My almost-weekly update

Happy belated Halloween to all! It has been so fun looking at all of your blogs filled with cute costumes and funny stories of parties, candy and trick-or-treating. Such was our Halloween. When you have kids the holidays seem to spread out over the duration of the week and not just the day. We felt lucky to get a lot of use out of our costumes this year. It was a week of treats and friends!!!! Our big Saturday events consisted of our church party in the morning, a huge trick-or-treating event at a local shopping center in the afternoon and trick-or-treating in the evening around our complex. Noelle was Ariel from the Little Mermaid. (A really cute costume, but not very fitting for Utah weather) She won the costume contest award for "best princess costume" at the ward Halloween party. Her favorite festivities were the parties with her friends where they all pranced around in their costumes. Corom was a white tiger. I just wanted to eat him up. He was so squishy and lovable in that fury tiger costume. Add the "growl" to the mix and he was simply adorable. His chubby cheeks added the perfect finishing touch to the costume. We had practiced saying "Trick-or-Treat" all week and it was Corom who executed the words. As excited as Noelle was, she froze at the doors and let Corom do the talking. (Yes, Corom is talking up a storm these days) Elijah followed the tradition of the Aldama babies dressing up as pumpkins their first Halloween. I just love celebrating holidays with these kids! We have a huge bag of candy on our fridge and oddly enough, the kids aren't interested in it at all- they haven't even asked for any. (Mom and Dad are sure enjoying it!)

On Sunday we blessed Elijah at our ward building. Almost all of the Shirley family joined us for the occasion. Dan offered a beautiful blessing and we enjoyed having the family at our ward for our testimony meeting and Dan's Sunday school lesson. Elijah is a sweet little baby. We are so grateful that he is a part of our family. Aunt April hosted us to dinner that night. What a special day for our family. Thank you to all who came. As for this week, the weather has cleared once again, and we have been spending our days outside!!! I have spent the last 2 days at the zoo. (Loving our season pass) We take our time watching the animals and picnic lunch. It makes for the perfect day. The last 2 days Corom has fallen asleep on the way home and taken fantastic naps! These days are in such contrast to the ones spent inside on snowy days. We are all so much happier outside.I hope you all have a wonderful week!