halloween

Me and my buddy, Cooper. What are the chances that we'd show up to the church party wearing the same costume not once, but two years in a row?? What should we wear next year?

Dave's dad is staying with us for a couple of weeks. He lives in a house way out in the country up in Idaho. Dave didn't grow up trick-or-treating. (Don't worry, he got plenty of candy at the school Halloween carnivals). I don't think Dave's dad has ever worn a halloween costume in his 89 years. This was a challenge. I emailed all his grandkids for suggestions. They had some great ideas - Mr Monopoly, an Idaho potato, a pirate, combat fatigues, a cowboy, a pirate, a lumberjack, and a barbershop singer. I headed off to the thrift store with many ideas in mind, thinking whatever piece I could find at a good price, that would be the costume. I found a pirate hat and patch right when I walked in so that was that. He has a bit of a memory problem, so each day I told him we were preparing to go to a costume party. One day he'd be horrified that he would have to wear a costume, the next day (having forgotten that we'd already talked about it) was ready to be the life of the party wearing a pink polka dot dress. Then the next day he'd be flabbergasted that anyone would bother to work on a costume for a silly party. Finally, I just handed him some clothes and told him to go change and he couldn't imagine why we would want to dress up to go to a party, then he had the time of his life. He was all "AAARRRRR" like a pirate all night.

(Can you find Waldo?)

Melanie got quite creative with the cardboard boxes and odds and ends around the house. The problem with this costume is that you can't quite function - she couldn't touch her two hands together, so she would pick up a piece of candy, then toss it to to her bucket in her other hand. Getting anything to her mouth was impossible. I think her friends started using her costume as a table to set their drinks down.

She stayed at the party for a while then off to go party hopping with her friends (her life is so wild and exciting - she left one family friendly church party, to go to another family-friendly church party)

Sunday night we celebrated Rachel's birthday. After dinner and presents and cake, we carved pumpkins which always evolves into the annual pumpkin seed fight. Kirsten and her husband Adam were able to come have some fun and make a mess with us too. The method of the pumpkins seed fight is to squeeze the slimy seed between your fingers until it flings our of your grip and flies across the table - extra points if it sticks on someone's face. In the midst of hundreds of pumpkin seeds flying around the dining room, Roxanne remained focused on her masterpiece. Dave had a unique method for carving his pumpkin. His motto - "There's a power tool for every job."

The highlight of my weekend really had nothing to do with Halloween. I spent the day planting winter grass seed and spreading manure all around the backyard - almost 20 bags of steer manure - yay! There is no possible way of getting through that project smelling good. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I'm giving our yard a good effort this month. My goal is to have the flower beds full, the trees trimmed, and the winter grass thick for a party in December. Rachel is graduating from ASU and Brady is coming home from his mission!! Party at our house!! Clear your calendar - everyone is invited! (I don't know when the party is going to be, just clear the last couple weeks of December and I'll let you know!)