The Return of the King...

... So does that make me Lady Arwen or Frodo? Better not to ask, I suppose! :) This blog is a little bit of a catch-up, seeing as how we are about two and a half weeks away from CHRISTMAS now!!! Yay! But I never really got the chance to post about Halloween and Kevin's triumphant return from government training in Dallas.

As many of you know, Kevin was sent to Dallas for 6 weeks (without us... how sad!) and then to Kansas City for another week back to back. In other words, Noah, Abbie and I finally drove out to join Kevin here in Lincoln the first week of September and then he flew to Texas on September 15th. The next time we saw him was Friday, October 24th and we had him home for just about 36 hours until he drove to Kansas City for that last week of training. Long story short... WE MISSED HIM!!!

Because it was so close to Halloween, on Saturday October 25th we all went to a beautiful pumpkin farm here in the area called Roca Berry Farm and we had a great time seeing all the farm animals, the rows and rows and ROWS of pumpkins and gourds (and all the ladybugs flying among them!) and the life-sized game of CandyLand that they had there. We never actually picked out a pumpkin to carve this year. Simply because I was too stressed to deal with it at that point by myself, and we decided to do it next year when hopefully Noah will want to help.

Kevin then came home FOR GOOD on October 31st... Halloween!!! He was home by lunch and then we went to our stake's Trunk or Treat party that night, followed by about an hour of real door to door Trick or Treating with some friends and their little girls (BOTH dressed as Strawberry Shortcake...) in their totally decked out neighborhood. Seriously, every house was festive and ready for little minions to ring their door bells and expect free goodies. Who started this tradition anyway? Here little one... Have some candy from complete strangers... Yeah... Noah really got into it toward the end. As soon as someone would drop candy into his little bucket, he would quickly sign Thank You and he was off! I think he actually started to reach into the candy bowls and choose for himself the last few houses... Funny boy! :)

Noah was the cutest little Davy Crockett and Abbie was his little sidekick as an adorable skunk. Don't worry, I kept my eye out for Pepe Le Pew! he he I actually found his little coon skin cap purely by coincidence as I was driving through Wyoming on our way to meet Kevin in Lincoln. We stopped for a break in Laramie, and there they were on display. Coon skin caps in six different sizes... as if this is an everyday purchase for anyone! Anyway, I think the kids had a lot of fun and I'm already scheming for next year!

Happy shopping, everyone! Only 16 days left... I'm so happy. I LOVE this time of year...

Love,
Nicole
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