One of the most fun days EVER

Happy Halloween!

-Eat Candy
-Wear Costumes
-Listen to a Halloween playlist
-Eat more candy
-Watch a scary movie
-Act like a kid (Wha? Did you think this list was for my kids???)

Pumpkin Time

Monday night we had our monthly FHE with the extended fam. MJ wasn't feeling that well so we missed her and F&A were slammed with school work. But it was really great to have Bobba and the Hawkins over to carve pumpkins and eat treats. It was a perfectly temperate night so we carved in the garage with the lights on and door wide open. Why is that fun? I don't really know, but it is. The kids drew faces on their pumpkins and then ran and played in the front yard while us adults carved them all up. Isn't that a great smell? Such nostalgia! We put some battery powered lights in them and brought them to the back yard where we had cupcakes, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (oh yum) and visited. It was a great night with all who could make it.

PS- I had a little photoshop fun again with the kids photo. Thought this was fitting as it looks like an old vintage postcard or something. Well, okay, sort of.







And I just have to publicly compliment my wonderful Mother in law. She is such a fun Grandmother as almost every holiday she will surprise us with a little bag of seasonal goodies like this. MJ- so thoughtful. We're already using the stickers and half of the bag is gone. Thank you for always having fun and sharing that with our family!

Halloween Parties

This weekend was busy with Halloween Fun.
Our ward Trunk or Treat was on Friday night. I still don't have Elliet's Lion costume made (yeah... that's on my list today after I get all caught up here) but she was a good sport to wear a dress up. I compliment her compromise but there was still an issue: she wanted to be Cinderella and the dress up we had was for a toddler. She was happy after I told her she had to at least wear a shirt underneath it or she would have been 'Naughty Cindey'. You can see from her pose that she was quite satisfied. See that skirt? It's supposed to touch the floor and it's to her knees! Funny girl. Sadie was 'Chinkerbell' and Luke was 'Captain Hook America' (sans Hook). I'll get real shots of them on Halloween night but it was a good test run. After dinner inside we went outside to trunk or treat. The kids went around with S while I manned the car. Confession: I totally enjoy this, this setting up a spooky spot with music (Danse Macabre rules) and handing kids candy, making them talk like Darth Vader before they get a twix, etc. I can't wait for Friday night! It was fun. As soon as Luke had his bucket full, he plopped right down next to me in the car and set to work eating. This is always good surplus to hand out on Halloween night, too. Hey... reduce, reuse, recycle, right?


Then Saturday night was our annual Halloween party. I had some issues with our video camera so this was the first year we weren't able to make a spooky movie. And... it made for quite a relaxing day of! Usually I am editing to the bitter end so it was nice to not worry about it. We had a good turn out and some really great costumes. We tried a theme this year to go traditional so it was really fun to have the house full of mummies, vampires, zombies, witches, etc. These are a couple of our winners. Would you like to guess which one teaches the twins preschool? She's in the white heels. How awesome is that! I already really liked her... how can you not after she went all out like that? It was a fun night and such a compliment to have our friends attend and get into the groove. We had some of the best movie submissions yet (which I'll try to post soon). Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I usally do and Scott was out of his costume by the end of the night so we only got one of me. But he did wear a dress, a wart and a wig. Now that is a confident man. :-)

Halloween Count Down

Once there was a girl named Jenny. She was like all the other girls, except for one thing. She always wore a green ribbon around her neck. There was a boy named Alfred in her class. Alfred liked Jenny and Jenny liked Alfred. One day he asked her, "Why do you wear that ribbon all the time?" "I cannot tell you," said Jenny. But Alfred kept asking, "Why do you wear it?" And Jenny would say, "It is not important." Jenny and Alfred grew up and fell in love. One day they got married. After their wedding, Alfred said, "Now that we are married, you must tell me about the green ribbon." "You still must wait," said Jenny. "I will tell you when the right time comes." Years passed. Alfred and Jenny grew old. One day Jenny became very sick. The doctor told her she was dying. Jenny called Alfred to her side. "Alfred," she said, "now I can tell you about the green ribbon. Untie it, and you will see why I could not tell you before." Slowly and carefully, Alfred untied the ribbon, AND JENNY'S HEAD FELL OFF!
-from The Green Ribbon

Happy Halloween! I found this guys blog recently and it's been so fun to read this month. He is artistic as all get out and makes some creepy stuff (as he loves Halloween). He shared this ghost story from his youth and I thought it was fitting for this week. Best part was his tag, which said "Scared the crap out of me when I was in first grade". Oh man, gave me some good laughs today....Mom, have you heard of this before??

Sunny Saturday

It's a beautiful sunny day today so this morning the kids and I went
to the park.... I am so glad we can go again without melting. I really
enjoy the kids at this age where we can all individually ride our own
'wheels'.

Melting Mortimer

So cool for Halloween!

Wig Man

There I was.
Standing in the Halloween aisle and I saw him.
I swear this is a guy I dated during college. What if he seriously models Halloween wigs?! Talk about spooky.
I mean, he didn't really have hair like that...but he would look at me that way when he'd tell me about his biology class... don't you envy my romantic past?

*Bonus points to any of my family who can name him

Rock Your Costume

Been working on the award ribbons for our costume contest this year. I thought it would be cool to give something that may be fun for the winners to actually keep/display with their holiday stuff (er, if they want).
I have a few more to make and will post the finals in my Art Blog. They've been fun to make. Groovy, right?

Fly By Night

As you know I went back to Utah for a couple of days (sans fam) and got to participate in some seasonal fun. I drove up late Wednesday night, too late to attend Rich's Bday Party in SLC (Sorry Rich!) but did have my own party in the car listening to old cd's. One must pull out Rush every now and then and sing loudly (for the sake of dignity, I recommend this when you are alone). Thursday morning after some Cross Fit arse kicking with Cody, I shopped with my Mom and Sister, ate fudge (not usually a fan but get it at TaiPan) and prepared for Graham's first Birthday/Halloween party that evening. My Mom had her house all decked out (you think I have a lot of stuff? Not so.), we got the food ready, threw on our costumes and had a great time. Look at all the work Jess put into their costumes. If you haven't seen Young Frankenstein, it may not make sense (and shame on you! Go rent it). Way funny- Jess even held a candle to say 'Put zee candle...BECK!'. Graham was SO cute and was a great trooper with all the craziness.
Friday Jess and I went on a nice walk that morning in the beautiful Fall air. I really needed the talk we had and love her so much! The rest of the day was spent mostly with her and my Mom... so nice. That night we saw Julia's play in PG where she stole the show and did a great job. It's called 'Blithe Spirit' and she plays a dead wife that returns to haunt her widowed husband and his new wife. It was a quick trip but always so nice to see my family.
Now, one thing I must record before ending this post. It is not just the women in my family. No no no. My Dad is just as clever when it comes to Halloween and he has his own fixation. A few years ago he put up a ghost line that would quietly run a ghost flying across our yard. Well, it has now grown to many ghosts that fly a much larger route to a neighbors roof, across the street, around a street light and back to the house. It's quite a range! And successfully spooky because you can't hear them AT ALL, no motor or anything and all you see are these slow, silent floating ghosts. Occasionaly they will rustle through the trees and surprise you. Veerry cool. I love it. Dad? That is what I want for Christmas. That and immunity letters from my community association so I can't get busted for something so silly.

Happy Halloween! It's almost here!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!!!!!

Today is my fabulous, amazing, funny, handsome, smart brothers Birthday. He gets a party hat! He is a Libra, doesn't like to eat the last bite of his sandwiches and enjoys sun bathing.
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Richard. He is my kindred music sibling in the family and bonds with me in things creative and expressive. If you think I stretch myself in too many things, Rich is me + 7 Red Bulls. He is always going going going with his work as a producer, his car projects (the 73' Beemer2002 is going to look heeot), wakeboarding, photography, bikes and other interests. Just living. He is positive and so fun to be around and has the soul of an angel. Hard working, good natured and a heart that will make his wife very lucky. Rich! You are tops and I love you so much!

Running in Rocktober

Stopping only for a bit to update. I don't have much of interest to report for most of you as I am in journal entry mode lately. Getting things in that I won't forget.
After returning from Newport last week, Scott and I took a quick trip to Utah (again!) to get in some family events. Three things occuring the same weekend is what drew us up so soon. Friday night was a show called "Thriller" that I hear is a huge hit in SLC. Hello? It's all about Halloween! So no, I did not think it was weird to have my mom call weeks ago about including us in their ticket count (they brought the production to Provo for this weekend only). Most importantly, this same weekend our nephew, Trevor, was getting baptized. And finally, a play my extremely talented (and the beautiful) sister Julia was performing in this month and we were going Sat. night. But alas- a small snafu. Kings of Leon were in concert on Saturday night here in LV. Hmmmm....well, you can guess by the picture what we decided. I went up and saw Thriller with my family which was really fun (Scott flew in after the show) and then Saturday morning was spent with the wonderful Leavers. I have missed them! It was fun to laugh and catch up. Congrats, Trev! He looked so cute in his slightly large suit and the talks were wonderful. Jacob was born only a few months before him, so I can't help but wonder what it would be like. I live a little vicariously watching Trevor grow up. It was a really special day and worth going up for.
Later that afternoon we flew back home and went right to the show. Not a bad picture from my iPhone, eh? Ok ok... I swiped it from the LV paper but that's almost where we were standing so... my iPhone pic would have almost looked like that. They sounded amazing and the set was awesome- a great mix of their work. I can fulfill my duty to report that Caleb and Jared still look, ahem, acceptable in those tighttight jeans and boots. I guess you know it will be a good show if you smell the 'mj' sweeten the air during the first song. :-)
Now...don't judge too harshly if you think I skipped my sis's play to see some Tennessee. We did have to get back for something on Sunday, too. I was issued a new calling in my ward and am now the RS Music ... something or other. Sweet. Do I like music? jhes. Can I lead? Si. Is it easy? Si si. So not a bad step for a while after what I had. It may force me to practice the piano more so I feel bad to put my family through that, but.... yippee hooray for the mystery calling solved.
I bargained with Scott that if we came back for KOL I wanted to go back up to SLC this weekend to catch my sisters play. Yes... that is right.... I am leaving again. Now you understand why I said my month is flying by. Ah well. I think the long drive alone will do my mind and heart well.
Scott swapped days with me this week so I went for a beautiful run this morning. Not a soul out there, just the moon, music and me. Sparkling stars and blue light were the only witnesses to my glamorous trips and stumbles. But I was thinking about November and how I tried to really notice things every day of that month last year to richen Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it worked. So let's try it again, shall we? Be thinking, be reading (the latest conference talks with me!) and get ready for my challenge to write them down daily in Nov. That means you have two weeks to yell at the lame driver for not using his blinker and then you can soften your heart.
Now... off I go for two fast days to/from Utah....

Does This Tail Make Me Look Fat?

It's been a recovery day as I unpack, grocery shop, wash the nasty car-trip wake out of my car....but one good thing about being out of my house for a few days is that the kids old, lame toys become fun again. Enter Halloween costumes from last year that kept the twins occupied for a good half hour this morning. Usually they have them all the way up to their armpits so they look like mutated sea monsters. But I had to take a picture because I knew Scott would love to see Luke like this.
Maybe I'll use this adorable moment in time for our Christmas card....
Don't you love Sadie's face? It's like she's so pleased with how well he's molding to her ways.

Newport Fall 2008

We have returned from our fall trip to Newport. It was nice but I think I could have used another day. We filled our time well which didn't leave much left to relax, but the kids had fun as we achieved all three of the requested activities: Zoo, Disneyland and Beach.
The weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year, which is nice when you are staying on the coast...but it's noticeable when you head inland to the attractions. It was HOT. But other than that, the timing was perfect. I'll keep this update simple and not bore most of you with lengthy personal details.



The Zoo consisted of: Nice walks through tall, shaded trees and seeing the animals. The twins got excited by a lot of them, especially Luke, my little plastic animal fan. Elliet was the most eager to see the Lions and still talks about how "the Lions were my favorite because his mouth is really cool". She has now changed her Halloween costume idea from a fairy (farea?) to a Lion. Scott also got some giggles out of the shameless Zebra anatomy. Nice. It was funny to hear the conclusions the kids would make about the animals behavior, like how the crocodile that wouldn't move was fake, how the monkey pacing back and forth was thinking, or the python in the bucket of water was taking a bath, etc. So cute. They were troopers and we had fun.

Disneyland consisted of: fun/scarred memories. You know why? Because this year the twins were just over 40". That means they could ride everything except Indianna Jones. WWGPD? (good parents) They would ease the froggies from temperate to boiling water. Are we GP? No! We throw them right into the deep end. So to the deep end we went! We hit the Matterhorn first, a ride they liked last time. This time they said it was a little scary. What's that you say? You're breaking up... I'm going through a tunnel. Oh, we went to all the fun rides they wanted, but then we'd enter a line for something fast. I paid for it at Splash Mountain because right as we entered the log for our turn, Luke tells me he really has to go to the bathroom (you men and the sound of water!!!!). Well, he didn't make it so it he became 'splash pants'. Good times. But wow! I forgot how great some of those rides were. Splash mountain is sweet and Space Mountain was fabulous! And that, I must say, scared Elliet and Luke but Sadie was sitting next to me laughing her guts out the whole time. What a fun sound to hear. That's my girl. The grilled kebabs and veggies by Indy is a great lunch to be had and I still love how the kids are satisfied with a small lollipop for a souvenier.



The beach consisted of: collecting seashells, watching the kids brave the maybe 65 degree water (brrrr), make sand castles and have the tide surprise them and wash our work away....time stands still for some reason. This is when the heat was good. I liked not being cold.
Anyway, great trip for all.

**Added bonuses: Frozen bananas at Jane's (Scott got more giggles), Rogers Gardens AMAZING Halloween section (Thanks MJ!), swimming and hot tubbing at night, trail running and sleeping in.

Hunt For My October

Where has it gone? Another week with no posting (gasp!). Been busy busy. October has filled up quickly and I know things won't slow down again until January. Crazy to think that even thought it is so far away, it is right around the corner. A new year, new goals, etc. I am already motivated to turn over some new leaves and try some exciting things...maybe that is what new year goals are for...from the motivation from Fall. No? Oh.
Aside from normal routine this past week of school and such, I prepped for our fall family trip to Newport. We came last Fall when we brought the kids to Disneyland for the first time. It was such a perfect time of year to do it so we planned this months ago and are doing it again. Scott was off on Friday (and Elliet out of school- lucky us!) so we each took turns taking a nice bike ride, packed the car and headed off to L.A. We stayed Friday night with some great friends of ours and let the kids play for hours while we ordered take out and caught up on things. They are so fab. A couple of weeks ago Scott surprised me by buying concert tickets for a show on that same night, which cut into our chat time, but hooray for the Hills! They didn't mind us taking off and putting all the kiddies to bed (yes, we asked them ahead of time). Now, I won't bore you with a super long descrip about a random show to most of you, but I must divulge some. It's music! It's warm and fuzzy to my heart and I know most understand a truly great concert... this was one of those. It was small, it was dark, it sounded great and it was off da hook! The place was packed with a rad crowd who all enjoyed the music and danced in harmony. We were all so wet... my clothes were seriously soaked through. Scott was right there singing and jumping with me. I was so proud! Click the pic to get a scooby snack taste of the greatness. And yes, everyone was jumping like that. I was literally laughing at how fun. Ah, to be pretend to be a youth again. But we are old because I was beat when it was over. The next morning we hung out until lunchtime and took off. We arrived in "Newps" and have been soaking it up. The weather is nice, our place has a sweet ocean view (good) and I already have a sunburn (not so good). We still have a couple of days before returning home so more to come on the Zoo, Dland, Beach, etc. Let the games of October begin with crazy jetsetting, more live shows and festive fun.
And random thoughts on my mind: the best way to Paper Maché (see my art blog to find out why) and I want to use old maps so I have to find those...., Halloween costumes (what are YOU going to be?) and getting my act together for Girl Next Door in November. Yikes! I need to crank out some product!