halloween.

I'm pretty upset we had no trick-or-treaters this year. I see you kids riding your bikes around everyday so I know you're around. I know where you guys live!....Wait, that came out wrong. But seriously, we just want to give you free candy and see your costumes!! Is that too much to ask?

Luckily, we got to hand out candy as our ward's Annual Trunk or Treat. Handing out candy is like a rite of passage into adulthood. The tables have finally turned and now WE want to be the cool parents that has a reputation around the neighborhood! We even bought the good kind of candy. The expensive stuff....well actually, all candy is expensive, but you get my point--we had all the making of a historic Halloween. Guess I set my goals a little too high because I ended that night in bed, soothing myself with Friends and all the Swedish Fish I wanted. Ha! That'll teach 'em.

Anyway, back to Trunk or Treat. I assumed that people would automatically know who we were. Expected too much again. None of the teenagers had even seen Castaway, and then there's all the older folks who never got around to seeing it! That left a small percentage of people of us in the middle who, thank goodness, made a big deal out of it when they saw us. Because I have to admit, it took a LOOOOT of convincing to get James to dress up with me. Whatever we chose basically had to be made with anything we already had in our house, but had to be totally mind-blowing too. That didn't leave me with a TON of options, but I think we turned out pretty great! And we put some serious work into our costumes. My little artist of a husband painted Wilson on my shirt and I have to say, NICE WORK. I made the wings for his box so I guess I contributed. (Even though it's October, Florida hasn't caught up. It's still pretty warm. Hence why I had to modernize my costume)

Our ward always does a Chili Cookoff and normally, I am SO excited for James's family's recipe. Mmmm. But none of them could come. So I'm glad there was such a selection! It's always so dang good.

This is my friend Melissa's family!! HOW awesome were their costumes!? Wendy, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and his shadow! I loved it! I had to show them off. So cute and clever.

 I have to say, maybe it was just me, but the eating part of it was VERY short this year. Haha We had to do it on a Wednesday night so we did everything pretty quickly. I was so excited it was such a good turnout with TONS of people, old and new.

It was dark, but I had to show you the madness that was the Trunk or Treat part! It was awesome!! Look at all the fun costumes! My ward is so much fun. (I'm so excited there's so many people that keep moving in! SCORE!) Sorry about the terrible quality. I use my little ol' iPhone for ALL my picture taking, so this was as good as it was going to get.

There's our bishop! Hey Bishop!

My friends Shalane, Heidi and I took over candy duty while the boys took the kids around. That's what is happening in this picture, but how cute are my friends?! Together, they had Waldos (Where's Waldo), Minnie Mouse, Prince Charming, Cinderella, Dopey, and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. Haha They're so much fun.

Halloween night was much more mellow. (I didn't get very many pictures for that reason) We waited as long as we could, no kids came, so we headed to Zach and Ana's for dinner. I insisted we had a Halloween themed meal so we had "Mummies" (smokies in Crescent rolls) and Creepy Crawler Nachos. (Since the black beans kind look like little bugs, right?) They were spook-tacular!!

We watched a movie, as is tradition, and then headed home. I was still hoping for a doorbell ring, but it never came. Sigh. Maybe someday I can experience the joy that is giving out the good candy at "the awesome house." But I will say, Friends and Swedish Fish made me feel MUCH better.