Halloween Dinner and Trick-or-Treating

Every year since I can remember my parents host a fun Halloween dinner with soup and bread bowls where we all dress up in our Halloween attire, eat, then go trick-or-treating.



This year was a lot of fun! Christine made homemade bread bowls again... so good... and my mom made her 3 traditional soups. Creamy Vegatable (my personal favorite), Chicken Noodle, and Hamburger Macaroni. I had been craving the Creamy Veggetable soup for weeks and was so excited for our Halloween Party!



The theme this year was "The Circus" and we had a pretty good showing of characters!

Dad = Ring Master
Mom and Collette = Mimes
Kyle = Pilot... he was actually at work and couldn't come... but he really is a pilot!
Jacob = Nerd (he had a school dance that night and dressed up with his date and group)
Katie and Van = Lion and Lion Tamer (with his whip, of course)
Johnny and baby Davis = Elephant and Peanut
Christine = Clown
Johnny-boy and Lance = Super Boys (Spiderman and Spider-Flying-Ninja)
Michael = Bike rider
Camille, Afton and Evelyn = Trapeeze sisters
Aunt Tracy and Nikki = Tight Rope Walkers

Halloween Celebrations!

Halloween is always so much fun and Lance looks forward to it all year. This year for the past several months he has even included Halloween in his prayers. He thanks Heavenly Father for "Trick or Treating with Nana and Papa" and is sure to remind Michael and I to thank Him for it too.

PIRATE BOAT RIDE

One of the fun things we did this year was go on a Pirate Boat ride on the Provo River! Our Aunt Tracy was so thoughtful and bought special tickets for Lance and Afton. It was slow-paced, not scary, and just what Lance was hoping for! He LOVED it!





GARDNER VILLAGE

With the Covey family we went on our annual trip to Gardner Village to see the stuffed witches, let the kids ride on a horse, and pet all the farm animals at the petting zoo!





Gardner Village was especially fun because many of the husbands and Dad's were able to come! Michael, my Dad, John, and Van were all there!





It was SO MUCH FUN and Afton especially loved riding the "horsie" and wouldn't stop asking about it until she got to ride one like the big boys Lance and Johnny did!







SCARY TRAIN

We also dressed up and went with our good friends the Sloniker's (Janine, Rebecca, Joseph, Katelyn, and Aidan) to a Scary Train Ride! Lance had Janine cover his eyes for almost the entire ride when we went through the scary tunnels.

Joy School Halloween

I am still doing Joy School with Lance and it has been a lot of fun! It has actually been really great to have something in his life that has stayed the same. It takes about 20 minutes each way to drive him to Joy School for those 2 days a week... but it has totally been worth it.



I got to teach in October and get the kids ready for the Halloween Parade and Program! The kids were so adorable!



We got to learn a song about carving a pumpkin, then carve one (the kids were pretty grossed-out with the cleaning of the pumpkin!), and sing a song about a Mean, Old Witch with a Hat... they LOVED that song!

I am constantly impressed with how quickly they learn! Cute kids!

Love Lane House

We have enjoyed living at the Love Lane House (the home in Lehi) and feel so lucky and blessed to have this beautiful home to live in while we figure out where our next home will be.



Here are a few things we have been doing lately.

Wrestling with Daddy when he gets home from work
Walking up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls
Enjoying cold cereal every morning with our card table and folding chairs
And catching mice in the house! (We are up to 12 now... yuck!)







We call this house the "Love Lane House" because it is already so confusing and hard for Lance to try and explain why we are moving so much and which house is which.



When we were finishing up cleaning at the PG house late the night before we were officially out Lance starting crying and said, "I don't want to leave! This is our HOME Mommy!"



I almost started crying... this is our home, and we don't even have another "home" to go to because we don't know where we are going to be in a few months... moving is hard.



We decided to call this house in Lehi the "Love Lane House" because it is located on Love Ln., and it won't be our permanent home (probably only 2 or 3 months). We call our old home in Pleasant Grove the "PG House" and when Lance asks where our "home" is I tell him that I don't know yet.



He will often say to me, "Mommy, are we going to live in the Love Lane house forever?" "No" I say, "just for a little while."



The first time we went to the Lehi ward I told Lance how great it was going to be and how he would be able to meet new friends and that it was going to be a lot of fun. He got teary-eyed and said, "I want to go to the PG House church Mommy. I like those friends."



I didn't realize how hard moving would be on a 4 year old... it's definitely been an adjustment. He has been more whiny and sad and not quite himself lately... I hope he starts feeling better soon... poor guy.

More Birthday Fun!

I had another little party at our house to celebrate Michael's birthday.



We invited over the Davis, Moon, and Stout families (who are our friends... but more like family) and it was really nice to get together.



I set up a bunch of old pictures of Michael from his High School years, made scones, caramel popcorn, and cookies, and enjoyed the evening!



Be sure to notice Michael's beautiful smile... he chipped his tooth and had a veneer put on, but the veneer kept breaking off when he ate, or in the middle of the night, or for any reason really... so he gave up on going back to the dentist a million times and just lived with his tooth at half the size for about 2 weeks! Wow... I would not have been able to do that! I would be much to self conscience! And don't worry... he did get a permanent veneer and it has stayed on and looks great!

Happy 4th Birthday Lance!

- Michael and I woke up the Birthday Boy by singing him "Happy Birthday" and having his room full of balloons and Super Hero decorations. We gave him 2 special swords (one for Lance and one for Daddy) to play-fight with!





- The Spider-Flying-Ninja costume that Lance designed himself and Mommy made!





- A couple of months ago Lance told me that he wanted to be a "Spider-Flying-Ninja" for his birthday.

I asked him, "What is a Spider-flying-Ninja"?
"Get a paper Mommy and you can draw it"
"Okay Lance". So I got out a piece of paper and the markers as Lance directed me as to what I should draw.
"He flies in the sky and is red, with those arm things (pointing to his forearm)."
"Arm bands?"
"Yes, and on his legs too (pointing to his shins)"
"Okay Lance, what else?"
"And he flies."
"Okay, so here is his cape...."
"No Mommy! Not a cape! He needs wings!"
"Oh, alright... wings it is."
"And he has a belt, and a mask over his eyes, and a spider on his chest."
"Like this?"
"Yes Mommy! Now can I help color him?"

Lance then took the markers and helped to color him. He was also sure to "fix" his mouth because he didn't look scary enough. Apparently I made him look a little too nice... not like a Super Hero should look! =)

- Here is the original drawing... next to the custom birthday cake that Uncle Van made just for The Spider-Flying-Ninja Lance!



- These are the Pinata Candy Bags I made for each of the children. I also made each of the children a Super Hero Cape that had a star on the back with the initial of their name as well as a matching mask.



- Pinatas are always a hit at birthday parties... the kids loved hitting the Spider-Flying-Ninja pinata that I made for the birthday, and were very excited when the candy came flying out!







- This is the new "face" Lance makes when I tell him to smile for the camera. When I asked him why he makes that silly face he said, "It's not silly, Mommy. It's cool!"



- So many of our family members came to support us and celebrate! Thank you all so much for being such a huge part of Lance's life!


Kyle & Collette, Van & Katie, John & Christine


Aunt Tracy and Lance. She came all the way from Park City and got Lance an amazing Batman costume... he is obsessed with it and won't take it off! Our boy sure does love to dress up like Super Hero's!


Nana, Evelyn and Grandma Covey


Papa Covey and Lance


Nana, Evelyn, Van, Katie, and Johnny


Grandma & Grandpa Bennett, Jennifer and Katelyn


Grandma & Grandpa Bennett with Lance


Grandpa Bennett with Lance


Lance and Grandma

- Everyone was SO GENEROUS with us and Lance and the lucky Birthday Boy got so many fun presents! Legos, wooden blocks, a Super Hero book, toys, clothes, costumes...etc. He LOVED everything and we feel so spoiled!


Lance loved every single gift!


Lance sharing his new Transformer mask with Ali


Lance kept "admiring" himself in the mirror with all of his different outfits!


Lance with his new Iron Man mask

- We sang "Happy Birthday" and Lance blew out the candles on his special cake. Not only did the cake look amazing, but it was delicious and moist!!! It was even blue on the inside!





Bennett Family

Jennifer, Katelyn, John, Debbie, Michael, Camille, Kathy
Lizzy, Afton, Aiden, Lance, Ali

Covey Family

John & Christine, Evelyn, John & Kathleen, Camille & Michael, Van & Katie, Tracy
Lance, Afton, Johnny, Collette & Kyle

- Oh Lance, we love you so much. You are so smart, charming, loving, fun, articulate, creative, imaginative, silly, friendly, and everything that we could have every prayed for in a son. We can't imagine life without you and love you more than words can express. You are such a wonderful boy and we feel so lucky to have you forever! Thank you for bringing so much joy into our family! We love you Lance!