How skeleton boy turned into a Ghoul

We told Joseph to go and wash his skeleton face and he came out of the bathroom a Ghoul!!

Halloween

We all dressed up this year. I was a witch, John wore some traditional Korean clothes he had purchased on his mission.  Josh was Peter Parker(spider-man).  Natalie was a vampire and Jake I still don't what he was (ghost?).  Caroline was a pirate and Joseph a scary skeleton.  It was a beautiful warm night to trick or treat around the neighborhood and we went until Joseph said his leg bones hurt.

Pumpkin Carving

Yesterday we designed and carved our pumpkins.  It is fun to see what each person creates.  Caroline usually does the very detail ones using a pattern.  Jake decides quickly what he wants and is always done first.  No one likes to clean out their pumpkin, but if they don't they do not get any toasted pumpkin seeds the next day.  We had 12 cups of pumpkin seeds this year.  YUM!!

Pumpkin Seeds:

2 Cups pumpkin seeds

2 Tablespoon butter

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

Boil washed seed 15 minutes.  Drain and mix with melted butter and other ingred.  Pour in pan and toast seeds 250 for 2 hours till crunchy.  Stir every so often.

Gooey Caramel Popcorn Balls

These are a favorite around Halloween and Christmas--they make a lot.  I think I made 55 yesterday with this recipe--plenty to eat and to share.

2 C Brown Sugar

2 C White Sugar

2 cubes butter

2 C Karo Syrup

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

2 lbs popped popcorn (2-4 big white tupperware bowls full depending on how sweet and gooey you like it)

In large saucepan combine sugars, butter and Karo syrup.  Heat over Medium high heat stirring well until it comes to a boil.  Cook to softball stage.  Use a thermometer if possible.  When it reaches the softball stage, remove from heat.  Add 1 teaspoon of soda and stir very well.  Mixture will rise up in the pan.  Add one can sweetened condensed milk and stir. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir until mixed in well.  Pour over popped corn and mix to coat popcorn.  At this point, butter your hands and form balls and place them on wax paper or plastic wrap spread out on counter and spry with cooking spray.  After all the balls are formed, wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap.   You can also just put all the caramel popcorn in a bowl and let people just pull off what they want.

Big Girl Dress Up

In the past few years I have sadly given away the majority of my girl's dress up clothes which they have grown out of. I use to love to watch them dress up and play princess, orphans,fairies, or other people from their imagination. Today at a garage sale I found these 3 vintage dresses.  I decided to start a collection of costumes/clothes for big girl dress up. Natalie, Caroline, and Natalie's friend Katie happily tried the dresses on as they giggled and spun around. You are never too young for a little imagination and fun right, Cathy?  

Refurbished T-shirt

I went to my Aunt Al's house and she helped me fix up my old t-shirt. I love it!! It was fun and easy. I chalked my pattern on the t-shirt first and then painted it with soft scrub bleach.  I think Al has more information on how to do it on her blog.  Thanks Al!!

Natalie

High School Musical 3 Premier

Last night Cheryl and I took our girls to the HSM3 premier.  As we waited in line, Caroline and her cousins loved observing all the pretty dresses worn by older girls.  It was funny to hear the audience scream when Zack's face filled the screen in the opening shot.  Natalie and Josh were extras in the movie along with their cousins Madeline and Douglas.  You can see Natalie and Madeline in the second cafeteria scene on the second level.  They are both wearing lime green shirts.  We all screamed and clapped when we saw them in the background for the split second.  I also think I saw Josh walking in the front of the school.  Josh was in the graduation scene audience also, but we could not pick him out.  The girls all said this was their favorite HSM even though it was so cheesy.  I like watching the girls' idolized expressions as they watch Gabriel and Troy singing their love songs.  So so cute!!  This picture is of the girls afterwards at Red Mango "freaking out over Zack Effron's hotness" as I heard Natalie say.

Little Wild Horse Canyon Hike

Near Goblin Valley we went on a hike through Little Wild Horse Canyon.  We actually did the whole 9 mile loop that also went through Bell canyon.  This was an incredible hike that felt like an adventure.  We climb up rocks, under rocks, walked through cold water and through narrows slots.  I love the fact we had to use team work to help each other at different parts of the hike.  I was in the back so did not get too many pictures of the children in the front because they were always running ahead and excited to see what was around the next corner.  The whole hike was as cool as these pictures.  The Bell canyon was not as spectacular and if we do it again we will just hike 3 miles into Wild Horse Canyon and then come back out the same way.

Joseph found a perfect resting spot.

John carried Joseph across the water parts, yet Joseph still managed to step in a big mud puddle.  Notice in the picture of Josh helping him up the rocks his muddy leg.

Goblin Valley

This was our family's first trip to Goblin Valley-- I thought it was appropriate time to go considering it is almost Halloween.  We camped for 3 nights on the BLM because the campground was full.  We found a secluded canyon to set up.  It was nice to have privacy, but having no regular bathrooms was a bit of a bummer.

Caroline was on her way to hide in this picture--I peeked!!

We went on a moonlit hike with the ranger the first night and learned all about how these "goblins" were formed.  It was really cool to walk around with flashlights at night.

Natalie, Jacob, and Joseph in a "goblin nest".

The second time we went in the morning.  We were a little tired from our 9 mile hike the day before, but still had fun playing hide and seek and exploring.  Hide and seek scared me because the park is so large, that I always peeked to see what direction my child was heading.  After going back to camp and eating lunch and resting for 4 hours we came back at 5:30 and had a blast.  The place was deserted and the sun was down.  We climbed to a cave Jake knew of and explored deep into the goblins.  We stayed till dark and made our way back with flashlights.  My kids thought the whole place looked like a movie set because it was so unreal looking.  Natalie said this was the coolest place.  We will definitely will come back here again.

Wordfull Wednesdays--My irrational fear of Mice!

This weeks Wordfull Wednesday topic is our worst fear. I decided to write about my irrational fear of little mice.  Two memories instantly come to mind depicting the horror these little rodents have caused me. One time while nursing a newborn in the middle of night I glanced up and saw a mouse run across the floor into the hall closet.  Feeling vulnerable with my sweet baby I let out a blood curling scream and continued to scream until my husband came running out of the bedroom with a baseball bat thinking I was being murdered. I tried to tell him to hurry and catch the mouse in the closet,but he just look at me in disbelief and angrily went back to bed.  I ended up sleeping on the couch with the baby because I was too scared to walk past the hall closet.

The second traumatic mouse event happen soon after.  My 18 month old daughter who was playing in our unfinished basement said, "Mom look, cute, I keep it" as she walked up the stairs.  I turn and saw her with a baby mouse squeezed in her little hand.  Though horrified, I calmly said, "Natalie let go of the mouse, we need to put it outside."  Being very stubborn she said, "No it's mine, I love it, I keep it, it's my friend." She would not let go and tightened her grip as the mouse's eyes bulged.  The play Of Mice and Men came to mine as I pried her little fingers off the mouse while she cried.  I put it in a Tupperware and then drove it to a field and dumped it out. 

We have not had many mice events since these, but if I do ever see a mouse my children know they can make one dollar for setting the trap and another for disposing of it.

Pumpkin Patch

Suz, Caroline, Scott, Scott's Mom and cousins in truck--the great pumpkin search--the truck was great for taking the kids deeper into the fields!!!

Pumpkin Patch

                Joseph picked his pumpkin within seconds of arriving.
                          Happy times in the pumpkin patch.

     Joseph and Alexandra digging for sweet potato "treasure."
   Becca and Andrew with miles of more pumpkins behind them.

This was a real pumpkin patch not some commercial pick your own pumpkin patch.  Scott's Uncle own this property on which pumpkins, squash, watermelon, tomatoes, gourds, etc are grown and sold to stores all over Utah.  His uncle invited us over to pick whatever we wanted.  We had such a magical time.  The kids had fun digging up potatoes and peanuts. They loved running for miles and miles in the rows of endless pumpkins.  Our favorites pumpkins we found were the unique ones:  a white "ghost" pumpkin, a pumpkin that had green "warts" all over it, small red looking pumpkins, and some tiny fairy size pumpkins.We came home with our van loaded down with pumpkins,peanuts,potatoes and a variety of squash.

Thanks Scott and Suz for inviting us!!!

Clothing genealogy

One of the great things about having 7 sisters is that clothing is passed around when someone cleans out their closets. Last weekend my two sisters benefited from Cheryl cleaning out her little girl's closets.  The other day I had to smile because I had received many compliments on my outfit and I realized I was wearing a sweater from Cheryl, shoes from Al, an accessory from Cathy and jeans from Becca.  We all enjoy it when anyone cleans out the closet, yet we are sad that not one of us fit into Cheryl's size 6 shoes--(she has great shoes).

I thought of this added blessing of sisters as Natalie was searching for things to wear in our dress up bin to wear for Crazy Dress Up Day at school for spirit week.

 

Genealogy of her outfit:      

Dr Martins shoes--Aunt Suz -(everyone loved these)

tights---Aunt Al

Flower shirt----I think Cathy, but may have been

given to Suz

shade shirt under crazy shirt--Aunt Cheryl 

shorts---Caroline

boa----garage sale

red hair---colored spray

I thought all of my sisters would get a kick out of seeing some of these old items on Natalie.

FALL PICNIC AND MOUNTAIN HIKE

We tried tried to go on the dirt road around the mountain but due to the rain yesterday, three cars and trucks were stuck at the top.  We had to back up quite a ways.  Jake, Caroline, Joseph, and I did not like feeling the car slide in the mud as we went backwards so we followed from behind.

A little wetter and colder than usual, but then the hot stew and warm peach dessert tasted all the better.

Grandpa's Meat Feast

Every conference Grandpa invites all the men in the family and older boys to watch the Priesthood session in his ward and then to a huge meat feast at his house.  My husband and boys always look forward to this guy's night.  They especially like the smoked ribs and huge steaks.  Thanks Dad for making this such a special event!!!

This year all the girls and kids went to Alison's house for an impromptu party.  These are some of my cute sisters and their babies.  It was nice to hang out and talk.  Later we crashed the guys dinner to steal some steak and ribs.    

72 hour kit

Every year around this time I rotate the food in our 72 hour kits.  This morning I gave each of the kids last years bag and told them they could add the items to their lunches or eat them for snacks.  Jake immediately ate the pudding, pop tart, and some beef jerky for breakfast.  My younger children were so excited to dump out the bag and see all the "goodies".  Joseph said, "Wow, I'm rich" as he sorted his snacks.  Natalie took her whole bag minus the v8 juice and vienna sausage to school for her locker--Her own personalize vending machine.