Halloween 2020

We celebrated Halloween twice this year! Once with the entire family over zoom a few days before halloween and then again on the actual holiday.

Most of us dressed up for the family zoom. Karin dressed up as Snow White and Thomas and James were cute little dinosaurs. Mom and V were black kitties, Monty was a bat, Dad was a pirate king, Beth dressed in 20s attire and I was the Snow Queen.

The Griffins looked amazing, half their family dressed up as characters from Greek Mythology. Jenny was Athena, Nora was Madusa, Mike was Poseidon and Dorie was Cerberus. Evie made a costume that looked just like her character on Animal Crossing, she did such a great job! Sam dressed as Shy Guy from Super Mario.

A few close ups of my Snow Queen costume.

I was excited for the opportunity to wear my silver glitter shoes!

We played Halloween bingo over zoom. I had found a version online that had enough unique cards for our entire family, which was pretty hard to do since our family is so big. I had emailed different cards to the Burtons and Griffins and we had a great time playing!

Each family got their own prizes for whenever anyone got bingo. These were the prizes I got for the Madisons, Mom, Dad and Me. I tried to pick out one thing that everyone would love, plus extras that everyone would like.

After our fun zoom party, those of us that were at Mom and Dad's enjoyed a fun and delicious Utah Taste Off kit. This week was fall flavored cookies. The flavors included were:

Apple Pie

Pumpkin with Spiced Cream  Cheese Frosting 

Loaded Caramel Apple

Reese's Explosion 

Almond Sugar Cookies

Maple Buttercream 

A couple of days after our family Halloween party, I had a fun trick-or-treat prep night. There has been a big debate about what to do about trick or treating this year because of Covid. A lot of people didn't think it was a problem and answered the door with a big bowl of candy like normal. Some people didn't participate at all in order to remain safe. And others got creative on how to still participate but still be safe. I came up with the idea of making little grab bags to put on my porch, so the kids would still have a fun halloween experience, but I didn't put myself at risk of exposure.

So one night, I watched Hocus Pocus and put together all my candy bags, it was super fun!

I made myself a put of pumpkin spice tea and enjoyed it the entire night, along with some yummy treats that I had gotten for myself and weren't going into the trick or treat bags.

I even made sure to dress for the occasion, I made a whole night of it.

The view out my windows that night was breathtaking.

I was so excited to put out all my candy bags on halloween night, they looked so cute!

I watched my Ring camera footage all night long, it was so much fun to see the kids (and even the parents!) get excited over my cute candy bags. It was so rewarding to have my idea pay off in such a successful way! My only regret with this idea was that I didn't make more bags, I had no idea how many kids to expect and I didn't want to have a ton of extra candy, so I didn't make that many and I ran out pretty early on in the night.

I thought this was kind of funny, a couple dressed up as Carol Baskin and the Tiger King (he is behind the tree)

Jenny and Mike ended up trying out my idea as well, they did it right and made tons of bags so they could replenish their table throughout the night. Their set up looked so good!

Mom and Dad also liked the idea of being able to participate in Halloween but stay safe from Covid. So Beth and I helped them make their candy bags and set them out.

After all the candy had been set out for the trick-or-treaters, we could begin our party festivities! Another nice aspect of this way of trick-or-treating is that you can actually have activities planned and not have to leave to answer the door every couple of minutes.

We began with a very fun and festive Utah Taste Off, this week was donuts! The flavors this week were:

Boo-Berry Cake Donut

Churro White Cake Donut

Pumpkin Spice With Cream Cheese Frosting

Bat Raised Donut with Chocolate Frosting

Raised Donut with Oreo Crumble and Gummy Worms

Vampire Raised Spudnut with Sweet icing 

We pretty much loved them all, they were so good.

Next up was a fun craft that Beth had brought for us. She wanted to document this weird time but also have fun, so we decorated face masks!

They all turned out so fun! From top to bottom we have mine, Mom's, Vienne's, and Beth's. Beth made hers to look like a skeleton nose and smile.

We ended the night by letting the kids go trick-or-treating downstairs in the bedroom area at mom and dads house. This is the perfect place because there are a lot of doors for them to knock at.

Beth did an amazing job at decorating, it was magical and fun!

They knocked on all the doors, and a family member was there to greet them and offer them candy. We all had a great time trick-or-treating this way!

Happy Halloween!

Birthday Week 2020

Birthday week in 2020 was just as lovely as it is any other year. I got to spend it with my friends and family and that is what makes a birthday special to me, whether we are touring through New York, partying in Disneyland/world, or just hanging out at home, being with my loved ones is what makes a birthday happy.

A few days before my birthday, an adorable package arrived on my doorstep with a sticker on it that said don't open until your birthday. I kept it on my coffee table and was so excited to see who it was from and what was inside. On the morning of my birthday, I was so excited to have something fun to open first thing after I woke up, still in my PJ's, it felt like a very merry birthday morning.

It was from one of my dearest friends Alle, she is always so thoughtful and is amazing at remembering people's birthdays.

Inside were so many deluxe and luxurious items, I couldn't wait to try them all out!

After a fun morning at home, I had a few work visits. Unlike most of my other jobs, I didn't mind sharing my birthday celebrations with these cuties, they made the day all the more fun. It was a beautiful day for a walk!

After my morning and afternoon work visits, I headed up to SLC to spend the afternoon with the Madisons! I was given the warmest welcome from every single member of their family, Dubie and Agnes included.

They had gotten me the sweetest, most thoughtful gifts. A gorgeous teal, velvet throw that is big enough to really get all wrapped up in. And a case of special, halloween themed macarons from one of my favorite macaron shops, Ma-ka-rohn, which is located in Miami, FL so you have to send away for them.

The macarons were absolutely beautiful and we were all so excited to try out all the fun flavors. In this special edition trick-or-treat/Halloween themed box the flavors were:

Pink Starburst

Butterfinger

Snickers

Pumpkin Spice

Caramel Apple

Chocolate Galaxy

After our cookie tasting, the three girls were off to have a fun little drive around the city and look at all the cutes houses and halloween decorations. I love going for drives, so this was such a perfect birthday activity.

Another fun tradition Beth and I like to do on my birthday, is get halloween themed drinks from Starbucks. They are usually on the secret menu, and sometimes we have to list what is in each one since not all locations are familiar with secret menu drinks.

This year we got the Jack and Sally frappuccinos. 

They always look so fun and festive!

They were both delicious, I really liked the strawberry puree in the Sally

The Jack was a pretty delicious chocolatey, mocha treat

We saw some pretty cute houses and some pretty fun decorations

We thought this house was mom's decoration twin, she has a lot of the same decor! Plus, she would love that little Westie in the window.

After our fun drive, I had to say goodbye to the Madisons and go and do my evening work visits. When I got home, I had a little present waiting for me on my doorstep! 

It was a chocolate covered, caramel apple sent over from the Burtons! How genius is the idea of serving it in slices?? I was pretty excited about it!

Then it was time to test if the kitties love my blanket as much as I do

The answer is a very obvious yes.

The day after my birthday, I had a few visitors stop by to wish me a happy birthday. First was my nephew John, he surprised me with a couple of crocheted gifts! I had no idea he had been working on these and they are so adorable and so special. He made me a super adorable black and white kitty and a super cozy beanie. I was so thrilled with such amazing, handmade gifts!

Then the Griffin family stopped by, each kid had made me a card and Jenny and Mike had gotten me yummy cupcakes and a fun, doggy themed birthday card. I loved everything so much!

A few days later, I got to have my celebration with the Carr sisters, I always love celebrating birthdays with them!  We celebrated at one of our movie nights in Laura's backyard. Laura cooked us a delicious, gluten free shepards pie for dinner, and she made brownies from a box as dessert since she knows those are one of my favorite treats! She had also gotten some special halloween ice cream flavors from a specialty shop, the orange one was candy corn flavored!

Birthday week came to a close with the traditional Halloween themed Backer's cake and a shared birthday dinner with my dad. I love having my birthday so close to his.