The Great Pumpkin Search

Just so you know, there are NO pumpkins available on October 30th.

Aaron and I just never got around to doing the whole pumpkin patch visit with Wes this year. He's kind of too young to care and despite several attempts to get out and go, stuff just kept happening and it got postponed and then it just never happened.

Then, the day before Halloween, Marisa and I were like, "Hey! We should go get pumpkins tonight! And carve them tomorrow before trick-or-treating! The kids will love it! It'll be fun!"

So Friday night, Marisa and I hop in her car and drive to Fry's since they had a ton of pumpkins. Except they don't anymore. Alllll gone.

So we drive to Wal Mart Neighborhood Market down the street because they had a big pile all month. Except not anymore. All gone.

So we drive to one of those places that exists solely for the purpose of selling pumpkins. Sure, they have pumpkins. Little bitty ones that would be impossible to carve OR 30 pound behemoths that are going to cost us a kidney apiece.

So we go to Basha's. No pumpkins.

So we try a Wal Mart supercenter. NO PUMPKINS.

At this point we're realizing that we've basically failed at being mothers. Because all the good moms apparently bought their kids pumpkins WEEKS ago and we've totally missed the boat. And we're considering buying a spaghetti squash at Wal Mart and telling the kids it's a pumpkin and then maybe trying to carve it (or possibly just leaving it as-is on the doorstep for trick-or-treaters to puzzle over) because that's possibly the best we can do.

Finally, I suggest we stop at the Fresh and Easy right by our houses. It's on the way home and after 5 other stops, what's one more?

They have ONE LAST PUMPKIN. For $2.48. So I buy it and we decide it would be our shared pumpkin. For all 7 members of our combined families.

So on Saturday afternoon, I throw Wes and the pumpkin in the car and we head over to Marisa's to carve. I cut the pumpkin open and invite the kids to get messy. Ashlyn takes one look and runs away screaming. Wes doesn't even bother getting near the table because we were in their backyard and OUTSIDE OH MAN I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE JUST LETTING ME PLAY OUTSIDE AND THERE ARE TOYS AND ROCKS AND AIRPLANES AND *passed out from excitement*. And then Marisa's new baby wakes up and needs to be fed so..I carve the pumpkin.

Marisa's husband has an ELECTRIC PUMPKIN CARVER. I've never had more fun carving a pumpkin in my life. Marisa kept me company and the kids were playing happily and the weather was gorgeous and you know what? It was totally worth the search (although, next year we'll be going a little earlier). Sure, it was all for ME, but...you know.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

I know you can't tell, but I was Indiana Jones to Wes's mummy. Or, if a pregnant woman rocking a side pony tail, skinny jeans and knee high heeled boots as Indiana Jones offends you, I was an archaeologist to Wes's mummy. I took a class at BYU so I'm practically an expert on archaeology anyway.

Wes did great at trick-or-treating. For a little while at least. He got tired after about 5 houses but we made him press on because CANDY.