My blog is driving me crazy

Read below for the Halloween blog

Just having some blog issues so I am trying a few things out so that you guys can actually see the Halloween blog.

Our Happy Halloween

Stacy decided that we should have another great Halloween bash.  She is always so good to host it.  Like most everyone else in the state we celebrated Halloween on Saturday night and spent the day preparing for the festivities.  When I got over to the house this little Raggedy Ann was up on the cupboard eating her favorite food, potato chips

We invited this very beautiful little princess.  By the end of the trick or treating the hem of her dress was soaked and her legs were freezing.  She was a pretty good sport and did well until the last 2 houses.

This fairy had some sweet eye make-up courtesy of Arden.  

We did not know that we were going to have one of the red hatters present.  We kept on thinking she was her mother all night long when we would see her from behind or the side.  I loved the hat.  

The crazy cat lady Arden was entertaining us with a little music.  Where are her cats?

Nerd!

This scary ghoul grim reaper took all of 1 house to break his staff.  He had a great time though.

Go Hannah!  She has a little look of Josh in this picture.  I am not talking about her cheerleading outfit.  I am talking about her face.

Jonas was a NASA astronaut.  His mom brought this costume back from NASA in Huntsville.

Rebecca looking extra scary with the smoke in the forefront.  That is our witches brew.

Quasi came for a visit.  Notice the cane.  He is getting around quite well since his surgery.

Nerds Unite!

And our very on panhandler.  We fed him well and did not even ask him to work for it.

It was a rainy night for trick or treating but we braved the weather and went.  It is so easy to trick or treat in Josh and Stacy's neighborhood.  The circle that they live in is super convenient.

Of course it would not be a Halloween party without the donut eating contest.

I think Kelsie won out of this group.

Kyli trying to keep it all in her mouth.

Jonas and Gabe really got into it.

But this is the girl who took it the most serious.  She was out to beat K.C. this year because she lost to him last year.  She won.

K.C. and Curtis gave it their best shot.

The witches brew.  We wish we would have had Andrew here to make it for us like he use to do.  But I hear he was having his own parties.  There is something about homemade rootbeer.    We had cabbage burgers, funeral potatoes, salad, mummy hotdogs, nachos, cupcakes, pumpkin cookies and little apple pie concoctions.  We played Body, Body, the name game with a Halloween theme and did the cake walk too.  

We had a great Halloween and I hope you all did too.


P.S. I was a judge.  It was all I could come up with.  I first put on the robe, my old graduation robe and thought,  I look like a Hasidic Jew.  Then I dressed it up with a pearl necklace.  When I got over to the house Kelsie asked if I was a rabbi.  So I was a judge or rabbi.


P.S.S  Stacy I could not find the pictures of the cupcakes.  Sorry.

Day 7

Today was a day filled with good moments that I want to remember.  Good moments that I wanted to stop time and just enjoy them and not let them go away.  Whitney had planned that we would go to the temple today.  I did not think anything of it until we were in the temple and we were doing initiatory work and then I remembered.  Today is the 7th anniversary of Ben's death.  We had been talking about him and that day on the drive down and it must have been in the back of my mind because I had a dream about Ben last night.  He was doing some work on Grandpa's house and none of us knew about it and we were all so surprised at how much he had done.  I don't really know what the dream meant but I remember having a conversation with him about how talented he was and how amazing he was to be doing all of the work himself.  I woke up feeling really good having been able to see him and talk to him.  I don't have a lot of dreams about Ben as an adult and so it felt nice.  In the temple I just cried.  I think the sisters were probably wondering what was going on but none of them asked.  One just handed me a Kleenex.  Finally I was able to gain some composure.  The Spirit was very strong and my testimony was strengthened

Whitney and I sat outside and looked at this view and talked about our temple experience.  She was having a similar experience.  It was one of the moments that I wanted to keep.  Beautiful view.  Sweet conversation.  Strong Spirit.

There are so many plants, trees, flowers here that I have never seen before.  This is one of them.  

I think this is a sort of hibiscus.  

I had been told that we should for sure visit Old Town San Diego.  I was also told that the Church had a site there.  What I did not realize until today was that the site was the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  Whitney and I stopped by there as soon as we entered Old Town.  We had a most enjoyable tour.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  It was an interactive video tour and very modern in it's presentation.  Of course they had missionaries doing the tour but they had a movie with characters that followed us from room to room and it was quite entertaining.   I highly recommend it.  

These flowers or bushes are all over Southern California and in bloom and in lots of different colors.  They are amazingly bright and beautiful and I do not know what they are.  Any ideas?

We were walking through Old Town doing some shopping and we came across a garden  area with a pan flute bad playing and flowers and chairs and torches around.  We sat down and enjoyed some music for awhile.  My second moment to savor of the day.  There is something about this tropical weather and all the flowers that really speaks to me.  It is going to be hard to leave all this in a few days.

These were in the garden area

I love the hibiscus plants in Utah but nothing compares to these tropical varieties.

Part of the shopping area

We knew we wanted to eat Mexican in Old Town.  That is what it is famous for.  So Casa de Guadalajara came highly recommended and so we went on in.  The place was packed but within just a few minutes we were seated at a table.  Whitney ordered the above.  It was not described as a platter of food but came out that way.  It was carne asada and shrimp.  This food was delicious.  There was a mariachi band playing, very well I might add. with an excellent trumpeter.  Very Herb Alpert sounding.   The third moment of the day came when I was sipping on a virgin pina colada and the mariachi band started playing "Popcorn" mariachi style.  It was classic.  I was thrilled.  Time could have stood still for me.  But alas, the song ended and they then moved onto "If I Were a Rich Man"  

We drove home from Old Town and went looking for the beach.  We found it and it is very close to where we are staying.  It was dark and we waded onto the sand and then slowly into the water.  We just stood there on the beach for about 30 minutes as the water lapped back and forth and brought sea weed up and wrapped it around our ankles.  The sound of the waves was very loud and it was very refreshing to just be out in the sea air and experiencing something that is so rare when you live in the middle of mountains and desert.  The 4th memory I want to last.  

Day 5 of Vacation

 So today was day 5 of vacation.  I am afraid that it is all going to go so fast.  We did have an excellent day though.  We got a later start but still got lots seen.  We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and a few little Fantasyland rides.  We also visited the world famous Tikki Room I think that has been around since the doors of Disneyland opened.  We saw a Pixar character parade and saw the stage version of Aladdin.  

 This was the Haunted Mansion that was all decked out for Halloween.

Whitney hanging with the Honey Pots.  Winnie the Pooh was on the other side of the pots.

 Quiz question 1.  What is the name of the above Pixar character?  

 Question #2.  What part of Disneyland is the above building in?

Question #3.  Who's castle is this?

In response to the Bra Busting question.  After I got off of the Matterhorn yesterday I told Whitney that my bra nearly busted.  Actually my bra strap just fell down but you know how we exaggerate at times.  Well then we just went off the deep end from there.  So we got to laughing about all of the times we had been on really bumpy rides including the shuttle trip to get to Disneyland and then we just defined anything that jiggled us around as Bra-Busters. Silly Girls!  That's what happens when you are both silly and well endowed.  I am sure many of you reading can relate.

So we are off to San Diego tomorrow for more adventures.  Hope you will join us in the blogasphere.

Day 3 in So. Cal.

  We are staying in an area that borders Anaheim.  It is called Buena Park.  Even though we are on vacation I wanted to have a church experience.  So we Googled the nearest chapel and had a good Fast and Testimony meeting with the folks in the Buena Park Ward.  I love going to church wherever I am visiting.  It is amazing that no matter where we go the church is the same.  You know the hymns, you know what the order of the meeting will be.  And you know that you can feel the Spirit wherever you are.  Then we came back and rested up this afternoon and then we were going to go to Disneyland to watch the fireworks and maybe do a few little things.  We were trying to pack light and I had our ticket voucher and some cash, our room key, camera and chapstick. I must have chapstick.   We had taken the shuttle about 5 miles to Disneyland and then when we were standing in the line to trade our voucher for the ticket it dawned on me that I did not bring my wallet because we were packing light and I did not even think about I.D. but panic set in and sure enough when we got to the window she said that she needed my I.D. and would not be able to give us our tickets without it.  I was somewhat crushed and thought, this is the Lord telling us that we should not be here today.  We wandered around for about an hour trying to decide what to do.  We thought we better go back to the shuttle drop off and sure enough he came back and we got back on.  He looked at us like we were weirdos but we just smiled and acted like we had everything under control  We did end up getting back to the park and doing a few things and seeing an amazing firework display.  

Quiz questions for the day.

5. On what ride do you go through the whales mouth

 And see the Sultan's Palace?

6.And on what ride do you get to soar in this?  Hint.  I love this ride.

Day 2 of Vacation

 So we left our cozy lodgings in Cedar City this morning to get on the road for California.  BTW Brooks makes really good, big pancakes.  We stopped in Baker, California for a little lunch.  I wanted to eat at the Mad Greek but it looked a little crazy with all of the Aphrodite statues so we went across the street to something was familiar to me.  Bob's Big Boy.  Remember the days in Cedar City and Price and a few other places with the Big Boy.  We were there with the senior crowd.   Then we drove to Barstow where we stopped at the outlet stores to do a little birthday shopping for Leah.   Lets just say she's going to look cute in her new outfit.  Then we drove per the MapQuest directions to Buena Park, California.  We are staying at the Radisson.  I know it looks like the jungle.  But that is just our courtyard.  It is pretty lush here.

 We will be taking a dip in this pool later on.  We have to get brave enough to put on our bathing suites and take the plunge.  

 We had some much luggage because we are staying for 9 days that we had to load it all on this cart.   It was really hard to steer and Whitney could not make it turn and we were running into things and had to make about a 10 point turn to actually get in the elevator, or the lift as Raj said.  He was the guy that checked us in.  

 In the courtyard is a big impressive fountain.

I was taking a walk around the courtyard and becoming familiar with my surroundings since this is going to be my home for 4 days.  I noticed a little pile of what I thought were cumquats.  Then one dropped from the above tree.  Whitney says that they are the palm seeds and have palm oil inside them.  

When we were checking in we noticed couples coming into the Hotel sort of dressed up.  I figured there must be a wedding somewhere in the hotel.  When I was doing my touring I came across this room set up and lookin ready for a party.  It is literally across from our room.  Whitney just saw the bride and groom going into the wedding party.  We are not sure how we feel about this.  We are trying to figure out where to go for dinner.  I suggested being wedding crashers.  Except I left my gownless evening strap at home.  Darn I guess we will have to actually go out and pay for our dinner.  

4. As you stroll through California Adventure, you might be able to hear some orchestral arrangements of songs by a famous California band. Which band?