Costumes

We all dressed up for our ward's trunk or treat. We had a bee, a beekeeper, a bike rider, a Roman princess and Spiderman.. Rusty's costume was a backwards t-shirt and a laundry hamper bag (that I so very kindly washed before we put it over his head.) My costume was electrical tape over a black shirt, 2 yards of puffy fabric tied to a piece of elastic that was safety pinned around my waste, more electric tape over a headband with some pipe cleaners and a borrowed pair of black tights. Kyleigh's costume was built around a silver leaf looking headband we found at Claire's on clearance. She wore a white slip that is in their dress up bin with our popcorn sheet draped around her and safety pinned. It looked really fancy draped behind her, especially for a sheet. We did two headband braids going opposite ways with the actual headband in the middle. She also got to wear makeup, which she was pretty excited about. Katelyn wanted to be a bikerider, so we put her gear on and away she went. We brought her bike to the church for the costume parade and she marched around the gym with her bike at her side. Ridge was easy enough. We just grabbed a costume from the dress up bin and he was as happy as a clam. I love the picture of him below. It looks like he is running so fast his arms are blurred. Hats off to trunk or treat. It's like a warm-up sugar high that increases everyone's sugar tolerance for the big show.

Carving Pumpkins

It's not Halloween if you don't carve pumpkins. Here's how our pumpkin carving went...

Katelyn wanted to know how big her head was compared to the pumpkin.
Kyleigh wanted to play with the pumpkin guts (she has always loved that).
Ridge wanted to eat candy. Then more candy, then more candy...

The girls each got to chose a pattern and Daddy cut them out of the pumpkin, with some help before interest waned. Katelyn chose a witch riding her broom and Kyleigh chose a cat. The cat didn't get finished until the next day.

I was so excited to make pumpkin pie milkshakes. I have been craving them for a year now. This year I decided to try the frozen yogurt variety. I bought the yogurt and put it in my handy dandy iceless ice cream maker. It thickened into frozen yogurt and I added the spices and pumpkin. I think I got a little carried away with the spices. The cups sure looked pretty, but the result was extremely gross. We ended throwing 90% of it away.

The pumpkins looked really cute on the porch for about 3 days. Then black mold started growing all inside the pumpkin and spilling out the cuts. Within 5 days they collapsed and Rusty had to scrape them off the deck.

Fun while it lasted.

Gecko Clothes

The girls were bored one afternoon when they found a gecko. Kyleigh decided to sew clothes for her new pet. She sat on the lawn for quite awhile with her sewing kit at her side stitching away. This has to be the first gecko to have clothes.

Candy Corn Cookies

Me and the kids made candy corn cookies. We made one batch of sugar cookies and split it into thirds. One was left alone, one was dyed orange and the other yellow. We layered it in a lined bread pan and refridgerated for a few hours. Then we cut the loaf of dough in slices and cut each slice into triangles. Waa laa, candy corn cookies. We took them to several potlucks, to a family for dinner, and had some ourselves. They looked really cute when we dipped the white end in white frosting and put sprinkles on them.

Soccer 2011

We spent alot of time this fall playing soccer. Kyleigh played U8 again and Katelyn played for the first time in U5. Rusty coached Kyleigh's team and Ridge and I were #1 fans/drivers/uniform preparers/shoe finders, etc.

Katelyn's team was a group of 12 kids. Two friends of ours were the coaches so all of her friends were on the same team. Their age group only played for an hour a week. They practiced for 1/2 an hour, scrimmaged each other for 1/2 an hour, then had a snack. Katelyn made two goals in her first season. The first one was when Mom and Dad were here. Rusty was across the field coaching Kyleigh and I had left to set up pack meeting. We were told that she got the ball and stayed in front of the pack all the way from one side of the field to the other and kicked a sweet goal. I guess everyone was yelling for her and she was so proud of herself. Mom and Dad were so excited that they got to see her first goal, and me and Russ were so sad we missed it. She told us later she had figured soccer all out. She said, "you just get the ball and stay in front where noone can catch you, then kick it in the goal." Sounded like a good plan to us. She had so much fun playing soccer that I think we've convinced her it's O.K. to try new things, even if it seems scary. She agreed to try ballet in January.

Kyleigh and Rusty's team was a really great group of girls and parents. One Dad immediately offered to help coach and by the end of the season they had 5 dads out on the field helping coach at every practice. The win-loss record wasn't very impressive, but the amazing level of improvement made up for it. Kyleigh was the oldest player this year and was a team leader. She proved herself to be really great at playing center and back. Last year she was a bit distracted, often visiting with friends while the ball rolled past her. This year she was a crazy kicking machine. She let everyone know she wasn't planning on backing down and showed her aggressive playing side repeatedly. One violent little soccer player announced on the field that noone could kick past her. Kyleigh told her, "we'll see about that," and proceeded to fly past her over and over. It was fun to watch and she is already asking about next year.

31

My birthday has come and gone. Rusty worked so hard to make it a special birthday. We had french toast with lillikoi syrup for breakfast. For dinner we went to Polihale and had a bbq. Really I can't think of a better place to spend a birthday. Not only the place, but the company. My Mom and Dad AND Merrill and Nancy were here. That was a first and I'm not sure it will ever happen again. It was great. Rusty fretted and stewed over my birthday present for months. He always asks me what I want. I always think of things and mention them in passing, but when it comes right down to a reason for a gift I forget all of those things and can't think of what to tell him. He wanted to buy me a new kitchen-aid. Mine was turning on at medium power so every time you used it flour and everything else was flying all over the kitchen. I tried out Heidi's bosch and Shaun's new model of kitchen-aid. I really just wanted mine to work again. I feel like it is an old friend and I would be untrue to our friendship if I just sold it away. Like it hasn't been working hard for me for ten years. So after I tried out new mixers and Rusty did tons of research and was ready to order my new kitchen-aid birthday present, I asked him to try and fix mine one more time. He fixed it, and I was so happy. He was so upset that he didn't have a birthday present to get. We did some more research. This time on food processors. We settled on one and they even had it on island. I wasn't sure if I would love having one, but it is my new best friend (not over my old best friend, the kitchen-aid). He also took the girls to Kmart and they picked out some things for me. They are observant little things. Kyleigh chose a new watch that I love and wear every day. Katelyn chose an insulated water bottle. Also something I love and use every day. I got so many other nice things. Really, I am so spoiled. Thanks everyone! To top off all the amazingness my Mom made me a birthday cake. My Mom's birthday cake is the best and only birthday cake that should be made on planet earth. It is a made from scratch white cake with green seven minute frosting and coconut sprinkled on top. I had to share it with everyone and I was very sad about that. So she made me another one. I gained an undisclosable number of pounds when she was here. Who cares, you just can't beat a mom. Happy Birthday to me.

Halloween Treats

We got a package from the grandparents for Halloween. GG and Gpa sent a kit to make rice krispy treat pumpkins and bats. We got it just in time for Family Home Evening. Nama and Papa sent a box full of goodies. The kids were on the edge of their seats waiting to open the packages. We are thankful for AMAZING grandparents!