Queen of Halloween

I have been told on numerous occasions that I am the "queen" of the haunting holiday in October. Whether or not that's true, I dunno, however, I do love it.......a bit excessively, here are some of the annual festivities!Our annual Halloween party this year was an 80's party. It was SOOOOO fun! We played fun games, ate pac man and rubiks cube cookies, and laughed and laughed! All our friends are such good sports as you can see, and rose to the occasion for this shindig!
I had to literally bribe Josh to drive all the way home from Salem in between activities and practices to participate in our annual big leaf playing afternoon, he had all of about 20 minutes, but he came and indulged his crazy mom. I LOVE this tradition though, the smell and crunch and color of the leaves...........so fun!
Gardiner Village and the witches is something I look forward to every year, they are women after my own heart!
My wonderful sister in laws come and have a witches lunch, some of them refuse to dress up, but they come for the food and the FUN that we always have together!
Food is an ENORMOUS part of our traditions on Halloween, I made this monster cake for my witches lunch.......................oh my, 5 layers of chocolate pistachio heaven, Frankenstein would be so proud.
Witches lunch bunch, love these girls. We have so much fun together!
Witches brew, and other yummy treats!
One of 5 pumpkin patches we visited this year, this one was down in Central with the Chisholm gang! It was fun to go with grandpa (check out his happy, goofy little face!!!!!)
We always go to Cornbelly's and the corn maze. I want the big kids to love it as much as the littles, sadly for me, they go now just for the kettle corn, throwing corn, and again......to indulge their crazy mom. I hope someday they'll take their kids and thank me for "forcing "them into these silly things. I love it though, and I think secretly they do too!!!!
Love this, THRILLER by the Odyssey dance co. Jen was totally freaked out! It was so SUPER fun!! One of my favorite things!
Oh my, more treats, candy corn cupcakes, sugar cookies, caramel apples, pumpkin cheese ball....all favorites!
Another very very fun party. Jon is amazing......how many husbands you know would dress up as a puppy at their staff party where he's the BOSS?? So much fun!
Another punkin patch, at the Red Barn, we love the hay ride, donuts, ice cream and the biggest pumpkins we can carry!!!!!
Halloween nail painting, this year we got cool decals and the girls spent the afternoon painting each nail a different color (orange, black, white, green and yellow!) so cute!
Our haunted halloween house. Which, admittedly gives me a headache. They always fall apart, the little nerds fly all over the room and we slip on them, the frosting is black and stains.......but the kids really do love this tradition and it always ends up being so cute.

So, maybe I am the queen, maybe I'm looney, I don't know. I do know that there is just something about the fall that I am in love with, leaves, crisp air, the first snow fall, sweaters, the hint of things a little creepy out in the shadows. OOOOOH, I love it! Bring on the trick or treaters and last BIG party!!!!!! Happy haunting y'all!!!!

Disneyland!!!!

It's not a big secret that our family loves, loves, LOVES Disneyland, and this year we went at the start of Halloween time.............oh, it couldn't have been better!!!!!
This about sums it all up!
Face painting was a huge hit!

Josh loves Disneyland, but he REALLY REALLY loves the beach!

Sea World was lots of fun, the kids especially love playing with the star fish!
Space Mtn or Ghost Galaxy......OH MY GOSH.........I absoloutely ADORE this ride, all the time, I could ride it all day. It's my favorite, and with Halloween fun added to it, wow, I just don't have the words to describe my addiction to this ride. (I know it's an illness)
Pumpkins, decorations, Halloween treats everywhere. Good times.
We went with my sister, Rachael, her hubby Jared and their kids. It was a lot of fun. Hot.....113 degrees one day..............(which is completely and utterly ridiculous!) but still, at the happiest place on earth, WHO CARES?????? It was a blast! We love it!

Jaemon's General Conference Birthday Weekend!

Jaemon's birthday always falls on General Conference week. I remember bringing him home to the sounds of MOTAB on the tv, and dosing off through most of it! It's always a nice, relaxing, rejuvenating weekend! Here is the birthday boy with his very much anticipated present, a remote controlled Big Foot...it sleeps on it's head, rolls around the floor and grunts a lot. Wow....it doesn't get any better than that!
He wanted Halloween cupcakes with green, OOZY frosting. So there it is.
Blow it all out buddy!
A great big wish!!!!
This is the general mood while watching conference, balloons and vampire teeth.
Listening intently........
It's been tradition forever to make a fresh apple pie, (as in pick the apples this morning, fresh) and now pumpkin (well, cuz it's October, and Josh's favorite to make and eat) so we must have them for a delicious treat!
Jen with her notebook, taking detailed notes about every single talk. I tried something new this year and had them write down what they learned after each talk in a little notebook I made. They got to pick something out of a grab bag if they could tell me three things about each talk. (thanks to my friend Tara for the idea!) it worked great and they had a great time.......you can tell from the vampire teeth and balloons above!!!We all stayed in our jammies, ate cinnamon rolls and caramel popcorn and listened to our prophet and other leaders. What inspired people. We learned a lot and I hope we can do better day to day because of their counsel and advice.

And to my little Conference Weekend birthday boy...............I hope ALL your wishes come true! I love you little buddy!