Monday, October 27, 2008

A quick trip to the pumpkin patch...........Or not!!!

For family night, we decided to take a trip to the pumpkin patch. I've been feeling like a lame mom since I haven't hung up any Halloween or Fall decorations. I thought it would be fun to let the kids pick out their own pumpkins and carve them. (It was actually Jill's idea, but I thought it would be fun too.) So we ate dinner early and headed out to a favorite pumpkin patch about 20 minutes away. We finally arrived at our destination and what did we find? They had just closed, it was 6:45 and they had closed at 6:30. What kind of a pumpkin patch closes at 6:30 on the last Monday before Halloween, and in Utah no less? Don't they know that procrastinating Mormon families buy their pumpkins on the last Monday before Halloween? We aren't super familiar with the pumpkin patches in Utah county, or in any county for that matter, so we decided to go to Wal-mart. What did we find at Wal-mart? They had just sold their last pumpkins for the season. Are you kidding me? At this point it was getting late and we were running out of options. We decided to stop at Smith's on our way home, as our last ditch effort. Right about this time, the pumpkin spirit was gone and the finger pointing began. "We should've...... You never....... I told you........ Who's idea was this anyway?....." We were almost to Smith's when we spotted this random pumpkin stand on Main Street and it looked open. We pulled in and this nice, nice older man came to the window. We asked if he sold pumpkins and if he took checks. He said, "Absolutely." Yea!! The hunt for the great pumpkin was over. To top it off, the pumpkins were huge and cheap. The pumpkin spirit had returned. As we were getting back in the car, all the kids said, "Let's come here every year." So, an hour and a half after our search for pumpkins began, we found them less than five miles from our house.
What an adventure!!!


My sentiments exactly! That stuff is pretty slimy!

Yummy, raw pumpkin with seeds

Whoa, don't mess with Kevin, he's a man on a mission
Careful with the knife there, buddy!


Of course, Holly found the heart shaped seeds
(they're kind of hard to see in this picture)
She was very excited!


Scary!!
If looks and knives could kill (actually knives do)
It's kind of hard to see the knife in this picture, it's in Jill's hand


I wish they looked this excited to eat my dinner


I'm not exactly sure what Megan's planning to do to the pumpkin
It looks like some sort of martial arts


Dramatic poses with the end product
I think Jill is trying to blow her head up
Megan is attempting to eat a cookie through the pumpkin's mouth
Holly is reenacting Romeo and Juliet (I think she's Juliet.)
Kevin is stabbing the pumpkin
Once again, careful with those knives, guys!!


They all did a great job with their pumpkins, very creative
They did most of the work themselves
P.S. I did finally hang up Halloween decorations tonight, after the kids went to bed.

9 comments:

Krissi said...

How fun! Really how typical, you have a great idea and it takes forever to make it work. I think I like the no fall decorations idea. Thanks for letting us spend the night the kids had a blast and can hardly wait until Thanksgiving.

Mel said...

What a great mom you are!! So funny!! I actually bought straw and the corn stalks from that nice old man. They didn't have pumpkins yet so I bought those from Smith's! I thought he was so nice and will go back again! You captured the kids well, they do look a little scary with those knives!!!

Angie said...

Your kids are so cute and so funny. You look like you all have so much fun together. We planned to carve our pumpkins last night too, but managed to push Isabelle off another night after a longer than expected trip to Sams.

Laura said...

You're so good Sharonda! I just barely bought pumpkins, but I honestly don't have a clue when we're actually going to carve them before halloween. Hmm, maybe Jack-o-lanterns are overrated?? The kids look like they had a great time after it was all said & done. :) way to go!

The Larson Family said...

What a fun adventure! That's funny THE GREAT PUMPKINS were so close to home. Looks like you have some talented carvers! I love that Holly found the heart shaped seeds!

We just had a pre-school Halloween party at our house today. Yesterday I ran into the Dollar Store to pick up a few Halloween bugs. Their Halloween stuff was all gone!!! They had out all Christmas stuff!!! Wow! Halloween came and went and its not Halloween yet!

Emily said...

Your kids seem like they are so much fun! I've been wanting to go to a pumpkin patch for weeks but I don't think it's going to happen now. Oh well. Maybe next year!

Anna B said...

Pumpkins are acatually one of the things I like about Halloween.

BTW you are a great Mom!

Amy said...

Good job guys on the pumpkin carving. Looks like you had a lot of fun. Tell Jill that it looks like her bangs are getting really long.

Krissi said...

I'm thinking after the post today I'm really going to do it. I'm going to start the tag and I'm going to start with you. I'm going to make you respond via today's post. He he he he he. Do you even remember what I am talking about. No one else has a clue either. Oh well talk to you soon. But I'm laughing I think I'm funny. I like you because ...... he he he he. You go first! I know I have issues I never said I was normal