Halloween!

It was weird not to have any kids at home this year. Heather was at college and Jenna went to a party. No more trick-or-treating for these girls. I was feeling the end of a season for sure. To be honest, we got many more trick-or-treating years than I thought we would. It's awesome to have my girls love Halloween like I do. I made muffins for Jenna's seminary friends. The morning forecast on the television cracked me up. They posted temperatures from Halloweenishly named towns--Death Valley, CA; Ghoul Creek, WA; Mummy Pass, CO; Devil's Lake, MO; Skull Creek, NE; Boos, IL; and Sleepy Hollow, NY to name a few.  Jenna wanted to do mermaid makeup for school, and she did a fantastic job. She woke up about 4:00 a.m. to do it and was a little late to 5:45 a.m. seminary. This was costume number two. I had no idea she had a third costume in mind for the evening party. She was a deceased girl who had hung herself. Kind of creepy especially with Jenna's make up skills off the rails again. Her wounds looked so real. I whipped up a batch of cupcakes for Sarah's party. I had forgotten that I'd said I'd make them. They came out of the oven just in time, and I got to use a lot of my cupcake Halloween decor today which was a happy bonus. The last picture posted here are the Holbrook's daughter, Hannah, her husband and their baby.  They are the Matlands and Lydia from the movie, Beetlejuice. Too clever. Hannah made their masks herself. We were so impressed, and this is one of our favorite movies.

October at College

Clearly some of the most sensational college experience stories thus far have revolved around weather simply because we Californians don't have weather.  Well we do, but it's normally beautiful or at least mild.  Heather has Instagrammed a couple of morning pictures from her apartment which I have included here.  I can't believe it's snowing in October! She surprises me with a cute photo now and then like the one with her soda. And I send her photos of funny things like this sweatshirt. Allison Boyack had a Stranger Things Season 2 premiere party, and Heather was invited. What a fun thing to do for a ST fan! I decided to make Halloween cards to send to her and the HB church girls which was fun. I don't know if the girls liked them, but it was fun to send them. Heather put together a casual costume that she could wear to school during the day from a Marvel comic movie called Donnie Darko.  She was excited about it. Heather and her two friends have really been in to the show "Riverdale," and they decided to dress up as Josie and The Pussy Cats for Halloween night.  They didn't go to any parties, but they did go to Soda Vine and hang out for a bit in their costumes. Heather isn't much for the social gatherings because she doesn't know anyone, and many of the gatherings are very crowded. She's having some claustrophobic symptoms and is a little panicky. But she is still finding some fun here and there. She bought some decorations for Halloween to put with the ones we bought when we first got to Utah. I love that she loves to dress up and to decorate like her momma does.

Christmas Time at Disneyland

Thanksgiving break gave us the chance to enjoy Christmas time at Disneyland. We made a stop by the Tower of Terror in CA Adventure. They have taken the outside sign off, and they are not playing the Twilight Zone clip anymore. But they're keeping it going these last weeks with a cute photo op outside. The picture is blurry, but we're keeping it for posterity. We talked the girls into our traditional Small World ride and a visit to Santa. I miss when they were little so, this was pretty sweet that they agreed. The decorations are just so beautiful and really put us in the spirit of the season.

Easter Fun

We managed to dye our eggs on Saturday night per tradition. Love all the creativity and bright colors this year. Easter Sunday was fun with baskets and an egg hunt. After church we started an apple cobbler which we served who the missionaries joined us. They had no place to go, and it seemed like a more "family" type gathering with more people. Dinner was delicious. Celebrating the Atonement and Resurrection, and reflecting on the true meaning of Easter is what it's all about.

Easter Eggs

Although the girls don't love my picture taking, I think we still love (or at least like) dying the Easter Eggs. They were pretty creative this year with patterns (Jenna) and Adventure Time or Five Nights At Freddie's (Heather). I'm cherishing these last few years doing this as a family.

Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day snuck up on me! Thank goodness for Pinterest where fun ideas are readily available, free printables and all! I was able to pull together an all-green dinner with a scavenger hunt and some fun games afterword.  I used to be so prepared for fun holiday festivities, but I find myself forgetting until the last minute. Hopefully it doesn't show. We still had a great time. Oh, and I had to put in a photo of the fun present LeAnn Snow left on my porch. Her wrapping is always so pretty that I wait awhile to open the gift so I can enjoy the wrapping.

Christmas Day Photo Blog

Images of Christmas Day

Stillness of the morning, the anticipation (we still make them wait to come down the hallway so we can get a photo), puppy's interest in everything, big gifts from Santa, Grandpa, cute tag ideas provided by Jenna for dad's presents to mom, excitement (kids) and relief (parents) over choosing the right gifts, Aunt Beth and Uncle Kevin, realizing you were up way too late (Santa) and way too early (kids) which calls for a nap in the middle of the floor, traditional family photo that mom kept accidentally setting on not only timer but rapid shutter clicks affording some funny family poses, and a beautiful dinner with the help from the hub. Another blessed Christmas for our home and as always, although the photos don't show it, an increased focus, appreciation and reverence for our Savior whose birth, life and death will always be the reason for these celebrations.