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.

Trunk-or-Treat

At the LAST minute, Jenna wanted to dress up to help with Trunk-or-Treat at church. She did an amazing job of grouping her face up to be a ghostly woman for the night. Her make up skills continue to astound me. How did she know how to do this? She watched a Youtube video. We thought she had borrowed some of Heather's zombie make up, but nope. Jenna used cotton and glue to achieve the lovely gash on her face.  So talented this girl is! Sarah stopped by from the choir event she was at, and Sister Miller snapped a photo of Jenna and I before we left. I was a Hershey bar, as you can see.  Haha.

Sentimental Moments

August 2017

August 2003 - Sharing Ice Cream Truck with Sis

I heard the ice cream truck tonight and I HAD to grab some cash and call the girls to run out with me. They used to hear it during the summer and every now and then, we'd run out and catch it if it wasn't dinner time. Due to all the milestones and life changes coming up, I wanted to grab a piece of the past and be that mom with the little girls again running to catch the ice cream truck. These years flew by so fast. Oh my heart.

Fourth of July

We made it back from Phoenix in time to have our 4th of July dinner. I neglected to purchase American Flag decor, but I had some British napkins from Heather's British party. Those worked right? We wiped up the British! Yummy hamburgers and outdoor dining is the best. We grabbed peeks at the fireworks displays in the sky and threw some popits into the street. I still miss the traditional fireworks in the driveway. Oh well. Maybe our kids will grow up and live in places where they can at least easily get to some fireworks shows.

Heather's Baccalaureate Ceremony

Baccalaureate is a religious service held at an educational institution, usually on the Sunday before commencement day.  While religion is not mentioned now, the baccalaureate tradition is still honored at our high school. This afternoon graduates and their families met to hear motivational speakers and messages. Grandpa Ron was able to go on this outing, and Aunt Michelle was here for it also. We took lots of pictures of our soon-to-be graduate, and it was a lot of fun seeing her mingle in her cap and gown. This is a big week for our seniors!

Mother's Day

Shout out to my man who made me a delicious Shepherd's Pie for dinner. He was up early with a horrid headache, but he prepped food, set up a delicious spread for our church sisters, cleaned it up and continued serving when he came home. He made a delicious meal and he did the dishes! He's a on-of-a-kind, outstanding man. Love you Kelly! Thank you for making my Mother's Day special.

Renaissance Faire

 Heather and I had so much fun during our traditional Renaissance Fair visit today! She got to have a real hawk sit on her shoulder! We ate food and walked around and saw the joust. Just a super fun atmosphere, and it's been a fun tradition for us. Huzzah!