Halloween

Another year has gone by but I still can't get into the Halloween experience. I made an attempt, I bought myself a costume and went to trunk or treat. The only thing I like about Halloween is eating the kids chocolate bars...and they really didn't get very much this year, I guess they are out growing the act of begging for candy. I was really impressed because Aaron wanted to make his costume this year. We went to the Halloween store and he bought a plain white mask and turned it into a creepy bank robbers mask. Megan was Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. She was very cute. We were lucky to have Ariel home for the weekend and she was a pirate. (We like pirates.) Aaron brought his friend, Dustin, with us to trunk or treat...he was the werewolf. Todd didn't dress up but was very nice to come along with me to trunk or treat so I didn't have to pass out candy alone. We didn't park our car in the sea of cars, because he was going to leave early. So we set up two camp chairs in a parking stall between the cars. No surprises, we didn't end up winning any awards for the best decorated trunk.

Disneyland October 2010

We spent Monday and Tuesday at Disneyland. I thought I was being sneaky by taking the kids to Disneyland while school was in session. I guess my expectations of finding it a ghost town were a little foolish. Monday was too crowded for my taste...I couldn't figure out what all those people were doing there on a school day? If I have to wait in line more than about 15 minutes, I get pretty annoyed. I guess a lot of folks visiting last week decided to stay one more day.

At the last minute, my sister, Jennifer, decided to join us and we were so excited to have her come to Disneyland. She flew in on Monday morning and found us just before noon. At the end of the first day, we were so exhausted. When I got back to the hotel, my feet hurt so bad, I didn't know how I would walk around the next day.

Tuesday was a very wet day. It really never stopped raining. We had to wear our ponchos the whole day. Newsflash: brightly colored plastic ponchos are not flattering, period. We didn't care, we still had fun even though our hair was wet and frizzy and the rest of us slightly soggy. The rain did help in keeping the lines a little shorter. We got to ride a lot more rides on Tuesday. By late afternoon, we were pretty tired, cold and hungry. We had one of the best meals I have ever eaten at the happiest place on earth, soup and salad in sourdough bread bowls. It was delicious, and it wasn't just because it was the only meal I ate that day.

One of my favorite moments was taking my mom on the "Tower of Terror" ride, it is a little bit on the scary side. It's great, an elevator free falls out of control for several floors. As we got towards the front of the line, she started getting very anxious. She said she didn't think going on the ride was a very good idea. I tried to prepare her the best I could, telling her when we were going to drop etc. I always laugh so hard on that ride. I love it. My mom wasn't sure how she felt about the ride when it was over, so it was so cute Tuesday afternoon when she said, "We need to go on that elevator ride one more time."

Unfortunately, after a full day of Disneyland bliss, we still had the drive back to Vegas. I don't know what I was thinking but driving all the way back home from California, late in the evening, sounded like a good plan when I first formulated it. It wasn't feeling like a good idea by the time we got everything packed and loaded (why do we always bring so much crap with us everywhere we go?)

It was raining when we left and continued pretty heavy for several hours. Megan and Aaron passed out in the back seat. Ariel was determined to stay awake to make sure that I stayed awake and that we were safe. In the middle of the night, about an hour and a half from Vegas, I couldn't drive anymore. We pulled over at a rest stop and I slept about a half hour. Ariel stayed awake keeping watch, she was sure if she slept, we would be attacked by a traveling serial killer. The drive home that night was the most difficult one I have done, but by some miracle, we made it home safely around one. We slept for a few hours then Ariel and I were up and driving again. I had to have her back to Cedar in time for a 10 a.m. class. I dropped her off and turned around and drove back home.

We had a great trip. It was even better to share our vacation with some Freebairn's, they are a lot of fun to be around. We were sad that Todd wasn't with us. We wish he would give Disneyland one more chance...but he says, "No thank you." I learned a very important lesson from this whirlwind trip...I am getting old.

A Beach Birthday

October 17th was my mom's 67th birthday. We got her to agree to join us in California. She woke up very early and flew to Los Angeles. We left Vegas very early that morning and we arrived at the hotel in Anaheim at the same time. We had a wait a little while for Jon and his family who were driving up from San Diego. It was a Sunday and we tried really hard to find a church, but it was all in vain. I promised the group I would give them a Sunday School lesson on the beach. My mom was the only one around to listen when it was time for the lesson. It was overcast and a tad bit chilly but we had a great time at the beach. The ocean is one of my very favorite places to be. We just enjoyed being with each other and relaxing for the day.

When we were too hungry to hang out at the beach any longer, we went back to Jon and Meg's room for a birthday picnic. We had delicious sandwiches, chips, and root beer. I went back to our room for a minute and hurried and frosted the gluten-free chocolate cake that I had baked and brought along. I put a candle in and lit it then carried it back to the other room. As soon as I walked through the door, everyone started singing, "Happy Birthday." My mom was really surprised to see the chocolate cake, she blew out the candle and handed the cake back to me. I said, "No, Mom, that's your cake." She looked at it so surprised and said, "I can eat this?" She thought the cake was made with flour and was just for us, since she is allergic to wheat. She thought we had brought her a candy bar or some other treat like we usually did. She was so happy she got to eat the chocolate cake. You couldn't tell it was gluten-free, it was delicious.

What a great party for an incredible lady. I am so glad she came with us, even though I am sure her heart was not quite into going on a trip yet. Happy Birthday Mom!

Family Visitors

Spencer climbed the tree house
So did Jon and Sterling

Nikki has the best facial expressions

My brother Jon and his family came to visit us mid October. They stayed for a few nights before they headed to California for a family vacation. We were excited that we would be joining them there in a few days. We enjoyed our short visit with the Freebairn's, a trip to the Bellagio, climbing the tree house, and a lot of laughs - Jon is a one man comedy act. We just felt so bad that Vegas was going through a serious "hot spell" and our upstairs air conditioning unit was broken (again.) We put all the fans in the house up in their room in hopes to make the night bearable. Unfortunately, they still had to sleep in a sauna.

First Car Crash

On October 4th, Megan got home from school and said she had to go work on the Junior Class homecoming float. I asked her to gas the car and to be careful. My windows were open upstairs and I was working on some things in my room. Moments after Megan left, I heard a huge crash on the street in front of the house. Mother's instinct (or maybe it was just common sense) told me it was Megan and I quickly ran outside. I saw a gruesome sight. The Camry was in the middle of the street, the bumper was almost all the way off. The tail lights were smashed and laying all over the road and the driver's side rear quarter panel was crunched in really good.

My unfriendly neighbor across the street, who we affectionately refer to as the "hermit" was cursing and stomping around. Megan was shaking all over and pretty close to "hysterical." I said, "What happened?" The hermit immediately said, "Well we both have blind spots and we didn't see each other." They went inside and called the police. Megan and I were sitting on the front bench in agony for about 30 minutes until the officer arrived. She asked me questions constantly, "Am I grounded?" "Am I going to lose my license?" "Am I going to jail?" OK maybe she didn't ask the last one, but she wasn't far from it. I felt bad for her and would have tried to console her more if I wasn't so upset and worried on what this was going to set us back financially, if Megan was responsible for the accident.

I asked the officer right off the bat, "How will you determine who is at fault?" He said, "I already know, it was your neighbor." We were so relieved. He had Megan write out her statement (which for her first police report, was a real professional job) and walked across the street to give the hermit a citation, which I am sure provoked another round of cursing and stomping. Very mature for a 60 year old.

Megan had a very sore neck for a few weeks and the car was in the shop for four weeks with a repair bill of over $5,000. It was quite the dramatic event for just backing out of a driveway. The hermit has been even more grumpier to us than before the accident and has never had the desire to even say he was sorry.