October 2012 Staycation

October 2012 Staycation

I can't lie.  I love this time of the year.  Even though it is sad because Summer is ending, I still love everything else about fall.  Since this is my journal...let me write some things down lest I forget the details.

October 16 is Bosses Day.  SOO...me and my cute friend Mandy here made our boss a photo frame and then aptly put OUR picture in the frame.  After all we are her favorites, well, not really but we can pretend.  We also gave her some beautiful flowers-I just didn't get a picture of them!   In the backdrop is the decorations a lady on my team made for our area.  I was thrilled to see it!  Thanks Johanna!!  

 She also made our team pumpkin for the Centerwide pumpkin contest.  I loved our black cat and was sad that it didn't win.

She even knitted the hat and scarf!  How adorable!

Walking the kids to school this past week...cracked me up! Jamie and AJ. 

The kids were out of school for UEA break October 18 and 19 so I took PTO so that I could spend some quality time with them.  Matt decided to take those days off too....so we had a 4 day family staycation.  I can tell you right now-I am not looking forward to going back to work after the four days of fun I have had with the fam.  First on the agenda Thursday morning was "Breakfast With A Witch" at Gardner Village.  I thought I was planning ahead when I went to buy the tickets the first part of September...they were all sold out for Saturday shows. I found a few seats for the October 18th show, whew!  I learned that they go on sale August 1-I will be better prepared next year!! We bought the kids a small toy before the show...a pirate sword and a stuffed kitten.  I am such a sucker for their puppy dog eyes!

I snappped a few shots of them before the show started.  

Breakfast was super yummy and the entertainment was a lot of fun.  It was pirate-themed.  We all had fun.  Here are the kids with the witch's rats. 

I printed the scavenger hunt off at home and so we wandered the village finding all the witches.  I LOVE THAT PLACE is all I can say.  Photo ops everywhere!!

 My world right there.  Love those three!!

 There was a witch with bugs in cage...just like Lauren! I made her pose by her!   She has a pet grasshopper named Lucky who has lived for going on four months in Lauren's captivity.

 Me and my babies by the pond they have.


Checking out the fish in the pond.

By one of the shops.


Me and the kiddos.


The kids were the most excited to go and check out the Petting Zoo!!!  Here they are feeding some sheep.

Matt was like the sheep whisperer...it was great.  He got the sheep to stop chasing Lauren around!  Look at poser Jamie.  Mama taught him well.

Cute sheep.

They had some baby cows there and all I could think was "some cows escaped the Rindy farm!"  The Rindy farm is my besties family's farm.

This baby llama was so cute!

Have I taught this boy well or what.  Look at him cheesing it up...with a billy goat!

Lauren couldn't get enough of the bunnies!  They were oh so very soft.

Matt was petting the bunny too.  He had bunnies as a kid-I am sure it brought back memories.

I think he also found a friend in this donkey.  They are very small.  And quite loud.

They had a neat tire swing that Jamie found more interesting than bunnies.

Such a cute swing!


They also enjoyed the chickens.  I am glad my kids love animals...I always think that the way people treat animals shows their true heart.

Some of you English freaks like me may enjoy this little ditty of a sign.  It says HEY maze instead of HAY!  I laugh that no one found it and corrected it yet.  Misty says it is rude like "HEY Maze!" Like "DUH look at this maze".  LOL. Matt was more interested in the facts...he says it isn't HAY...it is technically STRAW.

Jamie was more interested in the trampoline than the maze!  Matt and I were chuckling a bit at the strange kids names we heard getting yelled... "TUCKER" and "BECKITT". 

We were stuffed from our yummy breakfast..we didn't even stop at Sweet Aftons for our normal candy fix.  We did stop at Artic Circle to share a Lime Rickey..we were thirsty!  It was hot that day.  We came back home and I napped.  Matt did some paperwork.  It is always a treat for me to be home at night with the family...as I am usually at work.  Matt went to get us some Redbox movies (That's My Boy and Rock of Ages) and a Little Ceasars pizza.  It was a truly wonderful day.

I coulda got more done...but Oreo came and sat on my lap...so I couldn't bear to get up and disturb her!


Friday  I did not set any alarm...I slept for 9 hours....it was good...too good.  I literally hurt in the morning.  I decided not to make the whole day lazy.  I worked in the kids' rooms doing that seasonal shuffle where I move the summer clothes to the bottom drawers OR to the "give away" pile and move the winter stuff up top and I evaluate what we "need".  I love throwing stuff away whenever I can.  I would throw a lot more away if Lauren wasn't around.  NOW I know why my mom would clean my room when I was at school...I guess I have a daughter just like me.  Well...no worse...she is a hoarder....literally and my mom never let me get that bad.  She is attached to every little thing-like papers and "special rocks"...really?!!!  While I did all of that, my handsome and near perfect husband changed the oil in my car, put washer fluid in my car and washed it! What a stud.  My bestie Beth came over to take some of my hand me downs off my hands.  It is hard to let it go..but I love seeing the clothes I loved, living again.  Matt took us all to Sushi Monster.  It is normally a treat, but Jamie asked to go there and Matt said yes.  I LOVE SUSHI!!!

Lauren and I dropped the boys off and Lauren and I went shopping...I needed some undies and Lauren needed some new boots badly..so we found this sassy pair. We came back home and started the movies again (Matt had fallen asleep during our first try the night before). Another great night with the fam.  I did my best to get a head start on laundry...it is NEVERENDING!

 

We were all looking forward to Saturday and the Halloween party that my AWESOME neighbors throw every year. This year it was in Kaysville...I got a little lost...but we made it.  It was so much fun!  Matt was doing his Clean and Beautiful monthly service project and then he cleaned the garage.  Matt likes having his days off filled with productive things.  I prefer to party and nap.  We each got what we wanted!

A shot of me all dressed up and ready to go!


Here were our hosts and neighbors..the Middletons...Adam, April, Chrystie and AJ:




Here are the three in my family....

Cropped:


Jamie cheesing it up in his BATMAN costume.

I told him that Batman doesn't smile-he makes pouty lips...so here is his best pouty face.  I was laughing so hard, that kid cracks me up. 

Lauren in her Sock Monkey outfit.  I thought she was sooo cute!

Closeup of my cute girl.

Jamie and AJ play soo well together. So cute! Here they are playing with the games they got in their HUGE goodie bags!

Here they are making masks:

Here is Lauren in her mask:

We played this fun trivia game, with physical challenges in between trivia for points.   I was cocky to begin with..but they asked about a ton of movies I have NEVER seen...like Hocus Pocus, Twilight movies, Harry Potter, Monsters, Inc.  YELP!  Luckily I made my contributions on hard core horror like "Friday the 13th"...and I made up some points with my big mouth and some marshmallows!! Winner!! 

Here is Chrystie reading the questions...look at cute April in her pumpkin outfit!!!

Lauren doing the balancing challenge.

Another shot of Lauren and check out our neighbor Adam in the background.  He looked awesome and won for "Best Male".

Here is a better shot of him:


AJ and Jamie doing the Marshmallow contest. So funny!

Lauren got her chance to try the marshmallow challenge too!


Booyeah...our team..."The Goblins" dominated...Me and the kiddos each got these cute stuffed animals as prizes!!

Here is the REAL reason we won...this cute couple...who knew pretty much EVERY question!! Thanks guys...I never asked their names!  I was too focused on our game!!

So, my neighbor April is an AWESOME cook!  She had all of this good food...that I never got pictures of...like her DEVILED EGGS.  I did get some pictures of the sweets she made.  She had these cookies that I sent her the idea for (how cool did I feel?!).

Then her famous peanut butter balls...shaped like eyeballs.  SOOO YUMMY!

Then we got to frost and decorate our own cookies and they had SOO many decorations!  Here is the cat Lauren made.  Frosted Sugar Cookies are my #1 favorite treat!!

Jamie won a prize for Best Superhero.  He was sooo tickled.  I won for Scariest costume.  We both got these really cool mugs.  I also won a blanket and pillow!  Seriously they were so generous...they should have charged people to go in...AND I woulda PAID!!!  Check out his cheeser!!

Since we were in Kaysville, I stopped by my Grandparents house...but they weren't there - SAD!!   We came home...I told the kids to get in their PJS (Jamie was already in his-it goes under his costume).  I hopped in the shower to attempt to wash off some of the crazy makeup.  AND we dropped the kids off at my parents house...they got to play with their cousin Zander and hang out with my parents...they were in heaven.  They miss going there every day.  Then Matt and I went out on a group date with my sisters.  We went to Tres Hombres...our favorite Mexican place.  I am so lucky to have my sisters as friends.  Then we all went to the haunted house...Fear Factory.  I learned a lot that night.  #1 Haunted Houses are super expensive.  #2 It is totally worth it to pay the extra $10 to get "VIP" and skip the line AKA we waited in line for an hour and a half.  #3 Metal music is HORRIBLE!!!  They had a band playing and it was torture...the lead singer was SCREAMING in the mike..UGH.  The Haunted House was long, it was fun...scary..and had some neat elements.  Ashley was my scare buddy...I hung onto her most of the night.  I think Matt enjoyed me clinging onto someone else.

Here is Ashley and I.

Me and the hubs.

Sarah and Colin...(he is crouching so he is close to Sarah's height...what a good sport!

Sunday we woke up and headed to church...we had lunch at Chilis and headed home.  Matt took a nap, so then I took one too.  He ran to the grocery store..he is much faster without us.  Jamie was so proud of his ribbon that he had me pin it on him again...as he carried around the ribbon he won last year.  Look at his big old grin.  He cracks me up!

Then I took the kids and ran to Target to get a few more essentials.  This was one non-essentail!  Right now I have a cheap cardboard headstone that keeps blowing away...so I got this cute headstone that is really heavy..AND the eyes are light up LED lights.  It will be so cool on Halloween!!!

October is the month of the rosary so I have done my best to say it everyday and I am at 100% so far.  Each Sunday I make the kids say it with me.  Jamie is more about the "necklaces"....but he is getting pretty good at his prayers.  

I whipped up spaghetti for dinner, we ate and sent the kids to bed so we could watch The Walking Dead, man I love that show.  So...that about sums up my vacation, staycation.  It was back to work today, so sad.  I had such a good time, I love my little family so much...no matter what we do.