Good Things

1. Jake was headed to the temple this week. Kate asked him where he was going. When Jake replied to the temple, Kate replied "Be reverent and listen to what Jesus tells you".

2. Sam arrived to trick or treat at the very 1st house last night. In his bag a chocolate tootsie pop was deposited. He picked it out of the bag and had it unwrapped and in his mouth in under 5 seconds, and before we could get off the porch.

3. After 10 days of not having a usable bathroom on the main floor of the house, we finally finished the remodel of Friday. You can see it and all our back breaking work here.

I am in Love with a Fireman

I Love this Mermaid.

Costume Details You May Have Missed.

Halloween 1/2 Marathon

Congrats to Jake who ran his 1st 1/2 marathon today.
We had so much fun cheering him on.
This is him about 1/4 mile from the finish.

It is True

They really like hats.
and why not swimming goggles with your snow hat. Makes total sense.

Reasoning

Kate asked if she could go play outside today.
I told her it was too cold and snowy. And it was.
Then she disappeared upstairs.
She returned about ten minutes later like this.
And re asked if she could go outside and play.
coat, scarf, mittens, hat, shoes and sunglasses.
She was about as protected from the elements as her three year old self could make herself.
It was hard to reason against playing outside now.
So she got to.

Might I add, she got a purple coat and purple mittens to match the purple shirt she had on. I think she tried really hard- lest she come downstairs and get told that she couldn't wear that ___ outside.

Pumpkins for FHE

For family night tonight we went and got pumpkins to carve- then carved them. Despite all my plans to trek the family out to a real pumpkin patch with the snow, and it getting late, we ended up just getting them at Smith's. I figure I can't feel too bad since I already took them to the pumpkin patch this year, we just didn't have time for pumpkins because we were doing all the other things. They were pretty excited to pick out pumpkins from the Smith's sidewalk. Kate immediately found the biggest pumpkin, but then settled for a slightly smaller pumpkin because she didn't like the green on the original one. Sam said his best "pumpkin" as we searched for and purchased our pumpkins.

Kate begins to draw the face on her pumpkin for carving. And models the face she is trying to make.

Sam works on carving his pumpkin.
The guts didn't phase her.
Our kids constantly wear hats, around the house, out, in the summer, in the winter. They don't care they just love to accessorize.
Kate and Jake working on a pumpkin together.

Sam and I working on a pumpkin together.
This is the face Kate drew for her and Jake to carve out. Pretty detailed. I am not sure how those eyelashes are going to work out, or those nostrils, all I know is my Kate is a regular Picasso with a sharpie.

After the carving the kids wanted to draw on their pumpkins some more.

Kate is pleased with her pumpkin.

Sam did not want to leave his pumpkin friend out in the cold He lugged it back through the door. When I took it from him and placed it back outside and brought him in - he turned on his full on cry.

Sweet Photos of Guys I Love

Just reading a book about tractors from the library... for the 15 time today.
I actually cried for a second because these pictures were so sweet.

Grandparents and the Zoo

Sam says a big "cheese" for the camera.

I mentioned I was taking the kids to the zoo on what would likely be a beautiful Tuesday. That sounded like fun to both my parents and Jake, so soon we had a large crew dressed a bit warmly and headed to the SLC zoo.
Jake and Sam checking out the elephants. Sam was eating this apple when we arrived, kept it in his hand and tried to feed it to a dozen monkeys until he dropped it.
The kids sitting on the fake elephant.

Kate with her grandpa by the elephants.
Sam rides the fake rhino.
Sam and Kate with their grandpa in the reptile house.
Kate with her grandma in the reptile house.
Kate with her grandpa looking at giraffe.
Kate with her grandma on a snow leopard.
I am trying to remember to take more picture of Jake and I together. We have hundreds of us and a child but only 3 or 4 a year of us together.
Sam waved to everyone every time her rode the merry-go-round.
I should also mention that he saw this merry-go-round as we were headed to the reptile house. Sam then attempted every form of escape possible from the reptile house to return to the merry-go-round.
Of all the animals on the merry-go-round Kate chooses the Peacock Bench. She had fun though and wanted to put her hands up and say "wee" like it was a disneyland ride.
Group Shot take 1

Group Shot Take 2

Oh How I Love Halloween!

Because it is just possible I may love Halloween more than most anyone, we threw a Halloween party. It was Saturday- early- as to not crash our own kids Halloween. It was a lot of work, but tons of fun.


My favorite part of a party is actually the prep. I love decorating and cooking and putting everything together. And if it is all about my favorite Holiday- even better.

The Food-
Skeleton Cupcakes.
Eye ball punch
7 Body Parts Layer Dip

FrankenBride Cake made by Lisa- Those Freeman's know cake.

Not pictured-
Witch fingers,
Moldy Bread,
Pumpkin Bread
Halloween candy,


The Decor-


Have I mentioned that I like scary Halloween- not cute Halloween.

Saturday afternoon, a few hours before party time I decided to turn the hallway into a spook alley. It worked pretty well and was fun to do. I think it is a repeat.
Jake came up with our costumes- as he does every year. He is so sweet to let me splurge to throw fun parties, perfect costumes and spend my time doing whatever Halloween prep I want.
The Freeman's- Karl and Ellie from Up
We completed the Saver's found attire with a dozen balloons, hand crafted grape soda pins, and an adventure book. We love Halloween. We go all out. Next time we will not spray our hair color though. We each took four showers and were still scrubbing paint off in the sink 10 minutes before church yesterday.


The Guests-
The Babies- A Cuddly Bear and Tiger Lily- complete with synthetic braids.


The Carpenter's- Peter Pan & Captain Hook.
I need them to email me a picture of them- I took like 8 picture of them, but with their camera not mine.
Awarded- Exceeded our Expectations Award
Because Jeff told me he wasn't dressing up, and then he came in a hook, perfect burgundy coat and waist lenght black hair.
The Sim's- A Pilot a Steward.
Awarded- Best Cross Dressing Award.
Because in real life Rodney is the Pilot, but perhaps Lisa should be, because she looked adorable in the pilot uniform.
The Ensslin's - Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf
Awarded- Somehow both the Ugliest and Sexiest Costume Award
Because well... obviously. Dee is always super hot, Drew is normally good looking himself, but not with a wolf mask, gross hair glued everywhere, and a tragic Moo Moo.
The Lind's- Lugi and Mario. Sadly Mario is a nurse and was called off to work just a minute from our house, with her thik italian eyebrows already painted on.- so sad.
Awarded- Best Last Minute Award. These two called me at 3:00 pm to say they were planning on coming and were going to start working on their costume. That means they pulled off Nintendo Perfect in less than 3 hours.
The Terry's- Mrs. Pac Man Arcade Game
Awarded-We Would Have Never Thought of That Award
Because we just barely watched "The King of Kong" and it was hilarious, but we still didn't think of turning an arcade game into a Halloween costume. So creative.
The Pearson's- Mr And Mrs Potatoe Head
Awarded- Best Overall Costume.
I mean their eyes and lips and hats were all interchangeable! Had I not known them well enough to recognize the way they walk, I might not have known who was underneath.

The Games-
We planned a Halloween characters challenge. men vs. women.
Challenge 1: The Spider Challenge- get all your players through a super size spider web without touching the web or using the same passage way twice.
Challenge 2: The Vampire Challenge- All players work together to drink entire pitcher of vampire's blood.
Challenge 3: The Mummy Challenge- Wrap a team member entirely in toilet paper.
Challenge 4: The Bat Challenge- Using only one roll of duct tape, suspend a team member to the wall for 10 seconds.
This was my favorite part of the party. I think next year I will think of more Halloween character challenges.
The boys won. Though their ten seconds in air videoed seemed more like 3. Just saying.
And a little eyeball ping pong to finish of the night.

And we still have two weeks of Halloween season to go!

My Mom was a Halloween super hero literally.
She let me host this party in her basement. The theater seemed perfect for scary movie fest.
She lent me tons of Halloween lights.
She threw a party for our kids and their cousins at our house so they could be both babysat and not feel ripped off they missed out on the party I had been talking about all week.
The dressed in costumes, made pizzas, did Halloween crafts, and watched a movie my glow stick light. Sounds almost as good as our party!