Tuesday Tell All: Ghosts of Halloween Past

I am a girl who loves Halloween. It is one of my favorite times of the year and is almost my favorite holiday, just barely notched out of the top spot by Christmas. It started when I was small. I loved all of it; the pumpkins, the costumes, the candy, the decorations. It was a day I truly looked forward to.

Rich can't understand my fascination. He thinks any real holiday would give you a day off of work. Halloween regretfully does not. But even without the break from your job, there are so many FUN things to do. I love to dress up. Growing up my mom made a witch costume for me and I wore it for years. At first I had a green face (the original Elpheba!) and then my mom got really creative. She started using egg yolk on my face which made me yellow and looked like old crackly skin. It itched like crazy, but looked good. One year I got to wear my mom real kimono from Japan (1988), and then next year I was a 50's girl and wore my Grandma Nance's old sunglasses and my dad's letterman jacket (1989). Such fun memories.

Over the last few years, I've been a cat and a witch which is fun and easy. I really love my two hats that I bought from Hallmark and Pottery Barn Kids. I love going to costume parties. I had my first real all girl Halloween party at my house when I was in seventh grade. My mom got helium balloons, set up games, had treats and doughnuts and I loved every second of it.I love to host pumpkin carving parties. I make soup, cookies and have a few Halloween games. My senior year of high school we went to the Masquerade dance dressed up at people from Payson. They were a rival city and their school colors were green. Who gets more creative than that?

I love carving pumpkins. I love the smell, the slime and the finished product. The first year we were married I saw the Pumpkin Masters carving patterns and tools and I'm now a devout fan. They make carving worth your time and effort. I love trying to do the difficult ones and take far too many pictures of the end product. I also have so many of the tools from 10 years of collecting that our entire ward could carve a pumpkin with our supplies. I threw my first big pumpkin bash in 2000, when Trey was one year old and we lived in our condo in Provo, Utah. We invited our brothers and sisters over and I knew right then, that was something I wanted to make as a tradition. Over the years we have had so many wonderful people come over with pumpkins in hand. We would feast on cookies, goodies, soup and made some seriously incredible pumpkin masterpieces! My favorite was when Todd brought over his medical tools to help aid in the carving process. It was a sight to see!I love trying out creepy recipes (ice hand for the pumpkin carving party)
and baking tasty Halloween treats with the kids.I love going to the Louisville zoo Halloween party. The kids dress up (so do I!) and they have the zoo all decorated. It's not that they give the best candy (they don't), but the atmosphere is incredible and you should see the elaborate sets they put up. There is the Wizard of Oz, a pirate ship, huge (like 3 story high) blow up dinosaurs, Snow White, a castle and so many other little sections. It's been a tradition I love and I'll miss when we leave. I love going to pumpkin patches, going on hayrides and eating caramel apples. I love Huber Farm in Starlight, Indiana and it was a perfect fall event. Since we have been here in Lexington, we haven't driven up, but we have been to a place called Boyd's Orchard that can't compare, but it still fun, especially for the kids. We went to Boyd's last night for FHE activity with my dear friend Tiffany Rosenhan and her little Savannah. Great place for pictures, not great pumpkins! (Note Brynn- I don't know if a real family picture is in our future for a while!)I love going to haunted houses. When I was a young women, our ward went to a haunted house in Orem. It was at the State Mental Hospital. OK, that fact alone made it a lot scarier. My mom and I were the first in our group and somehow got way ahead of the other girls and ended up being alone and chased through nearly the entire thing until we finally caught up the group before us, which didn't help much since they could still get us. That was SO much fun. When I was in 9th grade a huge group of friends got together and went to a Haunted Maze type thing. It wasn't as scary, but it was still fun. One of my favorite first dates was to a haunted house and it was fun because you got to cuddle and hold your date's hand in the dark. When I was engaged to Rich and he was off in California I took my little brother Jeff and his best friend Luke to a haunted house and then to TGI Friday's. That was a great night too.
I love happy Halloween decorations and it's a real test of will power when I see the Halloween displays up in stores. I not a fan of the the skeleton, blood and grim reaper nightmare stuff. I love cute pumpkins, witches and ghosts. Even in college when I lived in Hawaii, Amanda and I decorated our door and room!I love to 'Boo' people. It's fun little way to bring a little surprise and happiness into someone life. We got Boo'd Sunday night. It seems to have come full circle! I love that Rich's birthday is in early October and that the house is all decorated up fun in his pictures. Decorating the house is a day I truly look forward to and enjoy. This picture is from Rich's birthday in 1997. And I had to put up this picture. It is the only time I can remember (besides my mom's darling scarecrow outfit when I was very young) my parents dressing up. They went to a costume party and I think either Greg or I took the photo. It was probably in 1988 or earlier. My favorite part is even on Halloween, dressed up like a vampire, my Dad still wore his scrubs. I love it!Happy Halloween!