My Musings: Halloween Season

My celebration of the halloween/fall season began in September when Karin and I went to Trader Joes and literally bought everything pumpkin spice we could find! I love how Karin is my pumpkin spice loving twin.

We had fun taste testing everything over the next couple of days, it was all so fun to try, and it was all really tasty. My favorite thing from our haul were the pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls, they were fall time perfection.

While at Karin's house, we also made caramel apples! This was something I really wanted to do this season so I was so excited! We made our own caramel from a recipe that uses cream and honey.

Karin found this adorable tiny apples at the store, they were perfect for caramel apples!

the caramel turned out a little thin and didn't coat the apples super well. But they still tasted delicious!

When I got home from Arizona, we did another Trader Joes haul so that the Utah family could taste all the pumpkin spice goodness. We got a lot of the same things and a few new things to try.

My favorite item from this haul were the pumpkin empanadas, they tasted just like pumpkin pie.

Mom created a beautiful fall table with her sunflowers from Trader Joes.

And made delicious, warm, hearty meals.

During conference weekend, Beth and I took the kids on a fall leaf drive. We took Agnes with us to see if she could become a road trip kitty. She did pretty good for the first half of the drive, but then started getting super anxious. So I don't see any road trips in her future.

I also got to enjoy the leaves while walking with my cute clients.

Angie, Laura and I did our outdoor halloween movie nights again this year. Since Laura had moved, we couldn't use her blissful deck anymore. So we decided to have them in her new garage since it was super cold and windy most nights, it worked perfectly. Laura made us dinner each week and they were works of art, I felt so spoiled getting such deluxe movie night meals.

This fall we welcomed Trudy (short for Gertrude) to the family, Beth adopted her. She is the sweetest and most cuddly kitten ever. She has brought so much joy and healing to our family.

One day while I was help babysitting the kids, I brought up a halloween cookie decorating kit. Both of the kids had a blast decorating all the cute cookies, they turned out so cute!

Trudy supervised the decorating

Monty loves his fake hipster glasses

Beth, Mom and I went to the Aquarium to enjoy it's fun halloween decorations. After I had gotten ready and was just about to get in the car to meet up with them, I took Luci out for a quick potty walk. I was looking down at my phone, tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and seriously hurt my ankle. I had been so excited about going to the aquarium, that I decided I would go to the instacare afterwards. So we rented a wheelchair and mom got me some ice from the cafe.

I made it to the instacare a half hour before they closed *whew*

They took some x-rays and discovered it was a sprain, so luckily nothing too major. They gave me a brace and surprisingly told me to walk on it as much as possible since that would help it heal. It hurt pretty bad the next day, I had Jenny come help me walk some of my clients. But after that, it wasn't too bad and it healed up rather quickly.

I made pumpkin protein waffles topped with pumpkin spice butter, syrup and whipped cream for dinner quite often during this season. I would enjoy them while watching halloween movies.

I was excited to make trick or treat goodie bags to put out on my porch again this year. It's so nice to be able to put something fun out for the trick or treaters, that way I don't have to stay home all night. I like to make a whole evening out of putting them together, I put on a fun show (I binged the new Hulu show, Only Murders in the Building) and have a couple of bowls of candy for me to enjoy.

The kitties always love to help out.

In lieu of carving pumpkins, Beth got these cute faces that you just poke into the pumpkins. So much better than carving!!

When we went to pick out the pumpkins from the store, only the ginormous ones were left. So the faces look so itty bitty on them, but that just adds to their spooky charm.

It's tradition to drive by the house on 9th to see what his decor theme is every year. This year was a haunted carnival, it was amazing. The year he did dinosaurs is still my favorite, he had a T-Rex that towered over his house.

My actual birthday fell on one of my movie nights with Ang and Lu and they made it extra special. They had flowers in a cute pumpkin vase waiting for me by my chair, they got costa vida take out, angie made her famous browned butter rice krispy treats and they gave me such a fun and thoughtful gift. I felt truly celebrated.

The next Sunday I got to celebrate with the family!

Beth had found this adorable corgi candle holder as a surprise for me, it brings me so much joy.

V borrowed him for a little bit because he was the perfect size for her dollhouse.

We kind of got two halloween nights this year since the 31st fell on a Sunday. I set out my little goodie bags both nights.

Beth and I took the kids trick or treating on Saturday night, they were so excited. This was Monty's first time!

The Wilsons were our first stop, they are the best neighbors in the world. Oswald came out and said hello and posed perfectly for some photos.

The perfect halloween evening.

We got to meet a couple of other doggos throughout th night, this sweet pup was SOOOO excited to meet so many new friends.

After trick or treating, we had our traditional Utah Taste Off halloween donut tasting. This is my favorite kit, the donuts are always so fun and festive and of course taste amazing.

Since it was Dad's official birthday, we brought out some candles and sang to him.

After our tasting, dad and I headed to the U of U game! The perfect activity for his birthday. The Utes played an amazing game, it may be the best game I have ever been to!