Halloween Party 2014

There are four of us in our neighborhood. Every year, one (or two of us some years) hosts a Halloween party. Sometimes kids are invited, sometimes it's a couples thing, but there needs to be at least one party in our neighborhood -- it's tradition. I was really not feeling up to it this year, one of us just had a baby, the other is going through some allergy stuff, so I somehow bamboozled Kelli into hosting in her backyard this year if I helped. Awesome is what it was. Because the yard is huge, we could invite as many people as we wanted to. Door to door fliers were... I wasn't willing to do that, so we decided to put it out on Facebook and specify that people tell their neighbors who weren't on there about the party. There were people who swear they knew nothing about it until they drove by, which was crummy. I told my carpool kids to tell they families, --at the last minute we almost sent out an email to the Relief Society group, but at that point it was only two days away. Anyway next time maybe I will recruit kids to do the fliers. I don't want ANYONE left out EVER! Anyway a big load of people came. 

 We supplied hot dogs and hot chocolate, and asked everyone who came, to bring a dish to share. We also specified that you had to come in costume or you'd have to sing karaoke. One of my more brilliant ideas. Not really. Great costumes showed up! Recognize the guy in red (you won't if you're younger than 40 apparently -I  thought it was great. I'm 42)?

We also did some games for the kids --pin the bow-tie on the skeleton, bean bag toss, some card games, mummify your friends with T.P.  There are probably some great pictures floating around about now of the Bishop mummified. The toilet paper started getting thrown all over the yard, so that game ended a little quickly...

 Audrey, the friend who just had the baby, overachieved as usual, and sewed costumes for almost her whole family of 8 (of course the older boys wanted to do their own thing). Adorable melty Olaf.

 Frozen was of course a huge deal this year. 

 I loved seeing this costume on this girl - if you know the story, it's the younger sister, the one without the showy talent -who actually ends up being the great hero of the story. You love both sisters, but you're glad the younger one gets her moment.

 Ari knew what she wanted to be -- every year she has a very strong opinion of her own. This year it was an elf princess. I made her a Lothlorien broach for her cloak (and the cloak actually).

 I loved that the older kids dressed up too.

 Another little Elsa.

 Kai was a ceiling fan. Notice Thor on the left? He's from a  "Whole family of Supers! Looks like I hit the Jackpot!" (name that movie) --you'll see his parents in a minute.

 This is Audrey --remember her from Frozen?

 Youngest in the Superhero family --he had a late nap and didn't want to wear his Clark glasses.

 Here's the fourth friend --half of the superhero parents. She loves Wonder Woman. This is a fabulous role model for girls actually --wait --I have an article. This is actually part of why I was Merida this year. I'm OK with her being a tomboy, know that's not all I have to be --it's not a choice between tomboy and princess! 

 Kelli has a great fire pit that came in handy when it cooled off later. We were sweating as we set up, but I was glad for the fire later.

 Tia was "The seven seas". But her "C's" got a little munched soon.

Anyway, we had a great time. Now I need to talk Kelli into hosting a hoedown. 

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Harvest fair and Girls' weekend.

 Every year our Stake (a group of neighborhood congregations in our church) does a Harvest Fair. In the past my girls and I have really had fun competing in the cake decorating, canning, and produce competitions. It's fun to say in passing  "my prize winning tomatoes"...""my prize winning chocolate cake"..."my prize winning daughter"...

 This year was a hard year for us. We all had a million places to be that day. Ari had been planning a flower arrangement though for a while, so she made that, I threw some tomatoes on a platter, and we rushed over -just her and me. We were too late to be in the judging, but I was still glad we went.

 My friend entered his wood sculpture. He designs them on a computer, and then, as he puts it, uses "every woodworking tool and machine known to man" to make them become a reality. This is him with his daughters.

 I have another friend who enters a metalworking project every year. Pretty impressive --last time it was chain mail.

 There were pony rides for the kids. 

 These ponies --only as big as large dogs!

 Face painting and kids crafts,

 A one family bluegrass band. I'd heard these guys before at a park concert and they never disappoint! 

 I was so excited to hear "Devil went down to Georgia". Been a while!

 Gardening demo ladies.

 Chick loving girls.

 

 Here was my tomato platter. Fancy. Ish.

 Ari's flower arrangement. She bought the water crystals, and a flashing color changing LED light for the vase with her own money.

We didn't stay long at the Harvest fair, because I was due up the canyon for a girls' weekend. Oh my gosh I needed this! My friend was moving back to California, so one of our group borrowed a cabin for us to stay in for a night as a going away thing. I was so excited to get up there, I drove without thinking right into BYU game traffic and was stuck an hour in Provo. I was not happy. I hated BYU, football, the entire city of Provo, the guy in the car in front of me (you were lucky you weren't a passenger in my car or you wouldn't have escaped my wrath either). 

But I finally made it, and it was worth the wait. I have to give you a tour of the "cabin". It was like going to a parade home. The bathroom was the cutest. In fact we wanted to take the group picture in the bathroom because we all loved it. Weird I know, but do you see that tub and tile? 

 Cutesy bedroom.

 Adorable kitchen with our plethora of snacks.

 Cozy living room.

 We ate (of course), and then furiously played games for hours.

 and I mean furiously!

 We talked and talked, and I loved it. So many stories. I was chatting with one of my friends later, and she commented on how cool it was that the conversation never dragged into gossip and criticism of people. These are nice girls. Of course we didn't go to bed until like 3:00, but it was worth the missed sleep. My sister always says, that talking and talking about your feelings (and listening and listening to them) is not a husband's job, it's for girlfriends. 

 The next day my fantastic friend made crepes for all of us, and we ate them with hot chocolate and herb tea. 

It was raining as I drove back down the canyon for church, but it only made the canyon more beautiful. A great memory.

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Pasta biking.

I had a dinner to make for someone, and had been craving spaghetti and meatballs myself (I used mostly elk meat --a gift from a friend), and decided to go whole hog (so to speak) with the from scratchiness. I had a bunch of tomatoes and peppers in my garden for sauce, and some semolina flour for noodles. The noodles were my downfall, and I was late with the dinner. Oh well, I had fun making them, even if I was ashamed when I finally showed up at my friend's door. 

My mother in law gifted me with a "pasta bike" a number of years ago. We don't get it out too often, but when you want a thin layer of dough for some reason it's invaluable, so I give it precious cupboard space. 

For the recipe I used this one and had great luck with it. I did a recipe and a half's worth because my friend has a lot of kids. Easy easy easy. The recipe isn't the problem. You mix it up quickly--I did it in my Bosch (I killed my kitchenaid twice, so moved my loyalties to Bosch. Of course I tried it out night before last and it's dead, so I'm pretty sure I'm now on round two on repairs of the Bosch....sigh). Once the dough is made, you divide it up, and put in a plastic bag to keep from drying. 

 Each piece gets rolled through the machine on the widest setting. Make sure you flour them well, sticking made me lose a good half hour before I started dusting them well. I don't know why I never remember that from time to time making this stuff! 

Fold in half, then run through three more times on this setting folding in half first each time.

 After those few wide setting runs, roll your dough through once each (no folding) at the higher settings -- moving your dial up a notch each time until you are at 4 or 5. 

You should finish with a beautiful sheet of pasta, and it's time to cut! My "bike" has an attachment you slide onto the back with cutting blades. This is the one you use for fettucine. 

Isn't that cool? Very satisfying. 

The trickiest part is finding room to let it all dry. I washed some hangers and hung them from my fruit tower. Anyway, give it a try some time --when you have a lot of time! Makes a tasty noodle.

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