Halloween Festivities

First of all, I cannot believe that Halloween is just a few days away. Where in the world has the time gone? I get so sick of saying that, but I can't help it. It seriously flies away in an instant and I'm left shrugging my shoulders.

I guess when the realization that October is almost over hit me, I morphed into FESTIVE mode yesterday and got domestic! I spent the day in the kitchen, filling my house with the yummy smells of fall. I dipped caramel apples for the first time ever. I've always wanted to do it, but just never took the time. I went to the bakery supply store and bought a 3 lb. block of caramel and went to town. After dipping them in the caramel, I rolled some of them in nuts and drizzled them with chocolate, some had toffee and chocolate, some I just drizzled with chocolate and some were just plain ol caramel. The kids could hardly contain themselves when they came home from school and saw them. If I had let them, they 'd all be gone by now.

After I got that mess cleaned up, I made a MONSTER batch of our favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I LOVE the smell of my house when I bake those cookies. It makes you want to eat them as they come out of the oven! But instead, I'm going to give most of them away, along with the carameled apples. They're too much of a temptation, and quite frankly, IRRESISTIBLE, if they're sitting on the counter. I guess I'll have to keep a few for the kids to keep from getting in big trouble. They would not be happy if I didn't save any for them.

By the time all of that was cleaned up, it was time to make dinner. I threw a quick spaghetti dinner together and sat down for the first time that day! It felt so good to sit for a minute.

After dinner, I looked over at the pile of dishes that had filled the sink for the third time that day and just sighed. Chris started to do them, but I told him to hold off and asked him if he'd help the kids carve their pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins is always an interesting and fun experience! This year, we decided that we'd let the kids do most of the work. Landon was so excited to be able to draw his very own face on his pumpkin and had a very specific idea in mind. As Chris helped him carve it, Landon was right there giving him very specific instruction about how to carve the mouth. It was so cute.

Todd managed on his own and did a great job. Dylan persevered and carved his whole pumpkin all by himself. I was impressed. The knife was tough for him to maneuver, but he did it! Emmy was really enjoying herself until she started gutting the pumpkin. She wasn't really enjoying the slimy, squishy feel of the seeds, but she managed until her arms started itching so bad it hurt. I had her stop and wash her hands and arms. Within about two minutes, she had HIVES everywhere her arms touched the inside of the pumpkin. I could not believe it. I've suspected for a while that she's got a mild allergy to fruit because when she eats it, her throat starts to hurt and her ears itch from the inside. Evidently, her allergy is with more than just fruit. Maybe it's with anything raw. I don't know, but we'll find out soon. We'll be making another trip to the allergist.

We had a fun night together and the cherry on top was to light the pumpkins. We sat outside for 10 minutes just watching them glow in the dark! I really love Halloween, but once it's over, I instantly switch gears and it's all about "The Holiday Season" for me!!! I say "The Holiday Season" because Thanksgiving and Christmas are all-in-one for us. I love decorating for Christmas about mid-November. I've got so many decorations that it takes me that long to do it all! But besides that, we just love the spirit of Christmas so much that we love to incorporate it into Thanksgiving....a time of family togetherness, thankfulness and giving. Some might say that decorating for Christmas so early takes away from Thanksgiving, but it's not like that at the Morgan's house! I am sooooo excited for the coming season, but can hardly believe it's already here.

There are many more domestic cooking/baking days to come, afterall, 'Tis the Season for CHOCOLATES!!!!

Picture Time!

I took the kids on Friday to take their pictures. Most of them turned out pretty good, but it's really hard to get 4 kids to smile naturally all at the same time! I wish Chris had been with us. He can get them to smile really good with his silly antics.

The stomach flu has gone through all of the kids this past week and unfortunately, Todd was not feeling very well during this photo shoot. I felt so bad when he told me he was feeling sick again, but we were there and I didn't want to leave. I didn't get really great ones of Emmy because she had to pee so bad she could hardly stand it and Dylan forgot his glasses and has a red kool-aid mustache!! But HEY, what do ya do??!! Considering the circumstances, I can't complain about how the pictures turned out. We had fun taking them. I had fun playing with the photo editor as well. Here are some of my favorite....

Our Week With CC and Chelsea

We had an AWESOME week with our kids from Florida!! It was so nice to take the week off and enjoy their company.

We took another road trip to Moab so they could see the the spectacular sights there. This time, we made sure we hiked the 3 mile hike to Delicate Arch very first. It was so worth it! The weather was absolutely PERFECT, despite the wind.

Our hike was pretty uneventful until Landon dropped his water bottle on the slick rock and started chasing it. Everyone was yelling at him to stop chasing it and just let it go, but he kept going. My heart was in my toes as I watched him gain speed. I was too far away from him to grab him and was so afraid that he was going to trip and roll off the cliff with the water bottle. When he realized the bottle was going faster than he could, he stopped and sobbed. I think he was more upset about everyone yelling for him to stop than he was about losing his water. I was absolutely beside myself. Someone had a hold of his hand the rest of the way up.

Little did we know that the worst was yet to come!! Mr. typical-teenage-not-thinking-boy CC decided to stray off the marked path and take a short cut. We thought when we saw him at the top of a rock that he'd just come back down, just like he'd been doing the whole hike up. But NO. He kept going. By the time we rounded the corner to Delicate Arch, several of the family members were already there. The first thing that Chris and I heard was, "CC's stuck on a ledge down below the Arch."

Emmy was already anxious about the heights and the cliffs without railings and the strong winds, but when she heard that, she panicked. So I stayed up on the ridge with her while Chris went down to assess the situation. The more details I heard while Chris was gone, the more upset I got about the whole thing. How could he do that? WHAT on earth was he thinking????? Did he not realize...? You know, typical mother things to think. I feared that we were going to have to call in a rescue team.

From what I could gather, he was inching over on a ledge about the width of his foot....the width - NOT the length...so I'm guessing about 6 inches - if that - thinking that from there, he could just crawl up the slick rock to safety and be with everyone else. WRONG!!!! By the time he got to the point of no return, he quickly realized that it was much too steep to climb up on his own, as there was NOTHING to hang on to. So......he stood there, stuck.

I could see from a distance that Chris was trying to figure out how to help him up. It was too steep for him to simply reach down and grab him. He would've fallen. When Emmy realized what Chris was doing, she was HYSTERICAL. She was so afraid that he was going to fall or that CC would accidentally pull him over. Luckily, April thought quick and threw Chris her sweatshirt so he could lower it to CC and pull him up. THANK HEAVEN IT WORKED!!!!! April photographed the whole incident. I don't think CC has ever been so terrified in his life. He was so grateful that he was safe in dad's arms after he was able to crawl up the side of that slick rock. UGH.......we were all a bag of mixed emotions. Relieved, happy and grateful that it all ended well. Mad, angry and upset that it even happened at the same time! Oma told him he was going to get a spanking! I thought that was hilarious. I told her she should've turned him over her knee.

By that time, despite the successful rescue, Emmy was convinced that someone was going to get blown off a cliff by the wind. So to help her cope, she wedged herself under a rock and hid her face so she wouldn't have to see people sitting what she perceived to be too close to the edge.

The Arch itself was breathtaking. Again, I marveled at the beauty of the earth and thought about it's creation. Simply amazing!

Soon enough, we were on our way down and everyone was safe. By the time we got back to the van, we were tired and hungry.

We ate lunch and then did a few more of the really easy hikes. Here are a few pics from Sand Dune Arch....

Corie and April

CC and Chelsea on top of Sand Dune Arch with Dylan sand jumping below.

We did Canyonlands on day 2. Dead Horse Point was so much prettier this time. There was no haze in the air and I got some awesome pictures! It was pretty cold though. It was only around 50 degrees when we got there, but by the time we had been walking around for a while, the cool temps felt so nice.

We found a letterbox hidden in the rocks. At first glance, it looked like someone left their garbage sitting there. My initial reaction was to be mad. I reached down and picked it up and in big, bold letters, it said "THIS IS NOT GARBAGE!" and then explained what to do with it. We opened the box and inside we found a notebook that had been signed by all different kinds of people from different places. It was pretty cool. We all signed it and then hid it again for the next person to find.

Our next destination was Mesa Arch. I wasn't sure I would be able to make that hike because I was in flip flops. I got a huge blister on my right heel from the Delicate Arch hike and could not wear my sneakers. I decided to try it anyway. It wasn't bad. There was only one spot where there was slick rock covered in sand that I was worried about losing traction, but I just held onto Chris and I was fine.

This arch is so spectacular. The view is breathtaking - literally. I decided to be brave and sit with Chris near the edge. I was fine as ling as I was holding on to him, but when he got up and left, my stomach dropped immediately to my toes and my head started spinning. I seriously felt like I was falling. Of course I was fine, but I felt too exposed to the edge.

Emmy, once again, was freaking out about everyone being too close to the edge. She just didn't have a very happy experience. I just couldn't understand what her problem was. she was just fine when we were there a month ago.

Hannie was such a trooper! She made every hike with us and never complained once. She used her cane to help with her knee, but she's quite the studly hiking Oma!!!!!

After that, we ate lunch and headed over to Upheaval Dome. Dylan got car sick on the way there, so me and Landon opted to stay in the van with him. When he felt better, we walked around and took a couple of pictures to pass the time.

Once again, we had a great time. I don't think I could ever see too much of that place. I look forward to going back again.

While we were in Moab, it snowed in the valley for the first time this year. CC and Chelsea were kind of bummed that they missed it, so on Monday, we took them up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Silver Lake. It was so gorgeous up there. There was enough snow to be beautiful, but not too much to be miserable.

Only in Utah can you be on desert slick rock one day and in snowy mountains the next! It was awesome. Chels made a snow angel and a tiny snowman with Landon. She and CC had fun pelting each other with snowballs. We had a GREAT time. Todd, Emmy and Dylan were really miffed when they found out where we'd been while they were in school. Oh well, it's not like they haven't seen it before!

From Big Cottonwood Canyon, we drove to Little Cottonwood Canyon to the temple quarry and showed the kids where the stone for the Salt Lake Temple came from. They thought it was pretty cool as they checked out the reject pile that had visible spike markings in the stone. The history of the Salt Lake Temple really fascinates me. There was a kind of reverence I felt as we walked around the quarry.

Our week with the kids went way too fast, but it ended on such a great note! On Tuesday, October 14th, we went to the temple with CC. Chris was his escort. He was a pretty proud dad! It was such an awesome experience. CC was absolutely glowing as we sat there in the session. I had to stop looking over at him because I kept getting teary eyed and like a dumby, I didn't have any tissues with me. We stayed in the Celestial Room for quite a while. We let CC take his time to absorb, ponder and pray. I will NEVER forget that night and how great it felt. I am so happy he waited to go through with us here in Utah. It really meant a lot to share that experience with him.

It seriously feels just like yesterday that Chris and I went through. How in the world is it possible for us to be taking our oldest son through? My mind has had a hard time wrapping itself around that little reality! Time seriously seems to be flying at light speed. I feel like I'm going to miss something if I blink.

It was a hard good-bye for me this time. Not that it hasn't been hard all the other times we've had to put them on an airplane back to Florida, but this time seemed especially hard. I just wanted them to stay forever. They both have such special spirits and I didn't want them to leave. I look forward to seeing CC again in a month when he comes to the MTC, and we'll see Chelsea again in May when she graduates from High School. It's not like it's going to be forever - but I know it will feel that way.