Another Halloween has Come and Gone

And it isn't even Halloween yet. I think Mother Nature was mad that we weren't celebrating on the right day! It was a very soggy holiday. 

We started our day with pumpkin carving. I didn't carve one this year. I love having carved pumpkins but it isn't my favorite activity.

Right around 4:30 p.m. the clouds started rolling in. It didn't take long before is was raining. It was a lot of rain too. By the time we were ready for trick-or-treating it was really coming down. Jenna came over to join us. We weren't sure we were going to get to do anything so we held our traditional photo shoot indoors. 

Here are the girls. 

Even though Emma is an angel she wanted her make-up to be more fairy like.

Andrew as a devil with really bad teeth and a scary goatee. 

The whole family. I am so glad that Paul dressed up again. It isn't much but it's something so I took tons of pictures of us! 

Oops my eyelash is coming off. 

The girls decided to brave the rain. 

Andrew was hesitant but decided to give it a go.

They didn't get very far. 

Finally they went out again. I don't like to get wet so I stayed home to hand out candy. I had planned finger foods for dinner. These are my favorite things to eat. I could graze all night long. Yum. 

They rain slowed down so I offered to drive them around for a little while. 

The rain stopped, they found some friends and off they went. I went home to play with my camera outside since I finally was able to.

Paul's pumpkin is so cute.

Emma had made a leaf grave of some sort.

The kids made it home pleased with their haul and I got our traditional outside picture. 

The kids always love to see their pile of loot. 

Andrew was done. His goatee was itchy so he pulled it off. It was really stuck on there!

How is this not the best holiday ever?

The kids get so excited by the full sized bars. Heck I would too.

Even thought the rain was awful and it was the wrong night, it takes a lot to bring us down on Halloween. We all ended up having a good time. The kids are all snuggled up watching a movie and I guess I better turn out the light. We haven't had anyone come up to our house in the past 30 minutes. I guess we are really done. Only 366 days until we get to do it all over again. I wish it were sooner.

Halloween Round 1

These pictures are barely worth blogging. I'm glad we get another chance to take more tomorrow. 

I am so exhausted. Physically and mentally. Today was the class party for Andrew. I have been making my costume all week in preparation. Wednesday night I finished my costume. I excitedly tried it all on and almost cried. My top was hideous. It did not work. I looked like a Mormon Gypsy. (Maggie reminded me that I was a Mormon Gypsy LOL! But I didn't want to look like one! ) It was way too conservative. It was way too ill-fitting. It was way too normal looking. It looked like I grabbed clothes out of my closet and threw some extra fabric around my waist and called it a costume. 

I am an over-thinker. I literally lost sleep that night. I was tossing and turning wondering if I could find a suitable blouse. I was thinking about how much it would cost to have something over-nighted. I was wondering if the Cleopatra costume I sort of liked was still at Wal Mart. I was having nightmares thinking I may have to try to sew one in one afternoon. I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck.

Thursday I went out first thing in the morning and luckily found a better option. It was missing puffed sleeves but beggars can't be choosers and it kept me from having to sew a top. That could have been a disaster.  

It wasn't without drama. Nothing around here ever is. There were only two shirts in my size. I bought one and when I was almost home I realized it had a big slit in the back. I had to turn around and drive back to exchange it. When I got there the other Large was gone. I tried on a Med. (too short) and an XL (it was too big) Once again I almost cried. I decided to dig through the fitting rooms. I actually found it in one of the other rooms!!! 

So I'm set, costume wise. I'm a fortune teller at Andrew's party. I have personalized fortunes from the teacher for a lot of the kids. Great, except I don't know who most of the kids are. When they got in front of me I got stage fright and blanked. I gave out a lot of generic fortunes. I see candy in your future and crap like that. What I did was pretty lame. We did have a little craft that I think I redeemed myself with. I had forgotten to eat before I left. I was starving by the time I got home. Now I am totally tired. I think I am going to just go to bed so I will be ready for Trick-or-Treating. I can not wait. 

Andrew practically ran past me in the parade.

 Don't you love the teeth?

My travel sized crystal ball

Emma came over from the Junior High to visit after her school let out.

How cute is this? I think every pregnant woman should be an Oompa Loompa for Halloween.

The final outcome. It's not perfect but it is what it is. 

The blue eyelashes were quite the hit. I won't be surprised if I wake up with my eyes swollen shut tomorrow. They are really itchy right now. Stupid allergies. 

Our First Real Snow = Barf

Yesterday and the day before it tried to snow up at our house but it didn't stick. (Score one for the good guys.) Once you got to the valley there was nothing but obnoxiously cold wind and maybe a little rain.  This morning we woke up to this. Pumpkins can be cute with snow caps but this was too much. We pretty much lost the stems. Boo. 

This morning when I got up it was still mostly dark and as you can maybe see there was still some snow falling. 

I drove the carpool and brought my camera with me. The sun coming over the mountain was actually really pretty. I'm afraid this doesn't do it justice. Sorry about the roof in the picture. 

There was a lot of snow even down at the school which surprised me.

Looking down onto the valley. 

Looking up at the newly covered mountains.

Have I mentioned lately that I hate snow? I guess if I have to have it though this is the best way. It's not on the road. Thank goodness. The next six months are going to be hell.  

Somebody Loves Their Daddy

Last night Marius needed some love and attention. Bad. Paul was trying to eat a bowl of brownie and ice cream while we watched the Rocky Horror version of Glee. Marius wanted to be on his lap. He crawled up but got pushed off. He came back. This happened a few times. Finally Paul gave up. Marius was so pleased with himself. He had won. He gave himself a bath right on Paul's lap (Paul was still trying to eat.) and then he fell asleep like this. Even though he is a giant taker and a turd he's too cute. (I'm talking about the cat.)

HOEDOWN!

Last night we had a ward party that was AWESOME! 

It was adults only, they fed us, there was a pie making contest and we got to dress up! Wahoo I would get to wear my boots twice in one year ;)  I was so there. Paul on the other hand wasn't as excited about dressing up as I was. 

I got him to wear an old "western-ish" shirt that I had gotten at Old Navy many many years ago for .97 cents. (plus the discount, so really more like 70 some cents) I bought it hoping that he would wear it some year as a scarecrow. That never happened. It has pearl snaps and pointy pockets. It's as far as he would go. I take what I can get.

They covered the hideous gold accordion doors and made it look like a barn. How cute is that!?!

All around the room they had wanted posters. Do you recognize this outlaw? I love this idea and this picture. Mine was absolutely hideous. 

Check out our bishopric. LOL! 

They had so many decorations. It was fabulous. They had to spend so. much. time. on this activity. 

We had pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, baked beans, salad and rootbeer. For dessert we had all made pies. The bishopric judged who would be the winner and then we got to eat the rest. I made the chocolate, pecan, bourbon pie that I posted about last year. This is the only picture I got with it. 

I WON 1st PLACE!!! I was totally excited. The prize was great too. I totally need another deep, heavy pie pan. This one is a really pretty red. Perfect for so many holidays! (The only one I have has pumpkins on it. It's sort of limiting.)

After dinner we had square dancing. This is Jennifer and her husband Jason. She was the one in charge of this party. 

Here is Beth and Steve who were also in charge of the party. My hat goes off to them. They know how to have fun! 

We danced a few rounds of square dancing. Paul didn't want to at first but afterward admitted that he had a great time. It was fun dancing with him.  Right before we left we got our picture taken in the photo op. area they had set up. They seriously thought of everything! 

For those that want it here is a link to the pie recipe that WON last night! Except for the cooking time (I had to add at least 20 minutes) I followed the recipe exactly. Delicious!!!