i halloween so hard

i survived october and so can you! such a glorious month of festivites and spookiness! 

here's my dining room tablescape:

i think even if you are hesitant about thrifting and don't feel confident in tablescapes, a something i would suggest is to find some old brass candlesticks of various sizes and shapes at goodwill. if you go even just a few times, chances are you will find some. they don't have to match, they just have to be a similar tone of brass. stack them on various heights of interesting looking books and you have a great foundation for a simple or elaborate tablescape. i also like to have multiples of things when i decorate so various pumpkins from hobby lobby or the dollar spot at target really fits the bill. a really great place for unusual decor gems is dollar tree. they had these spider web table cloths. i wish i had snagged several more for some spooky window draping. i do love my tablescape result. a imperfect yet artful disarray display seems about right for halloween.

using the same goodwill brass candlestick set that i got for a few bucks and a nativity on a simple tray really makes and great impact for a christmas vignette. our Savior's glorious birth is the focal point.

i'm clearly not a professional or even a semi-pro youtube "star" but decorating is actually a soothing thoughtful process for me. ashamedly, i didn't get a picture of my thanksgiving tablescape which used many of the same elements as halloween but i replaced the books stacks with green glass vases and pillar candles and a cornucopia. 

athena blythe had a special non-halloween but using all halloween elements school project. she had to create a craft pumpkin book character. she had a lot of ideas and i told her she had to do rotten ralph because it looked easiest. we had never read rotten ralph, but at my sister's suggestion we read a few a got started. EASY. 

my mom came and visited for halloween. it was a delight. she took these pre-church pictures. i look fantastic, thank you very much!

let's all be like grandma sandy. kind and loving. 

herschel had his preschool "book character" parade. it's actually a halloween parade! surprise! you can call it "book character" all you want but i know what it realllllly is. especially since we had orange and purple "book character" cupcakes and "book character" candies. "book character" pumpkin shaped reese's cups are the best. i just want to read and read and read.

scarlett is on board with going all out for halloween too so we dyed her hair! it's short term wash out color but we are definitely doing it again!!! we may do all the colors.

i'll wear plastic gloves next time too. planning for every eventuality is still on my short this of skills to improve upon.

scarlett, that homely troll, got her first round of braces off. 

we had our ward's "fall festival". it's similar to "book character" day. reallllly a halloween festival. we were the ONLY family to dress up. so we won all of the costume awards. 

i did another phenomenal job speed carving the pumpkins again on halloween afternoon. i got them all done and cleaned up in less than an hour. 

a monster truck, a cat, something scary, frankenstein and the bride of frankenstein and a vampire. all by request.

i really loved this one and i will probably duplicate it for the rest of my halloweeny years. 

my very simple halloween dinner snack. i didn't do my whole halloween meal, but this was super fun. i can't even remember what we ate that night besides this and handfuls of teeth-rotting high fructose corn sugar products. the best!

another one of my unfortunate looking kids:

i used sparkly green loose eye shadow and a giant round makeup brush to cover her face and neck in a layer of green. it was a lot of effort but she looked better than the real deal. it was so fun to brainstorm and put this together. 

better yet for scarlett, she went trick or treating BY HERSELF with a friend. she was so excited to not be trick or treating with these slowpokes. they covered miles and miles of neighborhood and got enough candy to see us through till christmas. who am i kidding? the good stuff last a couple of days and after a week i threw away the garbage candy no one likes.  

the crew sans scarlett did the same few streets we did last year and took our sweet and safe time, looking out for vicious, darth vader murdering dogs. luckily, darth vader(reagan) was spared. they all decided at the same time they were done and we went home after a pit stop at the neighbors to use the bathroom. we were so close yet so far from home. trick or treat and a potty, i always say. 

a firefighter, darth vader, gamora from guardians of the galaxy and fancy nancy(ooh la la!)

blinded by the light

i gave up running for the last year. it has always been my most favorite form of exercise, but i was feeling burned out and unmotivated so i put running on a shelf for a while and experimented with other types of exercise as my main form of fitness. just in the past few weeks, i've started lacing up the ol' sneaks again and hitting the treadmill. it's not ideal, but most mornings are already in the low 30s and i just don't have the mental fortitude built up yet to deal with that kind of cold while running. not running meant i was missing a great time that i was able to ponder things. it is one of the most spiritual times for me because and i truly alone and that doesn't happen often. since i've started running again, i realized that i never recorded some of my most meaningful running spiritual inspirations.

1. On a saturday morning a couple of years ago, i happened upon an unusual sight. several gigantic birds of prey were devouring a dead deer. whenever i go running, the kids always ask if i saw any wild animals so i knew this sort of national geographic moment would thrill the kids. i was across the street from the breakfast feast when i slowed to a walk and i quickly pulled out my phone from my running belt. one of the large birds eyed me as i made this movement. as soon as i lifted my phone up to record, all the birds turned their heads and took note of me. after a beat, they all abandoned their meal and in a thunder of wings, flew quickly away. i was disappointed, because i knew i wasn't a threat, but those birds knew to not take a risk and they followed their self-preservation instincts. they knew enough to know that i could easily be a threat to them and to abandon ship. i recall a long time ago hearing a quote along the lines of "humans are the only members of the animal kingdom who sense danger and push forward anyway." i'm not sure how accurate that quote is, but i think it's a interesting sentiment. do we have the humility to get away from a threat, or do we try and rationalize a threat away because it is inconvenient or we don't want to make the effort or because everyone else is doing it? i've ruminated on this many times during subsequent runs. how do i fail to yield to danger signs? last year we had some bear sightings in our neighborhood and i took a couple weeks off from running in the dark so that i wouldn't be eaten by a bear. a major threat was avoided, even if it sounds silly or unbelievable. on a spiritual vein, what are threats that the prophet has warned us about that i'm certainly not skeptical of, but i'm not doing earnest and whole-hearted job of heeding? do i flee early enough when i sense a warning or do i stick around to see how things unfold anyway?

2. when i run on a weekday morning, i have to get up even earlier than i do on a saturday morning to be able to fit in all the miles i need to complete for that day. i do my best to pick running routes that are familiar and safe. i never run in an unfamiliar place in the dark. it's incredibly dark at 5 am, so i am well equipped with a headlamp and lights on my running belt and mace in my hand. that way i can see the ground in front of me and cars can see me. even with all my safety precautions, there is a certain stretch of road that has a distinct absence of light. there are no street lamps for a about a half mile. since i've run that route a million times in the light, i know it well and i know it is safe and i know it's the path that leads home. i've studied it out and i've practiced it. however, every time i am on that dark and lonely stretch, i start to question my steps. i slow down my pace considerably and when an unexpected car starts heading my way i will convince myself to stop completely because of uncertainty and fear. the headlights will come towards me and illuminate everything around me to the point of blindness. it makes no sense. i know i am safe and on the right path but the circumstances shake my faith in myself and what i know. the light should help me, but it's not a consistent light. it wavers. it mimics the sun but it's erratic. it grows and wanes and isn't constant. it blinds me with its lies. once i make it through the dark stretch of road i am fine. i'm running at my regular pace and i'm so much closer to home. the trial is over.

i've pondered this running phenomenon many times and this is the conclusion i've come to: i've done the work. i've studied the map and it's the gospel. i know the map. i know that it works and that it will lead me home. it's the straight and narrow and familiar path. but i also know that there will be many times that the adversary will try and blind me on things i already have a testimony of. Satan is the great deceiver and he will try and use forms of light to mimic the true light. he likes to use a portion of truth to make his deception palatable and to make us question our beliefs, enough to slow us down or even stop us on our path to our true home. he blinds us with his lies. i need to consider this lesson every day. what things in my life am i accepting as true light, when it is merely a bright, short lived headlight meant to pass me by? how is my discernment on these things involving politics or religious culture or the latest popular belief du jour? it's a daily quest. i hope that as run more, i will make that time a time for personal pondering so that thoughts that escape me during the chaos of my day will inspire me during my times alone. 

just for the helen of it

fall break was weeks ago, sandwiched between scarlett's bronchitis and reagan's pneumonia! i'm a believer in DOING even if it's exhausting rather than not doing and being bored so we went and did! on the first day of fall break, thursday, we headed up to helen, georgia, also known as alpine helen. 

first i took everyone to aldi and let them pick out their own candy. my kids all saw the loophole in my wording and the fact that aldi normally doesn't sell single serving bags of candy and they each picked a bag of fun size candies, rather than a single bag of candy. so, we were starting out on the right foot for sure. 

it only took us a bit over an hour to get to helen. i wrote down three activities to accomplish while in helen, 

hike anna ruby falls

go to the toy train museum

go to a chocolate factory

once those activities were completed, we could leave. this was to the chagrin of scarlett and hersch and the delight of reagan and athena blythe. scarlett and hersch are always up for more and reagan and athena blythe have a definitive limit after which is met, they are no longer fun or reasonable. like me after 2pm on fast sunday.

activity number 1: anna ruby falls is not a long hike by any stretch(pun!) but it does ascend rather quickly and there is not much of a railing to keep small children from plunging down into the stream flowing below. couple that with dogs all up and down the trail and reagan's incredible fear of dogs, i was laid back and cool the whole time, just like i always am.

our in-house naturalist enjoyed identifying many animal habitats.

before the hike i was giving the kids a pep talk about safety and how important it is to go to the bathroom before we leave otherwise hearing the sound of the rushing water may make us have to go to the bathroom.  reagan, ever thinking literally, asked me, "if the sound of running water will make us have to pee, what sound in nature will make us have to go poop?" 

i don't know reagan, but let me know when you hear something that does. 

rare double waterfalls:

being my own instagram husband:

this was almost as exciting as finally finding a heidi nameplate necklace at a souvenir store. 

activity number 2:

charlemagne's kingdom is an alpine model railroad. i wasn't sure what to expect but it was rather fascinating. they have a scavenger hunt list and we found everything but one item and when i asked about it the lady at the front desk didn't know where it was either so i still think we won. and the prize was feeling superior!

outside of charlemagne's kingdom

3rd activity:

hansel and gretel chocolate factory. athena blythe got it in her head that we needed to find a chocolate factory based some book she recently read. i'm not sure what what she was expecting but i think this place fit the bill. 

like any outing, we like to pick something random and trivial to fight over and that day, the map of the city became the item of the day to fight over. 

our day in helen was lovely. perfect weather, great activities and we are all excited to go again in the summer and partake of the rafting and tubing and zip lining. maybe i'll just go by myself. 

this is my favorite picture from the day, just letting it all hang out. 

on the way home we ate chik fil a and i made everyone listen to talk radio.