Halloween Festivities

Before it gets to far into November I need to post about our Halloween festivities!  We had our family out last friday night the day before Halloween.  Most everyone dressed up in costume and we had a really great evening!  We had some fun festive Halloween foods with Dinner in a Pumpkin being the star of the show.  I had been anxiously awaiting October 30th to final make my dinner in a pumpkin.  The kids loved it!!  (They always do:)  We had quite bit of variety on the table from egg rolls, to chowmein , to hot wings, to a cheesball and crackers.  Rick, of course, made some root beer and I had made some pumpkin cupcakes earlier in the day for dessert.  

After dinner the toddlers had a short relay with Henry triumphing as the winner......crying all the way to the finish line:)  We also had the kids do a bean bag toss and that was super cute!!  Those kids are so fun!!  Afterwards some of us played a new game that John had brought called Wasabi.  Brach and Kenni came out on top for that one with Rick and I being dead last:)  After games we snuggled downstairs in the TV room, in front of the fire, with pine nuts and chocolate to watch Charade.  (Sorry that was kind of a weird sentence!)  We all fell asleep before the end!  What a great night!!

The Phelpses

Skylar--Barney

Sarah-- Betty 

Henry-- Bam Bam

The Ridings

John--Crash Test Dummy

Haivyn-- Princess

Kait--Cleopatra

Rafe--The Lone Ranger

Scout--Black Kitty

(Kendra had made a cute black tutu for her costume but left it at home:-(

Witches Brew

Bean bag toss....

The table looked great!

Sarah and Skylar bought the placemats for my birthday.  I was excited to use them!

A (small) group shot

Rafe turns THREE!!

Saturday we celebrated Rafe's third birthday!  His mom wanted a tractor theme.  It was really low key and it turned out cute!  We had a build your own sandwich station with Fill Dirt (pudding cups),  Spare Tires (hostess doughnuts)  and Safety Cones (bugles) for the lunch.  There were just a few of us there from both sides of the family but it was a nice time and Rafe was the star!!

Rafe and his cake!!  He chose his candles and got to put them on the cake himself:)

Present time!!!

Hppy Birthday little guy!!

HALLOWEEN PARTY # 26

Twenty-five years wasn't enough!!  We had to go for twenty six!  Friday night was our annual Halloween Party.  I was thinking last year might be the last of us hosting this event but with directions from Rick saying, "We can't stop now, it's tradition!".....we kept the party going:)

We began with our traditional dinner of appetizers, soups, breadsticks, and dessert. (plus Rick's homemade rootbeer) It was nice sitting back at dinner and enjoying good conversation.  There were twelve of us total this year because Darla and Larry were out of town (they are usually some of our best costumes!) and Hal and Janis had other commitments that night.  Darrell and DeeAnn work in the temple on Friday nights so they came but not until 10:00 when we were winding down.  

After dinner we played some Halloween Bingo and then a game of Befudium (that S&S bought me for Mother's Day which we had never opened)  We are definitely getting older because none of us even WANTED to stay up to watch a movie.  Well, I guess I shouldn't speak for everyone because so many in this family are night owls, but as for me I was ready for bed by 11:30 .  There was NO WAY I could have stayed awake another 2 hours.  

It was a good time with everyone and we will keep it going........

Dennis--a farmer

Karen--an eccentric lady

Rick--Luigi

Me--Mario

Trent--Duck Dynasty knockoff

Kathy-- His hillbilly wife

Brent and Lar--gypsies

The gypsies took home the prize.....

"The Others"

All of us!!!

Rick's Birthday

 Rick's birthday was on the 17th and we made a day of it!  First we made a big breakfast of ham, eggs and waffles and then hurried and got ready to hit the links with our tee time at 10:32.  I was the only girl that went (because the other girls were taking care of babies) and I broke out with the win by 2 points.  Not gonna post my score though because well........none of us did THAT great:)  Frankly, I don't usually like to keep score because I don't want to be in a bad mood all day but when you play with Skylar you HAVE to keep score.  He's sooo competitive......wonder who he gets that from?? :-)

After golfing we went back to the house for a little lunch and rest and then headed off to Staheli Farms.  (See previous post)  For dinner it was all you can eat shrimp at Red Lobster!  Skylar had been talking that up for at least two weeks so we had to give it a try.  While Sarah and I opted for something different (Maple Chicken for me...super delish) everyone else got the shrimp.  They just kept ordering more and more.  Seriously, we were there for nearly two hours!!  

I was glad to get out of that place because next on the menu was.........

The boys discovered this gem when we were all there in April for Road School.

This was Rick's celebratory birthday dessert:)  (I did make him a real cake on Sunday, though)

We each chose four different kinds and then ate them over the next few days!

Then it was present time......

I bought him some sweatpants and a Nike shirt, a remote control car (to play with the kiddos), three white shirts, some shoes and some breath mints!!

Haha!  That sounds funny....me buying him breath mints!  He just likes to have them on hand for Sundays when he talks with lots of people.  Gum is totally tacky!!

He's ready for church now:)

B&K got him a selfie stick and a cute framed picture of the kids!!

Here he is showcasing (goofball) the cool running jacket he got from S&S. 

It's one he can wear in the winter.

                                                             Happy 51 years sweetie!