Halloween and Thanksgiving, all in a weekend

On Halloween weekend this year, our house was invaded by a Jedi and a  princess.  Here are Eli and Talia heading off to school for their Halloween parade.

After school, we hit the Main Library downtown to make some seriously cool concoctions.

Any Halloween celebration that gives away more books than candy is a winner in my view.

Brooklyn didn't make the library Halloween party because she was having a Halloween celebration of her own with the West High ELPers (7th and 8th grade.)  My mom messed up the other day and called them lepers instead.  Tee hee!  Brooklyn also got to go to Pumpkin Nights at the fairgrounds for mutual.

That's Pumpkin carving taken to a whole new level.

Annika had a little Halloween parade at her school too.  For this occasion she picked out this really odd little wizard dress that I got at Kid2Kid for a buck.

Later that night, Annika decided to be a cat for the real deal trick-or-treating.

We met up with friends to invade the neighborhood en masse.

Ruby came in her ruby red slippers, flanked by an older princess with shorter hair.  (Talia had switched to Hermione.)

Hey Dorothy, we're twinners!  I loved how Ruby took my hand as we went from door to door asking for candy: two, because she wanted one to share with Annie.  So sweet!

Crunching all the leaves was the very best part.

Back at home, we decided that Annie wasn't a cat after all.

She was actually Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  Fits perfectly!

Our little Max waited adorably by the door, jumping up each time the trick-or-treaters came.  When our own treats started to run low, she explained that it was okay because she could give away hers.  Aw!

It wouldn't be Halloween without chili and yummy cinnamon rolls (courtesy of Aunt Brianna.)  One more round of trick-or-treating across the street in Federal Heights for the big kids (they got full-sized candy bars!), a quick warm by the fire, and then it was off to bed.  What a fun day.

But wait!  We can't forget Halloween Phase 1, celebrated in Hyde Park with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  These pumpkin-launching trebuchets were pretty awesome.

Ruby snuggles in grandma's lap while we enjoy the action.

For the second year in a row, the weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor pumpkin carving.

Annie got some help making the cutest little owl.

Eli's hard at work designing a jack-o-lantern face to match his own.

Great job with your cat, Talia!


And Brooklyn?  Well, she made pumpkin pi.

Our final creations.

With the entire family gathered from California and Chicago, we headed to Lions Park for some family photos.

Posing so many people is never an easy task.  Well-done, Jason!

And a fun one on the slide.

Saturday we celebrated Halloween, but on Sunday we celebrated an early Thanksgiving since Charles and Susie would be in New Zealand for our actual turkey day.  Lucky kiwis!  Naturally, the day began with meat pie.

Here's Jason modelling an appropriate cranberry to pie ratio.  If you can see the pie, you've apparently done it wrong.

Susie gave Annika and Ruby some cute sticker books where you add stickers to make faces.

Looks like Annie got a bit mixed up and put all Grandma's piano stickers on her own face.

Most importantly, the Thanksgiving spread.

It was a decadent meal worth repeating, which is exactly what I hope to do tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Hogle Halloween

As our Thanksgiving guests are arriving tomorrow (happy squee), I'd really like to post Halloween.  No better place to start than at the Hogle Zoo.  While we didn't see the BooLights at night, we certainly enjoyed all of the decorations by day.

More accurately, we enjoyed most of the decorations.

The dragon's pretty fun.

Eli wanted to impersonate the black spook behind him.

In true big sister fashion, Talia said he wasn't doing it right and insisted on doing an impersonation of her own.

Earlier that day, she had quite a bit of fun with her hair chalk.

While I wouldn't want it to be permanent, as a temporary adornment I find it really pretty.

And, since we are talking about a zoo, how about a few animal pictures.

We were really excited to meet the zoo's two new polar bears.  This two year-old is named Nora.

Not everybody gets such an exciting lunchdate, Annika.

Now for dry land.

With divers preparing to clean their habitat, the day was pretty exciting for the sea lions as well.

If you look closely, you can see a sea lion checking out the diver from below.

Scuba with a twist!  Nice to know that aquatic skills are valued even in the desert of Utah.  Maybe if I dress up as a Mermaid next Halloween they will let me swim too.

All in Autumn

Snow is falling in giant flakes, and even though Thanksgiving isn't here, it's starting to feel like Christmas.  Before winter sets in full force, here are some of my favorite pictures from Fall.

Red Butte Gardens:  Annika has a little pal named Jefferson who rides to preschool with us.  Occasionally he will hang out for the afternoon as well.  Here are Annie and Jeff at their very favorite spot, Red Butte Gardens.

These two are pretty adorable together.  Annika started calling Jefferson "Jeffro," and as far as I can tell, he likes this new appellation.

Dining on lunchables at their usual spot.

Their favorite thing to do is to wind their way through the innards of a giant ivy snake in the Children's Garden.


Colors!

We nearly planted a flaming maple in our own yard, but worried that it would be too exposed to thrive.

We still found a tree, though.  Amazing what you can fit in a minivan.

Talia and Eli are great garden helpers.

Ta da!  A crabapple of our very own.

Millcreek Canyon.  Before daylight savings hit, Annika and I periodically headed up Millcreek canyon for a stroll during the big kids' choir rehearsal.

So therapeutic.

Killyon Canyon.  One lovely Saturday, the family went for a bike ride up Killyon Canyon.

Little Miss Talia was eager to try out the lovely new wheels she inherited from the James family.

Biking up is always hard work.

Jason and Talia were brave enough to bike back while I drove the littles.  Talia was a trooper tackling all the hills on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

She even got cruising so fast that she biked right over a snake!  Hopefully it didn't need its tail after all.  She didn't think it was a rattler, but I'm glad she didn't turn back to find out.

The only person we missed on our bike ride was Brooklyn.  Our grown-up gal was in Columbus, Ohio at a National Girl Scout convention.  While I don't have many photos, I know she had a terrific time.

Her favorite memories include:

 1. eating at Schmidt's Sausage Haus

2. listening to Dr. Mae Jemison speak at the Opening ceremonies.  She was the first African American woman in space.

3.  scuba diving in the Hall of Experiences

4.  the plenary sessions on being a Go-Getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader.  Gabby Douglas spoke in the risk-taker session.

5. the breakout session on finding your dream career.  When I asked Brooklyn what hers would be, she mentioned travel planner, baker, and teacher.

And a photo op with her favorite chaperones.  Brooklyn is already talking about wanting to be part of the team that organizes the national conference four years from now.

Ensign Peak.  Finishing up our fall pictures, we took a quick hike up Ensign Peak with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles when they came down to support the kids in the Primary Program.

Knitting while you hike.  That certainly brings new meaning to "multitasking."

 

By the time we reached the bottom, Annika was all tuckered out.

As am I.  Over and out.