HALLOWEEN '09 and The Shining...um er, SHINER!

Ok, let's just get one thing straight...I do not, nor never have I liked Halloween. I think it is a really dumb "holiday" and I find the whole idea of dressing up, ummm, not fun. Now, I will admit, little kids in costume are REALLY cute, and candy is delicious, but still, overall, NOT my favorite holiday. Now Jere on the other hand LOVES Halloween. Then again, he loves ALL holidays (as he is eternally 10). So, I oblige once in awhile, like 2 years ago when I actually dressed up, as a giant dog, and SWEATED like a whore in church. But, I DO have children now, and as mentioned above, kids + costumes = ADORABLE. So, we had costumes, we did our thing, and truth be told, our Halloween turned out just delightful. But I'm gonna tell you WHY it turned out so well. Two words: Cheesecake Factory. It went a little something like this....
Brenda our neighbor and I were chatting on the corner yesterday afternoon, talking about our lack of desire to do anything for Halloween, etc. She mentioned she had giftcards to "the factory" and we should all just go to dinner. Well peeps, do NOT mention Cheesecake and expect me to just forget it. So of course I just couldn't let the thought go. As I was now sitting in her living room and Jere showed up, I said again..."umm, we really should follow through on your suggestion." So, long story short, Brenda, three of her kids, Jere, me and the kids loaded up and headed out to dinner at 4:30ish. We got there and of course it was a walk right in and sit down. We proceeded to have a DELICIOUS Halloween dinner.


Me and Brenda in all our hotness! Speaking of, she's totally hot and needs to find herself a man. Anyone know of someone to hook her up with? Hahahahaha, she's gonna KILL me!

Jer and Brendas kids. That big guy is Chris, fresh off a mish. He needs a cute girl to date, I'm just sayin. So anyway, dinner was great and we headed for home just after six. Of course we were s'posed to swing by the ol' Alma 4th carnival, but honestly, at this point, I didn't even feel like putting the kids in their costumes at all. I thought, ok, we are full and happy, the kids won't know the difference AND they did already dress up once for the ward party on Wednesday. But alas, my conscience won out, AND Gramma Peg was there waiting to see the cuteness. AND, I needed pics to blog with, HELLO! So, we rushed in and I mean, literally THREW them in their costumes, fixed Maggies hair, put on a little make up for her princess look (HER FAVORITE PART). And we were ready.

My pretty, PRETTY Princess Cinderella. She was soo pleased with her makeup. She is seriously obsessed with lippy and well, all makeup actually. She watches me put it on everyday and basically does a play by play for anyone listening. Sometimes Auntie Julie obliges her and puts on a little eyeshadow and lippy while she's doing her own makeup. I fear we're creating a monster.

Seriously, what is NOT to love about this little cowboy? I especially love that the pants were TOTAL highwaters. He refused to ever keep the cowboy hat on, but I promise it was realllllly cute. Also, please note, for histories sake that he is sporting SIZE SIX shoes. SIX people, maggie wears sevens and only went to them mid-summer. I am in SO much trouble here!

The two cutie patooties together, just before we headed out for the trick or treat. I also enjoy the smiling daddy in the background.

Why is this picture so much larger you may be asking yourself. Well, i'm a total moron and forgot to put this picture in until the end. And since I had to move it, and you couldn't click and see it bigger, I just put it in bigger to start. Anywho, this is a little out of order, BUT....on Wednesday night was our ward trunk or treat. The first two trunks FREAKED maggie out, since people were totally cool and decorated them all up and had fog and stuff. She didn't appreciate their efforts. So, she ended up just sitting in Kathleens car with Cody (a totally adorable husband prospect if you askme) and they handed out the candy. She had a GRAND time doing that. And really, how cute are they?

Here they are in their grand carriage, which I'm not gonna lie; it made trick or treating so delightful.

Auntie Julie and Maggie enjoying some lovely outdoor time. That is Gramma Peg in the background. Hope she doesn't hate me for posting this pic. By the way, Gramma brought the most delicious cupcakes over, sinful really. THANKS. AND a belated birthday shout out to her (on the 30th). We are sure grateful for her and all she does for us.

So, in our trick or treating, we had two objectives...visit Gramma Jane and visit Gramma Dar. We may or may not have hit a few more houses, but really, they were our main goals. I love this picture of Gramma Dra. I think she's been dressing like this and sitting on her porch for Halloween for many years. Maggie was in a particularly friendly and happy mood so she chatted it up with EVERYONE and gladly said "trick or treat" or hello or whatever. It was sooo nice! In fact, later that night, while sitting on Julies lap in front of the fire pit, listening to "Thriller" she just kept saying over and over again, "I'm soo happy." "I'm sooo happy Auntie Julie." It was darling.

This is our friend Annie, and we ran into her on the street trick or treating. She was another beautiful Cinderella, one that actually FIT her dress. I had to take a pic of them together. Too bad Maggie decided that a lollipop suck was more important than a beauty shot. Clearly she hasn't mastered the fine art of the paparazzi yet.

Here's a little shot of our set up. Jere, his Mom and Julie (with Chris occassionaly) sat out front and handed out candy. At one point, with Thriller blasting, Jere required people to dance for their candy. It was HILARIOUS. Oh, and in our neighborhood, a couple of the guys from our ward ride their horses through the streets dressed as headless horsemen. It's REALLY cool and adds a little "flare" to the evening.

And FINALLY, I leave you with this shot.

Whilst I was TRYING to actually relax and take a bath, I left Jere in charge of the kids. THIS is what happens (just giving you a hard time Jer, don't get your panties in a twist). I guess Max was trying to walk between one table to another and lost his balance. He came down HARD on the sharp edge of the table and got this delicious little shiner. How appropriate for the day, and I mean, afterall, he WAS a cowboy....that means he's TOUGH! Luckily he's ok, he's pretty tough, thank goodness!

So, in conclusion...Halloween was fun, the kids had a good time, their candy buckets are full, my butt is at least a few lbs. fatter from all the sugar and my neighborhood rocks. The end.

Sugar and shiners,

Allyson