Halloween

Halloween. It's come and gone. Has this year been in fast forward for anyone else? But anyways...

We kicked off the week with pumpkin carving for FHE. Reggie was all excited about picking out his pumpkin at Fresh and Easy--no pumpkin patch could compete with their $2.99 flat price. But after a rousing version of "Popcorn Popping" and kudos ("Kudos to Mom. Kudos to Dad. Kudos to Pen. Kudos to Reg."), we had a repeat of last year.

I don't know if I've scared him silly of knives or what, but there was a whole lot of screaming, crying, and not wanting anything to do with the pumpkin or its guts. And once it was placed out on the patio, he was not interested in stepping one foot outside with it. Thankfully (or unthankfully) Reggie is old enough to be bribed. I can't remember what we bribed him with, but somehow he whipped out this smile for an obligatory picture.



And is it just me, or does Penny look like a completely different child without a bow on her head? :)

On Wednesday our ward had its trunk-or-treat. Last year Reggie was a cowboy. This year he was the cow. The funny thing about his costume is that he sleeps with it, talks to it, drags it everywhere around the house, but this is the only time we were able to get him in it. He had a great time wearing it, but we didn't get a great picture. We tried to get him to put it on a few times during the weekend, but he was not interested. I guess he didn't get the Lowder dress up gene--or its still lying dormant. We'll have to wait and see.



And Miss Penny rocked the poodle skirt. I may or may not have broke out in "Rock Around the Clock" at various times during the process of making this skirt.

Yes, I just typed that I made this skirt. And I'm going to say that all those people who bust out something without a pattern might be my hero. Of course no fabric store had a pattern for a 6 month sized poodle skirt, so I had to wing it. Thanks to a youtube video, I made a pattern, three practice skirts to figure out the right size, and two botched skirt attempts. I had bought a full yard of fabric and ended needing every inch of it, even though the final product maybe used a third of a yard. And my mom can confirm that I was ready to swear at the dang thing a few times during the whole process. :)



And the final hoorah of our Halloween week was Nevada Day. Bless Nevada for giving its residents a whole day off to commemorate the day it got statehood (October 31, 1864 in case you were wondering). Brandon's parents hoped in their sports car and joined us for the weekend.

Besides doing some Halloween stuff, watching movies, and eating out, we went to the new bridge by the Hoover Dam. It's finally finished and it did creep me out like I said it would back in 2007.

So it didn't creep me out walking along it or looking down--Brandon, however, was lightheaded. It's ridiculously high, approximately 900 feet above the Colorado River, so to say it didn't creep me out to look down is saying something. What did creep me out was pulling my baby out of the stroller to take this picture:



Yes, I know she is safe in Grandpa's arms, but there was that little knot in my stomach thinking "Are we done yet? Can we strap her back in safe and sound now?" I think we all kind of felt it as we passed her around for pictures and kept telling each other "to hold on tight to the baby."

And Reggie looks like he inherited his father's feelings about heights.



So there you have it. Hope your Halloween was fabulous!