Dear Dad, please do not go out of town anymore. Mom feels way too justified to take us out for junk food when you're not here. She's determined to not even use the microwave until you get home.

Corben purposefully shuts his eyes everytime someone points a camera at him. Well Corben, hope this is better.

Next we went to visit great-grandma and also got to see grandpa Greg while we were there. We were able to knock out our week's requirements of cookies and candy while we were there.

Then we went down the street and watched the Christmas parade. For once, we thought a parade was too short! That pleased Mom because it made for less whining!

As we drove home from the parade Lance said, "I wish Dad would've been there," and all the kids agreed.

We ended our 13 year tradition of trick-or-treating in Kaysville this year. Missed seeing Gayla. The kids have been phasing it out as they get older & this year they all insisted we go in our neighborhood. Jeremy started a Halloween tradition last year (stolen from his old friend). He puts a movie on in the garage and grills hot dogs to give to friends/neighbors who come trick-or-treating. He's loved doing it and a lot of the neighbors get a kick out of it. The kids also loved it when they got done with trick-or-treating. They never last very long, which was a good thing this year since I'm trying so hard to diet & I usually steal over half their candy.

Brody is dressed as a Power Ranger, though unless you're a hardcore fan you can't tell what he is because he wouldn't wear a mask or let me come within 10 feet of him while holding Halloween make-up. Jace is, of course, Spongebob. This costume has served us well. Glad Kira bought it for our exclusive use.

Zack was changing his mind about costumes until the night before, and this is what he decided on. He kept saying he was a dead zombie & I kept lecturing him not to say dead zombie, as zombies are already dead. I just don't want my kids to sound unintelligent. Corben had the great idea that he could go as a living zombie, no costume required.

Lance was pretty much the best Frankenstein I've ever seen. He's got the perfect tall lanky body, and he was a champ with getting the make-up on. Usually they're such squirmy worms that it's all smeared, but he is one patient kid.

This was hilarious. Trev & a bunch of his friends dressed as evil looking clowns. Trev went one step further & brought his unicycle to school & rode it in the school costume parade! It was so funny. His uni skills are aMAzing.

No picture of Corben because despite the fact that he completely disobeyed my insistence that he is too old to trick-or-trick & went anyway, to make matters worse he didn't even wear a costume! What a geek. And he wouldn't even share his candy with me. Jeremy finally found it hidden in his school backpack which I was then forced to accidentally rip in my struggle to get it from him to get some candy.

I don't know why (fear of my kids with knives, I guess), but I really loathe pumpkin carving. I loved that Jeremy was walking on thin ice with me just in time for pumpkin carving night. He INSISTED I take a nice long bath while he supervised the carving. I missed the whole thing! Yay! The kids did a great job. Their pumpkins looked awesome & we had delicious seasoned pumpkin seeds for days.