hAlLoWeEn 2K16

We are putting a candy bowl on the porch, heading to Chipotle to grab a $3 burrito (maybe go by Arbys to grab some $1 reg roast beef sandwiches thanks to the Broncos scoring at least 2 touchdowns yesterday), then hiding in the basement to watch a movie.  Sounds perfect, right?

Mar put Slim out in the tree to welcome trick or treaters -- we mainly get teenagers anyway :)

hApPy HaLlOwEeN!

What we wore.

Here's the result of my day of desperation yesterday:

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

Cheap? $2.50 for the box from Home Depot... the rest I already had.
Easy? Relatively.
Fast? Uh, no. It took me a good chunk of the day to get these babies together.
Clever? Haha... I had at least 3 people use that exact description last night.
Done and done.

I also whipped up this beauty... thanks to my fave idea source Pinterest.

I had everything on hand for this, too, although my olives, which I thought were bigger, are a bit underwhelming. I also thought I had a boatload of cheddar cheese, but when I went to pull it out, I only had sliced cheddar. Looking back, I should have just used it, but I went for the Swiss (ham and Swiss go together, right?). It turned out very Swiss-y, so not as crowd/kid-friendly as I had hoped, but I certainly gave a good effort. I also made some spinach dip (coming out of a pumpkin's mouth, thus looking like puke), but in my rush to get out of the house on time (since I was also baking 2 Costco-size boxes of dino nuggets for the fall festival/trunk or treat), AND trying to get my cheap, easy, and clever costumes together, neglected to snap a photo. Bummer.

Mar almost didn't go, since none of the friends she invited could come.

But that girl can whip up a fast, cheap, and easy costume, too.

 

(I LOVED this costume... but had a tiny concern that she might frighten the littles at the fall festival. Thankfully, none of them ran {screaming in terror} from her!)

I was glad to see she wasn't the only creepy person there.

(We also had an awesome Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein... but, sadly, I didn't get a picture of them.)

(I made the potato heads with interchangeable face pieces, and the kids got just as much a kick out of it as I had hoped. Bill and I were constantly having our faces changed. Bill even had a set of "angry eyes" haha. None of the pictures I snapped had him in the BYU hat... that was his favorite, but the kids seemed to really like the green hair.)

It was a good time.
Poor Slim tho.
Toward the end of the night, after Mar had danced his legs off, he snapped.
Literally.

I kind of like the creepiness of his torso-less legs and his legless torso.

Crisp sunburnt leaves.

Out my bedroom window this morning:

My favorite tree in the Spring is also my favorite tree in the Fall.

I suppose this is just flat out my favorite tree.

(And that's through a dirty window... shhhh, don't tell).

I can't believe it's almost Halloween. Seriously, the days go slow, but the months fly (taking from a well-used and familiar missionary mantra haha). I have been on a purge binge lately, except when it comes to Halloween. I can't part with my decorations, and even added a few new things this year:

Mar and I couldn't resist purchasing a skeletal dachshund in honor of the pups.

We named him Bones (obviously).

 I got this awesome lighted raven garland on a killer Michaels deal.

I especially like it at night.

I left the pumpkins I bought at the beginning of the month with Britt when we went to visit, thinking I could slip by this season without a lot of fuss anyway. I had brought my bin of decorations up before we left for Fall Break, and it sat in the same spot, between the kitchen and the family room, for a good three weeks. One morning I woke up to a craptastic Halloween array, courtesy of Billy-my-hero, who thought he'd lend a helping hand and put the decor out for me. After waiting to hear from Mar that she hadn't helped her daddy-o decorate (I was going to live with it and not say a word had she helped...), I carefully rearranged a little bit. There. Not so craptastic.

Back to the pumpkins.

I decided I needed one or two after all, so I headed down to Walmart one night when I was home alone. I checked the time, making a goal to have the entire adventure over and done with in 30. Once in the store, I immediately went to the pumpkins and was pleasantly surprised to find a big one I liked, along with a few long stemmed small {pie} ones. I put them in my cart, please as punch, and headed for the check out line. As I was patiently waiting for the customer ahead of me, I reached in my purse for my wallet. IT WASN'T THERE. Then, and only then, I recalled that I had removed my wallet from my purse earlier in the day to put in my scriptures for a class that morning. Yep, my purse was full of the good word, but nary a dime (or a card) to be found. I asked the clerk to please look after my cart (I had so carefully selected my pumpkins!), and I headed back home, grabbed my wallet, and made the trip back to the store. These pumpkins better be good to me.

Mar was feeling artsy and asked if she could use one my styro heads for a project. Since I had spray painted two of them last year, and didn't really care for them much after that, I told her to have at it. She definitely created something creepy... I love it.

I can't resist the oldies-but-goodies, too:

(Mar has had fun moving Slim to a new spot each day, then taking a snap.)

So even if they are only up for a week + 1/2, we are in the holiday spirit.

Our ward's trunk or treat is tomorrow, and Bill and I still have no idea what to dress up as. Last year we were lame and didn't do anything, so this year I'm determined to do... something. It must be fast, cheap, and easy... but clever (that's where I struggle haha)... suggestions?

I also have to share these funny snaps from little Mama today:

 (Scarlett was fussing away on the horse... my screenshot doesn't do it justice.)

Welcome to the world of Halloween-with-kids.

I honestly think someone at our house had a meltdown every year (and moms work so hard to get everyone dressed up, made up, bundled up, and ready). It can be exasperating.

Loving this season!

The rest of the Fall Break story.

I am just going to quickly recap the rest of Fall Break.

Hah. I say that every time. I'm just not quick.

Sunday we made the trip up to Bountiful to see Grandma and Grandpa G.
The day could NOT have been more beautiful. Seriously. I love Fall.

The Scarlett overload begins right now.
(This trip was the first time she LOVED me!! Ahhh, I've been waiting for this moment.
She actually chose me over Little Billy Grandpa when we showed up at her house.
Happy dance time.)

That evening Lynnea needed to take a little walk to lower her blood sugar levels, so most of us joined her on a stroll around the church parking lot. The point-and-shoot caught these two gems:

Mar and Mer were happy to spend some time together, too. (The point-and-shoot did not fare so well here. The good news is I GOT MY NEW PHONE. On Monday, so I didn't have it for these pics, but all pictures after these, are courtesy of my phone. Yes, my PHONE. So so happy!)

Bill headed back to Utah early Monday morning to conduct a funeral service of a member of our ward. He drove the car that Lex has been borrowing while Lo is serving a mission. We needed to get it back to CO to get it tuned up and registered before Shi returns home anyway, so our initial plan was to just drive two cars back at the end of the break... but it worked out even better, since Bill needed a way home AND I found a $24 one-way flight back to UT Tuesday night for him. So perfect.

Monday night (after Mar and I had received our new phones via UPS -- happy dance EXCEPT for when I tried to activate and assimilate mine, which may have resulted in a few moments of inner rage), we headed off to the park to have dinner from some food trucks. 

I have never eaten from a food truck, people... until now. 

Check that off the bucket list.

This park, a stone's throw (if you have a really really good arm) away from Britt and Austin's house, is amazing!

(More food truck pics... so I won't forget I've been there, done that haha)

We got some fresh donuts, which Scarlett thoroughly enjoyed...

...while Britt, Aust, and Mar enjoyed the park.

Tuesday morning, Mar and I attended Wonderful Sweet Scarlett's dance class.

I loved watching this adorable girl bust some moves.

There's something super sweet about a dance class full of 18mo-to-3yr-olds.

On Wednesday we drove back out to Bountiful to visit J's grave. It's hard to believe it's been a year since she passed away. In some ways it feels like forever, in other ways like it was yesterday.

 I reflected on the time I was blessed to spend with her last year, especially the few precious hours I was with her the day she died, not knowing that was going to be the day. Bill, Mar and I talked about how life is so uncertain... how we need to treat everyone with more love and understanding... and especially how important it is to cherish your family. We have definitely learned some valuable lessons this year.

Have I mentioned I love Fall?

Afterwards we met up with some Parkerite-now-Loganite friends (remember our choir concert buddies?) at Nielson's Frozen Custard for dinner and some catch up. I didn't know places still exist that don't take debit or credit cards, only cash or check! Now I do.


On Friday we went to the Provo City Center Temple. Bill and I didn't make it out for the open house, but had attended the dedication with Mar over Spring Break. We had some fun trying to find parking (i.e. it was a Friday and there were a lot o' weddings going on), but enjoyed going with two of our beautiful daughters!

Saturday evening we met everyone at Red Robin in The District... kind of a final family hurrah before we headed back home early Sunday morning (so we could catch the dedication of the Fort Collins Temple). We had to wait a bit, but had a great time chatting, enjoying the beautiful weather, and adoring Wonderful Sweet Scarlett.

Afterwards we shopped a bit (Hobby Lobby with the menfolk, then we sent them home with Scarlett so we could peruse Downeast Home). Then we all met back up at Britt and Austin's and just chatted. Seriously, those times are the BEST.

The drive home was... beautiful (have I mentioned I love Fall?) This was a rest stop, for goodness sake.

Since Mar wanted to drive for a bit, I sat in the back seat and enjoyed watching Pollyanna (I haven't seen it for decades) because it was one of J's faves (if you haven't seen it for a while, you need to watch it), then the new Saturday's Warrior. Mar has never seen ANY version of Saturday's Warrior (and has never listened over and over and over to the soundtrack... or LP... like I did back in my early youth), so when we got home (and after the temple dedication) we watched it again. She said it was a little different than she had envisioned as she listened to it on the drive home {haha}. We youtubed a few of the numbers they left out of the new version, and had some fun discussion on WHY.

That's a wrap, peeps.

(I didn't take any pictures of our painting projects... which took a lot of mine and Britt's time during the week... a coffee table and end table of Tay and Nae's, and an end table and kitchen table of Aust and Britt's... it was quite a big undertaking, but we did it. Hopefully everyone is satisfied with the results, as they were still drying as we drove away.)