Hee Haw Farms

A couple of weeks ago, the kids had Thursday & Friday off of school and Jon had some of that time off too, so we took the kids to Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. It was a beautiful day and we got there first thing in the morning, so it wasn't crowded. They had a great time jumping in the hay, riding down the slide, petting animals, riding on a hayride, picking a pumpkin, launching ears of corn, running through a corn maze and digging in corn. On the way home, we found a cute hamburger stand and had lunch. It was a great day!

2010 Witches Party

A couple of weeks ago (yes! I am behind in blogging!), I hosted the 2010 Witches Party at my house. It's one of my favorite things during the whole year, but it definitely brings a ton of work! I usually start thinking about it right after the one from the previous year and have found it to be a fun tradition!

It was a great evening! I invited all of my aunts & cousins from my side of the family and ended up with about 20 people there. That was perfect - not too many, but enough to make it worth doing. Each "witch" was told to bring a decorated witches hat for our contest.

A couple of days before, I decided that making 3 kinds of soups (I don't have my mom here now!) was just too much, so I ordered chicken noodle & broccili cheese from Kneader's and called Wendy's about getting some of their chili. The food turned out delicious and easy!

The day of the party, Jon's brother Tom, offered to decorate the outside of our house with cobwebs. I thought that sounded great and he did a fabulous job. He had the kids out helping him with ladders, etc. and I have gotten so many compliments (including people just driving by) on it. Thanks Tom!



The girls arrived and we had dinner (soup in soup bowls, crackers, grapes & veggie platter) along with brewing homemade rootbeer. I put Becky in charge of that this year and it was wonderful!
Then, each witch could make a carmel apple if they wanted to and then vote on the hats.

Emily Adams making a carmel apple

The table of hats

This is Pat and her daughters: Emily, Jill & Jenny

Pat had these cute t-shirts made for her and the girls! Pat was so excited for this party and she seriously made the party worth doing! (Love you Pat!)

This little witch somehow snuck in and got herself a carmel apple.

After we tallied the votes, we announced the winners of the hats. The categories were: scariest, funniest, most likely to scare small children, pretties, sweetest, goody goody hat, most rebellious, the hat you'd most love to be seen wearing, cleverist & coolest. All of the hats were so wonderful! Seriously - there couldn't have been a cuter group of hats.

Here are some of the witches hats (I'm sorry I didn't get a great picture of everyone...I didn't want to embarrass anyone, so I just put the good ones up).

Ebby - she won scariest for her Twilight hat

Pam won funniest - her cute daughter Millie made hers.

Jenny won sweetest - it was covered in candy, but we laughed because it was droopy and looked like she had got caught out in the rain.

Becky won cleverist as hers was made out of Cocoa Krispies

Betty (Becky's mother-in-law)

Katie - who delighted us all by announcing that she was expecting her 2nd baby in May!

Annie

Pat - Pat spent hours crocheting spiders & webs for her hat!

R1: Mary, Ebby, Kara, Pam (& Phoebe) & Katie

R2:Becky, Jenny, Annie, Betty & Barbara

R3: Misty, me, Becky, Heather, Pat, Emily, Jill & Kathie


My favorite (and what I was the most excited about) part of the night was a quilt give-away! I found this quilt just a few days after last years party and knew that I wanted to make it and give it to someone. I worked on it in Worland in June and I loved how it turned out. We did a drawing for it....each hat winner's name went into the pot and then everyone had to put one more name in, but it couldn't be their own name.

I made Becky pick the name out of the mini cauldron and the winner was......

PAT OLSEN!!!

She was so cute and so excited about it and I was thrilled that she got it!

Anyway, it was a wonderful night! I was so happy with how it turned out. I made little bags with candy in it for the party favor (but forgot to take a picture) and am already trying to make plans for next year (and yes! I already have an idea for the quilt!)

Happy Birthday Sistah!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEANNETTE!!

You are THE best sister anyone could ask for and I do not know what I would do without you in my life. You are one of my very best friends and I look up to you in every way. Thank you for ALL you do for me and our family. I love you!!

Baby Lucy

Early last Thursday morning, my cousin Meg gave birth to her first little baby, Lucy. We didn't know if she was having a boy or girl and we were excited to hear she had a girl. Emily, Lindsey & I went with Becky to visit baby Lucy and we had to put some pictures up so that my mom could see her too. We think she's pretty cute!

Proud Sister

I couldn't be any more proud of my cute little sister! Last Thursday morning, Hannah, Kate & I went to the West High Homecoming assembly where she was honored by the Athletic Department and inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. She was (and still is) an amazing basketball player & leader and had a hugely successful high school and college career. This is a very well-deserved award!

Then on Friday night, the kids and I (Jon was in Chicago taking a big oral board exam), went to the West High football game (which was actually against Murray High School). The alumni treated Becky and all of us so well (great seats, free food) and at half time, they had Becky come out on the field. We're sure proud of you Becky!

And as a cute side story, this sweet lady is 104 and is the oldest living alumni of West High. She was crowned honorary homecoming queen and led the school in a cheer at half court during the assembly! As is said at West High "Once a panther, always a panther!"

The Silly Putty Saga

Yesterday morning, I woke up Kate, after letting her sleep in a little longer than usual. Everything seemed normal, until I noticed she had pink stuff in her hair. Lo & behold, she had seen her silly putty as she was going to bed and decided to "keep it safe" by sleeping on it.

Oops! This is what her hair looked like...

I don't know if Silly Putty is harder to get out than gum, but I was so grateful Jon was home yesterday morning. He used ice, cold water, warm water, cooking spray, peanut butter & a comb to work all those pieces of Silly Putty out. It was a long, painful process, but somehow Jon got it to the point where were only need to snip a little bit of it out with scissors. Hopefully we have all learned something from this....SILLY PUTTY IS NOW BANNED FROM THE BOWEN HOUSEHOLD!

Preschool Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to go on a preschool field trip with Kate to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was really fun to spend time with her and see the kid's excitement as they explored each area.

Kate with Jon & Josie (we all live in the same ward and carpool to preschool).

This is the sting ray section. They kept slapping themselves against the side.

Josie, Kate & Lexie