We Monsons love Halloween! First of all, it is just fun to have spooky stuff around, like adorable ghosts, cutsie smiling jack-o-lanterns, and happy undead mummies! I don’t like scary or gruesome things, and Josh is very kind and tries to keep things to just the spooky level. I greatly appreciate that!

Anyway, we have all kinds of fun Halloween traditions! Here’s what we’ve got so far.

For the past few years we have done mummies (using our reject walmart toilet paper) for family party (aka: FHE). We like this activity because everybody can join in and it is just fun and silly. We listen to Halloweeny music and we all have a great time! Here is Carter as he was bursting out of his mummy-ness.

One tradition we are rather proud of is making a supercool Halloween experience for the trick-or-treaters! Josh has, for the third year now, created a completely original game with a Halloween theme, which, coupled with his amazing knack for creating spooky ambiance, always excites and entertains little kiddos like ours, their parents, and every age in between! I am honestly quite impressed with his ability to make a spook alley type thing that is so accessible to all who want to participate!

Other traditions we have include watching Halloween movies, visiting corn maze type places, pumpkin decorating/carving, and looking around Halloween stores just for fun. It’s a good time of year!

But right now isn’t just Halloween season. It is autumn! (In case you hadn’t heard. 🙂  )  So we have to do some autumny stuff too! Fay has been counting down the days ’til we had enough leaves on the ground to rake them up and jump into them! Yesterday was the day!

We didn’t get to spend as much time as we all could’ve enjoyed because we were all starving and went in for dinner. But never fear! We are just getting started! It is kind of fabulous that a chore that really ought to be done just happens to be super enjoyable if you but add a little bit of jumping to it!

Today, for some autumn enjoyment, we drove up the canyon to look at the changing leaves! It was so beautiful! I knew the pictures wouldn’t be able to do the experience justice; but I suppose that is why Heavenly Father sends autumn every year! Here is one picture from our drive.

At the mouth of the canyon the colors looked like this: lots of reds and oranges. As we drove higher up the canyon the only deciduous trees were quaking aspens and so there was just yellow mixed in with the coniferous deep green. That was actually my favorite part–the contrast was just so striking–but I wasn’t able to get a decent picture. But I also did love the sea of red and orange. Hmmm… maybe the whole canyon was my favorite part.  It was also rather exhilarating to see snow at the top of the canyon! We came home and drank apple cider and wassail-style herbal tea! Yay autumn!

Anyway, we like fall and stuff. 🙂

Here are some random things to make you happy.

The other day, Josh gave the kids lunch in the garage on a fancy “wood table” (Carter thought having a table made of wood was rather novel.) They were really cute. So here they are.

Happy autumn! And happy Halloween season!