Our family

Our family

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Scallywag Soiree!

Halloween is so much fun!  Especially with Christopher's boss.  Ken has put together some amazing things in his yard for Halloween each year, and this year was no exception.  There was this sunken ship, animatronics that spoke to you, skeletons in cages, and the list goes on and on!  This is the second year he has hosted a pirate themed party for all of his friends.


He even let Christopher borrow this costume!  It was a few sizes too big, but it was amazingly intricate. 


Ken is the one second from the left.  I don't know how there were any pirate costumes left in the county, because there were probably 300 people there and most of them were in amazing pirate gear.


I love that shot. (Pun intended!)


And we love hanging out with our friends from DigiCert!



As soon as we saw a friend dressed as Smee, we realized that Christopher's costume was a dead ringer for Captain Hook!


Meanwhile, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the details of the party.  This skeleton was playing the piano and singing in the front foyer.


Every table had "jewels" spilling out of treasure chests.



And this witch was casting her spell, while the glowing head in the ball told an eerie tale.



We had such a blast!


At the end, one of Christopher's co-workers asked if I could take some pictures of her daughter for her.  It was my first time attempting anything that resembled a portrait shoot.  I'm not good at that sort of thing, generally, but I loved the shots we got!  I had fun editing them to be dark and eerie.  And her airbrushed makeup was amazing! 





Odds and Ends

Well, there are a few things that won't fit under other categories, so . . . here you go.

We had a great week visiting with Grandma.  We went to our favorite restaurants, had some fun shopping time, and my kids loved the presents she brought them.  But mostly, they just loved having her to play with and read books with.


Tyler didn't have school the last two days of this week, so we went to the cabin.  The snow was trying to melt outside, so it was rather muddy, but the kids wanted to go out anyway.  Kaitlyn kept telling us she wanted to make a snowman.  Little did we know she planned to make it herself!  She loved showing it off, even if it kept falling over.




And this was my big project the week before.  It was my present to my Grandfather- which, of course, I forgot at home and didn't get to give to him.  I saw the idea online, and it was a rather easy task!  Minus, of course, getting the accurate spelling of everyone's full name, which is a lot trickier than it should be.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

This post is a bit late - but this week has been busy!  Last Sunday we had a surprise birthday party for my Grandfather.  He turned 97 on Monday!  All of the family in the area came to celebrate - and my mom flew in from Ohio to surprise him as well.


He was certainly surprised!


My kids were very happy to see Grandma as well.


What a great guy.  I have loved getting to know my Grandfather a lot better ever since I moved to Utah.


Tyler had his own method for eating the cake.  Notice the fork sitting on the table - which is apparently unnessesary.



My mom got some balloons and little weights as part of the decorations, and that was the hit of the night.  The toddlers went crazy, running in circles and tossing the balloons around.






While the adults simply ate and talked.


What a great evening!



Friday, October 22, 2010

Check, check, DONE!

On to making a Woody.


So, I had cowboy boots and a hat.  Next, he needed a holster -
(Woody wasn't actually carrying anything in it, but . . . it was there just in case.) 
 

Check.
Cow print vest -
(once I broke down an looked up instructions on how to make it)



Check.
Sheriff's badge -


Check.
Bandana -



Check.
One happy cowboy -



Check!

DONE!
I ended up just dying the shirt yellow and calling it good.  I could draw red stripes on there, but the marker was going to bleed, I can't sew in sleeves that are finished and . . . it's fine this way.  I might spray paint his hat brown sometime though.




 Hooray!  The only funny part is that Tyler seems to think he is pretending to be a cow.  Whenever he puts it on, he says "MOO!" and laughs.  I taught him to say "there's a snake in my boot!", but I guess that isn't as fun.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Check, check, check

Steps to make a "Jesse, the yodeling cowgirl" from Toy Story:


Cowboy boots, one pair for each kid -


Check. 
Red cowgirl hat -


Check.
Red yarn braid with yellow bow attached to hat -


Check.
Cow print "chaps" with fringe on jeans -


Check.
Yellow yoke on a white shirt, with red design on top and cuffs -


Check.
One happy little cowgirl -


Check!
She LOVES "tending Jesse".  Which makes it all worth it. 



So fun!  Too bad she can't yodel.