Halloween!!!

As most of you all know, our life is not quite what we expected it to be right now. We’re living in temporary housing that continues to keep us humble while we’re still looking for a more permanent home, work is slim and we’re in a new ward where we don’t know ANYONE. Basically, I’ve been worrying that this holiday season is going to be just plain miserable but with Halloween kicking off the fall/winter holiday season, I’ve realized something really cool. LIFE IS GREAT!!!


Halloween was a blast! The fun started more than a week ago with our ward Halloween party. I’ve been told that in this part of Apache Junction, you never know who’s going to show up. Activities can really be hit or miss but we actually had a GREAT turn out! It was nice and the kids had a great time.

Then the kids each had their Halloween parties at school. Can we say sugar overload by now?!! Sheesh!

Then on Saturday, we did something I never believed would happen. (I’m getting pretty choked up right now.) I know I don’t talk about my mom very often. That’s really a very long, long story with a ton of water under a bridge that has been rebuilt a dozen times over. (Okay, really crying right now.) I can tell you that I haven’t spent a Halloween with my mom since I was 12 years old and that my kids have never had the pleasure of spending time with her on such an occasion. Well this Halloween, my mom was everything! A couple of weeks ago, she begged me to let her do the kids Halloween costumes. She really didn’t have to beg. I could easily see how much this was going to mean to her and I was delighted to let her do it. When we got to her home Saturday, she was just like a kid in a candy store! Seriously, she was an uber excited Grandma like you’ve never seen before! She went way overboard (Her “right as Grandma” I was told firmly!) buying the kids all kinds of fun stuff. She had wigs, masks, candy, gloves, makeup, costumes, toys, etc. She and the kids spent over an hour getting dressed up and putting makeup on. Then we had to take pictures of course. This wig on Cole just cracked me up. I think it was the mustache that did me in. So hilarious! We all had so much fun.

When it was getting dark we started packing up to head out, saying our goodbyes to Grandma and smothering her with hugs and kisses. I was sad she didn’t have the strength to head out with us. I wanted to keep spending time with her. She recently had a spike in her blood pressure that resulted in her loosing 80% of her vision in her right eye. She’s still adjusting to her limited depth perception and isn’t walking too well. I worry about her so much and I sometimes wonder how much longer she will be with us. Nobody is promised tomorrow and I’m very grateful that we’ve been blessed with this extra time to love each other. I am especially grateful that my kids have gotten to know her so well. They love her so much and are always asking me when they can see her again. WE LOVE YOU MOM! Thank you for everything! You made our Halloween so special!


So, being that we’re neighborhood-less (is that a word?) we stayed in Mesa near my mom’s house to trick-or-treat and ended up scoring big time! We saw a bunch of cars heading into this really nice neighborhood (with mansion sized homes) and decided to follow. What the heck, right? In the middle of this neighborhood they had this long cul-de-sac street closed off and the entire length of it (both sides) was lined with homeowners handing out candy. They also had games, food, drinks and all sorts of stuff for the kids to enjoy. It was so fun and the kids scored full size candy bars and toys all along the way (without walking miles to get it, hee, hee). It was crazy!


Now will somebody please tell me what to do with all this candy?! ? We have THREE full grocery size bags and it’s killing me!