Richards Halloween Party

Halloween always includes the annual Richards Halloween Party! 

It's the only reason that Jared and I even wear costumes. And I love having the excuse. :)

The party includes yummy dinner, costume parade, spook alley, pinata, and cake and ice cream! 

It's so much fun to go and be with family too.

We had yummy sloppy joes for dinner. I made peach jello with "blood" whipped cream on top. Peach jello is so amazing! I hate jello, but I love this peach jello. Grandma Richards made it once and now it will be my go to. Thanks Grandma for introducing me! :)

After dinner we had our costume parade.

Jared was a snorkler to match our cute little shark! Jared loves sharks and I was so excited to have Ryan be a shark this year. He did awesome as a shark! I found this bear costume for Brady in some hand-me-downs. I am not quite sure who it came from, I think Aunt Laurie, either way it was perfect for our little Brade. And it gave me an opportunity to make some Bear ears to match! I made those and the flower. :)

Here is a video of our entrance.

Ryan is a great shark. To make him make the smile face I had him say "Halloweenie!" 

He started saying "Happy Halloweenie!" for the rest of the holiday. Oops. :)

 We forgot to take a big family photo so here is what Mom/Grandma was

A BYU vs Utah football fan!

Steven and his girlfriend, Natalie, were a pair of boobs. HILARIOUS!

 And here is the whole group! 

Jared stole Grandma's (or should I say Grandpa's since he wore it last year... :) mustache for her Mario costume. I think I'd prefer the shaven look. Oh wait, Jared never shaves. :)

Me and my baby bear. I love him to pieces!!

 Next was the spook alley.

Ryan is scared to death of anything scary. He is kind of a wimp. 

Okay, he may be two years old, but he's still a wimp. :)

Here are some pictures of us going through it (and everyone in it just acted like themselves so he wouldn't get tooooo scared). There are also two videos. They are really long and you can't see anything, but I thought I would put them on anyway for memories sake.

Love his face in this photo! He's already scared. Poor thing... (insert evil laugh.:)

Turns out we were going through the exit, so we had to go back around the house and start at the entrance.

Looking at the ghost pirates on the trampoline.

Ryan snagged a bone from the graveyard. It came in handy.

Cynthia let us borrow her flashlight. It helped a little, but not much. Ryan was still scared to death!

I told him to hit the gorillas with his bone. He thought that was awesome! 

I think he was saying "Halloweenie" in this picture, but he was much too scared to take his eyes off of the creepy things around him. :)

Here are the videos-

After the spook alley, the monkey came out and scared the crap out of Cooper. Poor thing. :) Ryan knew it was Steven, he was scared, but brave enough to tell Steven to take off his "monkey pants"! In fact, Ryan even helped him. And then he wore the mask himself! 

He kept hugging people and holding on tight and not letting go. Apparently that is what a monkey does to it's victims. (Those fingers belong to Grandma. I am sure she was telling him to stay still so she could take his picture. :)

Here is a video of Ryan telling Grandma Ann about the spook alley.

Grandma Ann has a bunch of toy guns around the house. Jake was a cowboy (sheriff?) and the two younger boys wanted to play with his guns. So Grandma got these out for them. In this picture you can see that Ryan has all of them. What a stinker. Good thing he's cute!

Here is Ryan and Cooper playing nicely. I love that Ryan has a close cousin to play with on my side, even if it's MY cousin and his second cousin. :)

Now it's time for the pinata! (if you're wondering, this is a very very long night!) My mom makes pretty awesome pinatas and this year she rocked it! It was very tough and strong. Usually by the time the older kids get to it, it's easy to bust open. But this year Jordan couldn't break it. So I wanted a turn! I'm a grandkid too you know. :) I couldn't get it open either, but it was fun trying! Finally Summer wanted a turn too and she got it open. All the kids got about the same amount of candy amazingly. And it was nice that Ryan got some because I ate it. Thanks Ryan! :)

Here is a video of Ryan hitting the pinata. He is actually a really good hitter!

Ryan and Grandma signing candy.

Ryan loves candy!

Jake always likes to take the pinata home. This was such a cute picture, I had to post it. 

He is such a cute kid!!

We didn't leave Grandma's house until about 11 pm. We were the last ones to leave and live the farthest away, what is our problem? Well Grandma thinks it is because we are so young. I think it is because it is so much work to get up and go that Jared and I always procrastinate it. The great news is that Ryan and Brady slept in the next morning and all was well.

We had a great time and I love Halloween! Can't wait until next year. :) Thanks Grandma, Mom, and everyone else who puts in so much time and effort to make the Halloween party a blast!