Annual Halloween Party

So we had another fantastic, fun-filled Halloween party. I was glad that Halloween was on Saturday so we had the day to prepare and then the extra hour to party because of the time change was of course great.

We decided to do a fondue party since the one for Leah's birthday was so fun last year. So we all got out our fondue pots and went to work. I did a cheese fondue which was very simple. So I thought that I would share the recipe.

2 c. ginger ale
1 clove of whole garlic
Simmer this in the fondue pot. I use and electric pot and so this is easy to do.

2c. shredded Swiss cheese
2c. shredded Cheddar cheese
2T. flour
Mix the flour into the cheese and then add a little at a time stirring into the ginger ale and garlic.
Salt and pepper to taste

We served it with cubed French bread and meatballs. It was very yummy.

Stacy did a chocolate fondue and Rebecca did a peanut butter fondue. And of course we had lots of yummy things to dip in them. It was a very nice spread as usual. Also as usual, we had tons of food and so Stacy invited the Hoffers and Deckers to come over after we went trick or treating.

We had to do some spooky vittles as well. Stacy made these from apples and almonds.

And of course we wanted to try the mummy dogs. Whitney made these and I thoughtthey turned out so cute. We forgot to do the eyes, but oh well.

I had promised sugar cookies. Leslie was in town for a few days and so she did the decorating and as Leslie usually does she wanted to make the cookies into works of art and that she did. I used these cookies as treats for the cake/cookie walk. The kids enjoyed it. Maren wanted the black bat cookie and her teeth looked like mossy rocks while she enjoyed it.

She always was a rocker at heart.

Jonas requested that Whitney be Princess Leia. Don't they make a dynamic duo.

All dressed up and getting ready to trick or treat. Maren had decided that she wanted to be a kitty a week ago and thought that last Sunday or Monday should be Halloween. She waited patiently and finally it was here. She was so determined to do her trick or treating. She had to hold my hand the whole way and carry her very heavy caldron full of candy. She would not let me carry it. And she also had to carry her black tail because she kept on stepping on it. I was a kitty as well, but I did not have a tail. I did however have some cool, hand drawn ears that Leslie did for me. Hopefully Stacy will have a picture of them on her blog

Essie Bug

The Kittycat, Obe, Cowboy Gabe, Princess Hannah and Little Bug

I don't know who invited the cling ons but someone did. Worf had to get her hair just right. That is Erica underneath the wig and Kelsie underneath that mask, if you couldn't tell.

Of course we had to do the donut eating contest. I think that Kyli won the kids contest and Kelsie barely won the older kids contest. Maren was very determined to eat her donut. Everything was so fun. It was such a perfect party between the food, company and good weather for being out it was a great night. We did some name gaming and then to top things off some Mafia. Wish you all could have been there. Hope you all had a great Halloween as well.

Better Late than Never

For the past week I have had some issues with getting this blog posted. Finally it is working and I can finally put it up. So as most of you were present, I don't have to put up too many details but we had a wonderful experience attending Jonas' baptism. He was very prepared and it went off without a hitch other than a few teenage girls not knowing the song they were asked to sing. Then of course we were able to go to Leslie's endowment session later on that evening. It was a very large session and she had many in attendance to support her and love her through her first of many temple experiences. It was too dark and so we were not able to get pictures of her. We then attended my Stake/Regional Conference on the next day. We were able to hear the prophet again giving us good advice on how to love and serve one another. Then we came back to my place and had a "light luncheon", which of course for Lizzy that means a batch of apple dumplings. We were enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon and then the great "smoke out" occurred. The juices from the dumplings overflowed into bottom of the oven and the smoke was so strong that we had to run out into my front yard. So of course, that is when the fun really began.

The Culprits

In between all the excitement we were able to get a few cute photos of the kiddies. I love her blue eyes that seem so show up so well in the pictures I see of her.

Little Leah posing so well for me.

Brooks and Maren deep in conversation, probably about her favorite subject, the color pink.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Our little blondies.

Although she looks like she is in pain, this is a smile.

Essie May taking it all in.

She is so fun to cuddle with. And Lily isn't half bad either.

Becky and Lily

Lily is never lacking for arms to hold her.

So after the great smoke out of 2009 we thought we'd make the best of our time in the front yard and of course the games began. This was 500. It is something like Annie I Over in that you have to play it over something. We used Whitney's car. Josh and Noah in action.

My neighbors were probably wondering what in the heck was going on. If any of them was watching us pour out of the house it was quite comical and then all these games and things were even more entertaining to watch.

The game got so wild that the object we were throwing around, of course got hucked onto the roof. Hannah to the rescue.


One of the times Josh threw it from across the street and it actually made a basket as you can see. This was very good photography by someone with perfect timing. We all had a good laugh over that.

Of course, it landed on the roof several times. Hannah, only to happy to volunteer again. I think she likes heights.Then of course the human knot.

We never did become unraveled. We had to cheat a little bit.

A few others getting in on the roof action. I am pretty sure some of the neighbors were ready to call DCFS.

Since Les was on the roof she decided to get a few pictures from above. Notice Jonas and Gabes to the side. I guess they were not quite sure what the heck we were doing. We started off just making the letters and then we decided to time ourselves and get into postition as fast as we could. I wish I would have had a video of it. It was hilarious to see us throwing ourselves on the ground into certain positions. I had sore muscles the next day and figured it must of been because of these stunts.

Are we not the craziest, silliest, coolest, funniest, family you ever did see. And definately number 1 in my eyes.