Ahoy Matey…Our Politically Incorrect Halloween

It’s pouring rain outside. Mike is out braving the weather to take the   kids Trick-or-Treating. I’m nursing a rotten cold, so it’s fallen to me to stay home and answer the door for the trick-or-treaters. I kinda feel bad, because I usually like to be the one to take the kids, but it’s not going to happen this year. Stupid cold!

The trick-or-treaters keep coming to the door dripping wet and shivering, not the slightest bit deterred by the rain or the cold. Anything for a bucketful of free candy right? I hate when it’s bad weather on Halloween because the kids have to bundle up so tight you can’t see their cute costumes.

Fortunately I took pictures of all of us in our costumes yesterday, before the rain storm hit. So, without further ado, here are some pictures from our Halloween…

The kids all wanted to be pirates this year. I love it when they agree to dress to a theme. Mary Kate’s obsession with Pirates of the Caribbean probably had something to do with their costume choices. I’m pretty sure she worked overtime convincing the boys that being pirates for Halloween would be most awesome. Her hard work paid off for me too, because pirate costumes are much cheaper than Buzz and Woody costumes.

The fact that Jeffrey is missing his two front teeth only added to his pirate charm and….

….Jonathan’s signature pirate look really paid off here. He’s a natural. In fact…

…… wouldn’t you agree that these costumes are perfectly suited for these two. The pirates!

Here’s Mary Kate looking uncharacteristically serious, like a true pirate should.

Even pirates have to go to school.

And now.. for the politically incorrect part of our Halloween. Brace yourselves…

Mike…..

….and his abaya clad wife. I know, it’s pretty bad, but we were a big hit at the ward party. As a side note, it was quite the experience spending the day in the abaya; a very interesting and educational experience in fact.

Over all, it was a good Halloween despite the miserable weather and the equally miserable cold. The kids had a good time at least, and isn’t that what Halloween is all about anyway? Now what to do with the newly acquired six pounds of candy at my house? Argh!

These guys made an appearance again this year. We love these guys!

I Feel a Chill in my Bones

Have a happy Halloween!

What the…

…it’s snowing outside!!

Global Warming

I don’t know if we can credit global warming or what, but believe it or not, it’s been warm enough in Utah this October to do a little Jet Skiing. Last Saturday we decided to take a few friends and head to the lake. 75 degrees was the high, and the water was cold, but not unbearable. Best part about it…hardly anybody else seemed to think October was a good month for a Saturday at the lake. We basically had the whole place to ourselves.

Utah lake may be the most disgusting lake on God’s green earth. It’s only 12 feet deep at the most, it’s full of pollution after years of Geneva Steel using it as a dumping ground, and not only that, but Utah lake is home to 70 million pounds of carp. Just check out the color of the water in the photos for example.

As a rule, I won’t get near Utah lake, but I made an exception last week as it was my last chance to Jet ski for the year. It was worth it. We had a blast. (Don’t worry, I took a long shower afterwards)

I took Judy for a wild ride! She had to hang on for dear life.

Jet skiing in mid October….not half bad really. I’m glad we went last week because it’s supposed to snow this week. Not sure if I’m ready for winter?

2

Life is stressful and challenging at times. Luckily there are two things in my life that consistently keep my stress levels in check…

and…

All I need to do is spend some time with my husband and my dog and I can literally feel my blood pressure lowering, my tensed muscles relaxing and the happy endorphins rushing to my brain. Ahhhhh.

Oops

I’m having serious issues with accidental deletion of things on my computer these days. A few weeks ago, on a Saturday night, I deleted my Gospel Doctrine lesson that only took me 6 1/2 hours to prepare (not counting study time). It took me at least and hour to stop crying after that mistake. Even Mike, the wonder computer genius couldn’t find. Who knows what the heck I did?

A week later I deleted some blog posts for work that took me forever to write. Fortunately I found those. And then, just today, as I was making some changes to the side bar of this blog, I deleted the list of blogs I read!  Argh!

I deleted quite the list of family and friends. I’ve tried to remember some and track down the url’s, but, even if I know that I read your blog, I can’t remember how to get to it without the address. Some of the blogs I had on my list were private, and I’m not sure how to go about getting those if I don’t have your email. If you read this blog and I read yours, could you please check the list on the side and make sure I have your blog listed. Just make a comment and I’ll click on it for the url. I love reading your blogs and I would hate to miss your posts. In the mean time, I’m going to do all I can to avoid the delete button. Wish me luck!

Creativity

A shoe box, some fabric, two colors of tissue paper, a few silk flowers and a year’s supply of glue sticks, turned into a lovely garden for bunnies.

Some drawings by MK and friends. Mediums: Concrete and wood chips.

Orange, black, white and yellow construction paper makes our traditional Halloween decorations for the front windows.

And finally…. a store in the back of Mike’s truck, opened by the boys.

As you can see, the inventory at their store is fantastic. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, the store was closed. Also, I had Winnie with me and the sign clearly states ‘No Dogs Allowed.’ I was truly disappointed because I had my eye on that rubber band; a steal at only 50 cents.

Believe it or not, there were a few suckers in town who actually purchased items from the boy’s store. The little girl next door bought 5 pinecones that the boys had collected from her own yard, and my mom and dad bought a used Matchbox truck and a unbelievably ugly fairy nick-knack.

The boys did start out with little piles of Jelly Bellys wrapped in plastic wrap. Those were popular and sold like hot cakes. The boys made enough money so that we could have a lovely FHE lesson on tithing tonight.

Famous Again

Conference weekend was great, as usual. I always enjoy Conference weekend. Lance and Dani came down for a visit too, so you can rest assured that our hair is looking amazing and our toe nails, at least MK’s and mine, are pretty and sparkly. Happily, we also got to cuddle with baby Mason all weekend. He is one good baby; hardly ever cries. Lance and Dani hit the jackpot with that boy.

I loved all the sessions of Conference. Our house was a bit full and noisy so I didn’t absorb as much as I would have liked too. I’m really looking forward to reading and studying the Ensign next month. I always get twice as much out of the talks when I read them anyway. There were a few addresses that stood out to me; you know the ones that feel like the speaker’s talking straight to you. There were some like that, and I needed them.

And as a side note: Did anyone happen to catch the channel 5 news special Saints Reborn: The Saints in Ukraine, between Conference sessions? If you did and you were watching closely, you may have seen me! Yes, I had a whopping one second of fame in this lovely television piece. No, I haven’t been to Ukraine recently (or ever), but if you watch the video below you will see me off to the right of Roman, the man in the yellow hat…I mean, shirt. Seriously, I should be a star; the camera just loves me!

Also, you will get a lovely glimpse of the dark cave of an office that I attend meetings in twice a week. Notice all the amazing natural light coming in through the vast expanses of windows in our office. You’ll have to look hard.

Wasn’t I awesome!