October Overview

October is always a busy month, with back to school, Halloween and other fall-ish fun!  I LOVE fall in Utah.  It's crisp and cool, and the sun is always so brilliant.

Women's Conference was wonderful, and we were able to attend it with Grandma, which was so special!  I never would have dreamed we would ever be so close to be able to attend this meeting together, let alone with Boo! What a blessing!

We enjoyed some strolls in the crunchy leaves with Maggie, who is still the star of the show in this family!  We had gone up to campus to meet up Josh one afternoon.  

I got my annual hair cut and color from Mom.  It's such a treat to get my hair done.  It's so expensive, I only really do it twice a year!  

Logan has a really fun Pumpkin Walk, where community groups, families and individuals make creative scenes using pumpkins and gourds.  They choose their own theme, and design a sort of set with materials, using the pumpkins as the characters.  It's always fun to see what creative people come up with!  I think the kids thought it was a little childish, but Diddles sure enjoyed hopping the fence to get RIGHT next to these chickens - her favorite!  

Angry Gourds

March of the Pumpkins

Obligatory Group Photo!

Diddles' front tooth had been hanging on by a wiggly thread for weeks, but she refused to let any of us pull it out.  This afternoon we were at Grandma's, enjoying apples from their tree, and one big bite did the trick!  Her shocked/surprised face was priceless.  "Mom, you will be SO beprized!  My tooth came out!"  

Halloween has always been our time to get creative and do some special things.  We grew our own pumpkins in our garden this year, and the "ORGANIC" scarring on the surface made for some cool pumpkin carvings!  I wanted the kids to pick ANYTHING they wanted to be for Halloween this year.  It has been a challenge adjusting to a new school and friends, so wanted them to be able to have a costume they were excited about. Boo picked Hermione again, Monkey picked a Genie, and Diddles chose a "Myoonicorn" (Unicorn).

Boo threw together this costume from the costume box for our Primary Halloween Party, but she wasn't thrilled about it, and the night before the school Halloween party, she had a costume crisis!  I threw those last-minute things on my mom all the time growing up, and she was always so patient and calm in trying to understand and see the vision of what I had in mind.  She often stayed up late sewing something or making the perfect accessory.  I thought of her the whole time as I prayed a mother prayer that we could find what we were looking for at D.I.  Gratefully, we found a grey cardigan, a black pencil skirt, and a short-sleeved t-shirt with "pretty close" colors to Gryffindor's to make a tie!

I'm so pleased with how it turned out, and I think she was, too.  A stuffed cat, a wand, and some recovered books perfected the look!

Monkey wanted to use the vest I made for the Nativity Wise Man as his tunic, so we really only had to create some accessories for this costume.  I am so glad and amazed they have GOLD Duck Tape!  I used the entire roll, but was able to create cuffs, shoes, and a magic lamp using it.

Just twisted some newspaper to make the pointed toe, then covered the whole shoe in duck tape!  

Sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt underneath

We even covered a knit hat with duck tape to make the turban!
The gold sash, belt and earring were in the costume box.  

As you wish.

Diddles wanted to be a unicorn.  We easily found a white sweatshirt and some pink faux fur, but I struggled to figure out how in the world to make a unicorn horn.

My friend Lindsey to the rescue.  She is a crochet-genius, and graciously volunteered to make a unicorn hat for Diddles.  I can't believe how cute it was!  We swapped out the purple yarn for pink, added a feather boa tail, and some fairy wings we found at DI (because, why not?), and topped it off with some sparkly face paint to complete the look.

Halloween is Magical.