Week 44

{October 31 - November 6}

Okay, so I'm writing this post about Halloween week on Christmas Eve. The bad thing about trying to back-track is my lack of memory regarding the details. I use pictures to help me remember, and even then, it's not all there in my brain anymore....

Monday was Halloween. After school, I picked up Kanyon and took him trick-or-treating at the Merchant's trick-or-treat on Main Street. I love this tradition! We also stopped for a free dinner at the Avalon storefront: hot dogs, chips, and drinks. How awesome! Jonah and Micah's school gets out a few minutes after elementary, so they walked themselves down Main Street, and we caught up with them after about an hour. Micah said he heard my laugh at one point, and knew I was around, but I didn't actually spot them until Kanyon and I were all done. I was super proud of the twins for figuring out their own costumes, being independent enough to go trick-or-treating on their own, and for being responsible enough to find me! I really love those boys! I took all 3 of them to the Baptist Church's Halloween party after trick-or-treating. It was fun! We ate dinner there, and the boys played the Cake Walk until we came home with some cupcakes to have for dessert at our Family Home Evening. We'd never gone to their church's party before (it's a big one!) because it always conflicted with either the Elementary's Halloween Carnival or our church's Ward Party, but I'm glad we stopped by.

Stopping at the Avalon booth on Main Street for hot dog dinner

Trick-or-treating down Main Street with the masses!

I had just observed a 5th grade lesson on the poem
"The Raven" on Friday, so I loved seeing an actual
representation of this homemade Raven costume
 that a woman wore trick-or-treating!

I finally found my pirate son! We had to drive down the street
to find his Mickey Mouse brother.

I'm so proud of these boys for figuring out their own
costumes this year! And they did a great job, too!

Kanyon ate about half of his candy from his bucket on Tuesday. The other half of the candy he didn't really like, and gave away to his brothers!


I took Wednesday and Thursday off school to finish the mounds of paperwork that I had to do for my Pre-Clinicals college class. I had to type up 60 hours of observations, and fill out numerous forms. It was extremely overwhelming. Since I knew I wasn't going to work, I didn't take a shower on Wednesday morning (I put a headband on instead to cover up my yucky hair, and ended up feeling pretty!!! It was a good cover-up!). I ended up having to work that morning for an hour to attend some testing for one of my one-on-one students, then I met up with my visiting teaching ladies for breakfast, and then I took one of my visiting teaching ladies around town to do her errands, and I didn't get back home until almost noon. Half my day was already shot! It was not how I planned the day to go. I was so stressed out! But I tried to remain calm on the outside even though my insides were screaming!

On Thursday, I woke up and immediately started working on my college class requirements again. I typed and typed until my head hurt. By then it was about 11:00, and since Josh took the afternoon off (driving his bus route) to visit his friends from England that were in Rexburg for the week, he was ready to leave town, and took me with him. Although I had planned on typing all day, once again, that didn't work out. We stopped at Terreton so he could meet my class and the teacher I'd observed in October(and he could tell why I loved it so much there, even though we only stopped by for like 5 minutes). Then we drove out to Ashton and visited a golf course and one of Josh's cousins who was a new part-owner in it. Joseph Corbett drove us around the 18-hole resort course in his side-by-side, and Josh and he talked about improvement plans and ideas for the future. It was a very relaxing afternoon. Then we drove back to Rexburg, and picked up the Whall's at their hotel. Josh met the Whall's on his mission to England. They were visiting Idaho because their youngest daughter Eve will be attending BYU-I in January, and they wanted to visit the campus. Their mom Amanda was there, as well as 3 of Eve's older sisters. We drove to Idaho Falls to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We had such a lovely time! I love being with these ladies--I love hearing their accent, feeling their love, and joining in on their humor. Since it was Josh's birthday coming up, we told the waiter (who kept using a weird accent that changed every time he came to our table) that we had a birthday at our table. Then one of the girls said their sister Camilla was having the birthday. The staff came and sang to her, and it was so hilarious! When we drove them back to their hotel in Rexburg, we hung out in the lounge talking for a bit before they were so exhausted that they went to bed, and Josh and I drove back to Idaho Falls to stay at the Destinations Inn for the night (it was my birthday gift to him). We stayed in the Alaskan room--the first time we've ever stayed in that room before. It was a more simply-decorated theme room, but it was a nice stay for the night.

When Josh's medium-rare steak came, everybody was aghast because it looked
so red and bloody. All the British girls kept telling him that the staff had just
pulled it right out of the cooler and put on his plate. 

Funny enough, on our way out, the display cooler by the check-in desk had one
singular steak missing, and all the girls were saying "See! We told you!" So funny!

 

Some of the Whall ladies, L-R: Sam, Amanda, Eve, Camilla, and Abi

Abi putting her swollen feet up after the meal

a very happy birthday to Josh indeed!

On Friday morning, Josh and I did a bit of shopping, and met up with the girls once more in a parking lot in Idaho Falls, because they were bringing Josh's sunglasses to him, and we gave Sam a Christmas gift that I'd found that morning as a token of memories from the previous night's dinner. They were going shopping, then driving back to SLC where their flight was leaving from a few days later. {We are hoping to see Amanda, Kieth, Eve, and Annabelle when they return in January to drop off Eve at school.} Josh and I drove back to Salmon and I got my hair colored and cut, and then I worked all evening on my college class again. It was a fun overnight trip, and although it cut into my desperately-needed time, it was also a good break from the stress!

I thought this snow-capped mountain on the drive looked like a storm-trooper helmet

When I went to get the mail from our box that afternoon,
I stopped to admire this bright orange tree in Ed & Kathy's
yard. I tried to take in the fall colors as much as possible
at every opportunity! I swear the colors breathed life into me!

My new haircut and fresh color.
I had Kerry add a little more blond to my streak,
making it a little longer and more noticeable.
I love this Neopolitan trio in my bangs:
vanilla, chocolate, strawberry!

I worked on my college class literally all day Saturday. I have no idea what else happened with the rest of the family that day, because I was in lockdown mode!


Sometimes on Sunday mornings, Josh sees what I'm wearing to church, and he chooses a shirt and tie to coordinate with me. I admit I love it!!! When we got to church on Sunday, President Beyeler remarked how well we looked together with our matching clothes, and said sometimes he does that with his wife too, and how it's like "the junior Prom every week!". Totally made me laugh! One of Josh's mission companion friends was hunting in Salmon for the weekend with his daughter, and we invited them to have dinner at our house that evening. He lives in Idaho Falls with his family and works as a dermatologist. He started hunting in Salmon last fall, and came a few weekends again this year. We had Josh's birthday dinner on Sunday night, because the following day--his real birthday--Josh would be gone all day on a bus trip to Driggs for a school music festival. He opened his gifts that night, too. Kanyon gave him a clue about each gift, and Josh had to guess what the gift was before Kanyon retrieved it for him. I got him a new, double-sided gnome for the entrance, some of his favorite foods, and a homemade cheesecake, and the boys gave him some of his favorite chocolate and snacks. Afterwards, the guys looked at Josh's mission scrapbook and reminisced. And as soon as the Miner's left, I went straight back to working on my college class, and didn't go to bed until midnight.

The twins looked so handsome in their new suits and ties
that they got for their birthday.

Josh's birthday meal: steak, mashed potatoes, and rolls

Brandon looking at the mission scrapbook. It was fun to have a teenage girl
in the house for the evening. Brandon asked us at dinner who usually talks at
our meals, and Josh replied "Kala", because Keziah talked our entire dinner and
he wondered what it was normally like at our house. It was a refreshing change!