Happy Halloween

My parents have been visiting for the past week and got to spend Halloween with us! We loved having them here!

I dressed up as a crossing guard...

The kids dressed up as...

1/2 devil, 1/2 angel

a Football player... and witch!
My parents passed out the candy and my dad scared a few kiddos with his mask!
And the best part...coming home to count the loot!
Enough said! :)

Mis-Match

It was Mis-Match Day at the middle school today...

and you thought she'd inherited Dave's sense of style! :)

Halloween Party

Today we had a Halloween Party for Lauren and her friends.

As the guests arrived they had to guess how many candies were in the jar (the winner got to keep the jar)...

We played "pass the pumpkin"...

"wrap the mummy"...

and did several Halloween crafts...Taylor did the face painting...

She even managed to paint her own!

Painting pumpkins was a hit!

And of course, there were cupcakes...

It was SO much fun!!!

Our Great Grandpa Johnson

Dave's Grandpa Johnson passed away on Monday, October 5th from Leukemia. We knew he was not doing well so we made a quick day trip to Fort Worth where we were able to see him in the ICU on Saturday, October 3rd. We are so grateful that we got to see him one last time. The viewing was on Sunday, October 11th and the funeral was Monday, October 12th. Dave's mom and brother, Andy, flew in from Oregon for the services. Dave's mom stayed with us for a couple of weeks after. We made it to the funeral but missed the viewing which was on Sunday evening. We were all loaded and ready to leave Sunday morning (it's about a 3 hour drive for us) when we realized the battery in our van was dead. Dave got that all taken care of and once again we loaded everyone up and headed to Dallas. About 50 miles from home, we got a call saying our house alarm was going off. To avoid having the police kick in our front door, we decided to turn around and head back home which meant we would miss the viewing. It turned out to be the battery on the alarm. We got up early (5:00 a.m.) Monday morning and headed back to Dallas for the funeral. He was buried in the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery. He had the 21 gun salute, bag pipes, and flag ceremony. Afterwards we went to his Grandma's church for a luncheon and were able to visit with family. We were disappointed that we missed the viewing.

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson have been so good about visiting us throughout the years, even when we lived in Utah. Indulge me a bit while I take you on a little trip down memory lane...

Taylor (10 months old) & Grandpa Johnson...

Grandpa & Grandma with Carter (6 months old)...

Taylor (6 years old) loves her Great Grandpa...

as does Carter (4 years old)!

Great Grandpa & Lauren (19 months old)...

They came to Taylor's baptism...

Carter & Grandpa have always had a special bond. Grandpa used to take the kids on rides in his big van which Carter couldn't get enough of! Carter was 6 in this picture...

Lauren (4 years old) flirting with her Great Grandpa...

They came to watch one of Carter's football games...

(Taylor age 11, Carter, age 9, Lauren age 6)

Father's Day 2009...

We love him & will miss him.

Sunday Best

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, after my race, we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Dave's sister and her kids. Dave's mom, Nancy (a.k.a.Grandma Matheny), has been visiting for the past week so she got to come too! They have a Texas shaped corn maze that is huge. The kids were in the maze for about an hour. They had to find "stations" in the maze to get a stamp. If they collected all the stamps, they got a free soda. Then we went on a hayride.

~Grandma & kids~

~Dave, Katrina, Grandma, & kids~

~Katrina & Nancy~

~Nathan & Carter~

~Halli & Nancy~

Coming out of the corn maze...