Halloween

As I'm sure you know, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween. It's my absolute favorite holiday; always has been. I used to love dressing up and going trick or treating, even when I was a teenager. It's just all so much fun! Since having Jude, Halloween has become even more fun for me. I go a little crazy on the decorations and get super excited to watch Jude get excited about the pumpkins, bats, spider webs, etc.

This Halloween was probably my favorite one ever. First, we went to a ward trunk or treat party on Saturday. Peter made his first chili and entered it in the chili cook-off. He won honorable mention for "best taco style" with a Black Bean Chipotle Tri-Tip Chili. Normally I don't like chili, but I thought Peter's was fantastic (but I'm a little biased). We then set up our car for the trunk or treat and handed out a bunch of candy. Since I love to coupon and can't resist a really good deal, I kinda went overboard on the Halloween candy this year. Luckily, there are so many kids at church that we got rid of almost all of it, with the perfect amount left over for Halloween night.

Peter and I went as Phil and Kay Robertson from the show "Duck Dynasty." It's one of our favorites and we actually really admire the Robertson family as a well-grounded and hilarious Christian family on mainstream television. Not everyone got who we were, but everyone did get a kick out of Peter's beard!

we found some other Duck Dynasty fans!

Jude went as Thomas the Train, of course. He loved his costume, but like most two year olds, did not want to wear it for very long periods of time. He was also so excited most of the time that I could barely snap a photo of him; most are very blurry but you get the idea! Once Jude figured out the whole candy goes in the pumpkin bucket thing, he wouldn't let it out of his sight. It's his new favorite toy!

Then on Thursday we celebrated actually Halloween by going out trick or treating as a family. I was nervous that Jude wouldn't be able to go because he had the stomach flu the day before, but it was just a 24 hour thing and he was back to his normal self by Thursday morning.

our apartment. it was even cooler all lit up

Jude is never without his trains

Our pumpkins

too excited to sit still

baby pumpkin

Because it's difficult to trick or treat in our neighborhood (ALL apartments, most don't give out candy), we went to our friend's neighborhood where there are houses. It was a cute little neighborhood with lots of decorated houses and gave me serious house envy. 

At first, Jude didn't quite get the trick or treating, but after two houses, he was hooked. He literally ran from house to house. He still has a pretty limited vocabulary and couldn't say trick or treat, but he did say thank you, or "THANKY!" as he shouts. Jude was cute enough that no one seemed to mind. I thought we would only go for a few houses, but Jude loved it so much we ended up going for over an hour, all the way down the street and back. Towards the end he started to get tired and wanted to be carried, but he still insisted on visiting every house.

I know this sounds cheesy, but there are so many things that are just 12342143204783 times better once you become a parent. Trick or treating is one of those things for me. Watching my son get so excited and yell thank you so enthusiastically was just too much fun. It made me love the holiday even more because I could see the joy it brought him. I can't wait for Christmas so I can see that light even more from Jude. Being a mom really is the best.