Halloween 2014

Halloween snuck up on me again.

Right in the middle of everything it snuck up on me!

I've been helping with costumes for Hannah's high school musical production West Side Story and trying to turn 250 pounds of apples into sauce and pie filling as well as everything else so when my mom offered to make Rose's Halloween costume I was so, so grateful.

To say it turned out perfectly would be an understatement. My mom is an artist with fabric and this is just further proof.

She used Simplicity pattern 1233

Last November, the day after we saw the movie Frozen as a family, Rose decided she and Hannah HAD to dress as Elsa and Anna for Halloween.

What's a mom to do?

However, because I am the queen of procrastination Elsa's dress wasn't even begun until around 8pm October 30th. 

But I got it done. There's a lot I could have and should have done to it to make it more special but she was happy so that's good.

I used McCall's mp381

Sometimes it's hard for a preteen boy to decide what to be for Halloween but he finally settled on Mad Scientist. Such a easy and fun costume. The hair makes it.

We were able to get together with another lovely Elsa. This is my great-niece......oh man that makes me sound old.

Although Josh didn't dress up for Halloween this was the week before and really needed to be documented.

He was dressed like this to cheer his Cross Country (XC) team on at State.

The mustache completes the look.

And finally, Halloween wouldn't be complete without a few jack-o-lanterns.

This years selections included:

Randalf the wizard (Gandalf's less famous/successful brother)
A kitty and her pumpkin
and
Our Lab Sadie

The weather was perfect, everyone was healthy and it really was a great day.

Now bring on the turkey and the pumpkin pie.....

Thanksgiving here we come!

First and Last part I

Today was the last day of school for the high schoolers. It's hard to believe another year has gone by.
As I write this I have a senior and a junior who reside in my home.
That is so strange.

First and Last Day Photos.

It's fun to see the difference a few months can make.

My Kids Are Real Life Super Heroes!

Picture taken on Hannah's phone during a random Target trip.

The other night we rented a movie we (MDH and I) watched about 15 years ago.

We remembered liking it and thought the older kids might get a kick out of it.

Turns out there was a lot of swearing. 

and 

It also turns out that over the years we've (MDH and I have) become more sensitive to it.

We finished the show.

Not sure if we should have.

Then apologized to the kids for the swearing.

Then Josh said, "Well, what I hear at school every day it much worse."

"Really?! Wow! I'm so sorry" was my reaction.

But here it is.

These kids of mine really are super-heroes!

They live in a really scary world that can be really dark and heavy, cold, uncaring and hard.

And yet they are full of light and goodness and charity.

When you're around them you feel better about yourself and about the world.

They are good just for the sake of being good.

They love each other and they like each other and I like that a lot.

They even seem to like me and their father and they listen to us.

That means a lot to me to.

When I see movie stars or athletic heroes on T.V. I can't help but scoff a little and think to myself

they're nothing compared to the people that live in my house.

And they are amazing people

Despite my unintentional contribution of non-uplifting media in their lives.

My people are the real heroes!

And I feel like the luckiest person alive.

My kids truly are real life Super Heroes!

Great Basin National Park, part 2

So, what exactly did we do when we visited Great Basin National Park?
Well.....we hiked a lot! But we like hiking and we always have.
Our whole family hiked to Rock Glacier, elev. 10,800 ft. and I have to say I was pretty impressed with us!
MDH and Josh hiked to the top of Wheeler Peak, elev.  13,159 ft. on our last day there. More of that on another post.
We hiked to some mountain lakes.
We explored a cave (see part 1)
We visited a trout hatchery.
We enjoyed afternoon mountain rainstorms in the trailer while we played games, read books, ate snacks and rested.
We roasted marshmallows and generally just enjoyed being a family.

It was fun for us to observe and comment on how our oldest went from enjoying hiking as a young girl to not liking it so much to liking it again as a teenager. I think what turned the tide in her enjoyment of that pastime was a camera. Once she had her own camera in hand she's been loving our family hikes.
However, as a girl she always wanted to lead our pack and she couldn't stand being anywhere else than the front.
Now, she's always in the back, sometimes she keeps me company and sometimes she drops even behind me because she's getting some pretty darn spectacular pictures of our journey.
We don't mind. In fact I think we like it.
But on this particular hike I think she got tired of me asking her not to get too far behind because I didn't want her to be eaten by a cougar. Part of me was joking but the biggest part wasn't. I just wanted our girl to be safe.

The following pictures were taken by our girl.

Now a few pictures from my camera from our hike to Rock Glacier.

We've discovered a couple of things in our years of hiking as a family.

1. Always bring a first aid kit.
2. Always bring toilet paper.
3. Always bring lots of yummy snacks.
4. Always bring lots of water.
5. Be prepared to find a few bushes for the younger kids if you follow number 4.
6. Be prepared to sing, it just makes the hiking easier.

Hannah in her new, usual spot.

Sweet Cheeks hamming it up.

Believe it or not that tree we are next to is alive!

The snow in the background is Rock Glacier.

We hiked there.

It was weird and exciting to hike above the tree line.

Live long and prosper.

Yo baby!

The afternoon thunderstorms here moved in quickly and were violent.

We were warned that if we hiked to the glacier we should go in the morning and be gone before the storm came in the afternoon because it is above the tree line and in a little canyon where lightning was prevalent during the regular storms.

Because we had some little people with us and because I'm slow it took us a little longer than we thought to get there and so after arriving at the glacier we found ourselves racing to get out of the open and back down the mountain before the storm hit.

Once we hit the trees we all felt a little bit safer but we still tried to move as quickly as we could.

The first few drops started to fall when we were about 3/4 mile from the car.

Luckily the intense rain and lightning didn't really hit until we were back at our camping spot.

Coming soon: Wheeler Peak Boys Hike