Octoberween

So, granted I really like holidays of all sorts, but Halloween is really near the top! I love the fall, which adds to my love for all holidays during that time of year... but why not take advantage of every opportunity to dress up, eat great food, and party your heart out??

This last weekend I had the chance to go to two Halloween parties - and loved every second of it. Maybe we're getting a little too personal, but I think that while I love the holidays there is also a kind of drag that I go through this time of year. Admittedly watching everyone else celebrate their traditions as families and pass those traditions on to their own children puts a slight damper on the way I look at my own holidays... I still have an amazing time, but that little damper rears its ugly head each year (uninvited) and needs to be squashed as I enter this wonderful season. I am genuinely grateful to my amazing family and friends that let me celebrate with them each year. It makes squishing that damper SO much easier!

This last Friday, my cousins were having a Halloween party for their kids and invited me to come. I was planning to watch my good friends' son, Keenan, while they attended a temple session, so Keenan got all dressed up in his pirate costume and went to the party with me! We had seriously so much fun! We wandered through a tangled spiderweb of yarn to find a gift my cousin had hidden for Keenan, while each of the other kids found their own - bubbles, socks, and a Halloween pencil! After we all got ourselves all untangled, we went to the kitchen and made spiders out of ding-dongs, shoe-string-licorice, frosting, and Skittles! I helped Keenan make sure he got the right number of legs on his spider while he made sure we got WAY too much frosting - both on the spider and in his little tummy!


Everyone else had gotten dressed up, so Emmalynn (my cousin's daughter) brought me this amazing hat so I wouldn't feel left out (I came straight from work). I'm not really a hat person, but this one just fit so well... I had to remember to take it off before I went home that night! Thanks Misty and family for inviting me to come and thanks to Kevin and Annie for letting me "borrow" Keenan for the evening! Many fun memories were made that night - I'm sure for Keenan as well as me!


Saturday night some friends and I headed up to Oakley, UT (up above Park City and Kamas) to attend my friend Mindy's annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! Four girls and four gourds (including my 30-pound pumpkin) piled into my little car and headed up the mountain. It was such a pretty drive that I felt refreshed before we even got there! We helped Mindy finish decorating and prepping food, and then the real fun began. Mindy broke out her infamous wig collection while I donned my cat-woman costume (a personal favorite). Then the photo-ops began!


After more people arrived, we got the tarps laid out in the living room and started our pumpkin carving adventures!


Of course we also had to take our intermittent breaks to the food table, which included cheese balls, pumpkin rolls, fruit tarts, cookies, candies, and some jalapeno kielbasa/shrimp kabobs! Knowing me, this was not the only time I snuck over to the food table... just look at that guilty look on my face! (Really... no shame!)


After the pictures, eating, and carving were over (well... maybe just the carving...) we each took our finished products to the porch and set them aglow with tea lights. This is my 30-pound pumpkin that my friends informed me looked like Captain Gantu off of Lilo & Stitch:

Slanting, hollow eyes and no real nose... hmmm...

Oh there it is! Striking resemblance! ;0)

A great time was had all around - nothing brings people together quite the same was as scraping guts out of a pumpkin! Here are some of the others from that night:


Seriously made for quite the exciting weekend! I'm really looking forward to this next weekend - Kimmy and I are driving down to Arizona to spend Halloween together as a complete family for the first time in about 10 years! Combine Halloween with a 2-year-old birthday, a baby blessing, and taking my nieces trick-or-treating... Recipe for the perfect weekend!