Happy Halloween!

It's no secret... I LOVE Fall.

Each year as Fall approaches, I get excited.

I anticipate the smell of autumn leaves, the crispness of the night air, the shorter days, birthday time and Halloween.

I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why I like Halloween so much. I've never been one who LOVES dressing up and I don't care for dark or evil things, but... I still really like Halloween. I guess it's fun to dress up my kids.... and the candy may have a little to do with it. :)

Although this year I really haven't eaten much candy. Zero on the actual day of Halloween and really only one day of indulgence..5 or 6 mini candy bars. That's it..which is kind of amazing. I am serious about this weight-loss contest!!!

This year has been different for me. I didn't get that same excitement or thrill as Halloween approached. The kids and I are usually heavily involved in costume idea/creation the last week of October. This year we talked about costume ideas, but didn't go all out creating. I was more hands-off and basically directed them to find what we had around. And although I missed the creative part, I didn't miss the intensity. It was almost stress-free.

So this is what they came up with...

Taylee-Napoleon Dynamite (again), Rylee 80's girl, Treyson- Magician and Abree- ballerina.
I guess I was most involved in Treyson's costume. We borrowed the cape from Amber, we had the magic wand, but then I bought the hat, mustache and bow-tie.
Wish his hat was a bit less Pilgrim-like and more top hat-ish, oh well.
Abracadabra!
Rylee has been on an 80's kick recently. That night she dressed up kinda Madonna-like.

It was cute to see her research 80's make-up ideas on line. She artfully recreated this look by bringing her make-up downstairs and putting it on while looking at the computer images.

Taylee used Jason's costume from a few years back. Such a brave soul to sport that wig, glasses and boots.

"What are ya gonna do today, Napoleon?"

"Whatever the heck I feel like...gosh!"

Originally Abree was going to be a pig. I had found some ears and a snout second-hand, but didn't have anything for the body of the pig. So on to plan B. She said she wanted to be a ballerina. Ok, that's easy. She ran upstairs and pulled her costume out of our dress-up boxes.

The tu-tu was made by Taylee a few years ago for a Christmas present. We had the leotard, tights and ballet slippers. I put her hair up in a bun and called it good.

Rylee and Taylee went to a Halloween Party at a friends house. Jason took Abree and Treyson trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. I blasted Halloween tunes and passed out candy at the door. I hadn't done that in a while, so it was kinda fun.

One of the little girls said, "I like your music" as Ghostbusters was playing in the background.

Another little guy came to the door, yelled "Trick or Treat" and then thrust his hands out towards me (no treat bag, I assume his parents had it). I handed him 2 pieces of candy, then continued passing candy out to the rest of the crowd. He then got my attention and handed one of the candies back to me and said, "I don't like that kind!" Soooo, I gave him a different one. :)

Another cute little boy thanked me graciously for candy, as I put it in his bucket. Then as he was walking away from the door, his dad asked him if he had said thank-you. He turned around and said, "Oh thank you... oh so very much. Thank you, thank you." Fun-ny!

Abree and Treyson made quite the haul. I had them choose 10 candies each, to give to their party-going sisters... and then the sorting began.

Then it was Treyson's turn for a party. We dropped him off, then picked up the older girls and headed to Grandma McKinley's. Missed the Croffs and Dean/Candice's families, but hung out with Tim/Karen and their girls.

The kids also did a quick round of trick-or-treating in Grandma's neighborhood. Rylee and Taylee wanted to get in on the trick-or-treat action. :)

Happy Halloween!

Minnie Mouse Party Prep

This is Sophie.

She is turning 2.

She LOVES Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

When I knew her birthday was coming up and that she loved those Disney mice... I had to offer my services as "Party Decor Lady". I begged her mom Christy, to let me come over and help. She said yes. :)

After looking and "pinning" many party ideas, we decided on a banner direction. We first cut out circles of colored and patterned paper. Then we decided on our favorite combinations of circles, then I zig-zaged (with the sewing machine) the circles together.

We also cut out Minnie Mouse heads for the beginning, middle and end. I sewed around them with a regular stitch and then hot glued ribbon bows to them.

We LOVED the dimension and texture of the stitching and ribbon bows.
Christy tied the banner together with ribbons also... so cute!
I think Sophie likes it too.
She kept asking her mom all day, "Today my Happy Birthday mouse party???"

Finished banner minus the lettering. "Happy Birthday" lettering to come.

You may not be able to see it in the photo, but there's hot pink stitching around the mouse shape and zig-zags around each circle... so cute!

We also punched out smaller circles and I sewed them together for some garland.

Doesn't it look great on their chandelier?

Christy made this adorable outfit for Sophie to wear on her birthday.

Love it!

I also made that Minnie Mouse shoe, Christy made tissue a pom-pom, we talked about cake decor and other decoration details. I think this party will be super cute and way fun. Hopefully I'll get to see pictures!

Nice Combo!

There's a phrase we use around our house... it first came about when Rylee was little and was becoming more independent and started dressing herself.

She came up with some doozies!

Instead of saying, "That looks funny" or "Try again" or "You don't match", we came up with the phrase, "Nice combo". It basically means, "That looks funny", "Try again" and "You don't match", but maybe a degree nicer... or at least a little more light-hearted.

During RED RIBBON week at the middle school, they had several dress-up days. One of these days was what Taylee referred to as, "Mis-matched" day.

Taylee went all out. I'm guessing she could have won a prize with her combo!

Button-up shirt with a lacy vest, sports shorts and leggins, boots and dress shoe footwear, scarf around her neck and mis-matched ribbons in her hair.

Nice combo Taylee!!!

After school, she informed me that it was actually "mix and match" day.... but basically the same thing as "mis-matched" day in her book.
Another day of the week was "Celebrity Day". She dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite.

Check out those boots. Aren't they awesome?!

Jason and I are impressed with her bravery and desire to dress-up and be so unique... at middle school!

Go Taylee!

Shoes!

I know I've shared this shoe with you before... but it's so cute, I'm sharing it again.

Funny how something like this...
can turn into something so cute like this!

Made these for my ladies I go visiting teaching to.

Also made this Minnie Mouse shoe... more on that to come.

I've also adapted the pattern and made an elf shoe, curled up toe and all. I'm thinking this would be super cute as Dorothy's ruby slipper or a Cinderella "glass" slipper too, as a party favor or party invite.

How would you use this shoe???

Hands

Credit for this idea comes from Pinterest.

Now there's no guilt about the time spent on Pinterest, right? We've actually done something from it. :)

As we gathered for our "girl's night" at my Mom's house, we had a few extra visitors; Grandma Ison, Aunt Loma and Aunt Jocile. We took advantage of being together and took a few generational hand photos. This one is of Grandma Ison, my Mom (Lora Dawn) and me.

Grandma Ison and Aunt Loma... sisters.

We also ate yummy soup, talked about our lives and basically just enjoyed one another's company. We've made "girl's night" a regularly occurring date, once a month.
Sooo much fun.

XC Districts

Rylee was in cross country (XC) again this year.

Let me tell you... cross country at the highschool level is WAY more HARD CORE, than in middle school!

They began their practices in July and ran 5-8 miles a day; rain, shine or 100 degree weather. Even on their days "off" they were encouraged to run "just a few miles". What?!

Rylee was on track to be invited to join the Varsity team, but then at the beginning of the school year, she injured herself and was out for the first few races. The school trainers helped her with therapy on her injury, so she was able to run the last 3 races of the season, on the JV team.

Districts were held at Eagle Island State Park.

Side note: While I was waiting at the start line for the race to begin. There was a man there blasting music to pump up the runners. He turned to me and said I looked familiar and asked if I had gone to Valley View. No. After visiting briefly, we figured out how we knew each other. He was one of my 6th grade teachers at Garfield Elementary, Ted Coe.
So weird... I couldn't see Mr. Coe in him..he looked like an old man (he was wearing a hat and sunglasses too). Wouldn't want to know what he thought of me.. lookin' pretty rough that day. :)
Half way through the race, Rylee looks good.

Here she comes down the home stretch... still lookin' good.

Whew... tired.

Rylee, we're so proud of you. :)

Running buddies- Sarah Bruneel & Rylee

I'm so impressed that these kids WANT to do this. Running has never been my thing. Watching these young athletes is amazing. During races I fluctuate between yelling encouragement to tears of pride. I even cry for the opposing school runners. They are all AWESOME!

If you see me at a meet.. please don't mind my blubbering.. I can't help myself. I'm just so proud of them all. :)

RMHS Choir Concert

It was a Thursday night and we needed to be in two places at once... a choir concert and a Cub Scout Pack Meeting. We decided we had to divide and conquer. Jason, Treyson, Taylee and Abree chose to go to the Pack Meeting.... I suspect because of the hope of treats. I went to the Rocky Mountain choir concert to hear Rylee sing.

It was a nice concert with lots of variety.... no treats though. :)

YW in Excellence

Our ward recently had a new shift in YW leadership.... a whole new presidency (same advisers). With the change, came a slightly new direction for YW in Excellence night. The vision was to create an experience... a pioneer trek type experience to be more exact.

As you entered the gym, you could tell this was going to be a special night.

We literally set the stage for the girls to share their experiences by setting up 3 scenes.

This doesn't give you the full impact. We dimmed the lights and then "lit" the battery operated candles and lanterns. Also to add to the effect we had cricket, bird and stream sounds playing. With the dim lighting and nature sounds it was an awesome display.

Each class (Beehives, Mia Maids, Laurels) had selected 2 girls to speak about their trek experience or a trek pioneer story that made an impact in their life.

The girls were also asked to write a paragraph about their experience and how they would, "Go Forward with Faith".... how would they choose to use their trek experience to better their lives today?

The girls gathered in the over-flow area, as the parents were seated in the gym. When it was time to begin, the girls came in singing "Come, Come Ye Saints" walking up through the isle to the stage (holding battery operated candles), to begin the program.

Shared trek experiences, a special musical number, a personal pioneer connection from our new YW president, remarks from our Bishop and a delicious apple crisp served for dessert... a successful evening.