Halloween

Craig & I went to a Halloween party dressed as "Indians". I was a dot-indian, he was a feather-indian:


A.J. wanted to be Tinkerbell (from the Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure movie - which came out 4 days before Halloween and 2 days before her class party?!), leaving me little time to construct a costume. She was please with the results, which was all that mattered. I think it was the glitter, ahem, "pixie dust" that sold her.
This is what I had to go on...

This was the result:




We did easy dinner this year - a pumpkin shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and "witch potion".


Dry ice is always a hit at our house.


Of course we needed to carve a Tinkerbell pumpkin to go with her costume:



After the trunk-or-treat, AJ's friend Aimee and Geoffrey joined us for some neighborhood trick-or-treating.


What a haul! I'm ashamed to say that even this much loot didn't last long at our house. I do love candy.

Family Night Out

We had a fun night at Color Me Mine, a ceramic studio in Flower Mound. AJ painted her own plate, (wish has subsequently made dinner time better for her.)

After we finished painting, we went to dinner at Babe's for some of the best home-cookin' you can find. Oh, my mouth just watered.


Good times!

Her Name Was Lola...

She's my new perfume.

Marc Jacobs has done it again. Ooo La La. This is MY fragrance. It's like it was made for me. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Plus, how can you pass on the fantastic bottle design?! Makes me happy, yes indeed.

Elementary School Fall Carnival

AJ won't actually go to this school until next year, but we have friends on the PTA who invited us. We had a blast.

Pumpkin Decorating


Face Painting


Duck Pond


Beanbag Toss


Pumpkin Roll


Wiiiiiiinnnnnnnnerrrrrrr!


Digging for Gold


Musical Chairs


AJ's favorite prize (yay for me...)

5K

Craig ran in a 5K last Saturday in support of a local youth getting his Eagle Scout Award. He did great - ran it in 30 min. Way to go honey! AJ and I waited at the start/finish line sipping hot chocolate.



Once Craig finished, AJ decided she wanted to run too and took several laps up and down the sidewalk.

Bliss

Book Orders - one of the highlites of my childhood. When the teacher would pass out the flyers, (and grouchily tell us to immediately put them in our backpacks) I would anxiously fidget until I could race home and spend hours combing through them with my trusty highlighter. The only thing better? The following Friday when I would enter the classroom and find a stack of glossy new books waiting on my desk. True bliss.

Even still, coming home with a heavy bag from Barnes and Noble tops my list. So imagine my shear delight when A.J. came home from school with her first book order. And I may have been a little teary-eyed when she whipped out a highlighter and started circling.

Happy Tunes: Lady Antebellum

I think this album is fantastic! If you like any kind of country, give it a try. If you don't, give it a try anyway. It may surprise you.

Breakfast of Champions

Because of this handy device,

I can literally have a breakfast sandwich, with bacon and cheese, in under 90 seconds. No joke.

And because of this lovely purchase,

I can accompany it with one of my favorite seasonal beverages, the caramel apple spice.

It almost makes me look forward to waking up early. Almost.

Primary Temple Trip

Today the primary kids all got to go to the Dallas Temple. A member of the Temple Presidency came out and talked to the kids in the foyer and the kids all sang primary songs. It was fun for AJ to be able to go inside. It's something that's talked about a lot in our house, so it was good for her to be able to see it for herself.


Mostly, she was just excited to hang out with her friend Aimee.


And it was funny to watch 3 dozen kids try to smile without squinting in the sun!

More Utah Tourism

I think I'm getting close to the end of our summer posts. I rock! I mean, it's only October?!

The ever-exciting Bingham Copper Mine:



Craig thinks you should always teach your kids to follow the rules:


Our favorite curry spot in Downtown Salt Lake:


We attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house:


Ate chinese for dinner that night - AJ was diggin' the giant fortune cookie:


Went camping, aka slept in the motorhome in Grandma's driveway:


Went shooting with Grandpa Nielsen at Eagle Mountain:


AJ tried her hand at throwing pigeons (didn't work out too well):



And shooting was a "bit noisy" for her:


She truly had most fun collecting "treasure" (discarded shotgun shells):


Toward the end of our stay, I escaped to attend BYU-Idaho Education Week with friends:


And also spent a few days in Mesquite, NV with my mom and her friend. (No pics because this is all we were doing):