Spooky Fantasy Trail

We loved going to this fun, lighted Halloween trail last year, so we decided to go again this year. Last year, Porter was too young to be scared of anything, but this year was another story! As you can see by the pictures, he started off pretty scared of everything, but warmed up to things, and by the end, he was having a ton of fun on the walk. He even asked to do it again, so we went around twice!

The whole family, plus a stow-a-away!

Throughout the trail, there are different little houses decorated with different Halloween themes. They are so cute! This was still at the beginning and Porter was still worried about scary things. He kept on saying "I too scared!" when I would ask him to get close to something to take a picture.

A ghost just Porter's size!

*As a side note, I have to tell a funny story about Porter and ghosts. During FHE, we have been working on teaching Porter the 1st Article of Faith. Porter really noticed the part about the Holy Ghost and started talking a lot about the Holy Ghost. The only problem is that he thinks the Holy Ghost is like a Halloween ghost! He's told me that he wants to see the Holy Ghost, that the Holy Ghost is scary, and when he see's a ghost, he says "Look mom, it's the Holy Ghost!" This kid will even hear when someone at church talks about the Holy Ghost and get all excited! Brandon and I are trying to help him distinguish the difference between a regular ghost and the Holy Ghost, but how do you help a two year old understand this? I think he's beginning to understand that the Holy Ghost is part of our church, because I was showing him an LDS church that wasn't our church, and I explained that we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He then started talking about the Holy Ghost. I think he'll get it in a few years!

Hudson's so funny just chillin' in the backpack! He was just so content the whole time looking at all of the lights:)

Near the end of the trail are some slides that the boys liked playing on.

During the Christmas season, they have the Fantasy Trail decorated for Christmas. I wanted to go last year, but between taking care of a newborn, packing, and moving into a new house, we just didn't have the time to go. We'll definitely try for this year! This is a fun family-friendly activity to do:)

Happy Haunted Housing!

We went on the funnest group date this weekend. Our friends Jason and Dana put together a trip to Fright Town in Down Town Portland. 10 couples were able to go. We started off the night at Juan Colorados for some yummy Mexican Food.
I haven't been to a Haunted House in a long time, so I definitely was scared! This one was three different Haunted Houses! I am a chicken when it comes to scary stuff, but it is always fun at the same time!
Okay Brandon and Dana. You guys have a sick sense of humor! haha!
Ummmm... I think we're in trouble now, because we haven't had our swine flu shots yet! Stay away from the Hoopes'!
We all survived! No one got eaten, or tortured, or ripped to shreds! To top the night off, we all went and got dessert:) Thanks Jason and Dana for putting this all together. We can't wait for next year!

Pumpkin Carvin'

For family night this week we carved our pumpkins. Porter and Hudson loved it! Porter liked to help scoop out the insides and Hudson liked to play with the insides!

Porter requested a "scary pumpkin", so this is what Brandon came up with!

the finished product:

I have been busy making Porter's Halloween costume and it is finally done! This is the finished product:

I made the monkey suit for Porter's first Halloween and now Hudson gets to wear it! And lucky me, I only had to make one costume this year! I can handle one, but we'll see when I have to make more than one!
Porter practicing his lion ROAR! (btw- he posed himself for this picture! Maybe he's getting past his phase of not wanting his picture taken. I hope so!)


I know I'm partial, but isn't that the cutest lion and monkey you have ever seen?! It sure is a jungle at our house!

{Costume Party}

So, the day of our Elder's Quorum Costume Party, Brandon decided to get sick. He went out Friday night with a bunch of his friends from Portland, and come to find out, they are all getting sick! I guess they passed germs. WHAT WERE THEY DOING, I WONDER?! Anyways, I had to go to the party by myself:( I was bummed because our costume was meant for a couple. It was pretty lame to go by myself, but oh well! We were SUPPOSED to be the Black Eyed Peas. I was just one lonely Black Eyed Pea. I made the best out of it and had fun, though!
Love the mullet and chaps!
I didn't know that Shaun and Emily were BYU refs! Can't wait to see their whole family. Maisey will be the cutest BYU cheerleader and Gage will be the studliest BYU football player!
Here's the whole group minus Tish who took the picture. Brandon wasn't the only person who missed out because of sickness. We had a small group show up. There are a lot of yucky germs going around and a lot of people who couldn't come:(

Pumpkin Party!

The Grimmett's had an awesome garden this year and ended up with like 30 pumpkins! Maisey was so nice to share them with her friends! She invited everyone over for the first Grimmett Pumpkin Party! Porter painted one for himself and one for Hudson.

He was really concentrating hard on his task!

They also decorated pumpkin cookies.

Played games like pin the nose on the pumpkin and a pumpkin walk.

The whole gang- minus quite a few kiddos that were sick:(

Thanks Emily for planning a fun pumpkin party! Porter had so much fun!

Playgroup

I am so lucky to have a great group of friends here. We get together 2-3 times a week. We go to story time at the library and when the weather is nice, we go to a park and picnic. Now that it is going to start raining more, we are going to have to be more creative about where to meet for playgroup. We met at my house last week because I have a huge playroom. Porter was so excited that all of his friends were coming to play at his house! He sat at the front window and waited for them to arrive! How cute! He is really into friends right now and is always asking me if he can go to friends' houses!

The playroom was well used, to say the least! We had 9 moms and dads (including Brandon because he was working from home that day) and 15 kids! I also had play dough in the kitchen to play with. I think all the kids had fun!

We made lunch and then had Halloween cookies for a treat.

My house is open for playgroup any day during the crummy weather:)

I totally believe in bribery!

Porter is a big boy! We have been potty training him since August. It has been a slow process (slower than I thought it would be). He just doesn't like to stop what he's doing to go potty. Anyways, we've done the sticker charts and treats, and those don't seem to excite Porter anymore, so, we told him if he doesn't have an accident for a whole day, we will take him to...
Where the Wild Things Are! He loves this book and is excited to see the movie. Hopefully he can do it before this movie leaves the theaters!

And hopefully one accident-free day becomes two accident-free days, then one accident-free week, then month... I've had two in diapers for almost a year which is long enough!

We are a Happy Family!

I love mother; she loves me.

We love daddy, yes sirree;
He loves us, and so you see, we are a happy family!

I love Hudson; he loves me.

We love Porter, yes sirree;
He loves us, and so you see, we are a happy family!

Shopping & Fun!

While Brandon was at Priesthood session of conference, me and the boys and Grandma Hoopes had some fun. We went shopping and got Porter some clothes and shoes (thanks Grandma!) He is growing so fast it seems like I just barely bought him some shoes & they are too little! After shopping we played at the play place in the mall. Porter & Hudson had a blast! This was the only picture I could get of the two of them together. They had so much fun they would run from one thing to the next, that I could barely get any pictures! (at least ones where they were looking!)