Halloween 2016

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There was a lot of anticipation for all three of us leading up to the actual holiday. We spent a lot of time with family doing some fun activities.  I know family events are a ton of work for all those involved, but the more we attend the more I realize how essential they are.

We decorated our porch with some wooden boxes and fairytale pumpkins the week before Halloween.  Thanks Trader Joe’s.  I didn’t need any pumpkins, let alone nine of them.  Sloan convinced me to get this beautiful burnt orange pumpkin and the next thing I knew, I had a whole cart full.

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The Sunday before Halloween we had the Henderson pumpkin carving night at the rink in Layton. Sloan painted her “pineapple pumpkin” and couldn’t get out of the high chair fast enough to play with her cousins. She did enjoy the chicken noodle soup and company way more than the actual activity.

img_4767Zach and his dad also got to try out the new Zipline Course at the rink – which was a total slam dunk for all the grandkids!img_4769 img_4768

Since Zach’s brother Sean has moved back to Utah, Sloan finally has a cousin her age to play with!  Sloan adores Cole (they are only two weeks apart) and says his name repeatedly at family functions.

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Halloween morning I treated Sloan to some spooky crepes.  She assisted me in the mixing; in hopes to psyche her up to actually eat them.  She has never liked them in my attempts in the past.  Her and her father are the only two people I have ever met that dislike crepes.  It must be hereditary.  Come to find out that if you drizzle a little chocolate sauce over them, she’s ALL ABOUT THE CREPES.

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Technically this was Sloan’s first REAL experience with trick-or-treating.  Last year she could barely walk and despised her popcorn more than anything else on this earth. Sloan dressed up as sushi, complete with wasabi and ginger hair clips and a soy sauce trick-or-treating pail.  Everyone’s schedule was quite hectic, so we decided to meet up with my family at my brother’s warehouse for lunch.  Sloan and I brought food and my mom and Brittany met us as well.  Sloan got to show off her costume to my family and loved visiting them.

After Zach got home from work we drove up to Ogden to trick-or-treat at Mimi and Papa’s house.  Mark and Jeanene always give the best treats – but Sloan was more interested in who was coming to their door and then afterwards playing in the play room.  We only stayed for a short time before driving back home to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.  We hit up all the houses on our street and then came back home to greet some trick-our-treaters ourselves.  Sloan loved the whole routine, but liked giving out candy from our house even more.  She loved seeing who would surprise her at the door next.

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After having way too many pieces of candy, we tucked her into bed and spent the rest of the night baking salted caramel bars and watching a few games.  I have a serious baking problem lately – and it’s a great activity to do after Sloan goes to bed and Zach is watching football.

Halloweek

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The weeks leading up to Halloween were not short of excitement.  Our families really know how to make the most out of a holiday, I’ll tell you that.

I made Japanese noodles with shrimp and they were BOMB.  So easy and even low calorie!  All three of us liked the meal, actually. shrimp-noodlesWednesday we had family photos scheduled.  They went about as well as the last ones in Mexico – but luckily this time there wasn’t sand involved.  My cousin’s cousin took them [does this mean she’s my second cousin?] and we were all thrilled with how well she captured some group photos of all of us.  Even to get back a few good ones was a success if you ask me!img_4716

Sloan already loves Halloween.  Her favorite book is SPOOKY HOUSE (a lift-the-flap book about a haunted house) and she begs me to read it every single day.  So I thought it would be fun to make some festive treats – frozen banana chocolate ghosts…
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…and a caramel apple with the leftover white chocolate for myself.  It isn’t much to look at – but it tasted just as good as those Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory get-ups.caramel-apple

Zach left Friday to go hunting with the men in his family.  He stayed through the weekend so Sloan and I spent all weekend, just the two of us.  img_4692

Sloan came down with a horrible cold – the same one I had while we were in Mexico.  We laid low and hung out at home a lot.  We made some festive cookies for our neighbors and I still can’t help but laugh at how they turned out.  We melted white and black chocolate and froze them in teeth molds to top our sugar cookies.  Who knew there was edible gold paint?  Not me! img_4670

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Sloan started feeling better a few days later.  Good enough to go about our normal routine of park hopping and leaf stomping.  img_4651

She asked to make another batch of cookies, so I obliged.  Again, giving them out to our neighbors and some friends.  img_4710

We decorated Halloween cookies with my side of the family at my aunt’s house a few Sundays beforehand. My sister-in-law brought unfrosted Fiiz sugar cookies for us to frost and they were a hit. Sloan thought they could use some sprinkles, however.img_4706

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I made a friend at a local Smith’s who told me when Halo Top was re-stocked each week.  So my supply of my favorite flavor – sea salt caramel – is great right now.  It is by far the best of their new flavors, a must-try!
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Sloan and I took a field trip of our own to a nearby pumpkin patch and I let her select her very own “special” pumpkin to decorate with stickers at home.  She actually did a great job all on her own! img_4724

Zach came home soon after and we were glad to have him back before all the other holiday festivities.  Our days just aren’t the same without him in them.