Halloween!

    This Halloween had to be the most fun for me and Ryan! We turned the facade of our home into a spider web covered haunted house.  We had a strobe light lighting up the glow in the dark spiderwebs that were also lit by a black light. We had dry ice to create a thick fog on the porch and cascade down the steps to the side walk, which was lit by a blue light.   Red light bulbs inside gave an eerie glow to the windows. We set up the computer monitor in the picture window with a video loop of what looked like a ghost caught in a TV with bad reception...that caught the eye of every child and stopped them in their tracks! To add to the fright, Ryan dressed up like a vampire, painted his face gray with purple streaks and fake blood streaming out of his mouth and down his chin.  He wore all black with a long black cape.  He would hide by the tree in our front yard and he was so camouflaged that no one would see him, so jumping out to scare them was a piece of cake!

I helped take the attention away from him along with the cover of darkness.  I dressed up like "Phantom Of the Opera's Wife" as one trick-or-treater called me.  I wore a black and white dress with a red hooded cape, bright red lipstick and I wore the venetian mask we found in Venice on our honeymoon.  I would sit like a lifeless mannequin in a chair with the candy bowl at my feet.  I would wait until the kids got close to the candy and would jump out at them and yell "BOO!" They would scream, jump, and scatter back to their parents.  Some kids were so scared to come get candy that they made their parents come up with them, so I would get both the kids and the parents! I had one little boy get so scared he wouldn't come back to get candy, so his mom carried him back over to the candy bowl and she had to reach in the bowl for his candy. Since everyone thought they had already gotten their 'trick', they weren't paying attention to the vampire (Ryan) creeping up behind them! They would scream and some of them would run down the sidewalk or out towards the street! 

 These are my homemade tombstones! I used card board and left over paint from painting the house.  I had fun :)

We used construction cones that road workers left by our yard and caution tape too.

 So the candy bowl would be at my feet and I would "play dead"!

(See the fog?)

 See the blood running down his chin?

 Waiting for night time...muahahaha!

     Ryan's pumpkin on the left, mine on the right!

We can't wait for next year! We are going to try to get our street to haunt their houses, start a tradition! Hopefully everyone will be on board!

~JuJuB

  

What happened to fall?

       I thought snow came after Halloween?  It's 3 days until all hallows eve and, in my new home town of Salt Lake City, we have already had at least 3-4 inches of snow fall - in a day!   I was born and raised in Atlanta, so snow is quite an excitement for me.   It's so beautiful; lightly falling from the sky and floating to the ground, coating everything in a soft, fluffy white blanket.  It's amazing how snow can put a southerner in such a great mood! 

I walk my neighbors dogs a couple times a week; and this week was my favorite outside adventure with them.  Meet Everett, the golden, and Ruby the flat coat retriever.

     Everett is obsessed with snow! He loves running in it, rolling in it, laying in it, eating it, and he also loves catching snowballs! We had so much fun.  Ruby is not yet accustomed to it.  She delicately walks in it, tries to eat it, but instead she ends up pulling the grass up from its roots...she's trying to be like her big brother, but doesn't understand the white stuff yet.  I guess she will start loving it...I mean she has to - it's Utah, and the only seasons Utah has is Winter and Summer.  So I've been told...and I will soon find out!  

 The night it snowed I tried to get our dog Kooper to come out and play in the snow.  I opened the front door and he dropped his head as if he were in trouble! He did not want to go out in the cold snowy night.  He  reluctantly went out, sniffed around, went on the same rock as always, and ran right back inside.  Get used to it buddy, thats what the outside will be like a lot of the time form now on :)  I wasn't able to get a good picture of Koop in the snow, he moves so quick I can't snap a shot! I will get one up soon though!

    I'll leave you with a few more pictures of our block in our new neighborhood, The Avenues.  Enjoy!

     

Our neighbors roses, covered in snow!

This is our side of 3rd Ave.

Across the street from our house

Miss Ruby paw prints on the porch

Snowy Kayak!

Isn't the sky gorgeous?

Outside of the Wasatch elementary school

Perfect little sitting area...even more perfect with snow!

Have a wonderful "Fall" everyone!

~JuJuB