Pumpkins, pumpkins all around!

Last Saturday, we finally went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins! It was a cold day, but we lucked out, because as soon as we left our house, it stopped raining, and it didn't start up again until we were getting in the car to leave the pumpkin patch.

The patch that we always go to is Schmidt's Farm Pumpkin Patch. For all of you locals, it is a great place to get pumpkins! There website is www.schmidtsfarm.com if you want more info!

Priya was in heaven. She ran around, pointing at all of the "balls" and saying "ooo, ooo!" She can say pumpkins, but she still affectionately prefers to call them "balls." It is so cute. She loved it, and it took some convincing to get her into the wheelbarrow (which shows how much she liked the pumpkins, because she LOVES wheelbarrow rides).




Some pictures from our little adventure:

Here we go!

She loves wheelbarrow rides!


And for those of you who were waiting with baited-breath to see what Priya's costume of choice is this year... drum-roll, please...

Ta-da!

A skunk!

Jill, you were right!

Mommy and Priya

Andrew, Lexi, and Megan

Lexi

Joanna, Calvin, and (you have to look carefully) Natalie

Megan (I LOVE that toothless grin!)

Lexi

Helping daddy push the wheelbarrow

Look at all these pumpkins, mom!

Calvin, Joanna, Megan, Lexi, and Natalie

Jessica, Andrew, and Priya

Halloween Season

The fall season is in full swing! I can't believe that Halloween is only a few weeks away! Time flies by! We wanted to share some of our Halloween traditions, and also post some pictures of some of the fun fall activities we have been doing!

Our Halloween traditions:

Tradition #1: Watching "scary" Halloween movies. Some of our highly recommended picks are:

Disney's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
Who wouldn't fall in love with that quirky Ichabod Crane?

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
Snoopy is everyone's favorite, right?

"Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn

This one actually is scary.

"Harry and the Hendersons"
Not really a Halloween movie, but it has Bigfoot in it!

"Arsenic and Old Lace"
Cute old ladies killing people and a guy who thinks he is Roosevelt...
what could be more scary than that?

Tradition #2: Picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and carving them. It is so much more fun to actually go to the pumpkin patch with a wheelbarrow and find the pumpkins yourself, right off the vine! We have yet to go this year, but I am sure we will post pictures when we do go!

Our favorite pumpkin patch is on 9000 South, by the Salt Lake Community College campus.

We always pick out one extra pumpkin for our Halloween dinner, and I love to cook the pumpkin seeds we "harvest" from the pumpkin guts.

Tradition #3: "Boo-ing" people. We choose a few families to "Boo," make or buy a little goodie for them, and print off one of each of these sheets:

Then, we doorbell ditch the families we chose. It is fun to see these signs appear all over the neighborhood as it gets going. It is a great way to share in the Halloween Spirit with your neightbors!

Tradition #4: Costumes. This is everyone's tradition, right? We love picking out costumes, and often Andrew and I will even dress up.

Just a reminder of Priya's costume last year:

We are going to keep you in suspense a little longer for this year's costume. Here is a teaser:
Any guesses?

Tradition #5: Our Pumpkin Dinner Casserole. This was my favorite tradition growing up, so we have kept it alive in our family! We make a casserole on Halloween inside of a pumpkin! It sounds strange, but it is so, so good! I am going to share our very special, secret recipe with you so you can start this tradition if you would like!

Don't let the looks of this baby scare you. It is one deceptively delicious dish that I dream about all year long!

Halloween Pumpkin Dinner

1 medium pumpkin

1 pkg rice-a-roni

1 lb hamburger

1/2 onion

1 1/2 cups minute rice

2 t soy sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

Cut lid and clean out pumpkin (as if you were carving it). Brown hamburger and onion together, discard grease. Mix together rice-a-roni, soy sauce, minute rice, and soups. Add hamburger mixture. Pour into pumpkin and replace pumpkin lid. Place pumpkin on cookie sheet and bake for 2-4 hours at 350 degrees (until rice is cooked through).

It really is an easy recipe, it just takes some pre-planning.

Some of our fun fall activities:

We went to This is the Place last Friday for their "Little Haunts" day. It was so much fun! They had crafts, Trick-or-Treating, a witch telling stories, tractor rides, etc. The kiddos came in their costumes, but it was so hot that most of them took 'em off. Priya included. Here are some pictures from our day:

Lexi makes the cutest lion I have ever seen!


Megan in her Flamingo costume



Priya tormenting, er, I mean, petting the sheep.



This is Priya's "you've got to be kidding me, Mom!" look. Scary, isn't it?

Natalie

Sweet Lexi

On the tractor ride. I think Priya is eyeing my earing in this picture. She yanked it out a few seconds later.

Lexi, Joanna, and Natalie

Natalie, Grandma Petersen, Megan, and Paul doing crafts. Paul and Grandma Petersen came to help out with the kiddos.


Caramel apples, hotdogs, and s'mores:

Nothing says fall better than a nice, warm, backyard fire. We roasted hotdogs and
marshmallows last week with my family, and Joanna, Calvin, and their kids. To make the evening even more festive, we made caramel apples. Priya gnawing on her caramel apple (I don't think we could really consider it "eating").

Joanna and Natalie

Lexi

Megan and Erik

Delicious!

Our backyard campfire

We are always looking for more fun Halloween traditions! What are some of yours?

~Family Pictures~

My little sister took some family pictures for us last week out at Saltair. She did such a great job! We got out there a little late, so the lighting wasn't the best for some of the pictures, but the up side to getting out there so late was the amazing sunset we had! It was so fun getting family pictures done!

Also, my sister gave me a picture that she took of Priya a while ago that I just had to share:

Saltair family photo shoot: