Fall Children pictures

I decided to have all of my children forgo getting school pictures since they are so darn expensive. Instead we had a lady in my ward take pictures of my children. I am really happy with the way they all turned out.

Bradley was the only difficult child. He wasn't cooperating and gave me a new perspective on family pictures. In all my years we have never dealt with anything remotely negative with having pictures taken. I just wanted one picture with all of the kids together to send out in our Christmas letter - is that too much to ask? Apparently it was for Bradley. Anytime I tried to put him into one of his siblings arms for the picture he began crying. After dealing with this for 1/2 hour I decided to give him to Camille and hid around the building for about 15 minutes. After I left he calmed down enough for some really cute pictures to be taken. Thanks Becky for being patient with us. I love them! Here are some of my favorite.

Camille consoling Bradley
Parker with Johnathan in the background.
Beautiful Camille.

Tanner, Bradley, Camille, Parker, Carter & Johnathan

Carter

Parker

Camille trying to console a very sad boy - thanks goodness for sisters!

Tanner, Johnathan, Carter, Parker, Bradley & Camille

Halloween

Since Halloween fell on a Saturday - we had to do the dress up thing twice (no complaints from the children, though). Friday morning was the Halloween parade for parents. The kids all looked awesome. Then later in the afternoon, I went back to school to help with Johnathan's class party. I loved being able to be there. Johnathan seemed to glow with excitement that I was in his class. I helped with the Halloween bingo center.

Johnathan next to Tyler Atwood with his yummy donut.
Saturday after getting the kids dressed up again. I was glad we didn't deal with any makeup this year which always takes tons of time.
I had to take a picture of my 2 cowboys.

The whole gang!

Camille - our pioneer Johnathan - the referee

Parker - our scary ninja

Tanner - the funny cowboy:)

Carter - our blue ninja

Bradley - our cute cowboy!

Camille & Bradley went out by themselves to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. This allowed the older boys (along with Byron)to be able to go faster.

The boys before heading out. I love daylight savings time on Halloween - the kids are able to start trick-or-treating in the light, which keeps it warmer (check out the kids without jackets). The weather was just perfect.

And off they go. I enjoy staying home to see all of the kids in the neighborhood and I can stay in the warmth of the house.

After being gone around 2 hours - the kids all came back with more than they ever would need. Camille kept with Bradley's pace and he pretty much went through half of our neighborhood.

Before heading up to Salt Lake, we had to stop by Uncle Dennis and Aunt Sherlene's house. We were lucky enough to find Nicole and Emily before they headed out also. They all looked so great I couldn't resist taking their picture.

Aunt Sherlene took a picture of us also -

Knocking on Grandpa & Grandma Beck's door - Halloween wouldn't be complete without coming up to their house after the trick-or-treating is over. We can't pass up the yummy cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate!

Camille and adorable Timothy.

Sorry Michael - Genevieve, Timothy & Michael

Sarah, Clara & Jeremy

My kids again.

Ashlyn, Cameron, Cooper, Alyssa & Cadan - loved their adorable costumes.

Cadan & Bradley - Cadan had been eating his candy and was trying to smile, but had such a big piece it didn't quite happen.

All of the nieces and nephews together.

Dad Beck playing with Cadan.

Mom Beck holding Timothy.

Johnathan, Tanner & Cooper playing Bop It.

The cowboy bringing his horse upstairs.

Clara wouldn't pose for me, but I got a cute picture of her playing with the bus.

Melissa playing cards with many of the nieces and nephews.

We always have such a great time with family on Halloween. Heading home, the kids all crash with plenty of sweets in their stomach and a full day of fun activities.

Pumpkin Decorating

We had fun decorating pumpkins Halloween morning. Byron had travelled to Los Angeles for work from Oct 25th - 27th. We had to wait until he got back to carve them since this is definitely more his forte then mine:). The 3 oldest did most of their own carving - which is very nice. The younger ones are great to clean theirs out with minimal help.
Johnathan, Parker & Bradley

Byron helping Carter clean his out.

Camille decided to be very creative and made fun flowers all over her pumpkin. Then she carved off the top of the pumpkin with a screw driver. Pretty detailed, but turned out really cute. She was working on her pumpkin at least one hour after we finished.

Byron & Tanner made a cool "Y" pumpkin. It turned out really awesome also.

The finished product.