Grandma's Halloween Party 2016

This year I had a co-hostess - my granddaughter Aspen. It was so fun to work with her and have her be in charge.

She makes a cute Peter Pan - doesn't she?

 Halloween costumes: 

Skylar - Witch, Crash - Harry Potter, Ethan - Lost Boy, Lexi -Greaser, Aspen - Peter Pan, Haley - Peter's Shadow, Max - Lost Boy 

Preview of the table and the food

tarantula tacos and spider punch:

The favorite part - how many spider ice cubes they could get in one glass!

Game 1: Eat the Donut

Haley won, but Ethan was mighty close - his donut fell off as he was taking his last bite! 

Game 2: Freeze Dance

They were so good at it that we added a challenge - Aspen and I sprayed them with Wacky String once they were frozen. It's amazing the desire to shrink away or pull something off!!!  ;)

It still took awhile - but we did get a winner - Lexi.

Game 3: Pumpkin Relay

Aspen had pretty stiff rules - the first 2 had to break through the tape at the start and the last 2 had to break through the tape at the finish. This is how THAT worked out!!!

We also tormented them with Wacky String as they ran [waddled]. 

Winners here were Ethan, Haley, and Lexi.

Clean up!

Game 4: Bingo

Skylar was unbelievably lucky at this game. She won the first round of 1 bingo. Then she tied with Lexi at black out. So Aspen had the two of them play off another bingo for the winner - Skylar won that too!!! I will think twice before playing against her!

Last game: Bigger or better

The teams were boys against the girls. Each team was given a pencil and 5 houses to go to. The idea was trade the pencil for something bigger or better and then go to the next house and trade up again. Kent and I, for some reason, ended up keeping the last 2 items - oh yay! 

The boys won

It was a perfect day for the party and I think we all had a good time. Happy Halloween!!

Grandma shooting?!

So, I took my grandsons target shooting on Thursday! Shocker, I know. Thank you to Darrin Mellor, who made it all possible and was a great instructor!!!!

Here they are waiting while Darrin shows Ethan how to load the cartridges. Couldn't hear a whole lot - which was a good thing when the guns started firing. 

Ethan loading bullets, Max supervising.

Jackson went first with rifle number 1:

Then Ethan - who out-shot all of us!

Third came Crash:

 Then Max:

I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity! All of mine were to the left of the bulls eye - [at least I was consistent!!]

Then we moved to a more serious gun - bigger and LOUDER! Luckily, the target was also bigger so we all hit the paper at least. :)

Ethan went first this time

 Then Crash

Then Max

I didn't know they videoed me. 

I also don't know why I don't have a picture of Jackson shooting the second gun. Sorry, Jackson!

Here are all our shots.

Max took this one home. I forgot to photo our individual charts. oh well. After an hour, everyone was ready to go, except Max. He absolutely loved it and wanted to keep shooting. On the way out, as we passed all of the cases full of guns, Max said "When I get old enough, I'm going to get all of these guns!!!" Sorry mom. 

Here they all are - armed and dangerous.

Of course we went to dinner after. Chick-fil-a. I forgot how much boys can eat - I made several trips to the cashier until they were all full!!! 

I had such fun - I love my grandsons. Thanks, boys, for going with your old Grandma. And thanks a million to Darrin!! I don't know how I will ever repay you!

A Bittersweet Goodbye

Last weekend we spent time in our favorite summer family get-away - Aunt LouAnn's cabin. We have been going there as a family since 1984 and this year was probably the last time. This cabin is located up Big Cottonwood Canyon, right next to Solitude. It is in a beautiful setting and has provided us with years of fun and relaxation. It is a place dear to our hearts. Here are a few pictures of this heaven on earth:

What do we do at the cabin, you may ask. 

We eat - lots of junk!

We roast marshmallows and . . .

this year we also had a skit, written by Max!

We make Harry Potter wands

We read

We play games, like:

Mormon Bridge

Spoons

Heads Up

& Mad Gab

We play in the river: 

We play (or sleep) in the Hammock!:

We celebrate August birthdays:

[we were trying to Facetime Jonny who is also an August birthday]

We play croquet:

We go on hikes:

We play ping pong:

We do actually sleep some:

And of course, we take pictures of each other:

 

Thank you, Lou Ann, for your generous heart. You have provided us with a beautiful place to make lots of happy memories. We all cried when we left. It is hard when good things end, but how grateful we are for these many years of family fun and love!!!

Next year -- a new adventure!