... that I LOOOOVE HALLOWEEN?!?!?!

I'll say it again:  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is something about costumes that I absolutely love.  I will take any excuse I can to get dressed up!  So naturally Halloween is my favorite holiday!!!  Proof:

Our Ninja Turtle costumes turned out so epic last year, I was not sure we'd be able to top it.  I had an idea a few months ago to make us Transformers costumes that actually transformed, and even started collecting all the cardboard we could find.  But a couple weeks before Halloween, I started to not be too excited about that idea.  So I started racking my brain for something else, and decided that I wanted to be Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas!  I was especially excited because I knew that this costume would take a lot of sewing, which I could do on my new sewing machine that I got last Christmas from my mother in law (Thanks Tanya!!!!).
So Matt and I went to Savers and bought me two dresses, and a skirt:

and we bought Matt a cheap suit.  I also used some khaki material that Matt had cut off of some pants.  A couple of days with my sewing machine, and we had a dress!  Matt cut off the bottom of his coat and made some tails, and I used the extra pieces to make his collar.  Then we used some fabric paint to make the pinstripes, throw in a pair of white tights and some face paint, and voila!

We ended up using all the cardboard after all:

And decorated the house a little as well:

Then we were ready for our party!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to be super awesome and come up with all sorts of "spooky" foods with labels and stuff,

but this is as far as I got:

Eyeballs

Bones

We also had chili, meatballs, guac, chips, and some limeade.  None of which got cute labels.  Fail.

We decided to put Hocus Pocus (my FAVORITE Halloween movie) on for the kids, then started some party games!  We got the idea to do a "Minute to Win It" party from a friend of ours, and it was totally fun!

Move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands:

Stack three golf balls on top of each other:

Blow a stack of cards off the top of a bottle, leaving the least amount of cards on top:

And the winner's board:

It was pretty fun!  After the games, we busted out the millions of sugar cookies Cait had made earlier and let the kids have a field day!

A few "kids" even made some monsters on the old family "Monster Maker"

And of course everyone wanted to take pictures in the coffin

Chad showed up at the last minute in a costume too:

Oh you can't tell what he is?  He's Donald Trump.  Lame.  But our party was awesome, and a good time was had by all.

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...that my family came to visit?

So continuing on with my family visiting...

After Kell, Mom, and Babes showed up on Wednesday, Jer, Dad and Cutter showed up on Thursday.  We all met at City Creek, where we went to dinner and had fun walking around.  We even took a short walk to Temple Square.  Well, everyone else did-- Matt and I were too busy buying caramel apples.  But when they're buy two get one free, we can't pass that up!  (Yes... we did buy three :)

Cutter and Babes had a great time playing in the fountain, and except for a little regurgitation incident, the evening was very pleasant.

Kar and Zach flew in Friday morning, then Matt and I picked up Jacob from the airport Friday night and brought him down to Provo to complete the reunion.  The Wingers were nice enough to let our family crash their Provo house, so we were chillin in style!  But then we all got hungry, and nothing quite says "visiting Provo" like a late-night family trip to the Creamery :)

Saturday afternoon was the BYU Homecoming game against Oregon State.  It was a tad chilly, and it might have rained just a titch, and we might have lost at the very end, but all in all it was a good game.

Afterwards, we met up with Matt's brother in law and nephew for a little pre-dinner snack at Kneaders:

Then headed back to the Winger's for some more relaxing.  We ordered some pretty awesome takeout from a place called Spicy Thai:

And may have had a little too much fun entertaining ourselves in the restaurant while we waited.  Still can't figure out why I am the one on the bottom of this pile here.

Just as we were about to leave, Jake had the genius idea of running over to Blickenstaff's for some late night snacks.  Oh, you haven't heard of Blickenstaff's?  It's only a super cool old fashioned toy and candy store in the Riverwoods and Gateway malls named after my cousin.  Pretty awesome, right?  We grabbed some bulk candy and sodas to finish off our night of family fun with a sugar high.

Everyone left the next day except for my parents, who decided to take a little trip down to Blanding: the birthplace of all things Blickenstaff.  They went down to do a little hiking, then came back up to spend one more fun night with us before heading home.  We met in Provo and went to PF Chang's for dinner, super yummy.  Then mom HAD to go to the creamery one last time (she is obsessed with their Graham Canyon ice cream) and Cait did a little grocery shopping.

Did I say grocery shopping?  I meant Halloween shopping.

Mom and dad spent the night at our house so I could take them to the airport in the morning, and us Harrisons know how to entertain:  mom and dad got to see all three snakes eat!  Dad already loved LJ (he played with him last time he visited) but they hadn't seen the baby snakes yet.  And it was the perfect night to feed all three of them.  Needless to say, mom and dad were very impressed.  Or they acted like it, at least.  It's high quality entertainment over here!

The next morning, it was off to the airport.  But not before mom could indulge in one last treat:  authentic Belgian waffles.  A bunch of them had all gone on a Europe vacay this summer, and mom had discovered the best Belgian waffle in the world.  Long story short, she found a place in Salt lake that made them the same way and she was dying to try it.  So this morning, we had breakfast at Bruges Waffles and Frites in Salt Lake.  Pretty good!

That's a cinnamon waffle with Belgian chocolate and creme fraiche on top.  WAY delicious!

And so ended the week long visit from my family.  Good times, good people, good food.  I love my family!

... that my niece is adorable???

My WHOLE family is coming up this weekend 1) to visit me 2) to visit Cait and 3) to go to the BYU Homecoming game.  YAY!!!!!  But Kell and my mom came up early and brought Babes (AKA Finley) with them!  She is the cutest!  So I couldn't resist starting the weekend blogging a little early.

They all visited me at work on their way to Provo.  Fin looked a little out of it and was being really quiet, looking around very warily... until she saw the dancing flower on my desk and gave a little "Hi!" and a wave!!  And she didn't stop waving at it the whole time she was in the office!  It was sooo cute!

Then someone from my office gave her a rubber ducky and she thought life couldn't get any better...

Until she came to Aunt Krissy's house, Fin's dream playhouse!

Exhibit 1: Eye-level microwave so mommy doesn't have to lift her up to play with it.

Exhibit 2:  The world's nicest dog to play with!  Fin loves Xena!  And Xena... is warming up to Fin.

Fin was having the time of her life!  As long as Grandma and her blankie were there to keep her safe, everything was peachy :)

Fin was loving Matt too!  She scarfed down a couple bowls of his bottled pears:

And even gave him lots of high fives!  That was after he successfully channeled her desire to hit him into his hand.  Alas for me, my efforts to get her to stop hitting me only ended up in me getting pinched.  Oh well.  At least she likes one of us.

The happiest Fin was to see me was when I was leaving for work this morning.  As I was saying goodbye to Kell, she looked up at me with angel eyes and gave me a very cheery "Bye bye!"  She even gave me a kiss too!!!!!  If she hadn't been so happy to see me go, I would have been elated.  I guess I'll take whatever I can get from that little stinker.  Love my niece!