Halloween 2010

This post is going to be VERY random, so feel free to skim. We started out Halloween week with an INVASION of flies. We could not believe how many flies were in our house. I had cleaned the oven, so I left the doors open for a little while. HUGE mistake. I was trying to air out the house, but instead, I created a perfect place for the abnormal amount of flies to go. I noticed after this event that flies covered my car and the outside stucco of our home. I guess it was the weather or something.  Dan ran to the store to get a bunch of those sticky fly tapes and this is what they looked like after a day or so. YUCK! We knew we were having a lot of company coming to our home, so we wanted to get rid of them before our guests came.

Oaklyn got to dance as the pre-show for Odyssey Dance Company's Thriller, and she did a GREAT job. She is getting to be such a great dancer. Grandma and Grandpa Kjar were in town, so they came to watch her dance too.

Since the stage was so small, they broke up Oaklyn's team into two different performing days, so this is only half of her team.

Londyn, bless her tired little heart, was so beat by the time Halloween came that she kept falling alseep all over the house. She is in a hard stage right now. We are trying to take away her nap because if she gets one, she will not go to sleep at night. But, if we lose track of her for a second, she will fall asleep around 4 or 5 o'clock.

The kids helped carve pumpkins and had an absolute blast with the annual Ulrich pumpkin tradition. Connelly and Max were especially excited. Mike and Jess even went and picked up a few extra small pumpkins for the boys to carve. They were so enthusiastic, and they carved their pumpkins almost all by themselves!

We had a lot of family that came to the festivities and it was so much fun! As always Mike and Jessica were carving fools, and both sets of parents did great fulfilling their "quotas." I kept joking that they couldn't go to bed until they had carved more pumpkins! I was really kidding, but they honestly carved their hearts out. I was honestly in awe at how many pumpkins were carved this year. Mike carved 25 pumpkins HIMSELF! Dan and Mike stayed up until 3:30 for several nights in a row. I am bummed that I didn't get any pictures of my cousins because Eryn and Scott came and carved, and so did Justin and Nicole. We had a blast laughing until all hours of the night.

Oaklyn decided to be a skeleton this year, and she was so excited to have black hair. It was REALLY hard to get out of her red hair though. So, for trick or treating on Saturday, she opted not to redo that part. (I was glad). The kids had a blast at the trunk or treat, their class parties, and the Ulrich Family festivities. Con man was a ninja!

Here are some pics of the trick or treating. We are always so tired by the time this comes around that we only go for about 15 minutes (SHHHH, don't tell the kids this is abnormal). The kids got so much candy at the trunk or treat, they didn't need anymore, and they had fun going around the block in our neighborhood. :) Londyn was so tired that she didn't want to get out of the stroller much. We forgot to get a picture of her in her Fi-Fi the dog costume.

We ended up with right around 80 pumpkins this year. Holy moly. What a crazy couple of days. It was a blast! This year was kind of hard on me because I am so big pregnant. I was so tired by Halloween, that all I wanted to do was sit on the couch. :)

Thanks to Julie and Jessica, my house was clean, the kids were entertained by a million activities. I love having family in town. I wish they all lived closer! (meaning....move to St. George). :)

The pumpkin tradition is always a huge group effort. Here we all are trying to decide the best way to set out the pumpkins! We light them all with candles (thanks to Julie for bringing the left over Lion House candles), and some pumpkins need two.

For a few days after the event, the pumpkins sat on the side of the house. Connelly was in HEAVEN bashing the pumpkins. We finally got them all in the garbage cans yesterday. It takes a few weeks to recoup. :)

Here he is...so proud of his bashing skills.

We had a great time this year, and we hope to continue the tradition for many years to come. Good thing we have a year before the next one because the smell of rotten pumpkin is still a little fresh for me. :)