Happy, Happy, Happy Halloween!

And so it begins. The first of all of the favorite holidays is here. I was lucky and took today off of work. I've been able to do some serious, much-needed cleaning, and to have lunch with Mr. Perfect and his office. I took some homemade chili down, and shared it with all the boys. (The recipe will soon be appearing on the cooking blog.)

Last night, we were able to get the pumpkins carved. It was so much fun cutting up pumpkins I've been watching grow from seeds (literally). Here' are the results:

Game Boy's masterpiece

All lit up

Mr. Perfect's amazing Miss Piggy (look at those eyelashes!)

Keeping with the theme, Most Happy Girl carved out Kermit

Game Boy's cool face

Halloween fun

So, can anyone guess who Mr. Perfect is going as for Halloween?

Wordless Wednesday

(P.S. As a side note, this is my 300th blog post. Wah hoo!)

I have discovered...

I miss traveling. Serious traveling. To far away places with strange sounding names. There are so many places that I've been that I want to see again, especially with Mr. Perfect. There are places he's been that I so want to see with him. And there are places that neither of us have been that I want us to see.

I have big plans for future travel. Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, the South Pacific, Australia. Sigh. I miss traveling.

How awesome is Mr. Perfect?

Last night, I had to go to a four-hour Good Landlord Program training meeting. Yuck. Actually, the instructor made it interesting and fast. There's enough material for eight hours (and some cities require that before you can get the Good Landlord Program discount on your business license), but Salt Lake City only requires four hours. Yes, I know the rental isn't in Salt Lake City, but the city it's in will accept the certificate from this training, even though if you do it for when that city is scheduled, it's eight hours. Confusing enough? For me, too.

Anyway, back to the title at hand... Mr. Perfect texted me at 6:45 and said that he was doing the dishes. He hates doing dishes. But for me, he'll do dishes without even being asked. Isn't that awesome? I know!

How I love this man.

Wordless Wednesday

I have discovered...

I love the Wasatch Front Mountains. I also love the Uintah Mountains, but I don't have any fall pictures of them. Because of all of the late moisture and then sudden extreme heat, we are experiencing an especially colorful fall this year. Can't you smell it in the air? I can. And it makes me happy.

Drama Queen is President!

At the end of the school year last June, Drama Queen was elected as President of the Theatre Society for Cottonwood High School 2011-2012. She was way excited, and so were we.

Here are all the officers for this year.

Percy and Harry make it to Little Lyman Lake

We finally took the boys fishing at our favorite fishing hole. They enjoyed a day out of the house, as they always do. Life on the piano can be extremely boring for them.

But the lake...ah, the lake...we love the lake. And the fish. The best part was grilling fresh fish. No refrigeration. No freezing. The meat just falls off the bones.

Sorry to anyone who doesn't eat meat and thinks this is inhumane, but I love cooking and eating fish. Here are the pretty little fishies all in a row and ready for grilling.

Yummm!!!!

Signs of fall

Everybody sing:

The weather, she's a-changing. She's a-changing today!!!

Okay, that's not really a song. I just made that up. But it's true. The weather has finally turned. After a long, long winter (ski resorts open until July? was that really necessary?), the world's wettest summer, and a hot, hot September, autumn has made it's way to Utah. YAY!

This is my favorite time of year. Between September and the first week of January, I get to experience many of my favorites:

• Favorite weather (I'm done with snow by about January 3)
• Favorite foliage colors
• Favorite foods available (can you say Farmer's Markets with fresh veggies and a whole slue of fruit varieties? and eating stuff that you've grown yourself? what's better than that?)
• Favorite holidays (yes, these include Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran's Day)
• Favorite music (I know I'm weird, but I could listen to most Christmas music all year, not all Christmas music, just most of it)
• Favorite husband's birthday

See what I mean? It's just a good time to be on the earth. I even liked starting school when I was a kid. Yes, yes, I am that weird. I miss college. Some day, I'm going back for my Master's; it will happen. I've seen it.

Mr. Perfect and I are not that much into decorations when it comes to holidays, except Christmas, but a festive wreath on the door is a nice touch.

I know it doesn't show up so well against the color of the door, but you can believe me when I say that it's really nice and fall-ish.

It was well past time to replace the Welcome mat at the front door. (Shopko has them on sale right now for 1/2 off.)

 

And I know that everyone is on pins and needles waiting to hear how the unexpected pumpkin patch turned out.

Wait for it...


Wait for it...

Ta da!

Including two HUGE ones, perfectly shaped.

We leave them in the garage so the neighborhood kids will not be tempted into the sin of smashing them in the street. Can't you just see these all decked out for Halloween? Then the smashing can begin.

Thank you, Heavenly Father! You have given us a beautiful place to live.

I have discovered...

Pie is a great way to teach a Family Home Evening lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It looks cool and tastes great!

(Just in case you are wondering, it's peach pie with a sun, moon, and star on it.)

Wordless Wednesday

I have discovered

I find clouds fascinating. I wish that I could take pictures of them and have them come out the way I see them. Is that me or the camera technology? Maybe I just have a strange skew on things that doesn't translate to film (or digital images).

Oh well. I still love clouds.