Spooktacular Halloween

Our Halloween started early this year – complete with preschool parties and fall festivals. And the requisite horrible cold. A nasty cold accompanied by a depressing sore throat took over our family the week before Halloween. But we didn’t let that stop us from having fun!

The weekend before Halloween we went to a fall festival hosted by a therapeutic boarding school in West Jordan. It brought back memories of our time working at Willow Creek School (a therapeutic boarding school in Provo) to put ourselves through college. I thought it was a really neat thing for the school to do – it was completely free, and there were a lot of things to do. We went for the last few hours on the last day, but the festival was open for three days that weekend. If we’re still around here next year we will definitely go earlier. We bought our pumpkins from their “pumpkin patch” and then went to dinner and a movie.

A week before Halloween, our co-op preschool had a Halloween party. We played a lot of really cute games – the kids enjoyed them. I think they enjoyed dressing up more than they enjoyed anything else.

They played a puzzle game (above right where Joseline and Colin are putting together skeletons), hot potato with a jack-o-lantern (whoever ended up with the pumpkin had to stand up and make a scary noise – with 2 and 3 year olds we got more silly noises than scary ones), Don’t Eat Pete (with ghosts), and a bean bag toss (sandwich baggies full of candy corns thrown into cauldrons).

Monday night before Halloween we had a special Halloween FHE complete with a jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner! Then we talked about sharing and serving our neighbors (part of the plan for FHE was to make a treat to share with our neighbors… more about that later…). After our brief lesson we carved pumpkins, decorated, and then started making the treat for our friends.

 

We made crunchy Halloween bones for a treat – click here for the instructions/recipe. We didn’t finish before it was time for bed, so we put the kiddoes to bed and Russ and I finished them while watching Edward Scissorhands. We made so many bones it was ridiculous. I we probably used about 5 lbs of white almond bark.

We had every intention of handing out three coffins full to our friends/neighbors… but remember how we were sick? And I’m pregnant? Yeah… somehow it just never happened. Failing to plan is planning to fail, and really that’s what happened. I usually plan these types of things out really well, but this time… well… let’s just say life got in the way and leave it at that.

Needless to say we just ended up eating all of the bones. Well, mostly the kids did. I can only eat so much almond bark before I feel like my mouth is coated in wax. We also took a bigger coffin full of them to work for Russ’ work Halloween party. Unfortunately they didn’t get as devoured as I had hoped (he had them hidden by his desk – and I think that was on purpose!)

I made a printable version of the coffin pattern I used (click here for the file), in case anyone is interested. I printed the pattern on cardstock and then just taped them up with scotch tape.

On actual Halloween day, Vincente had his very first costume parade at school! I really wanted to go and take Joseline, but she had been up all night before, hacking and coughing, and she slept until about 10am. (this is my little girl who is up at the crack of dawn saying “It’s good morning time!”) So I sent my little Vince off to his first Halloween at school all by himself. (to the right, Vince as a mummy with his friend in his class before school. Cuties.)

Later I dropped off some things for his class Halloween party (which I had also been planning on attending, but sick kids just need to stay home and cuddle, so we did).

Joseline seemed to be feeling a little better after sleeping all morning long, so I dressed her up to go to Russ’ work party. Vincente had a blast trick or treating around the offices, and see all the scary decorations, but Josline does not share her father and brother’s love of Halloween and all things spooky. She wanted to be held almost the whole time. Until we stayed put in Russ’ office and she just played and ate candy.

That night we went trick or treating with Dan and Michelle and Ethan. Well, Russ took the kids trick or treating, and I stayed home and watched shows on the iPad while I waited for trick or treaters to come calling. We had more than the last two years because our ward didn’t have a truck or treat, but we didn’t have nearly as many as I expected. I think most kids have been skipping our neighborhood for so long because of the trunk or treat that they are just in the habit of not coming. But that’s okay. Russ got the best candy (which I spent the next few weeks devouring – the baby made me!)

I’d say Halloween was mostly a success this year. The only flop was delivering goodie plates (which we do just about every year at Halloween!!). Everything else went off without a hitch, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Till next year!

Epic Hike

I got to meet one of my favorite bloggers on Tuesday this week, and what was going to be a few hours playing at Bridal Veil falls turned into a 6 hour visit. The kids had a blast together, and I had so much fun getting to know Cheryl! She is even more awesome in real life, if that’s possible.

Well, as if we hadn’t had enough of each other, we decided to take the kids on an “easy” hike up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Because Cheryl did such a great job blogging about it, I will now refer you to her blog:

Epic Hike! 
(post by Cheryl at her blog)

Complete with pictures. (for the sake of privacy, since her blog is public, make sure if you want to comment on her blog you don’t use actual names of our kiddos, pleaseandthankyou – if you come back and comment over here, feel free to use full names)

Beautiful Zion

(there are a lot of photos in this post – but really, they’re of Zion National Park, so you won’t be bored. Oh yeah, and disclaimer – these were all taken on my iPhone. Some day I will remember to use a real camera. Or I’ll just get an iPhone 4s and I will have a real camera on my phone)

Early in the week before Memorial Day weekend a friend of ours from our old Portuguese ward that we were attending texted me and asked if we wanted to go to Zion National Park with them. I’ve never been (Russ has been a few times) and of course I said yes! Russ was out of town, so it was going to be just me and the kids, and because the choir would be singing on Sunday I had to be back in time for choir practice before church.

So we agreed to go down Friday night and then drive back home Saturday night and spend the night with Russ’ sister Mary in Payson and then drive the last hour on Sunday morning. It was a lot of driving, but Rhiannon and Iara (two of the other wives who were going down) helped drive on Friday night so I could sleep some.

We go to Zion around midnight and the guys helped set up our tent. As we laid down in the tent, Joseline looked up at the starry sky and said, “Look at all the stars!” It was a precious moment as I realized she had probably never see so many stars in her tender little life. It made me want to go back soon so she can see the stars again.

Around 3 am I woke up to moist pricks on my face and the slow drip of a light rain falling on the tent. And realized the fly wasn’t on our tent. The next morning, Iara’s husband Zach told me that he had realized the same thing when he heard the rain and was about to get up and help me with the fly when he heard me jump out of my tent, open the car, grab the fly and put it up in about 30 seconds. Thankfully our tent is really easy to put up, and the fly is just as easy.

Joseline trying on hats the the gas station during our potty/snack break

Saturday morning we ate hugemongo muffins for breakfast. The kids both picked chocolate muffins and finished off their chocolate milk that was leftover from our gas station snack/potty break on the way down. They definitely needed all the chocolate and sugar for all the hiking we did.

breakfast of champions

little posers – they wanted to pose, and so here are their “poses”

a big gnarly tree with exposed roots down by the river

throwing sticks in the river

throwing sticks and rocks in the water–and the gnarly tree

me and my mini-me on the way to the visitors’ center. I love that girl!

After breakfast, Rhiannon (who was about 28 weeks pregnant – that’s why she invited me and the kids – pregnant woman friendly hike = kid friendly hike) had to drive all the other campers up to the start of their day long hike and rappelling trip. While she was gone the kids and I explored around the campsite. We camped close to this little river, so we went down to throw rocks in for a little while. Then we followed the path over to the visitors’ center where we took a shuttle bus up to the Emerald Pools trail.

Riding the shuttle was pretty fun because we got to look at all the rock formations. The bus also had a little informational/educational recording that played as we drove up to the trailhead.

We hiked up to the pools and a little waterfall. It was an easy trail, completely paved, and when we got down to where the pools were and the little shower of water (it wasn’t really a waterfall – I mean, technically it was, but really it was just water trickling off a cliff… which is a waterfall… but you know what I mean. If you don’t, see the pictures below)

I was surprised (perhaps I shouldn’t have been) at how many people from other countries were there at Zion. I heard people speaking German, Chinese, Italian, and that what sounded like some type of Middle Eastern/Indian language (Hindi? Pashto?). It was fun to be in a place where people come from all over the world.

it was like standing under the rain… there is something really magical about a waterfall

my cuties posing again for me – they were such troopers on this whole trip!

    

some of the flora and fauna we saw on our hikes – Not sure what that big fat black beetle is, but it was super cool. And big. The white flowers I am pretty sure are snap dragons. I love snap dragons. And Vince found the lizards by the visitors’ center. We love lizards around here.

Then we headed back to the campsite to meet up with Rhiannon. We packed lunches and snacks and drove out to the back country to hike through a remote canyon and up a cliff.

Getting down to the sandy canyon bottom took a little doing – it was pretty steep and I had Joseline in the backpack/carrier. She still only weighs about 30 lbs, and I figured carrying her would be easier than waiting for her to follow us. She is soooo slow on hikes/walking/etc.

So we basically hiked a mile (one way) in the soft sandy bottom of a canyon before we headed almost straight up a cliff to get to the top of the rocks. We would have gone further, but Joseline stepped in a cactus, and I wasn’t sure we would make it back to the car if we had gone all the way up to the summit we had planned on getting to.

king of the mountain – or rather, the canyon – this kid loves Zion National Park and keeps asking to go back

another lizard up close. I took this picture a few inches away from the lizard. I was surprised he didn’t run away at first

    

the cliff we all scaled – even Miss Joseline

We ate lunch at the top of the cliff and the kids wandered around looking at rocks and cacti and all the other vegetation growing on the cliff.

  

Ironically, climbing down a cliff is harder than climbing up one, but we made it, and then hiked back out of the canyon. It was a beautiful hike, and the kids really enjoyed it. Well, Vince enjoyed it. Joseline mostly just hung out in her back pack. The weather in the canyon was pretty chilly, but once we got up on top of the cliff we could feel the sun and it was pretty warm.

Back at the camp, Rhiannon watched my kiddos so I could get a nap before we had to drive home. She also cooked a fabulous Dutch oven dinner – creamy chicken soup stuff, biscuits, and a scrumptious potato casserole. We had to eat and run so we could get to Payson sooner than later.

The sun was just setting as we left Zion. It was an excellent trip, even if it was fast. Totally worth all the driving, and I can’t wait to go back – hopefully for a week long trip with Russ and the kids. Anyone want to come?

Up a Creek

On Memorial Day weekend because we had nothing really cool to do (and Russ was out of town, as usual) we hiked a trail in Millcreek Canyon with the Wilde’s. We brought all sorts of snacks and treats, and Doc of course, and headed up the trail.

The trail we were going to hike originally was closed to cars (I guess we could have walked up to the trailhead?) so we picked a hike a little closer. There were some breathtaking views. The first time we hiked Millcreek Canyon was for my birthday last year (an event to which I would link … if I had blogged about it. Looks like my lame blogging has extended all the way into last year! I have way too much catching up to do… my bad).

The kids loved it, of course – Doc included. Well, Joseline wasn’t particularly a fan, but I think it’s because she’s such a light weight (seriously, at three years old she barely weighs 30 lbs, even though she’s over 3 ft tall. Compare that to her cousin Garrett who weighs 35 lbs (he’s one… just barely) and is at least a full head shorter than her. My crazy scrawny baby. She takes after her mama, I think. I’m pretty sure I was at least as skinny as she is. I was always really scrawny.

We stopped at a little clearing for some scrumptious lunch. Vincente wanted to take pictures, but he had a hard time getting anyone actually in them. Except Doc. He took a great picture of Doc.