I think this was maybe our first Halloween in Utah since before med school 7 years ago? Did not disappoint. I mean, 2020 and yadda yadda, but I have a non-school-aged toddler and I'm a homebody, so not feeling as slapped as I could be. Well, actually I feel extremely slapped all the time because of said toddler, but I guess I'm just not feeling much
more slapped than I otherwise would. We are being cautious though. Jared is doing a short rotation in Utah that will hopefullyyyyy lead to a job offer. It feels like the perfect fit. It almost definitely wouldn't pay as well as a Wyoming job, but the hours would be so so good and it's the exact type of work he'd want to do in a private practice. Hopes are high. (Expectations are medium-low. We can thank medical school and residency for my next 20 years of pessimistic expectations.)
ANYway, we had a gr8 Halloween! We went covid-appropriate trick-or-treating to the 3 houses closest to my parents. Just enough houses for Jack to remember that he actually hates costumes and Halloween stuff and was ready to be done. I felt good about tricking him into wearing a "train conductor/farmer" costume by putting him in his normal overalls and sneakily tying a bandana around his neck.
^^The best and easiest and free-est toddler costumes of all! Jack and his bff cousin Asher with a stuffed dog my siblings used to fight over when we were little. The dog's name is "Lucky," but Jack can't do L's so he calls him "Yucky." (Also, my name is "Yar.")
^^How we all feel about holiday photo shoots.
^^Tim and Abs and bb Annie.
^^Our newest lil' niece, Emery! Peter and Abby killed it with the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" theme.
^^This is one of my favorite faces Jack does. When he makes this face, he almost always puts his hands up like that and starts talking in a really soft but excited voice, shifts his eyes back and forth, and suggests an idea he's very excited about, like eating a million homemade donuts, or maybe scaring someone.
^^Jack-Cole-Asher (almost like Jack-o-lantern haha). Da bois! It makes me so happy that Jack has lots of cousin buddies close in age.
^^Jack spinning Asher around on the chair after our chili dinner with my siblings and Grandma Roper. One of my favorite memories from the night was secretly listening to Jack and Asher's "conversations" with each other in the sandbox when they didn't know anyone was listening. They were talking about the "huge, big mountains" they were making with their little two-year-old vocabularies and laughing so so hard. The best. I love all my goobs! We're probably still a few years off from this, but I'm very excited to live by family again and invite everyone to our home for Halloween parties someday. There will be so much dry ice it's not even funny.
