Happy Halloween

Our Halloween Festivities started last week at Baker Butler's Trunk or Treat.  We recently watched "The Wizard of OZ" for the first time with Jared and Lydia and since they loved it so much we decided to decorate our trunk with a "Wizard of Oz" theme.  We had never decorated our trunk for a trunk or treat and had a fun time.  We painted our rainbow, made the Emerald City and the yellow brick road for FHE on Monday (and tied in quite a few "gospel themes" from the Wizard of Oz) and then I made a quick stop at the dollar store for a few accessories. We were all pretty happy with how it turned out and would happily decorate our trunk again. We had been hesitant in the past because I often want to leave before the event is over because I want to get kids in bed.  This year it worked out well because Mark needed to be at the church for mutual and my Mom was here to stay with Jared and Lydia while I was at school and Mark was at church.  Next year they will be 9 and 6 3/4 so staying later really won't be a big deal. It would have been fine this year but this worked out really well. I also thought the event went from 6:30 - 8:00 and was pleasantly surprised to learn it ended at 7:30.  We handed out 351 pieces of candy (1 per child)!  It was a really good turnout and lots of fun.  It was pretty chilly but not awful.

  

We had plans to carve our pumpkins Sunday night so Mark could do it with us (this Monday/Tuesday were his first shifts at the airport so he was unavailable those nights) but totally forgot to.  So we did them Monday right after school. In Halloween's past Lydia has been all about cleaning out the pumpkin and Jared has been the hesitant one but this year they switched spots.  Jared was ready to work and Lydia was too grossed out.  This was the first year that Jared did a majority of his, especially the carving part which was awesome.  Lydia helped me clean it out some and helped poke out some of the design.  It was weird to not do it with Mark and I was glad my Mom was here to help out.  We got them done fairly quickly and were happy with how they turned out.  Lydia originally wanted a happy face then a Koala but when she saw this stencil she decided it was the one.  I was quite pleases with her selection.  We got it done really quick. It really was nice that Jared did so much of the work on his.   He did a really great job. 

Since my Mom was still in town we decided to go over to UVA for trick or treating this year.  We did not go last year and Jared and Lydia were happy to go this year.  It really is a fun cool tradition that UVA does. I don't know how popular idea it is for universities to host an event like this but its such a historic place it sort of adds a fun twist to trick or treating. We attended the spooky music organ concert beforehand and then walked over to UVA.  Parking still stresses me out so I decided to call the church where the concert was held and ask for directions to their building and if I could park for the concert and then keep my car there for trick or treating at the Lawn.  They said I could and gave me turn by turn directions, it was so great.  We picked Jared and Lydia up from school, drove to the church, ate a snack of Halloween sugar cookies and changed into costumes.  Easy. The concert was fun and spooky.  It was an easy 7 minute (or less) walk to the Academic Lawn where trick or treating took place.  My Mom Loved it!  I was so glad we took her there.  We got there right as it was starting and were able to miss a lot of the crowds.  I mean it was still super busy and crowded but less so than I remember from previous years.  Jared and Lydia had great manners which is always nice to see.  The weather was perfect.  Lydia didn't even need her sweater she was fine in her leotard which has short sleeves.  It was sunny, no wind and like 63 degrees.  Perfect! We just did one side of the rooms and then headed out. 

Waiting for organ concert. 

Lydia took forever when the students had boxes like this.  This girl was really nice and thought Lydia was super cute which she is. She decided about 10 days before Halloween that she wanted to be a ballerina instead of a koala which surprised me.  It worked out well as we already has the leotard but my lack of bun making skills really stood out.  She also hated having me attempt to do a bun but we powered through it.  She refused to do any turns or dance moves while trick or treating then danced all the way back to the car.  I guess she prefers not having an audience. 

This was so random, but fun.  This group was dressed as snowboarders and had this fun photo booth set up. Jared loved it.  He would have preferred the medal to some candy. 

 We stopped to eat dinner at Costco which was super easy and were home and done with the festivities by 6:15.  Once we got home Jared and Lydia counted and sorted their candy and then read some Halloween books.  It turned out to be a great, fun fairly low key Halloween. We missed having Mark with us. Last year I had to work on Halloween and this year he did.

Jared got 97 pieces of candy 

Lydia got 90 pieces of candy.

Luckily we sorted through it and passed a lot on to my mom and Mark.  Neither Jared or Lydia like Snickers or any candy with nuts really so that always helps.  There were a lot of Snickers tonight.  

This month has been so busy!  I'm happy to see the end of it, even if it is my favorite month of the year.  I just looked at my folder of pictures for October and we have over 350 pictures for the month. Having family visit, a baptism and birthday, plus Fall makes for a lot of picture taking! 

Pictures

A few weeks ago my good friend Julie sent me some pictures she had taken of us all.  She is awesome like that.  They were some fun memories so I thought I would throw them on here real quick.

1st grade Book Character Day.

Tyler as Gerald from Piggie and Elephant and Jared as the Lorax

Floating the Rivanna River at Riverview June 2017

Looking at these pictures makes me happy.  It was so fun. Lydia did the rope swing too but she didn't love it as much as the others. I was proud of both Jared and Lydia for being brave enough to try it. Mark was our guinea pig since he was the tallest. We figured if he didn't hit the bottom the rest of us would be okay.  It was fun but a little scary too.  We plan on going again next year.

UVA Football September 2017

Susanna visits Charlottesville

I don't really ever take selfies (the camera on my phone is just really not good enough for them to not ever be fuzzy) and lost count of how many Susanna and I took while she is here but I love having them and am glad she takes them. 

Besides helping out with Jared's baptism and celebrating Jared's birthday with him I had a fun time showing Susanna around our beloved Charlottesville.  We went running together, toured UVA, explored the Downtown Mall, walked part of the Monticello Trail and enjoyed the view at Carter Mountain.  It was really nice to have her stay with us and have her all to ourselves.  She loved our woods and made some great memories with Jared and Lydia.  I love spending time with Susanna and was so sad that the time went so fast.

UVA
 Parking is something that always stresses me out.  I have been to UVA enough to know where to park now and headed to the garage by the bookstore.  As I pulled in I heard a weird sound that I thought was coming from underneath the car.  I kept driving and soon enough the attendant came out to tell me to stop.  I have forgotten that we had our kayak racks on top of the car still!  I backed up, hitting them again, and then drove around to see if I could find any street parking. I could not so I pulled over on a sort of side street for deliveries and Susanna and I quickly took them off that car.  It was pretty funny and stressful. I knew I could figure it out but was so glad to have Susanna there to help me.  My Mom and Sue were in the car too. It was pretty embarrassing but it all worked out.  After taking them off we drove back over to the parking garage and parked.  We stopped by the Rotunda and Academic Village, the Berlin Wall pieces and the "Harry Potter Library."  It was a good quick visit.

We had plans to meet Mark for lunch near his school (something he and I need to look into doing regularly, day dates sound perfect for our lives right now) and then go explore the downtown mall but right after we finished eating I got a call from Baker Butler saying that Lydia was sick with a 101.4 fever!  I was so surprised.  She had ZERO symptoms that morning and none the day before.  We decided I would skip the downtown mall, take Mark back to school and then take his car to get Lydia and the others would head downtown. They enjoyed being downtown and I tired to figure out what was up with Lydia.  She had no other symptoms.  She was at lunch and had laid her head down on the table so the lunch people sent her to the nurse and she had a high fever.  Her teacher told me later the she didn't act any differently in class all morning.  It was so bizarre, really just the fever.  Her fever didn't really break until mid day the next day. She stayed home from school the very next day (missing her class field trip to the pumpkin patch) went the day after and then just seemed tired the day after that so she stayed home. I think that last day she just wanted to be with both her grandmas which was fine but she could have gone to school.  Anyway.  Once her fever broke she was good, it was a strange one for sure.

Carter Mountain/Monticello Trail

I love taking people to both these places.  They are so important to me so much a part of things I love about Charlottesville. We stopped by the Monticello Trail first.  Susanna and I did a quick walk to the first set of boardwalks and then turned around to go find the Mom's.  They were really good sports.  The trail was beautiful.  I hadn't been in a very long time * and wish we could have walked more of it together.  After the trail we went up to Carter Mountain and it was beautiful but so windy.  I am really glad we went up there though.  We had hot apple cider and donuts and tried to enjoy the view in the wind.

Quintessential Fall right here.

Jared and Lydia loved Aunt Susanna.  She explored the woods with them, had light saber duels with Jared and did fancy braids in Lydia's hair and taught her some ballet moves.  I am so glad they could make such fun memories with her.  We don't see each other often at all so it was really special.  Since we will be in Utah for Christmas I am hoping we can meet up sometime.  Twin Falls is just 3 or so hours away and we would love to see Lisa and Lyra too.

Lunch at Baker Butler.
I respect and love these ladies so much.

*Tara and I used to walk the Monticello Trail together each Monday and the idea of going without her just makes me sad which seems lame to me.  Like it was a bad breakup so then I don't want to go places we did together.  It's really the only place that gets me in town, it was just a really great thing we did together. Which is a bummer because I love going there.  Now that she has been gone a year (!!) and I've done it I am going to go back more.  Its a great spot.

Day in DC

My sister Susanna had never been to Washington DC before so we planned a day trip up there with my Mom.  When I asked her what she wanted to see her list was not what I expected at all.  She wanted to attend a high tea, eat at a french cafe, see the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and check out Meridian Park which seems to be DC's very small version of Central Park. Once she got here we started talking about sights and she revised her list.  We ended up going to Ford's Theatre, Georgetown for the French Cafe, the Lincoln Memorial/Washington Monument and the Native American Museum.  It was a long fun day.

The drive into the city went really well. I have only driven there once before but felt pretty confident. We dropped my Mom off at the theatre and then found our parking garage. Susanna and I quickly walked to meet her and lined up for the tour.  I had never been to the theatre and enjoyed the visit and  talk given by the park ranger.  Susanna wondered if the park ranger wanted this type of an assignment or if when they went into the field they hoped to be in the forest.  I would prefer a historic spot like this tour but she would for sure want the forest.  Anyway.  I learned more about the events surrounding the assassination and how premeditated it was.  It was really interesting.

This exhibit was across the street and was awesome.  It is made of over 15,000 books.  The idea was to show that among modern Americans, no one has had more books devoted to them than Lincoln.  

After the theatre we hopped on the DC Circulator for the drive over to Georgetown.  The bus lines worked great.  The stops were easy to find and we didn't have to wait long for each stop.  Susanna found a French Cafe she wanted to try so we stopped there first.  The food was good and I was glad she could cross that off the list.  She also found an alley called Blues Alley where one of her favorite performers put on their last show so she was excited to stop there.  Our last stop in Georgetown was the "Old Stone House."  This house happens to be the only pre-Revolutionary war house left in in DC  and it was cool to stop in.

Pauls Cafe 

After Georgetown we rode the bus over to the Lincoln Memorial.  Susanna loved it.  It was a beautiful Fall day and really pleasant to walk around the memorial.  We had a little time left after the Memorial and decided to stop by the Native American Museum another place I had never been to. I knew it would be a sad place to visit as Native American's have never been treated well in the history of this country.  It was more political than I thought it would be but it makes sense that it would be that way. I really loved the beadwork on display.

The Native American Museum has really cool architecture. 

It was a great day in the city and I am so glad we made the trip up.  It was fun to show Susanna around the city especially since she had never been there.  On the drive home we stopped at Moo Thru, a great way to end the day.