What a SPOOKTACULAR month

I can't believe October has already come and gone. Thankfully I have a lot to show for it and it was a WONDERFUL month full of visits from family. This last year, as we have been living here and seeing all the fun things that Omaha has to offer, we are always saying "I can't wait to show our parents this." Well we finally got our chance to do that this month starting with my parents.

(look! my morning glories finally started blooming.)

We were very excited to show them our new home which they made possible for us to live here. I loved sharing with them how wonderful Village Green is and our cozy home. It made all my work on this house worth it to show them what they made possible. They came to visit us last year but it was when we were living in Council Bluffs and didn't really know the area yet. Well this time, we had a lot to show them. We of course had to take them to the zoo and luckily, the birds didn't leave their mark on my dad this time. We enjoyed the Farmers market down in Old Market. We also took them to the Winter Quarters visitors center and it turned out that a missionary couple that was serving there went to high school with my dad so there were big hugs and a fun reunion there.

They LOVED the big trains and the little trains down at the Gardens as well as the all the Fall flowers. My dad probably could have stayed at the trains for several hours. We took them to the Pedestrian bridge to walk across the Missouri River. Here they are at the state line....don't mind the devil dog. We had so much fun just having them here and the kids LOVED spending as much time with them as possible. My mom taught Addie a piano song and she caught on so fast. We are going to be starting her in piano lessons soon and she is so excited.

It was hard to see them go since we don't know when we will be seeing them again, since they are putting in their mission papers very soon. I hope very much that they are called somewhere close to us.

Well the week after they left, we went to Nauvoo to meet up with my sister Valerie and her family for a couple days. That will have to be in a post by itself or this post would be far to long.

The week after we got back, Ammons parents flew in. This was their first time out here so it was fun showing them all the fun things around us. Terry (Ammons step-dad) was only able to stay 3 days but Teresa (Ammons mom) got to stay for a week. It was funny because before they got here, I heard Addie tell her friend "My Grandma is coming and she never says no to me and gives me whatever I want, even if it's not good for me" and her friend said "I wish I had a grandma like that." I got a good chuckle out of that. Teresa, you have been found out. Addie is onto you ;-)

The day before they came, our washer broke....not cool when you have kids who cannot wake themselves up to go to the bathroom at night. Well I was looking on Craigslist but when Terry got here, he insisted that we go shopping. I must say that Terry is one stubborn man as well as very generous. Our dishwasher was also broken. Did I mention that he was stubborn when he sets his mind to something? He is a red-head too. All Ammon said when he found out that these 2 red-heads went shopping together was "Oh Boy". For all my arguing and refusing...we still came home with a brand new washer and dishwasher. Life is heaven now. As I sit here typing, I hear the gentle purr of the dishwasher washing my dishes for me. Thank you so much

Terry and Teresa got to enjoy our Zoo with all the wild animals hiding in the pumpkin patch. Wait a second...

Addie seriously has a gift with butterflies. I can't even count the number of butterflies she caught this summer and they would sit on her hand just like this one in at the zoo. It just crawled right onto Addies hand. See what else she had crawling on her hand below (yes it's real)

They were also here for the Primary program on Sunday and Addie and Kimball were so happy that they got to watch them sing and give their parts. Terry flew out Sunday evening and Teresa stayed for a few more day which was also Halloween, which of course involves decorating pumpkins.

"I thought you said this was going to be fun mom"

Guess who ended up carving Addies pumpkin? Nana, and it was her first time ever carving a pumpkin which turned out VERY cool. However, painting pumpkins next year does sound much easier.

We went to Addies school parade and went to the Gardens for a Halloween party. Unfortunatly the had taken out most the flowers preparing the grounds for winter and took the trains down too. I was so sad Teresa couldn't see the Gardens in their beauty.

Ammon had to work Halloween night so this was the first year we didn't dress up but I took the kids around trick-or-treating. Addie was Repunzel with shorter hair for school but the wig wasn't working out so well so she was a granny for trick-or-treating. She wasn't quite sure how she liked being "ugly" but we got a kick out of her.

Kimball was excited to be Darthvader

and Avonlea could care less that she was dressed up. She was just fascinated that people were giving candy away so freely and leaving bowls of candy on their porch. WOO HOO. She would just run from house to house with the kids. I'm sure that didn't have anything to do with the sugar high they were on either haha.

October was such a great month and a perfect way to lead into these next months of Holidays since we won't be seeing any family for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It filled our hearts full of "love storage" to survive on in the cold winter months. We love our family so much and we were so happy to see and visit them. We will take as many visitors as we can get (hint hint)