October!

 October was a fun month in the McKinnon home. I love all of the fall festivities that begin in October, and I love Halloween. I was able to go down to Vegas to visit my family and while I was there, my mom and I took my niece and nephews to a pumpkin patch. It was so much fun. I miss these cute little munchkins every day I am away from them. I really do treasure the time I get to spend with them since I moved to Utah. All three of them have such personalities that there is never a dull moment. I can't wait to see them again for Christmas!

 The same week I went down to visit, Jonny's school had their Trunk or Treat, so I was able to go to that with them. Jonny was Wolverine (and very eager to pose for pictures), Christopher was Captain America, and Anella was a lion. They were definitely the cutest kids there!

 The Saturday before Halloween, Marshall and I had a Halloween party. The night before the party, we carved our pumpkins and decorated the house. This was the first time I tried to follow a pattern to carve my pumpkin and I was so happy with the results. Marshall always follows a pattern, so he is already an expert at carving. At the Halloween party, we had a doughnut on a string contest, bobbing for apples and a costume contest. We had so much fun and were glad for the good friends and family that were able to come. 

 Marshall was very helpful with the decorating, but didn't last too long with the spider webs, so his webs were a little bunched up, but it still worked. (My spider webs are to the right of the door, Marshall's are to the left. haha)

For our costumes, I was Little Red Riding Hood and Marshall was the Big Bad Wolf that had already gotten to Grandmas house. (That's why he has her nightgown on.)

On Halloween day, Marshall took the day off of work so we had a lot of fun that day. We went to Ihop to get pumpkin pancakes for breakfast...

We went to breakfast right after we woke up, 

so Marshall wasn't too crazy about the idea of me

 taking his picture, so this became our compromise.

After breakfast we went to check out the new, huge sporting goods store, called Scheels. The store is so big that they have a ferris wheel inside. 

 After Scheels, we went home so Marshall could take a nap because he was sick, then we got ready and went to Gardner Village. I have been wanting to go here since I first heard about it a couple of months age, but haven't had a chance, so Marshall took me. The village has an old mill and a bunch of little houses that the mill workers used to live in, that have all been turned into little shops and bakeries. I LOVED IT!!! It reminded me so much of the east coast. 

They already had Christmas decorations out in all of the little shops, so Marshall bought us this cute Santa ornament for our first Christmas tree together. He is so sweet!

The Beginning of Autumn

 In September, Marshall and I had some really fun dates. We are loving married life, even with all of the little adjustments that all newly-weds experience. We are both the happiest we have ever been and totally still in the "honeymoon" phase, but at the same time settling into our new roles as husband and wife. 

Marshall surprised me with an awesome date of taking me to the circus. Neither of us had been in a long time so it was really fun to see all of the new circus acts. It seems like Ringling Bros. is trying to be a little more like Cirque du Soleil, but they still have the traditional acts as well.

 The next day, we went to a local orchard to pick apples, then to the This is the Place memorial park. It was a great beginning to the fall season. We also made the tastiest apple pie ever with the apples we picked.

In this small one room cabin, a man lived with his wife and 7 kids, then he married a second wife and had more children with her. The 2nd wife lived in a lean-to in the backyard with her daughters, and all of the sons had to climb a ladder on the outside of the cabin to get to the loft where they slept. I am so grateful for everything the early saints went through, but feel so blessed that I live today and not back then. 

  Below is a picture of the Heber C. Kimball home.

 The last day of September, we flew to California, then went to Disneyland on October 1st to see all of the Halloween decorations. It was so much fun!

The lines were super long to get in the park, but we still had fun waiting and seeing the decorations on the front gates. We decided they need to make a line for guests with no children and strollers. haha!

 It was great weather, but really hot and humid, so Marshall decided to play in the water, in the Bugs Life area of California Adventure, with all of the kids. It really helped cool him off though.

 What a great month!!