Halloween

I usually sign up to help with one holiday party in each of my kid’s classes every year.  I let them pick which one they want me to help with.  This year both the boys and Liv wanted me to help with Halloween.  I thought I had a BINGO game at home, so I volunteered to play BINGO with the boys’ class.  Turned out that I didn’t have Halloween BINGO only Valentine’s and Christmas, but I found free printable BINGO cards online and was able to print those without too much hassle.  BINGO is always a hit with the preschoolers.  I have watched parents try to play all sorts of games with kids that age and most go completely over their heads and become chaotic, but BINGO is prefect for them.  I walked into the boys classroom without them noticing and their teacher asked them if they had anyone they wanted to introduce to the class.  They both turned to the kid sitting next to them and introduced them to everyone.  Then, their teacher pointed to me.  They both ran to me shouting Mom realizing that I was there and gave me a hug then one of them says, “This is Chelsea.”  One of the Mom's brought pumpkins for them to paint.  All the kids loved that.

At Liv’s class I was late getting to the group text where everyone claimed what station they wanted and I got left with craft.  One person did a treat, one a game, one a story, and I had to come up with and purchase all the supplies for a craft!  We ended up making pumpkins, and black cats, and bats, and frankensteins out of colored paper plates and construction paper and googly eyes.  They were simple and I think the kids enjoyed them.  I brought the boys with me to Liv’s class party.  Before we went in I gave them a lecture…

Me: Boys how old are you?

Them: 4

Me:  How old are the kids in Liv’s class?

Them: 7

Me:  Ok, so if you want to come to the class party and participate you need to act like you are 7 years old.  Can you do that?

Them: Yes!

Me:  So that means so fighting, no wrestling, no running around the room, and you need to be good listeners.  Can you do that?

Them:  Yes, we promise.

And to my surprise, they were on their best behavior.  They walked right in and found a seat on the keva amongst all the 1^st graders and they rotated around the room with Liv’s group.  Most of the other parents assumed they were kids in the class.  It was one of those times when I felt like WE HAVE ARRIVED!

Monday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins.  Derek was sick so it was mostly left to me this year which unfortunately meant that our pumpkins were not a good as usual.  Liv wanted Moana- her’s looked more like just some girl everyone assumed it was a self portrait.  Carter wanted a shark- looked nothing like that.  Camden wanted a skeleton- that was the only one that looked recognizable. 

The kids all dressed up as Moana characters this year.  Liv was Moana (of course--she maybe saw too many zombies at Thriller?), Carter was Maui, and Camden was Maui shark (? Or just a shark). 
Carter’s costume was super difficult to find.  I finally found some inexpensive Maui pajamas that had to ship from China.  They were estimated to arrive sometime between a few days before Halloween all the way until a couple weeks after.  Daily we were track the package to see if it was going to make it and low and behold it did!  It showed up a whole 5 days before Halloween and just in time for him to wear to his Halloween Humanitarian Haunt at his preschool! 

Due to Derek’s sickness, I got to hit the neighborhood with the kids this year.  We visited Carolyn.  She was so excited to see her kids and demanded a picture and a long visit before she finally handed them too much candy and let them head to the next house.  Then, we went to see teacher Nancy and the Taylors (who gave us coupons for a free frosty at Wendy’s which the kids thought was awesome).  Then, we stopped by this super spooky house the kids always made Derek and I drive by.  They had legit scary adult zombie like people roaming the yard that you had to walk past up to the door.  They were all terrified.  Then, we roamed the neighborhood knocking on all the doors of people they knew and or course came home with way too much candy.  They had visits from both Grandma and Grandpa and Tanner and Karlee.  So, I guess you could say Halloween was a success (minus maybe the pumpkin carving).

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Girls' Weekend in St. George

Aunt Kylie planned a trip out to visit Babi’s new house in St. George for the first time over Nevada Day weekend.  And while she was hoping for a quiet relaxing weekend, she decided to invite Olivia and I down to join her for a Girls’ Weekend.  Liv was so excited about the idea.  Just a few hours before Liv and I were supposed to depart, I noticed our Acadia was dripping antifreeze (a problem has resulted in us seriously considering buying a new car).  Luckily, Steven and Diane were kind enough to let us drive their car down there.  We drove down Thursday evening after she attended a birthday party for her good friend Kaitlyn.  For the first road trip ever we tried out a book on tape.  She was pretty excited to log all those reading minutes and finally win the big prize in class for reading the most minutes.  I checked out Matilda on audio book from the library.  We both enjoyed it.  I was honestly surprised how much Liv liked listening to it.  She was totally engrossed for the entire drive to and from St. George and now she is of course dying to see the musical.  Liv also enjoyed this trip because for our entire stay Liv and I bunked together in the bunk bedroom.  The only problem was the fight over who got to sleep on which bunk.  I of course made Olivia sleep on the top and smaller of the bunk beds which did result in an exhausted fit the first night.  Here she is on the floor with the hello kitty sleeping mask Babi had left in the room too tried to stand, but too stubborn to take the top bunk readily.  

The whole bunking together scenario also resulted in a bit of melt down when we got back home as well with Liv claiming she was now too scared to sleep alone.  Friday am, Mom and I went to a yoga stretch class while Papou stayed back with Liv.  When we got home, Babi presented Liv with a little foam castle kit to assemble, and after finishing that, Liv and I worked on some homework until it was time to pick up Aunt Kylie from the shuttle drop off that she took from Las Vegas.   Aunt Kylie came bearing gifts one for each day for Liv, some herbal Chai tea and neat cup to brew the loose tea in for me, and a fort building kit for the boys (good thing for that because upon arrival back home they demanded a surprise I had brought from our trip—and without Aunt Kylie I would have been sadly empty handed).  

The first day Aunt Kylie gave Liv a sushi game that required focus and it was a fun activity for the rest of the weekend. 

The second day, she gave Liv a book to make her smart.  It was a picture book about 10 amazing American women.  And the last day right before we headed home she gifted Liv a gift of strength—a wonder woman bracelet that Liv has not taken off since.  Liv reveres Aunt Kylie and it wasn't long before she looked like a mini Aunt Kylie stealing her hat and jewelry and sipping a Starbucks.

Shortly, after Kylie arrived we all headed to an appointment for pedicures that Mom had reserved.   Liv made sure to don her sunnies like the rest of the girls in the car.

The nail salon was run by a bunch of Filipino ladies and in true Filipino fashion they had a karaoke machine that you could sing to while getting your pedicure.  Liv loved that!  Now she wants a karaoke machine at home.  She sang L-O-V-E and Edelweiss and had everyone in the salon ooing and awing.  After our nails were all prettied up, we grabbed some lunch a Viva Chicken (I love that place), and then headed to see Thriller at the Tuacahn.  


The dancing was incredible, and I can definitely say I have never seen a show quite like it.  Olivia actually really enjoyed it.  There were parts I found disturbingly too real with suicide and rape and murder and they had all these high school dance kids dressed up like zombies wandering around and spooking people, but it was an enjoyable show and a gorgeous setting.   

Saturday, we had planned for a hike in Zion National park.  We were going to do something Olivia appropriate, but she was quite vocal about the fact that she didn’t want to go on a hike and instead wanted to go swimming.  Papou offered to stay home and take Olivia swimming, so then I (perceiving an opportunity) convinced everyone we should hike Angel’s Landing instead.  Oh boy was that a hike!  I actually totally loved it and felt the incredible views were well worth the effort.  

The whole hike was gorgeous hiking through red rock canyons and the fall leaves were all turning and beautiful.  

The last stretch of the hike ascends a very narrow and rocky cliff where you have to hold on to chains for safety.  


It was honestly nutso and a bit scary especially with passing people in both directions.  At first Mom and Kylie were not sure they really wanted to do the last little bit, but when I suggested they hang out while I run up and finish the hike real quick, they both decided to join me.  Poor Mom injured her knee on the way down and limped for days following the hike.  But, honestly, I feel like that was a bucket list type hike and the 360 degree views of Zion at the top were well worth the effort. 




I’m glad I got that hike accomplished with them because I know my terrified of heights husband will never do that with me, and I would be a panicked mess with any of my kids on that hike.  Then, all exhausted we climbed down the mountain.

When we got home, George had made a wonderful lamb chop dinner made by George.  He and Olivia had a great day at the pool and doing homework and taking a long afternoon nap.  That night Mom and George introduced Olivia and I to the game Mexican train.  Then, the next morning Liv and I got in the car and drove home.  Here's Liv ready for the drive home:

Back at home I know Derek and the boys attended the Halloween Haunt at their school.  He took them to a BYU football game on Saturday, and I know they really enjoyed tossing the football back and forth on the grass during half time.

Olivia and I arrived home just in the nick of time to catch sacrament meeting with the 1pm ward (which happened to be her best friend Hallie’s ward and their primary program)!  As soon as we got home from Sacrament, Derek announced that he was super sick and spent the rest of the day in bed fevering while I tried to entertain the kids all while pretty exhausted myself.  We tested out the Halloween BINGO game I was supposed to bring in for the boys preschool Halloween party and we made sample crafts for Liv’s upcoming class Halloween party as well.

Aunt Karma's Funeral

Sweet Aunt Karma passed away this October shortly after a fall in her home.  I took the boys to the graveside funeral.  They were so cute.  They had just had a lesson that Sunday in their primary class on service and had made all these paper flowers .  They came up with the idea that they each wanted to bring a paper flower to Karma’s daughter Susan. 

So as soon as Susan arrived at the gravesite and found her seat, they ran up to her and presented her with their flowers.  She held them through the whole ceremony and then buried them with the Karma. A few days later she remarked on how thoughtful that was.  The boys loved the little opportunity of a reunion with all their favorite cousins and aunts and uncles mid week in the middle of the day.  

The funeral was lovely.  The person giving the life sketch actually read a bunch of excerpts from Karma’s own writings which was just perfect at capturing the essence on Karma.  It was like she was there telling us all stories like she would do every time we went to visit.  Then, the boys and I had to run to a music class, but Derek surprised Liv and picked her up early for school to go enjoy the family luncheon after the funeral.

Jackers

Since we had just returned from our New Hampshire trip, I tried to make the most of a staycation for Fall Break.  I really wanted to check out a pumpkin patch and corn maze and had heard about Jackers in Springville.  It was crowded the day we went (first day of Fall Break), but the kids had a blast nonetheless.  They have a bunch of slides that fall into big pools of corn kernels and a huge corn kernel box to play in.

They had pyramid stacked hay bales to climb, a petting zoo, tractor rides through the pumpkin path and a big corn maze as well as a maze through stacked hay bales.  





Camden totally killed the mazes and found his way out faster than all the rest of us.

The kids had a great time.  I totally want to go back next fall (but probably not during Fall break).

Liv's Movie Night with the 1st Grade Class

Last year we hosted a cookie decorating day and invited all the girls in Liv’s kindergarten class (and all of them came except one).  So since the start of the year, Olivia has been telling me she wanted to host another night with all the girls in her class and this time she wanted it to be a movie night.  I told her we had to get through soccer season first before I could handle that.  Then, we had to get through our New Hampshire trip.  Finally, nearing Halloween life had slowed down enough that I thought we could finally host her movie night.  So, we decided to do a Halloween movie night and invited all the girls in her 1^st grade class to join us the Wednesday night before Fall Break.  I actually had to put a lot of research into picking the movie.  I was trying to find one that would not be inappropriate at all for 7 year old girls and something not too mature and something not too scary, but still Halloween themed and something they all hadn’t seen a million times—we finally decided on Wendy Meets Casper.  Most of them came we had 7/10.  They each brought their favorite candy to share, and I made popcorn.  I can’t say that a whole lot of movie watching went on, but there was a lot of giggling and a lot of candy eating and they all had a great time.  I had so many Moms compliment me for the fun idea, but honestly it was Liv that dreamed it all up, I just obliged. 

Derek's Birthday

Derek’s birthday came and went this year.  He is getting so bah humbug about birthdays.  He never wants a big fuss made, never wants to invite any friends over to celebrate, never wants to do anything out of the ordinary.  He agreed to go to dinner with me alone no big deal, so I arranged for a babysitter.  Then, he went to watch some football at Tyler Thorsted’s house, so the kids and I secretly made a chocolate cake while he was gone.   

Then, before leaving for dinner we sang Happy Birthday and had cake with the kids.  Because I birthday isn't a birthday to them if you don't sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles. 

On the fly while at Tyler’s, Derek invited Jedd and Tyler to join us for dinner.  Neither of their wives could come, so the dinner party ended up being Derek, Jedd, Tyler and I at Red Robin (Derek’s favorite birthday pick).  I was definitely the 4th wheel on that date, but the boys and I had fun.  The next day, the family got together to celebrate Tanner, Jon, and Derek’s birthday.  

All 3 of my kids were thrilled to each have a candle to blow out for somebody, and I was thrilled to have more people to help us eat the left overs of the gigantic chocolate cake we had made for him.

Pizza Party with Leo

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Last year Olivia and Leo pretty religiously switched off playing at each other’s houses every other Friday.  This year has felt so busy with all day school and Liv having something extra curricular almost every day after school that we have only gotten the kids together twice.  However, the Friday that we had Leo over I just happened to be making a huge batch of pizza sauce with all the roma tomatoes from the garden, and I was going to let the kids make individual pizzas for dinner.  Leo got to stay for dinner and he loved rolling out the dough and decorating his pizza (and so did all the kids).  Always a hit!

Hiking with Friends

 I got to go on two beautiful kidless hikes up Dry Canyon this year.  One before the big New Hampshire trip one after.  First I met my good friend Carly for a hike and we just explored around up Dry Creek Canyon together until I had to get my boys from preschool.  Carly updated me all about the new foster kids she has brought into her home.  It was all so inspiring to hear about.  She is truly an amazing person.  The leaves were just starting to change and it was so neat to visit and catch up with her in that beautiful setting. 

Then a few weeks later, I went with Lindsey Nyman and her husband to hike Big Baldy which is the first littler peak in front of Mt. Timpanogas that I stare at all the time.  Holy Cow some how Michael talked Lindsey and I into going straight up the face (like straight up) because it was shorter.  That was literally the hardest hike I have ever done in my life.  I was trailing behind them huffing and puffing gasping for breath the whole way.  But the views were incredible and the leaves gorgeous.  



We went down the backside on the return to the car. 







So glad to have conquered that little peak!  I would totally love to do that hike again, but not sure I will ever go straight up the face again…I will most definitely opt for the longer yet still challenging backward approach.