Ready or Not....

Here it comes....

 I'm so not ready for winter yet. I LOVE living in a state with 3 very distinct seasons, but not so much a fan of winter lasting from October to May! What's the deal?!?! Only 1 month of Fall? We haven't even done our Fall activities yet! This Saturday we are heading up to Salt Lake to have dinner at Archibald's Restaurant then going to the This is the Place Haunted Village. Then we have 2 weddings, then we're heading to Midway/Park City for the weekend! Luckily Provo/Orem gets about a quarter of the snow the rest of the state gets most the time! South Jordan got about 7 inches, Morgan I'm sure got a lot as usual....

On the bright side this is what I got to look out at the last few days...this is the fence just right next to our house. The Virginia Creeper has been beautiful! (Took this picture yesterday....so sad....) At least the snow will melt soon, but it looks like the leaves are going to start falling now with it being so cold...So we'll just have to welcome the snow and winter with open arms! We have some fun activites for winter coming up. We'll be going to The Forgotten Carols, Savior of the World, and Katie and Morgan are coming to Utah!! YAY!

I guess winter won't be so bad after all....

Spooktacular Fun at our Haunted Home

Last night Jake and I threw our First Halloween Party. We had so much fun, I had more fun preparing than Jake did. But he is a good sport to help with dishes, clean, run errands for ingredients that I forget, and listen to me whine when I can't get the frosting just right! I could never do a party without him! Thank you honey!! Here are some pictures of our fun night!

Our "Trick or Treat, You're so sweet, Here's a treat for you to eat" favors.

The menu:

Pumpkin Soup Bowls with Taco Soup and Creamy Potato Soup

Spiderweb Cheesecake

Boston "Scream" Pie (Boston Cream Pie essentially except I put pumpkin in the cake and Nutmeg and Cinnamon in the filling)

Carmel Apples

Sugar Cookies

Candy Corn Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

White Chocolate Fountain

Homemade Rootbeer

It was so yummy! I think the question I get asked the *very* most at parties is..."Did you make all this?" Yes. Everything you see is homemade by yours truly down to every little cupcake sign on a toothpick. I love to cook. (Except the cute little Pumpkin Soup Bowls, they are from Macey's) These parties take *enormous* amounts of time, but they are so fun that I can't help it!

Now for the guests....

My very handsome Cowboy husband.

Barbie and Ken

Robin Hood and Maid Marian

Voted the Best Couple Costume

Frankenstein and the Mad Scientist

Voted the Funniest Costume

The Ghosts

Voted the Scariest Costume

We played many rounds of Mafia, The Psychiatrist, and In the Manner of the Adverb. Ate Doughnuts off a string, and ate, and ate, and ate. It was so much fun to have everyone over! Thanks so much for coming everyone!!

Wyoming for the Weekend

 The last few weeks has been the elk hunt. Jake went up to the Uintahs last weekend with my dad, uncle, and grandparents and went hunting for the weekend. Then this Friday we went back up but this time me, my mom, Shay, and Karen and their kids all went along. We technically were camping/hunting in Utah, but we went through the Wyoming side to the Uintahs. The guys hiked and hiked and hunted and hunted....saw very little, but didn't get anything! It was pretty sad. But nevertheless we still had a lot of fun. Hiked up to some lakes, played games, ate good food, and just enjoyed having some family time! 

 Jeppson Lake

 When we were walking back down the trail we saw the biggest moose I have ever seen. And it was so close to us! We were so scared. He was just following us all down the trail. Jake pulled out his little gun (wouldn't have done much but still) You can see him in the back there, he turned and crossed the trail right in front of us there and then he was gone!

 Tamarac Lake

 We packed a lunch and all hiked up to Tamarac Lake and had a picnic. It was about a 4 mile hike total. It was so beautiful!

 Jake took this picture, these were little icicles growing up out of the ground. wierd. 

Tamarac Lake

Lilypad Lake