Tales of a "Butcher Shop Victim"

Happy Halloween to all!  As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I am at quite an awkward stage in my life when it comes to Halloween.  Too old to go trick or treating, too lame to go to college Halloween parties, and I don't have kids yet so I don't even get to take anyone trick or treating.  I LOVE the costume part of Halloween, but unfortunately I am too busy (or scatterbrained?) to come up with solid costumes each year.  Not like we would have anywhere to wear them anyway.

My life Halloween goals are as follows:
Phase 1: Detailed, handmade, and clever couple costumes.
Phase 2: Detailed, handmade, and clever coordinating family costumes.  My children may or may not get a say in what they would like to be for Halloween (no superheros allowed).

As you can see, I have yet to start these phases of life.  Bailey and I have never had coordinating Halloween costumes!  The closest we've gotten are our togas from Senior "Morp".  And I've been wearing that toga every Halloween since.

Anyway, I didn't do anything of significance tonight other than go to Chili's with Bailey's family after I ate dinner.  An expensive and dangerous idea for sure (I might possibly explode from all the food).  But I must tell you of the Halloween party that happened on Saturday, because that was my major seasonal event!

Every time one of us grandkids starts junior high, we get the best Halloween party thrown for us and our friends!  I still remember my Halloween party.  That was terrifying and hilarious.  This year we had a number of girls start junior high, so it was up to the rest of us to put together the spookiest of spook alleys.  I swear, it gets better every time!

It was a long, cold night, but so much fun.  Let me take you on a walk through our alley...

First you get on this "haunted bus"

It will drive you through the "warehouse" - Grandpa's shop.  Seiji will warn you not to go in there, but your crazy driver won't listen!

It will be so foggy inside, you won't be able to see anything... when all of a sudden the bus is ambushed!  All you hear are yells, things banging into the bus, and all sorts of ruckus.  It is actually really quite overwhelming.  Here are our boys in there, even though they wouldn't be seen by any partygoers.

Your crazy driver, trying to start back up the bus that "died" will then drive you right through the wall of the warehouse!  (Maybe he's not so crazy after all - he never missed the tarp over the opening!

Your next stop is the haunted forest.  This is the point where, if you are a 12 year old girl, you stop to take a bathroom break because you are too scared.

Grandpa and I are the opening act in the haunted forest.  All partygoers must pass through Grandpa's butcher shop.  My job was to be his "victim", covered in blood, dead on his table.  Well, people are supposed to think I'm dead.  Grandpa convinced one person from each group to hold my arm so he can cut it off.  But the second they touch my arm, I SCREAM!  Haha it scared them so bad every time!

Now you can meet some of the other friends from our little forest!  Some of these pictures we had to take before the party, when it was still light, so just imagine these characters in the dark!

Of course, right when you think you are done and and back to safety, this crazy guy will chase you with his chainsaw!

Oh my gosh we just had so much fun on Saturday night!  It is interesting how much satisfaction comes from scaring people.  Scaring junior high kids is fun enough, but when my in-laws came with their friends for a run through, and my father in law touched my arm...  I wish you could have seen that reaction!  When I moved, he jumped, screamed, and swore all at the same time!  It was probably the best scare of the night!

We are all feeling a little bit hesitant to call this our last Halloween party even though it really probably was our last group of junior high kids.  We are considering doing it again in the future maybe for some charity fundraising?  We don't have solid plans yet, but I do hope that my scaring times are not over!

Here are just a few more pictures from that fun night!

 We were trying to get some "in character" pictures, but I couldn't keep it together when I looked up at Grandpa and he had a "bloody nose".

And a shoutout to my grandma, who does ALL the work on the actual party side!  She makes the greatest party host, gypsy, and fortune teller.  I wish we had a better picture of her in her costume!

October Pt. 2

What a fabulous month it has been!  Crazy, that's for sure, but fabulous nonetheless.

Day-to-day life is kind of a drag.  Work, school, work, school, work, school, repeat.  But it is the little things that shake things up and make life happy!  Like coming home to homemade ramen!  Bailey has some serious talent.

Cute things also make life happy.  Like all of the things we bought at Daiso!  The day we drove into California, we got there with just enough time to hit a Daiso before it closed.  I was excited to show my family that wonderful place, and it did not disappoint!  We came home with some fun things!

I was having a bad day the other day until we visited Evan's Family farm.  I snuggled this kitty for at least an hour and my life drastically improved.  I may need to adopt a kitten soon!

Here I am with another animal friend!

For all of your pumpkin, squash, and autumnal fun needs, be sure to visit Evans Family Farm.  It never disappoints!

I had a HUGE crisis the other day.  Long story short, because a class I needed isn't going to be offered next semester, that ONE class was going to throw my entire graduation off a semester.  HORRIBLE right?!  Plus then I would graduate in a December which is not convenient at all for a teacher!  I tried everything I could to get special permission or something, but nothing could be done.  Also, it's not my fault at all, because I just barely got accepted into the Secondary Education program, and I couldn't take it before I got accepted.  So, life was sad and I cried, but Bailey cleaned our room and bought me treats and flowers which made me happy... but also made me cry again because he's so sweet.

FYI about a week and a half after my adviser told me to give it up, she emailed me with some special permissions that she got me from the Department Head.  I again cried, but this time tears of joy.  Crisis averted - I will graduate on time!

Happy Halloween tomorrow!  Tonight Whitney invited us over for some tacos and pumpkin carving.  I wasn't feeling the whole carving thing, so I painted my pumpkin instead!  Bailey did a mix of both and I think his pumpkin turned out adorable!

Anaheim Disneyland Day 2

We got up bright an early this morning to make sure we hit some specific rides!  We started with the Haunted Mansion which I LOVE.  Of course, I prefer it when it is not "Nightmare Before Christmas" themed, but it is still fun.  I don't mind those sorts of changes when they're only seasonal!

We also went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which was fantastic as usual!  New Orleans Square is one of my favorite areas of Disneyland (it is tied with Fantastyland!) so it was really nice to spend some time there this morning!  And it was also nice to eat the food.  Churros for breakfast!  I'm not usually a churro sort of gal, but Bailey bought this smores churro and it was actually really tasty.

We split up at that point because guess who was in town?  Bailey's very best friend Mike!  We didn't know they would also be in Disneyland until our drive here, when Mike's girlfriend posted a Disneyland picture of them on Instagram.  We ran into them first thing in the morning yesterday in the line for The Guardians of the Galaxy, but didn't have the chance to spend time with them until today.

These boys are impossible.  This is literally the best picture I got of them together.

We went on Splash Mountain, which I really hate!  It gives me so much anxiety!  Of course I always like it in the end... unless I get wet.  I didn't get very wet today though!  We also went on the Winnie the Pooh ride again since that line is always short.  I had Bailey snap a picture of my "hidden Mickey" while we waited in line.  It's not a very good picture.

We didn't spend a ton of time with them because they had the fancy fast passes to things and we didn't.  So it wasn't long before we were buying food (I LOVE THE CORNDOGS) and treats again and meeting up with my family for the Indiana Jones ride!  I always forget this, but the Indiana Jones ride is probably one of my favorites!

We hopped over to California Adventure for a little bit after that, to see if we could avoid the crowds by doing so.  It was pretty crowded there too!  We fulfilled Bailey's dream by buying one of these souvenir cups, though, so it was worth it.

For lunch Bailey bought a hot dog but all I needed was a dill pickle.  I am obsessed with these!

My hair, by the way, is an attempt at Mickey ears.

Afterwards, Bailey and I spent some time just him and I.  I had been dreaming of a Disneyland date so I'm so happy we got to spend the time together!  We explored Toon Town a little bit and Bailey just loved this boat.  I think he has a thing for boats.

What I really wanted to do was go on the little kid rides all over Fantasyland.  I just love Fantasyland!  Bailey was a good sport as we went on things like the Mr. Toad Ride and Snow White's Ride (which I screamed so loud on!  It is seriously the scariest ride in the park!!)

We bought some treats before meeting back up with my family.

As one must always do, we got some pictures with the castle!  It is just the tiniest little castle, but it makes my heart happy!

Mom and dad headed back to the hotel after that, but us kids stuck around, determined to make it to the fireworks show.  We hit a couple of rides, getting on Alice in Wonderland just in time before they stopped letting people on!  Here was our view from the line:

We made it to the fireworks show, which was so fun!  And so CROWDED!  Check this out!  I took this when we were leaving the park.

Thus concludes our Disneyland adventure, unfortunately.  Oh what fun we had!  Probably one of the best family vacations we have had in a long time!  Tomorrow we get to drive all the way back to Utah then begin real life again.  But I don't want to think about that right now!

Anaheim Disneyland Day 1

You know, it feels kind of cool to have to specify what Disneyland I'm referring to.  I have a new goal, you know, since Disneyland Shanghai, to visit all of the Disneylands in the world!  Of course in the end, I don't think any of them will beat good old Anaheim Disneyland.  Emphasis on the "old" - mom, Bailey, and I really noticed this trip how run down Disneyland is getting!  Haha, in fact, a good portion of our sentences started with, "well in Shanghai...", probably driving everyone else crazy.  Like I was saying though, as beautiful, sparkly, new, and clean Disneyland Shanghai is, there's no place like the original.  I have so many wonderful memories of Disneyland, I feel so nostalgic every time I come!

I posted a couple of weeks ago the "little" present mom and dad gave all of us.  Two day Disneyland passes!  Since then we have been SO excited for our fall break trip.  Even Bailey has expressed his excitement (he normally keeps his excitement to himself)!  He told me, "I have always dreamed of walking down Main Street to the castle holding hands with you - I am so excited for that!"  Good thing he doesn't read my blog, because it would probably embarrass him that I wrote that.  But I thought it was so sweet!

Anyway, today was Day 1 at Disneyland and it was just perfect!  We actually started in California Adventure because my mom is one of those strategic visitors.  We booked it straight over to the Tower of Terror - EXCEPT IT WASN'T THE TOWER OF TERROR.  Yes, I was aware that they changed it, but of course I was upset seeing with my own eyes that such a travesty was true.  I'm really bitter about it, if you can't tell.  I did ride it and I did have fun.  They did a great job!  But they should not have changed it.  They should have just built "The Guardians of the Galaxy" ride next to the Tower of Terror.  Make a little neighborhood of tower rides.

Since Kylie is pregnant(!!!), she didn't go on round one of that ride.  Seiji had stayed with her, and I stayed with her while everyone else went again along with Seiji.  Kylie and I wandered around looking for food and found a net of fish, which almost sufficed.

We ended up meeting everyone at Flo's Cafe.  Oh my gosh, cutest place ever!  And the food was tasty.  Our first meal in the parks!

We went on the Cars ride (which I love!) and explored Cars Land just a little bit.  It is so cute!  And it was extra fun to see it all decorated for Halloween.

California Adventure is fun, but we were all anxious to get over to Disneyland.  Before we left, someone offered to snap a family picture for us.  Which was great and all except that Bailey was in the bathroom!

Off to Disneyland we went!  We had an 11:30 reservation to get to at Cafe Orleans.  Oh my gosh - Disneyland food!  SO GOOD!  (I'll try not to bring up Shanghai too much but I must at this point to warn you that Shanghai Disneyland food isn't that great.  Anaheim is where it's at.)  We love the pommes frites, mint juleps, and of course, the beignets! 

The rest of the day was spent exploring, riding rides, and eating all the food!

We ate dill pickles, barbecue skewers, cream cheese filled pretzels, and of course, Dole Whip!

One of my very favorite rides is It's a Small World.  It is probably the creepiest thing in the entire world.  Imagine going on it alone in the middle of the night!  Terrifying!  But as long as I have a boat full of my people, I am as happy as can be on that little cruise.  As you know, I'm obsessed with different cultures, and I love how they are portrayed on this ride!  There's so much to see and I wish it went even slower so I could take it all in!

Public Service Announcement: The Matterhorn now gets you wet!  That was definitely a surprise!  Also their new monster is so freaky.

After a while we ventured back to California Adventure to buy some Ghirardelli shakes/sundaes.  Bailey and I shared one and it almost killed me in two ways because 1. it was $14 for ONE SHAKE and 2. half of it was like straight brownie batter!  It was the most delicious and deathly shake I have ever experienced!

After that, Kylie was feeling tired as many pregnant ladies do.  So she and Seiji headed back to the hotel to join dad (who headed back just a little earlier).  Then it was just Bailey, mom, and I - the ultimate travel trio!  We decided to fulfill one of Bailey's dreams and spend hours in Cars Land.  He has seriously been SO excited for Cars Land.  He hasn't been to the area since he was 14 so he had never even seen it (it is fairly new)!  He thought it was just about the coolest thing ever, and drug us through every single gift shop.

We decided to go on the Cars ride again, and then to wait in the fairly long line for "Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters".

What.  The.  Heck.  It was the most random ride I have ever experienced!  I didn't even know it existed, so just in case you didn't either, basically you sit in a car as it "dances" to Italian music.  Haha, how random is that?!  Dancing cars!  We had a ton of fun on it though, as the three of us squished into one car.  It was random, but I would totally go again!

The rest of the night was pretty anticlimactic, as we decided to wait in line for some Boudin bread bowls filled with chowder.  The line looked insanely long but we thought, "how long does it really take for them to scoop soup?"  Well apparently it takes a REALLY long time because we waited for at least an hour and a half.  Not even kidding.  We thought several times that we should give up, but we persevered!  And was it worth it?  Still not sure.  It was kind of freezing outside.

After that it was back to the hotel for us!  What a wonderful day at Disneyland it was!