Halloween Day Fun

I love Halloween! I don't have any children (duh), but I made sure that I could see as many of my friends kid's dressed in their halloween best as possible.

Pre-halloween started at work on Friday with a work competition of dressing up and who had the best costumes. Of course I had to dress up and try to win! But I had some serious competition! I got to work and my boss was dressed as....drumroll please...Michael Jackson. I was quite impressed! Needless to say, I didn't win this year. But, next year, I will win for sure! Be prepared!



Halloween morning started off at the jack o lantern jog here in town with Lizzie, Justin, Levi and the in-laws doing the 1 mile fun run. Levi was decked out in the cutest giraffe costume as possible. If we had stayed longer, he would have won 1st place for sure! It was a fun morning to start off the halloween festivities.



Next up was a stop to see Miss Avery. She was the cutest ladybug I saw all night. I'm sure she became a pro at eating candy as the night progressed! She knew just what to do when she saw me! I missed seeing Avery Kate as a monkey, but the pictures I saw were pretty cute, so I can only imagine how she looked in person.

I ended the evening trick-or-treating with this large group. I've been adopted into these "families" on halloween. For the past several years I've gone around in this same neighborhood with the kids and tagged along. It's become a tradition, so I've enjoyed seeing all the costumes.

These are my friends Miranda, Ashley and Melissa...they are all sisters, so I like to pretend I'm the 4th sister. I'm around the 3 of them quite a bit along with their families. So, a picture with me in between is quite common.

The plan was a for all of us to dress as pirates, we did pretty good, but Matt was the best.

With Matt & Melissa

Marcus, Ashley, Brooklyn & Eden

2 pirate friends

A Like Totally, Rad, Awesome Party 80's Party

Friday night I hosted an 80's Halloween party at my house. It was a mix of people from church and bunco, but if I do say so myself, we had a pretty good time. Everyone came dressed very 80's and it was so fun seeing the creative costumes! Many of you have seen my dress before, since I've worn it several times, I'm glad I kept it, because it's definately come in handy! I'll let the pictures do all the "talking".

As people arrived at my house, I had put out some tombstones in the yard...they had some funny sayings on them, they aren't meant to be the scary, spooky halloween them, but for fun. You can't really read all of them, but they say "Willet B. Ewe", "Sherri Jean, Too Old, Too Mean", "Jacob Street, Died With Both Boots on His Feet", and the personalized one..."Here Lies Luke Without A Song, I Told Him Not To Preach Too Long".

I didn't put them out until about an hour before people got there and my neighbors were up in my yard reading them. I quickly took them all down as soon as people left!

The group!

Leah & Ben as Teen Wolf - Ben won best dressed guy, and his hair shed EVERYWHERE all over my house! I'm talking everywhere! Kind of gross, but funny too!

Amy & Ben - Amy won best dressed girl, her shirt had shoulder pads and everything...she looked hot!

Lindsay & Luke - Luke won 2nd runner up for best guy - I think he was going for the Slater look from saved by the bell... he did pretty good. Lindsay even had on original Keds.

April & Chris - April was a workout instructor and Chris was going for the preppy look. Their costumes were both pretty great.

My 80's prom queen, the old stand-by...I could easily pass for a 14 year old with the bangs...please notice the crimped hair, and yes, its my crimp iron from the 3rd grade that still works.

Teen Wolf on the attack...

Me & Leah

Jenni, Amy & Emily

April, me & Lindsay

Kim, me, Luke, Ben & Teen Wolf (Ben)

As the night wore on, we ended up playing Rock Band. It was good entertainment for everyone involved. Ben & Luke were quite the singers! I don't have any pictures of the girls playing, but we put on a show too!


What I also don't have pictures of is Leah, Ben and me doing a surprise thriller dance in the middle of the party. We learned the dance a week ago and decided to randomly "perform" it at some point. Well, it worked out....ok. We had some minor technical difficulties, but we still got to do the dance. I think everyone else thought we were just being crazy:) We had fun though! I do have one picture of Leah and I practicing.

Rice-A-Roni, The SAN FRANCISCO Treat!

I just returned from an amazing trip to San Francisco! I had a great time! As I've mentioned before, I have this little list, 30 Before 30, and one of the items is riding a cable car in San Francisco, and I was able to mark that item off my list shortly after I landed!

I first have to thank my generous dad for making this trip possible; he donated his airline mileage for me, and somehow landed me in FIRST CLASS!!! I felt like a queen with all the special treatment I was given. It was great! The food was SO much better than I expected it to be for airline food and made my fear of flying SO much better.

I had many adventures while I was there, which started as soon as I landed to make my connection in Orange County, CA. My flight got cancelled, so my options were to stay the night or buy another ticket...I opted to buy another ticket. Not really my first choice, but I was anxious to get my trip going, so on the the road I was to San Fran!!! I seem to bad luck when I fly...

I FINALLY arrived and my friend Corey met me at the BART station where we headed into the city as they all call it to meet her husband to drop off my bags. We sure weren't hauling my luggage around all day:)

Our first stop had to be a cable car! She knew I had to ride one! Corey grew up in this area so she knew all the routes and hot spots to show me around. We stayed in the city all of Thursday and went to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, and Little Italy. I felt like I got to see quite a bit. She was a great tour guide!



This picture isn't good at all, but we got to see the sea lions. They were really loud and smelled awful! I don't know how to work my camera so this didn't turn out...

I got to see Lombard Street. The crookedest Street...



On Friday we took her kids, Kinley and Jaxson hiking at Mt. Diablo. Her daughter had been wanting to go hiking in this mountain since they moved back here almost a year ago. So we made the drive up, then hiked around for a while. Her kids were great! The view from the top would have been perfect had it not been so foggy, but I enjoyed doing stuff I don't normally do on a daily basis and spending time with them also. On our way home, we passed an In-N-Out, I made her turn around so we could have lunch...this was a must for me!!!! And I got a t-shirt:)





Saturday we made our way over to Napa. Beautiful is not even the best word to describe it! Rolling hills and vineyards everywhere! I've never seen anything like it in my life! Ever since I watched the newest Parent Trap movie, I've wanted to go to Napa, silly I know, but it's been a dream. And I got to go there! If you ever get the chance to go, don't miss it!



Monday, was the day I headed home, but not until late, so I rode into SF on the train on my own, went to the airport and checked my bags, then made my way back into the city. I had some more things too see! My goal was to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It didn't quite work out as planned. I spent too much time riding the train, standing in line checking my bag, and trying to get back to the places I wanted to go. By the time I got where I needed to, I only had about 2 hours. So, I went to Ghirradelli Square, got some fabulous salty hot chocolate, walked around some shops, went over to Fisherman's Wharf, rode the cable car, hailed a cab, and high tailed it to the Bart station so I could get back to the airport only to sit for 2 hours so my flight would be delayed....if only I had known...I really would have had time to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge...but there's always next time. I will be back San Francisco! I loved it! And I LOVED my day on Monday doing all that stuff on my own! I think I'm going to ride the Dart into Dallas and pretend I'm a tourist for the day, do all the stuff there is to do down there...ask people to take my pictures....hehe, sounds kind of fun...


This is as close as I got to the Golden Gate Bridge unfortunately...I was extremely sad:(


My trip was everything I imagined it would be! Now I'm back in reality, and exhausted!

Balloons For Liam

My dear friends Ben and Leah Jordan lost their baby boy Liam on Friday, at 20 weeks pregnant. I cannot imagine the pain and grief they are going through. My heart has been extremely heavy for them over the last 3 weeks as they have endured tragic news about the health of their unborn son, then having to experience this, something no one EVER want to go through.

Tonight our small group gathered around them to release balloons in his memory and show support to them. It was a great celebration of his life, even though we didn't physically know him, we had already come to love him, just as they had from they time they learned they were pregnant.

As my friend Lindsay said, it reminded me how important once again a church community is. No matter how big or small, having a group of people around you when you need them most is what matters. I am so thankful for mine. I know I can turn to the people around me in times of joy and in times of sorrow.

"We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone." Psalm 33:20-22

Slumber Party Bunco!

Last week I hosted bunco at my house. I've known for months that September was the month I would host. You would think that I would have the meal all prepared and ready to go. But, nope I didn't. So, what did I do? I did what I was taught to do...order out! It worked great! Sub sandwiches were picked up and rotel dip and the night went great! I did prepare the famous cookie bars, which if you haven't tried them yet, you must do soon! You won't be sorry!



Since I did know I was hosting a long time in advance, I wanted to have a "theme" night. Thankfully Annalee posted her bunco night a few days before and gave me the idea! Everyone was a good sport and came dressed in their finest! It was SO much fun I'm having it at my house again this month! Thanks girls for coming over, I enjoyed the company for the evening!

Trying to Pick Up

I'm bad about leaving my shoes around my house just where I take them off. No one else lives here, so I figure it's no big deal until someone comes over. Well, you would think when I'm tripping over them and about to break my neck in the middle of the night, it would become a big deal, but no, it doesn't.

You can see that just in my living room I have 3 pairs of shoes...you don't even want to see my bathroom where I try on the shoes...

I told you 2 weeks ago that I had some company in town, and my cousin and her husband and daughter Bella came to stay with me, well, evidently Bella likes to take her shoes off too and just leave them around wherever they come off, because I just found one this morning, 2 weeks later...I wonder if Emily has been missing it?
Look closely under the coffee table...

My first thought was whose shoe is this?! Is it Avery's? Avery Kates? Who has been over here?!!! Then I remembered how Bella liked to undo the velcro over and over and it had to be her shoe. I knew they would leave something, they kind of "move in" when they come to stay, haha, they do bring a lot of stuff, its a joke:) In the past it was a bottle and baby spoon, but they've outgrown that phase, so now it's a shoe. I can't wait to see what the next trip holds. I'll just add it to my collection:) haha!

The funny thing is that I had bunco over here last week and had 12 girls, I wonder if any of them noticed a little girl's shoe peeking out from underneath the coffee table....between that and my mismatched kitchen curtains they probably think this girl is C-R-A-Z-Y! Good thing I didn't bust out the fake baby doll just to fit in with all the kids talk....that would have really put me over the edge!

Family Reunion Fun!

Last weekend we had my mom's side of the family reunion. Our last one was 2 years ago, so it was good to see everyone again. We had 106 people there this year, and were missing about 50 people, our family is BIG! My grandmother has 8 brothers and sisters; 7 of them are still living, and they were all able to come this year. Even Great Uncle Lloyd from Alaska came!

The day started out with Uncle Ron introducing all the families. I'm not sure everyone was real happy with this..we all just wanted to eat. Afterall, Babes was on the menu!

I got some good cuddle time in with these two cuties...


The guys played some 42...

Me and Emily with our 2nd Cousins (I think?), it's my mom's first cousins, so I don't know how that translates...

Our family representing. We were missing some.

Papa relaxing

Mema and her brothers and sister. Can you see the resemblense?

My 1st cousins that were there.

And because Emily did this to me...she is getting paid back:) She got a little restless just sitting around and decided to climb on the rocks. Silly girl!