Flashback Friday: Halloween

 I have very few pictures of Halloween. I'm not sure why. I've included the few pictures that I do have plus some others of me dressing up on random days.

I was a ballerina for Halloween a few years in a row. I borrowed a tutu from the neighbors, wore some random leotard we happened to have, my mom put my hair in a bun and I was good to go. When I was in first grade my mom bought a generic cheerleader costume and I wore that for the next couple of years until I outgrew it. I was also a witch one year, and a clown I think. 

We had this big box of Halloween costumes and I can still remember the smell of it--cheap plastic, nylon, polyester. We would pull everything out, try stuff on and laugh and then leave it a big mess in the family room. Now I can't remember if I actually was a clown or just played in the costume.

River Heights Elementary had a big Halloween carnival in the evening. I don't remember much besides the haunted house in the basement library scaring me so bad. Mapleton Elementary also had a fall carnival but I don't think it was for Halloween. I remember eating nachos and Crystal Pepsi. We never got to wear our costumes to school at Mapleton Elementary. They always scheduled school picture day on Halloween. 

We had a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating in River Heights, lots of kids, lots of houses close together. Once we moved to Mapleton, not so much. It was spread out and houses were far from the road. We only went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood that first year. After that we went to my grandma's neighborhood in Springville every year. In fact, it was super weird when I went to middle school and found out that kids in my school lived near my grandma. Worlds colliding! I went trick or treating until 7th grade then it was all about dressing up and hanging out at friends' houses.

Here are some photos. Some are from Halloween, some are just me dressing up on a Tuesday.

I don't think I've dressed up for Halloween since I've been married. Sad or normal?

Sarah Turns 12

Sarah turned 12 on Tuesday. What the? She seems 12 but I still don't know how we got here. Anyways, she had a friend party Friday night. She invited a few friends over for a movie night. We got them each a caddy that they decorated with stickers.

Cute Nora. Her family lived in our ward for a year when Sarah was 8. They live in Salem now but we still manage to get them together a couple of times a month.

This is Sam Clarke. She and Sarah have been friends for a couple of years and who Sarah asks to play with the most. They live in Legacy Farms and Sarah found a shortcut to her house so she can get to her house on her bike, which is nice for me. Sam is probably the funniest gal out of the bunch. She reminds me so much of a few friends I had at this age.

This is Rylee. Sarah has known her since kindergarten. She lives in Legacy Farms too and is how Sarah became friends with Sam. All three of them are in the same class this year so they are having a lot of fun. Fun fact: I went to high school with Rylee's mom (Tyralee Bird, if any of my HS peeps are reading this.)

And my cutie niece Allison. I love that they are such good friends, even if they weren't related. Allison's birthday is coming up too. I'm happy they'll have each other all their lives.

Presents time! Her friends got her mostly crafty stuff. They know her well.

Then they filled their caddies with treats and headed to the basement to watch The Ghost and Mr Chicken (spoiler alert, there is no ghost and no chicken.)

They made it about an hour into the movie then they got too giggly and went outside to jump on the tramp in the cold dark night while listening to Hamilton. They were loud. The littles and I watched Mickey's Three Musketeers and ate magic cookie bars (Henry was hunting with Justin). 

Tuesday was her actual birthday. We started things off right with presents!

Rand McNally road atlas. I know, kind of weird, but it's not if you know Sarah. She loves maps. (Who doesn't love maps?)

Lava lamp, in case you couldn't tell.

Cookies and cream candy bars 

Apple Jacks because I never buy "good cereal" anymore, according to my kids.

Gum. (I'm including all of these because I think her faces are priceless.)

Caramel

A replica of the Eiffel Tower

Cheetos

And a pack of canvasses. 

Oh and don't forget the Sprite. Then we had cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast.

After school she helped me finish her cake. She chose white cake, white frosting with Oreos and Caramellos.

After dinner of macaroni and cheese, creamed corn and raspberry salad, all her grandparents came over for cake and ice cream.

These candles are so cool.

Here are 12 things about Sarah that you may not know.

1. She does not like chocolate cake but loves Oreos, brownies, and chocolate candy bars (Makes no sense).

2. Her friends tease her for not knowing who Adam Sandler is and because she's never been to Olive Garden.

3. She has outgrown her bike and now rides my bike to school.

4. She has to be to school extra early every other week for student council and she gets up and goes all on her own.

5. She still doesn't like vegetables but she's pretty good about eating them. We talk a lot about that it's okay to like what you like but good manners trump likes.

6. She makes waffles, pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, and a bunch more stuff all by herself.

7. She loves piano and still takes lessons from Sis Quigg. She hopes to play the violin in middle school.

8. She babysits each week for our neighbor and is getting rich.

9. Her favorite shows are those teenage shows on Disney+ that I can't stand.

10. Her favorite color is blue and no longer likes pink but I have no plans to repaint her room.

11. She's very responsible and is my best helper. She gets grumpy about cleaning her room though.

12. She is a night-owl and would prefer to take her mornings sloooooow.

And I captured this shot which apparently is for a hairbrush ad.

Octoberness

This may go down as the nicest fall we've ever had (weather-wise, not virus-wise or politically). Sure I'm getting concerned about the lack of water but it's hard not to feel refreshed and relaxed when there's a chill at the beginning and end of the day with beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures in between. I surely hope it means we'll have a nice Halloween and not freeze like last year.

Speaking of Halloween, I'm having a dickens of a time helping Henry come up with a costume idea. He does not like to go outside his comfort zone and his ideas are expensive (specific NFL player which requires actual jersey or a blow-up dino costume). I liked last year when he was Calvin and all I had to do was paint black lines on a red shirt. Maybe I can talk him into reusing it for a Linus costume....

Check out these Halloween doughnuts from Daylight Doughnuts.  Aren't they awesome? I couldn't bring myself to eat anything covered in bright frosting so the old fashioned ones are mine but I sure appreciate the ridiculousness and we'll probably go back before Halloween is over.

We took the kids to Gordo's Fun Farm west of Spanish Fork. Or maybe we were still in Spanish Fork. I can never tell out there. I was getting tired of Jakers and wanted to go somewhere else. I chose Gordo's because the kids got BOGO coupons at school and Henry and Erica know a couple of the Gordon grandkids so we thought we'd give it a whirl. 

All-in-all, I really liked it. It was definitely cuter, quieter, smaller-scale than Jakers. Plus you're at their actual working farm, not in a converted empty lot on a super busy street. I love farms.

I made my kids make fall tree art using broccoli as a stamp. I love how they turned out. They like to paint so it wasn't hard to get their participation but more than once I heard someone say as they dipped their broccoli floret into paint, "This is the weirdest thing I've done all day."

We've got a busy and fun couple of weeks coming up. Sarah has her friend birthday party on Friday, her 12th birthday on Tuesday, plus trunk-or-treat, SEPs, carving pumpkins, and maybe a couple more Halloween fun ideas up my sleeve and I'm really craving Halloween sugar cookies. I'm so glad summer is over; this is way better.