When you arrive, you wait in line for the hay ride to the little grouping of houses. This is our tough crew of spooks who went this time. Austin is the pimp daddy in the suit. Adam is the freaky werewolf thing...(nice Bruv!), Kyla is Maid Marion of course, Kaysha was just scared and cold and Peyts dressed up like a cowboy.
This shows us getting onto the hay wagons to be pulled up to the little village of houses. Along the way to the village, there were various spooky scenes from Ghosts throwing ghost poop (marshmellows) to huge spiders in webs, to a vampire getting ready to attack a girl. I didn't take pictures because they squish a lot of people on those wagons and it was kind of cold. 
When we arrived Pam was there to give us the grand tour. She showed us the nice treat house that we could go to after trick or treating. They had homemade donuts and hot chocolate or hot apple cider. After walking around in the dark up in the mountains at the end of October, that was a nice end. But before we hit the snack shack we went to various houses for the kids to trick or treat. Some people set up scenes outside and on others we just walked into their houses. The witch's house was the scariest and it almost got Peyts a little bit scared and the woman screaming at you from the shower was probably the worst. I was very proud of Peyton for he never screamed or cried and was very brave. I told him he had to protect me. Adam and Kyla couldn't quite make it through. They must be at an age when this is a lot more realistic and a little scary. Kaysha just plain didn't go if it looked too scary. Austin was game and hit most of the attractions. This was really the only scary one. Pam was supposed to be Elvira I think mom said and she was working in one of the bone yards!
This is the wicked old woman from Snow White she looked pretty realistic. I was a little disappointed she didn't give out poisoned apples!
There was a house that was full of fun games that kids could play and then when they were finished they could win a prize for each game. Peyton did a fish pond, a bean bag toss, hop scotch, golf, and this ping pong straw blow. It was a fun room. 
He tried so hard to play the game right but got sick of blowing so he just used his hands and the straw!
In case you are all wondering who Pam is cuddling up with, this is Ryan. His parents actually run one of the houses up here and that is how we found out about this fun Halloween activity. I was debating not going because I hate giving up my Saturdays and for the last month, I've been gone somewhere. My two sides were arguing about making memories or staying home and being a sludge as I like to call it. I'm glad we went it was a lot of fun. I had a hard time getting them to pose for a picture, but I told them both they better get used to it. I think he is dressed up as a hunter! Aren't they "Spooktacularly" cute together!
I took this shot because this was probably the funniest costume I saw all night. This lady was a table as you can see and her head the main course. The glasses looked like there was wine in them, but it was just jello! How clever.
This lady was also one of my favorites because she was a great witch and she quotes a few lines from Shakespeare's famous witches in the play Macbeth. "Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble..." You get the picture. By then we were freezing and we headed back to get some great goodies. The donuts and warm drink topped off the night. We hitched a ride back on the hay wagon and ended our fun night. The funny thing is I later learned that Adam had to make a quick pit stop in North Fremont because he held it that long. He didn't want to use the spooky bathroom. He must have a bladder of steel! Ha!
She was able to blow out all of her candles...so as Dad has always says she will live longer than all of us because she is "too dang ornery" to die. A lot of family was there and we had a nice potluck dinner before. Yes there was even some good food to eat. 
I don't know if it was Pam's idea or Dad's but apparently we all got these roses for Grandma. There were 90 total! Pam told me about it and was going to have us all contribute, but then Dad just bought them. I don't know if Grandma could see them, but they sure looked nice. I also don't know if they could get them back to Utah, but they added to the atmosphere.
Austin played mostly on offense and special teams that I saw(except for at the end when Shelley was making a run to catch up....then they left Austin in on defense,too!). They played Shelley and according to Pam it was the not so good team that was playing Austin's team. There were two teams from Shelley and the good team got beaten last week by Austin's team. Well anyways, no offense from last years game, but this years game actually looked like football. The kids did a nice job on both sides. Dad said that Austin was playing linebacker and Pam told me he punts also, but I didn't get to see that yesterday. The final score I believe was 13-6???I think. It was a close game and fun to watch. 
This picture reminded me of how many dads are trying live vicariously through their little kids sports career. Even though it was pretty mild yesterday, the speeches at the end of the game reinforced to me that parents should just go an enjoy them playing. The guy isn't even wearing coaching attired! 
I was supposed to cook it at the cellar, but they didn't think they would have enough space for everyone, so I volunteered to make it at home. Then I had to drive it 40 miles and serve it. I managed to actually keep it really warm, but I think it sat too long. I was kind of worried about that. But I got into that restaurant kitchen, and I was very glad that I got to cook at home. I'm going to be honest, going into this "posh" kitchen made me kind of get grossed out. It was not really clean and it was not really functional to me. I was a little sick. It was kind of like when Andy took me to his dairy for the first time. I've known my whole life where milk came from, but to actually go in and see them getting milked with the manure flying and the milk coming out, it kind of makes you think twice before drinking milk. This kitchen made me think twice about all restaurant kitchens. Let's just say, any visions I had of trying to become a chef were slowly leaving. Well I got my soup all dished up and then it sat. It had already sat for about 1 hour...so it continues to sit before it gets served to the judges, but I'm confident it is the best soup ever. I look around the kitchen and see some of the stuff being made and I'm even more confident.
Well after they announced all of the winners, I found myself standing there clapping for people who were not me. I hadn't won. It was kind of a blow to my ego because I thought I was such a good cook, but as I looked around, I decided that the judges picked pretty. The two winning recipes were below. I couldn't compete with pretty, but I know my food is good. I'm already planning what to make next time that is a little more pretty and still just as good as the two items I entered. I guess as a consolation, I'm still being published in the Idaho Falls magazine (I think...with my recipes) and also KCLE's holiday cookbook. That will be fun! Just in case you are wondering, I've put in the two photos that beat me out! 
These are some of the other entries. I lost to a cheesecake and I will concede that one. 
Peyts and I went out today to see the fields and ride with Pam. I actually ended up spending most of this time at the school which didn't bother me in the least. Even though I have many fond memories of harvest, it is not something that I enjoy doing now. I enjoy the two weeks we get out of school and having some down time to rest from that first rush of school. Peyton loves everything about farming and tractors. Today he got to go and ride with Pop. They went to the fields and checked the cellars. Then he was able to ride with one of the combine operators...known to Peyts as Bo. He is making quite the friends with some of the workers...much to his mother's dismay. His new found friends include Ace, Badg (Badger), Tywell (Tyrell), Mamero (Ramero), and Bo. He is quite the little worker (or so he thinks!). 
These were some of the small ones that actually didn't make it in the trucks. It is funny because if you were to go in Walmart right now, these would be the big potatoes. This has been a pretty good year for big spuds! I hope the potato farmers actually make some money this year!
