Happy Halloween!

I'll admit it...I'm a Halloween Scrooge.  Really.  I hate Halloween--the costumes, the seeming celebration of all things evil, and the silly trunk-or-treat thing.  Why do we do that even in years when Halloween doesn't fall on Sunday?  Anyway, in spite of my dislike, my children LOVE Halloween.  I have to convince them not to get out decorations before October 1st, and they think the candy bowl needs to be filled ALL MONTH LONG.  Because of their enthusiasm, I am developing some family traditions around this holiday that I can live with.

We eat cheese fondue for dinner.

We make Halloween treats.

I help them with their costumes well in advance, so they don't have too much stress about what they are going to wear.  And in Texas, we don't have to dress for cold or rain.  Nice!

This year we even made some new decorations for the walkway.

I've tried really hard not to rain on their Halloween parade.

I'm even letting them keep ALL their candy this year.

Our First Halloween Party

I've hosted several adult dinner parties this year, so I thought I would let the kids see me put the same time and effort into a party for them.

Inspired by my friend, Tiffany, I decided to let the children host a Halloween party.  With help, they planned it, delivered the invitations, and helped me get ready and set everything up.

We invited three boys Seth's age, and seven girls that are right around the ages of my girls.

They all came in their costumes.

We played games...

and musical chairs...

and Halloween Bingo.

Yay for Target and their $5 party games.  Makes party planning really easy!

Then we decorated yummy pumpkin sugar cookies, which with 13 kids is pretty messy, but they loved it.  Some of those cookies were so loaded with frosting and candy, they were disgusting.

We ended with "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in the movie room with popcorn.

Our party was a hit, and a great time was had by all.

By the way, this was a GREAT group of kids.  We feel really blessed to be in this ward.  Our kids are making some fabulous friends.

South Padre Island, Texas

It's been over a month since Grandma and Grandpa went to the beach with us, and they haven't nagged me too much about getting the pictures up.

When I was about 14, my grandparents bought a share in a condo down near Newport, Oregon.  My cousins and brothers and sister and I all spent lots of vacations down there--together, separately, with or without Grandma and Grandpa.  We all have very fond memories--going into Newport for chowder and candy, searching for treasures in the tidepools down on the beach, watching storms through the big picture windows, learning to swim in the pool, feeding buckwheat pancakes to the seagulls from the balcony, and wandering all over the property with Grandpa.  After I got married and had kids, I was fortunate to have a few more trips to the condo with my own family.  What I loved most was the feeling that we had all the time in the world when we were at the beach.

I want my kids to have memories of the beach like that, so we invited my parents to come to South Padre with us.  I found a condo right on the beach, and we spent three days on the beach, going into town for lunch, and swimming in the pool.  However, I did not know my dad liked playing in the water!  It was always too cold at the Oregon coast.  I was surprised to see him spend hours letting the surf crash over him, but the water in the Gulf of Mexico is like bathwater.  We always say, "Hey, it isn't Hawaii, but the beaches are sandy, and the water is warm."  Going down after Labor Day also meant we had the beach almost to ourselves.

And it felt like we had all the time in the world.

This is how John likes to vacation--holding the kite for the kids.

Ellie kept practicing her "pirate face."  ARRGGGH!

I had never seen pelicans in real life before, but they are all over the

South coast.

What Happens When...

...you wear your goggles on your head.

Me:  "Dude, can I take your picture?  You have marks from your goggles."

Seth:  "MOM!  It's not funny!"

And then I post it on my blog.

Ellie's Baptism

We had such a busy week, I didn't have a chance to post about Ellie's special day.

Baptisms in our area are scheduled on a stake level, so we didn't have to do anything except show up on time. We started the morning with breakfast with the cousins and grandparents....

Here are all the wonderful people who love Ellie and made the trip to see her baptized.  Except for us, no one lives in Austin.  They all had to travel a minimum of ninety miles.

After a big lunch with everyone, we decided to take a trip over to the pool so the kids could play outside.  It's too hot for anything else.

Seth teaching Grandpa how to sail his boat.

 All the grandparents trying to stay cool in the shade.  Should've worn your suits, people!

Seth and his flying somersaults.

Later, we had a little trampoline time with the cousins.  Still too hot, but they loved it.

Playing Dominoes with the Grandpas.

Seth showing Grandpa his impressive reading skills.  This Grandpa was an English major, so he loves having the kids read to him.  I also realized after my grandma died, that I didn't have nearly enough pictures of the kids with her.  I'm trying to be better about photographing for later.

A lovely weekend, and I couldn't have done it all without my parents' help.  And John was a lifesaver, too.  So glad you all could come!

Me and 100,994 Others

We went to see BYU play the University of Texas Longhorns in Longhorn Stadium!  It was awesome.  Truly.  I haven't been to a live football game since my freshman year.  I bought season tickets that year and hated every minute of it.  But John humored me and we decided to go when we heard the Cougars were coming to town.  We sat in one of the BYU sections, right at the top of the endzone, and the view was pretty great.  That's downtown Austin in the background.  I was always impressed by Cougar stadium, which seats about 60,000, but this one puts it to shame.  101,000 people were there!  It was HUGE!  In Texas, football is all about the money, and UT has plenty of it.

The best part was, I actually know more about football than I thought I did.  And BYU did great the first half.  Then Texas put in their "real players" and we lost at the end by one point.  It was a great game, and I might become a football fan after all! 

BYU plays TCU in October in the Dallas Cowboys stadium, which I've heard is awesome.  We might take the kids and go all together.  What fun we're having in Texas!

We Had Such Great Hopes

Yup, that's our garden.  Looks successful, huh?  My grandfather would be appalled.

Square-foot gardening (or any gardening, for that matter) in Texas is a bust.  Now, it may have more to do with the excessive drought we are experiencing than anything.  Today is day 72 or 73 of consecutive temperatures over 100 degrees.

My herbs were equally disappointing.  I planted them in these cute pots, and they sprouted, but then they just wilted and dried up in the heat.

While we were mowing the grass and cleaning up the backyard today, I was just sad about our garden.  Tiffany said helpfully, "You just need to figure out the growing season there."  That's true.  Maybe we'll give it another shot in October.  I would sure love to have fresh herbs!  And lettuce, and swiss chard, and peas....