Trunk-orTreat

Our annual ward Trunk-or-Treat was a little more involved than usual. They had fun games, food, a "photo booth", and of course trunk-or-treating. We all had a good time. I even got a cute picture of the sister missionaries and sent it to their parents. I heard back from Sister. Samia's mom in Samoa. She was so grateful to know her daughter was being loved and taken care of so far away. There is just something special about the Polynesian people - they have such humble and strong testimonies. Happy Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

We decided to carve our pumpkins before Trunk-or-Treat to decorate our trunk. Cami and Taylor did most of the cleaning out and Dallin and I did the carving. I think they turned out great and we enjoyed roasted pumpkin seeds for the next few days.

Halloween Parade

We kicked off our official Halloween festivities with Cami's elementary school parade. I love seeing the creative costumes some of the teachers and kids come up with. Zoey went with us and was completely mesmerized - she just sat on the curb watching and didn't move a muscle. Cami was a beautiful Cleopatra!

Swim Class

Zoey and I have been going to a swim class once a week. She really loves it and it brings back fond memories for me of taking all the cousins to swim classes with my dad. He would sign them up on Saturdays in February and we parents would take turns going with him to help with all the kids. It was a very thoughtful thing for him to do and all the kids remember this special time with him.

I can't ever take pictures because I'm in the water with her, but we did take one picture before leaving. She doesn't actually wear goggles in her class, but she sometimes likes to put them on in the morning and wear them to the bus stop to tell everyone she has swimming today:)

Candy Hall of Fame

The reason for our trip to Florida was to attend the induction ceremony for Ed Sr. into the Candy Hall of Fame. He has had an amazing impact on the chocolate and candy industry. His tasting accuracy is legendary and his humanitarian work teaching farmers in developing countries is inspiring. I can't even begin to accurately describe all of his successes, but I will say that we are very proud of him.

We have been planning this trip for a while and the girls have been SO EXCITED to go to a black-tie party. We spent some time shopping for dresses and accessories and had a great time getting ready together. After Taylor getting sick, I was just grateful that we were all able to attend and no one else was sick:) It turned out to be a wonderful evening that we will always remember. Thank you to Ed and Kathy for inviting us to come.

The evening began with family pictures for the inductees - we were quite a large group for the poor photographer! After the group shot we headed out to the reception area for some of our own pictures.

(This is a long post with lots of pictures - keep reading!)

The kids really enjoyed the cocktail hour. Dallin even made a comment about how he "could get used to this." The food was great and Dallin was even brave enough to try caviar for the first time (he didn't like it). Cami and Taylor went straight for the steak kabobs.


Dinner was fun and the slide show and introduction by Kathy were great. Ed and the other inductees all spoke about how special it was to be a part of this industry. The companies push each other to be better, but keep a general camaraderie that can't be found in most business environments. They all agreed that it was wonderful to make a product that brings joy to people all over the world. It was fun to hear.



We made a quick exit from the after party because we had an early flight in Orlando. What a fun trip and a great experience for our family. I thought it was neat to see the grand kids really grasp how special their grandpa is. The day we got home Cami had friends over to share some of the goodies we brought back. I came downstairs to find her reading her Grandpa's bio page to a group of attentive 7-9 year-olds:) I also found the cover page from the program taped to the wall in her bedroom. I hope Grandpa knows how much we love him and how proud we are of all he has accomplished!

Ice Skating With Aunt Heather

Heather was a competitive figure skater growing up. I'm sure that is an understatement, but I don't think I would get it right, so we'll leave it at that. Cami has been taking lessons for about a year now and couldn't wait to get a chance to skate with her. So... we went to Florida and took our ice skates. Kennan decided to join us and we all had a great time.

Cami loved getting pointers from Heather.
I wish the picture below wasn't blurry because I think it is so cute:)

This was little Shelby's first time on the ice and Kennan's as well.
Kennan was amazing and picked it up super fast!

Trip to Florida

We had a whirlwind trip to Florida to attend Ed Sr.'s induction into the Candy Hall of Fame. We flew into Orlando Thursday night and planned to stay with Dan and Tricia at her parents house. They have a beautiful historic home and a lake and jet skis to play on. We were really looking forward to some fun. As we were walking up the stairs to say hi, Taylor lost her dinner in the flower garden. I was horrified. I felt even worse when Cami ran through their screen door a mere 5 minutes later.

Just let me hide under a rock somewhere.

We stuck Taylor in our room for the night and I was up with her until about 7:30 am. She has never been that sick. We left promptly the next morning to try to ensure we wouldn't spread this nasty illness around. No one else in our family got sick (thank goodness), but a few people were mildly sick the next week. Sorry Jonah and Doug. The Carters are such gracious hosts. I wish we could have spent time chatting and playing on the lake. We'll have to get together another time. You can come to our house... and feel free to break our door as you come in:)

Taylor and I spent the next day recovering, but Ed and the kids tried to spend some time with family. I had them take a few pictures at the pool and dinner.







To start Saturday, we took a trip to the "beach". It was actually Tampa Bay and was really muddy, but we just wanted to sit in the sun for an hour or so. Cami was able to use her weird animal senses and as soon as she put her feet in the water a ray showed up. If you haven't heard this story, sharks and rays have an unusual attraction to Cami. Any time we go to a petting place at a zoo and she sticks her hand in the water they practically swarm around her. No scuba diving for you young lady.