little exagerrated, of course. We were even able to take a quick trip after the rain to the golf course to hunt for balls and try to keep kids out of the mud. It was fun to catch up with everyone and show off Kennedy. Most of the crew hadn't seen her since she was 2 months old. There were also a couple of announcements of more babies on the way, so it looks like the next party will be even bigger. It was great to see some of my old friends and just hang out for a few hours.