Fall Fun!

We had lots of family come and visit this fall.  THAT combined with Halloween festivities makes for a lot of pictures!:)  

We went on a cold, rainy day up to and apple orchard to pick apples and raspberries.  Because it was so cold and rainy, there was hardly anyone there, and it was one of the most fun things we have done as a family in a long time.  The kids would not stop saying how it was the best day ever. The apples were the best I have ever tasted.  Someday, I would love to have one of these trees in our backyard.

Picking raspberries was so fun.  It brought back memories of going to my Grandma's house and picking/eating raspberries till we were sick.  They are my favorite fruit!

The boys were really good, and JUST picked the raspberries.  We let them eat a bunch on the way home.  Oaklie doklie is so much like me, and could not resist eating every raspberry she saw.  By the end of picking, her face was stained red, but she didn't mind.  We pretty much let her because, well...Look at that face!  She is the cutest thing ever, and we all have a soft spot for her.  The boys were even picking raspberries for her, and feeding them to her.  Yup, she has THE LIFE!

I was feeling pretty sick that day, and it even shows in the pictures, but it was so fun and a nice distraction from morning sickness.

Landon coming off the bus. I love hearing about his adventures at school when he walks in the door.  This boy is so sweet!

We went to a party at the fire station.  The kids got to climb in all sorts of emergency vehicles, which is every boy's dream, especially Easton, who wants to be a fireman when he grows up.  The boys even made it into the newspaper.

His face lit up each time he saw a new fire truck!

They had a blow up fire truck slide.

And did a demonstration on how they use the "jaws of life", and ripped apart a REAL car.  Needless to say, the kids were glued.  Oaklyn even got a pink fire hat, that she loved!

There were lots of Fall leaves to play in!

Oalklie's first time.  She was in heaven!

Landon still loves soccer.

He loves scoring goals!

What the boys think I look like pregnant.  They came in and showed me, and were so proud!

A lot of these next pictures are from Anne(Dave's sister), because I never remember to take pictures on family trips.  When Dave's Mom and sister came, we went to visit Niagra Falls.  It was beautiful, and we had such a great view from our hotel room.  It was so fun!

We rode the trolley, and saw a lot of the sights by the falls.

Next, we headed up to upstate New York where we visited a lot of historical sites from my church.  We we went to the visitor's center at the hill Cumorah.  There is a beautiful, I mean BEAUTIFUL statue of Christ there for all to see.  One of the missionaries came to speak to our family for a minute, and then let us have some alone time as a family, which I really appreciated.  We talked to the kids for a minute about our feelings about the Savior, and asked them what they thought.  Then we told the kids they could get a little closer look at the statue.  This was Easton's idea of getting a closer look.  It really touched me, and left a lump in my throat.  Underneath all that rough and tumble, wrestling, and tough boy side, Easton really has a soft heart.  It made me think of the scripture, "...and a little child shall lead them"(Isaiah 11:6).  My children continue to teach me every single day.  I love him so much!

Then, we went to Joseph Smith's childhood home.  It was really neat to see how people lived back then and get a better picture in my mind of it all.

The sacred grove is close by, and this was the place I was most excited to visit.  I had a friend visit the sacred grove when I was a teenager, and he brought me back a leaf to put in my scriptures.  Ever since then, I have been excited to visit it myself.  For those of you who are not of my faith, we believe that as a boy Joseph Smith was confused about which church to join, and was reading in the bible one day, and came across a scripture that said to, "Ask God".  So he went into a nearby grove of trees to pray and ask for the help that he needed, and God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him.  It amazes me that this small boy had the faith to act on that scripture, and it comforts me to know that God loves His children enough to continue to speak to them through prophets in our day.  

It was a beautiful day, and the grove has a peaceful, sweet spirit.  

It is such an incredible place!  We will definitely be back.

My Mother-in-law is a book lover, and sends books to the kids and us for every occasion.  Birthdays, Christmas, any holiday really, and I absolutely love it.  Books are my favorite gift.  It is her way of influencing the kid's love of reading as best she can from far away.:)  I thought this picture was priceless.  Story time with Grandma McGarry. 

We also headed up to Amish country for a day trip with Dave's Mom and sister.  You gotta love seeing signs like this:

The kids are always on buggy look out.  We love to see all the cute little buggies on the road.  This place is so picturesque.  We love it!

We ate a yummy meal at an amish run resturant.  It was delicious!

Always a highlight is Hershberger Farm.  The have a fun petting zoo for the kids with lots of cute little baby animals.

Landon was bit by a horse while we were there and even though he is smiling in this picture, it was pretty traumatic.:)  Poor guy!  

They had the biggest pumpkins there I had EVER seen!  As big as Easton.

We let the kids pick out a pumpkin to take home to carve.  We hauled all 4 of these cute pumpkins in the wagon to the car.  

3 of these pumpkins have my heart for sure! 

We had a lot of fun carving.  Picking out an Amish pumpkin will definitely be a new McGarry tradition!

Pumpkin guts are the best!

We got this little stuffed reindeer in a a package from Grandma and Grandpa McGarry last Christmas.  Easton really fell in love with it and named it "Sven" from the movie Frozen.  He sleeps with it every night.  Landon loves Olaf, and the boys wanted to be Sven and Olaf for Halloween this year.  So, I started my ONE AND ONLY yearly crating project of making family Halloween costumes.  I love to do it because I only do one craft a year!:)

The rest of the family costumes just fell into place.

Anne took these pictures of our family trick or treating.  Easton needed help up the stairs to each house.  I love the pictures from behind.  Easton has quite a booty.:)  He was a trooper!

I get so excited for Halloween!  It is my favorite holiday.  I may even be more excited than the kids!

The kids each got a load of candy that looks just like this.  We weighed it, and the kids brought in 13 pounds of candy altogether.  Because we are dedicated parents, we didn't make them eat all that by themselves.:)

I got to help out in Landon's class for his Halloween party.  They had a costume parade.

Tons of snacks and games.(I was in charge or one of the games, and so I didn't get any pictures of them)

And it seems like the most popular costume for girls this year was queen Elsa.  Landon had 6 in his class, which worked out in his favor.  He was quite the ladies man.  I am sure he will enjoy this picture in a few years.:)

  

Landon's teacher has sent home some pretty cute projects.  One of them was to camouflage Tom the turkey, so he didn't get eaten for Thanksgiving.  His first thought was to dress him as Darth Vader with a popsicle stick light saber.  He colored Tom, and glued on the feathers.  

Easton brought back this cute turkey from a friend's house recently.  He was pretty proud of it! 

Another cute turkey from school.

A week after Dave's family came, mine came for a visit too.  My parents took the kids to all sorts of fun  places.  They were in heaven!

We also put up our "medium" tree(As the boys like to call it) and did an early Christmas with presents from my parents.  

Oaklie FINALLY has a girl toy now, and loves her clip clop castle. 

  The boys got matching batman suits, and our house will never be the same again.  Let the wrestling, and good times begin!

My mom taught Landon to tie his shoes one night while they were here, and I was so grateful!  He does it all on his own now.  I was so proud of him, and he was even more proud of himself for learning this new little skill!

My parents also took us to a Cav's game while they were here, and it was a highlight for sure!

They had these blue, white, or red cards on the back of everybody's chair to make a human flag during the national anthem.  

Love spending time with this man!

LeBron!  

My cute parents!

They won!  It was such a good game!

These are kind of random, but they were in my phone from the Fall, and I thought I'd add them to the rest of the Fall pictures.  These pictures make my heart so happy.  I love seeing each one of my kids loving books in their own way.  I found them all asleep like this one night when I went up to check on them.

My little book worms!

One afternoon for Easton's "special time", I brought out the sensory bucket with the colored rice, and hid letters in it for Easton and I to find, and say the sounds each letter makes.  He loved the letter treasure hunt!

Then I let both boys play with measuring cups and spoons in it.

Then we brought in some tractors and made it into a construction site too.

It was such a busy, and fun Fall, filled with family from back West that we love and miss so much!