Halloween Day

Halloween day was busy!  Matt worked from home so he could: 1. attend Gavin's costume parade at school, 2. watch Laynie perform a couple Halloween songs in preschool, 3. be home early for trick or treating.

The kids sang, "Witches' Brew" and "I'm a Mean Old Witch with a Hat."  They were adorable.

I let Laynie watch "The Witches" on tv while I put away ALL of the Halloween decorations.  (I was ready for Halloween to be over by this point in the day! LOL.)

Then we ventured out for trick or treats.

Pretty sure this balloon has to do with the movie, "It."  One of the neighbor boys was looking down the gutter for a scary clown...

The night was cold, but the amazing sunset was breath taking.

I copied these photos from Mrs. Schiess' fb group.  I was sad I didn't get to see Gavin in his costume parade or help out with his classroom party.  (The parade was during my preschool times and enough other moms had already signed up to help with the party before I was able to.)

Gavin making a spider web during his class party.  He had a really trying day.  The sights, sounds, and hype of Halloween make it hard for those with SPD...

Matt Turns 36!

Yee Haw!  Matt's another year older!

We went to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner.

We rounded him up, put a bandana over his eyes then got him in the wagon - er, I mean van.  We didn't tell him where we were going, but on his first guess, he got it!  (I guess the cowboy hat gave it away...)

He got to ride the saddle while the waiters and waitresses sang happy birthday to him.

Since Matt has been off sugar for something like 10 months now, I couldn't make him a cake.  So we bought some trail mix and stuck a candle in it with a sign that read:  "Happy Trail Mix to You... until you can eat cake again!"

Making a wish!

I sure love this man of mine.  He's my everything.  He helps me be better.  He loves me.  He gently guides his family.  He understands and lives the Gospel.  He supports me.  He is my best friend.

Happy birthday, Matt!  I LOVE you!

Painting Pumpkins

We decided to paint instead of carve pumpkins this year.  Gavin painted a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" pumpkin.  Laynie painted her own creation, Dad painted Jack Skellington, and I painted a "magic pumpkin" that I later used in my preschool.

Boo Day 2019 - 10 Year Anniversary!

We celebrated Boo Day on Saturday, Oct. 26th.  This was a special Boo Day because it was the 10th year Brittney and I have been doing it.  10 years ago, I was single, had just moved in to my condo, was lonely, and figured in order to not be lonely, I had to put myself out there and create social events for myself and others.  Hence the beginning of Boo Day.  A LOT has happened in the past ten years.  Much has changed.  But I'm so glad Boo Day has stayed a constant.

The kids helped decorate. (Pretty sure that plastic table cloth is 10 years old too!! LOL!)

We had Tarantula Tostadas with lime and cilantro rice.

Close up of those creepy tarantulas!

Then we got in our costumes:

We hoped these costumes would really blow our guests away!

It was quite ironic because it really WAS a blustery day outside (and in!).

I threaded wire through the hem in my dress and scarf then safety pinned leaves, newspaper, etc to us.

And I had to use some pretty hard core hair spray!

Gavin was a Jedi Knight.

Luckily the force was with him.

Laynie was Ladybug Girl from the cartoon, Miraculous.

Spots on!

Family photo

We invited The Applegates to share this evening with us.

And Brittney had the cutest costume ever - Mo, a puppet, hung from her neck and bedazzled the kids.

We played a bunch of games.

Ashlee and Gavin

Pass the Witch's Broomstick

Dracula Fangs Race

We ended the evening with Boo Day cake and ice cream.  

Boo Day 2019:  Thanks for all the fun and memories!  Until next year!

Pumpkin Walk

Before Boo Day, we went and visited Grandma Anderson in the hospital.  She had just had a hysterectomy.  Then we decided to quickly squeeze in a Pumpkin Walk sponsored by the water conservancy district we belong to.  We went to this last year and it was amazing.  This year they were in a new location and they didn't have as many activities, but it was still worthwhile and fun.

It's Autumn Time!

Here's a few events that happened this October:

Went to Jeff and Britt's wedding reception.  (Jeff is Matt's good friend from college.)

Got the 24 hour flu so I watched General Conference with a barf bag and can of sprite.

Had a parent teacher conference for Gavin.  (He's doing better this year learning to cope with his SPD!)

We pick up our neighbor, Halie, from school a couple times a week and keep her at our house until her mom can get home from work.  We went to Crafternoon at the library one Friday after school.

Gavin got his 2nd and final cast off.  The doctor said she was really pleased with how it was healing.  The cells in our body are amazing!  To think they can repair a broken bone in a matter of 2 months is astounding!

Fall Break 2019

Fall break was lovely.  We spent a couple days at home getting work done, then on Friday went to Mt. Pleasant to get our teeth cleaned.  We then went to Gunnison and got family pictures and slept over.  The next day, we took Grandma Moo Moo and Carly with us to Cove Fort and The Fremont Indian Village.  It was fun to explore and learn about a couple of historic sites in Utah.

Cove Fort was built by Ira Hinckley in 1867 for a couple of reasons: 1. The telegraph message could only go about 30-40 miles before it could be received and sent on to the next town 30-40 miles away. Beaver and Fillmore were too far apart for that to happen so Cove Fort was built as a midway point between the 2 cities.  2.  Travelers were also having troubles with the Blackhawk Indians so Cove Fort stood as a place of refuge.  Brigham Young told Ira Hinckley it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them so that's just what Ira Hinckley did.  The Blackhawk Chief became good friends with Ira and told all the other Indian chiefs to leave him be at Cove Fort.

This was Ira Hinckley's home that he built in Coalville, Utah.  He lived in this home until he was called by Brigham Young to build Cove Fort.  President Hinckley had it moved to Cove Fort around 1994.  The Hinckley family bought Cove Fort around that time and then gave it to The Church.  The Church has made it into a museum of sorts and has senior missionaries operate it.

After Cove Fort, we went up the road to the Fremont Indian Village State Park and Museum.  In 1983, construction crews were building I-70 and came across a complete Indian dwelling.  They had to stop construction of the road to let archeologists excavate the village.  Hundreds of artifacts were recovered.  Not much is know of the people that lived in this village.  They aren't even sure what Indian tribe they belonged to.  Fremont comes from the name of the River that runs along where the village was.  It is estimated that Indians lived in this village from 300-1400 AD.

Many petroglyphs and pictographs still exist upon the steep walls of the canyon.

This was an old granary for corn.

There are numerous hikes throughout the park.

Laynie LOVED having Carly come with us.

This was the cave of 100 hands. (Really there are only 31.) LOL.

The cave is barred off to protect the hand prints.