Friday we attended our ward Halloween party. I have gotten so much better at ward parties as Jared and Lydia have gotten older. I still don't love them but my level of annoyance at them has lowered significantly. Jared was very happy with his ninja costume and Lydia's ghost costume was adorable. I was so happy when she picked it. I was also very surprised. Looking back over the years though, she has often picked very what I call "Classic" costumes. She has been a witch, black cat, ballerina, bumble bee and a pirate. There are so many costume choices these days so I find it interesting that she has stuck with these traditional costumes.
They had fun playing games and trunk or treating. Jared has some friends who do not eat food dyes so after they were done collecting candy they went into a small classroom and traded candy. Jared ended up with 27 packages of starburst and 26 packages of Skittles. They got a lot of chocolate from him! I am glad they did this together. Not only to be good friends but now there is significantly less candy of his that I want to eat. I had fun decorating our trunk and the next morning we counted and sorted their candy. Jared had 179 pieces and Lydia had 103. He got quite a bit from his friends since they could not a good portion of the selection.
I grabbed this stuff Friday afternoon before we went to the party and
was really pleased with how it came out.
I also made some fun cupcakes for the cake walk. Turns out I really like piping frosting on cupcakes. I typically just spread frosting on cupcakes like butter, just flat but this time I got out some decorating tips (I own four) and attempted to follow a tutorial and enjoyed doing it. I made cupcakes with a brownie bottom and white cake dyed orange on top. The brownie was a fun twist. I have been watching a Halloween Baking show on Food Network and love it so much. I must have been inspired by it.
Saturday afternoon we went on a beautiful Fall drive. Every year I go back and forth about whether or not I want to go. I do not enjoy long car rides but I love seeing the colors so much. And it's so tricky to get it at the peak. But this year we totally did! I asked a guy at work who has lived here forever where we should go and he suggested McDowell and West Augusta. McDowell is about 1.5 hours away so I wasn't sure we would go that far but we did and it was worth it. Pictures do not do the colors justice but I could not resist taking them. It turned out to be a beautiful Fall. The colors around town are beautiful. It has been so fun to drive around and watch them change. It makes me so very happy.
Driving out of town was really pretty too. We made it to a look out point near West Augusta and were treated to a perfect hike. There as a half mile hike that even tied into some Civil War History. We weren't looking for any Civil War history but when you live in VA its not hard to find. This area was once a Confederate fort and supposedly you could see part of the Confederates defense lines. We didn't actually see the breastworks but loved the hike and colors. It was a perfect little loop. Not too long and easy enough that Lydia and Jared could run ahead as they liked. They came up with a game where she was a panther named Shadow and he was a guinea pig named Aaron. What they were doing out in the woods and together I didn't catch but they loved our stop. I was so happy there was such a great simple hike there. We had no idea! It was such a happy surprise. The colors did not disappoint at all. I think it has been one of the best Falls we have experienced here. It took forever for Summer to leave and the leaves to change but it has been magical.
Driving out of town was really pretty too. We made it to a look out point near West Augusta and were treated to a perfect hike. There as a half mile hike that even tied into some Civil War History. We weren't looking for any Civil War history but when you live in VA its not hard to find. This area was once a Confederate fort and supposedly you could see part of the Confederates defense lines. We didn't actually see the breastworks but loved the hike and colors. It was a perfect little loop. Not too long and easy enough that Lydia and Jared could run ahead as they liked. They came up with a game where she was a panther named Shadow and he was a guinea pig named Aaron. What they were doing out in the woods and together I didn't catch but they loved our stop. I was so happy there was such a great simple hike there. We had no idea! It was such a happy surprise. The colors did not disappoint at all. I think it has been one of the best Falls we have experienced here. It took forever for Summer to leave and the leaves to change but it has been magical.
There was so much color on the mountains.
"Aaron and Shadows"
Homemade Maple Cinnamon Buns from McDowell, VA
And we drove by the most perfect Fall Inn/Buffet. I love their flags, porch, and pumpkins. I made Mark turn around so I could take a picture of it. Or 10. Picture Perfect.
Perfection.
And today we carved our pumpkins. We are heading out of town Thursday (Halloween) and Mark works Monday and Tuesday so we did it lightning quick when Mark got home from church. It is awesome how much faster we can carve pumpkins now that Jared and Lydia are older. Jared knew what he wanted to carve right away and Lydia quickly picked hers and we got it done! They turned out great. Lydia said this was her best and favorite pumpkin. I am not sure she remembers all her previous ones but am glad she loves it. It was fun. After a really rainy morning we were given a beautiful if slightly warm afternoon.
An Owl and The United States of America. No need to say which belonged to which child.
Oh how I love this magical month.
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