I've been tagged!

This seems a little more difficult than I originally thought when I uploaded. I think I will just stick with the seven random facts and call it good! I hope Nancy doesn't mind. I also feel bad because it has taken some time to actually get to this. I also don't know if I know enough people to tag...but we'll see if I get to it.

So seven odd facts huh!

1. I am a chain gum chewer and addicted to gum. If I don't have my gum around, I get very uptight and I start searching through bags and coat pockets to find it.
2. Even though I'm around people a lot and I teach, I actually would rather just be home and be alone by myself (with Andy and Peyts and my fam)
3. I usually have about 5-10 books that I'm reading at one time. Some I never finish
4. My husband and I do a new Christmas tree every year for Christmas. We have so far 11/12 different trees:
1. Real tree with our first decorations
2. Snowflake tree
3. Twig Tree (got destroyed and would love to remake it!)
4. Tacky Fruit tree with bubble lights -my favorite
5. Angel Tree
6. Smore's Tree
7. Peyton's tree
8. 12 Days of Christmas tree
9. Berta Hummel Tree
10. Candy Cane Tree
11. Symbol tree
12. We are getting a card tree this year!
We hope that by the time we have been married for 30+ years we can open a Christmas Tree Lane, charge entrance, and then donate it to a charity of our choice...or something like that!

5. I'm addicted to buying books and clothes and I love online shopping
6. I love to watch cooking shows and secretly think that I'm "The Next Food Network Star"
7. I have a secret ambition to write and publish books, own my own business, and learn to play the banjo.


I could go on, but we'll save it for another time!

A "Super" Halloween

So I feel kind of bad because for some reason, I didn't take a lot of pictures on Halloween night. We had a great night and were really excited, but my camera was not in action. I did manage to take two pictures of our cute little Superman. It was so funny because when he got this suit, he immediately put it on and began lifting the chairs to his little table with one arm. I think he thought it made him strong and also that he could fly. Thank heavens he didn't need to test it. He just put one hand in the air and then ran like he was flying. He was very excited for Halloween. When kids started coming to the door, he opened it took the bowl and began to dump tons of candy in each pumpkin. It was pretty funny. Because Andy was going to be a little late, I decided I take him out until Andy got home and then we could switch. It was nice this year because there wasn't any silly carnival or trunk or treat and we actually had kids out trick or treating. The town was lit up. We did the route that if you done in Hamer consisted of going up Dena's road and then Andy took him down by Coralee's house and also down the road where Warren Albertson lives. Peyton was so cute this year trick or treating. He went all by himself up to each door and he did it on a run so he could get more candy. I tried to remind him to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". I hope he did.

One of the things that Peyton was really excited about was spraying his hair black and he was very insistent that he have the curl that Superman has. It was a lot of fun getting him ready. His excitement was contagious.

He did get tons of loot that I did not get a picture of. I will say one thing, though, remember when we got Halloween candy we definitely didn't get full size candy bars. We got those tiny little things could be eaten in one bite. Well my little toddler got about seven different ones at different houses. People are definitely improving in what they give out. I did think how sad it was though, that most people don't make anything anymore. I know when we were little we loved going to Dorothy Down's house to get donuts and Coralee Knight made caramel popcorn balls. Levaun Mickelsen gave out that mother goose popcorn. Those were definitely the days. There just isn't time to do that homemade touch anymore. Maybe one day, I'll try to do this!

Pumpkin Carving

So Sunday before Halloween we attempted to carve our pumpkins. We opened up the pumpkins and began with my favorite part and that is digging out the guts. Peyton and Andy don't really care for this part, but I love it.

Peyton attempted to clean the guts out, but gave up about two handfuls into it. He thinks it is gooey and cold and yucky. And as you see he is not too thrilled to be doing this part.





NoOne of my favorite pictures to take is of Peyton pretending to eat the guts. This is actually about as close as he gets to being by the insides of pumpkin.The choice of a design begins. We are pretty picky about the types of designs we pick. I remember when I was a kid, we would just draw the face and have it carved in 15-20 minutes. Peyts wanted a spooky face and so we found a pretty good one. He wanted to do it "all by myself", but Andy manned the knife and we got Peyts pumpkin carved. Of course I'm very partial to witches lately (maybe it is the profession I'm in that makes me partial to them!). This was the design I selected and although it wasn't perfect, I think my witch actually turned out really well. Andy picked a haunted house this year and I thought it actually turned out really well!

This is one of our fun family traditions since Andy and I have been married and that is to put our pumpkin up and actually have a pumpkin head picture! Because Peyts is the only one who carved a face, we all had to use his pumpkin to take this picture. I thought we all looked very spooky!

Peyts was very excited for the finished product and we had to immediately go outside and light them up.

They definitely make for a very fun and spooky night! Who knew that pumpkin carving could be so difficult and so much fun....! Signing off until next year when they get even spookier and crazier. And if anyone has a good witch pattern...let me know, I need a new one!

Mountain Trick or Treating

We had the opportunity to go to Island Park to Harriman State Park on Saturday and do some mountain trick or treating. Who knew that all of these years there existed anything like this in Island Park. I believe people who live around there go up and spend time decorating days before. They then give out free candy to anyone who comes. It doesn't cost to get in and besides being a tiny bit chilly it was pretty fun. I think one of the scariest things about this is the lack of light and being up on the mountains. I'm told there is a funny story involving Adam and the bathroom that I didn't really get the whole story, so ask Adam, Kyla or Mom!

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!

Happy 90th!

Last Saturday we celebrated Grandma Niederer's 90th birthday. It had been a while since I had even seen her. In fact, I'm sad to say that it has been since she moved to Salt Lake that I've seen her. She looked great for being 90. The party was nice. Everyone went to a lot of work to make sure she had a nice day.
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.
I thought this picture of Peyts and Grandma was cute. I'm not sure if Peyton even really knows who this is because he hasn't seen her too often. He definitely knows who "Poppa Sanders" is. He is around him a lot more and plus he has tractors. I did, though, think it was very cute when Peyts said, "I have a lot of Grandmas now!". If he only knew!
I wonder if she is losing more of her sight because she really didn't even know where to look when I took the picture. But as you can see she still looks like Grandma.
This is some of the family that attended. Not everyone made it, but I think Emil wins the award for traveling the farthest. He came from Alaska and it was nice to meet his wife. I was also able to meet a few new family members. There are also some on the way. Tasha is expecting and they are all waiting until Shane gets home to just show up at the airport and there is the baby. I don't think that is very nice, but I'm sure he will think it funny. Merriloy and Lisa did a lot for Grandma's birthday. There was a very nice movie and they had treats for all of the people who were going to come. It was a nice afternoon to visit with family.
As you can see there was only one drawback and that was the fact that it was like a blizzard outside. I told Grandma that Terreton was telling her it had missed her. If you look close at Peyts outside, you can see how badly the snow was coming down. The was a miserable weekend weatherwise. We about froze to death at the football game the night before and then because of the snow, we thought it made it harder for people to come to Grandma's party. But when we left, there had been a fairly steady stream of visitors who came through. I think that it is pretty cool that she had her birthday up here. It was nice to see. Grandpa Sanders also celebrated his birthday this week. He turned 94. How nice it has been to still have grandparents around. I miss the ones who are with us and enjoy the time I get to spend with the ones still here.

You have to love Idaho weather! Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep in mind it is still October 10th! This is way to early for a blizzard.

Grid Kid Champions

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go watch Austin play for the Grid Kid Championship in the seventh grade division. It was a beautiful day for football. After last Friday when it was freezing, this was like having a nice summer day. Angie had a bag full of noise makers and tons of posters for these kids and Peyts got into the action of cheering.
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!
Well the buzzer sounded and it found Austin's team ahead and they won a trophy similar to a superbowl cup. I was pretty impressed. After being given trophies and this cup, we went back to try and get some pictures of the whole team...after listening to some miserable speeches by the coaches (I don't even think the kids were listening) we got to take team pictures. Pam told me that Angie doesn't take her camera to championship games because it is bad luck. Angie also said that this was the third year in the championship game for these boys and they finally won. I guess third times is a charm. Good job, Austin!

Peyts was excited to tell Austin congratulations, but he didn't want to put on Austin's helmet. He said it was stinky! I'll bet.

This is Austin's whole team. Some of the boys he plays baseball with are on this team, but a lot of his buddies didn't get to play because they got beaten by the team Austin played at this game!