Friday the 31st

Today was a very busy day. I went over to Jenny's to watch the kids this morning because they were out of school and they needed a sitter. Later that afternoon we were going to go to Jenny's work to go trick or treating, so it all worked out. 

The Bank of Utah gets all decked out every year with Halloween, they just love it. So after lunch, I got all the kids ready in their costumes and headed for the bank. Jenny's office was "Super Hero vs. Villain." Jenny was Poison Ivy, she had the hair, dress, leaves, everything. Very cute. There was Batman, The Incredibles, Wonder Women, Rogue, and many more. The next office was Ghostbusters, they even had the marshmallow man. The last office in that building was Gilligan's Island, they had a sandbox as decoration. 

Then you go over to the main bank and they were the Wizard of Oz. When you walked into the building you followed the yellow brick road to all the various desks for trick or treating. They all looked great, I couldn't believe some of the things they were able to do for costumes and decorations, it was awesome, and the best thing: They were all adults reliving their childhood years of dressing up. Got to love it. I then left Jenny's kids with her and headed home. 

I meet Ben there and he quickly got ready so we could go and visit his family. His mom loves Halloween, she will dress up and go trick or treating with her kids. It's great to see her excitement. This year she and her youngest daughter, Megan, were pirates. They both looked great. They loved seeing Gabbi and even gave Gabbi her first treat. She just sucked on the wrapper, but she did enjoy that, even though she never got to the chocolate. While there, two of Ben's sisters came by, Amanda and Regina. Amanda was dressed as the Scream and her boyfriend, Dan, had a t-shirt that was designed as a tux. Regina wasn't sure what she wanted to be, so at the time, she wasn't anything. It was fun to see all of them. I never liked Halloween, so it's fun to see people so excited about it. 

Once we left there, we headed to my parent's house to catch dad before he had to head to work. Dad just loved playing with Gabbi and of course trying to take pictures. Mom and Dad got Gabbi a trick-or-treating bear because she can't really have candy, she loved that bear. She played with it non-stop. While we were there, Jenny and Jeff came with their families and we took a few more pictures and then just watched everyone in their costumes dance around and pose for the camera. The boys were funny, they all headed straight for their Halloween buckets from Nana and Papa, they didn't want anything to do with the pictures. 

After that, we quickly got packed into the car and headed up to Garland to visit Ben's dad. A lot of traveling in one night to see everyone, but it's worth it. When we got up to Garland, we hurried and dressed Gabbi back up (she can barely fit in her car seat with her costume on) and went to go ring the doorbell. Gabbi had a big smile on her face when she saw her Grandpa and Grandma Sagez. I love to see Nelson with Gabbi, it's so fun to watch the two of them. 

We had dinner with them and watched a few Halloween movies. Gabbi was being a pain in the butt towards the end of the evening. We figured that she would be tired from the day, but would have no problem getting her to fall asleep after her last bottle. We even brought her swing with us so we could put her to sleep, but she wasn't in the mood. So I took her and rocked her while sitting in the recliner. She would drift in and out, but never really fell asleep. A few minutes after rocking her, I thought she was asleep, so I took her over and laid her on the couch next to Ben and from then on she was awake. She wasn't making any noise or crying, she just laid there playing with the seem of her blanket and looking at the different things that they had on the wall. What a turd. She didn't fall asleep until we hit the freeway on our way home.

Thursday the 30th

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's Square Dancing Halloween party. Grandma had called me that afternoon to tell me about the event. It sounded fun and I remember going last year, but this year would be better because we had Gabbi to dress up because Ben and I don't do the dressing up thing. We aren't big fans. But we dressed Gabbi up yet again and went to the party. When we got there We found G and G waiting for all there grand kids to show up. Stacey and her kids came, Travis and his Kids, and also Jenny with her kids. It was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa so excited to be with all there Great Grand kids and be able to spend time with them doing something they like to do. G and G got to teach the younger grand kids some square dancing steps and it was great to watch the looks on the kids faces.

Some were very excited to learn, others didn't care one way or another, and then you have the ones who didn't want to dance at all, but they all did and it made G and G very happy. To bad Gabbi wasn't old enough or even able, she would have had fun. She still had fun watching though. I felt bad because we had to leave early. I wish we hadn't. I had an activity for young women's that night and I just couldn't bring myself to skip it. We were getting ready for the Primary carnival and we were filling plastic gloves with popcorn to give out as treats. Because most of my girls backed out, I didn't think it was fair to bail too. So we had to sadly leave early, but at least we were able to go and Grandma and Grandpa were able to see Gabbi in her Costume.

Monday the 27th

We had a neighborhood Trunk or Treating. I thought it was just with the ward, but when we got there, there were a ton of people I didn't know. Then Ben told me about it being a neighborhood and not our ward, but a lot of our ward members were there. It was fun to be able to see all the cute and scary costumes that the kids had on. One kid, he was about 4, his dad made a KISS costume with the tounge and everything. Yes you heard right, his dad. His dad was so proud to walk around with him and show him off. Even though we didn't have Gabbi walking around trunk or treating it was fun to go. I even saw a lot our my young women girls there. They loved Gabbi in her costume. She was dressed up as a flower.

Nelson's Bowling Tournament

Nelson, Ben's dad, is an avid bowler. He absolutely loves to bowl and he is really good at it. It even, so to speak, runs in the family. Ben's Grandpa Sagez bowls, as well as his uncle, John. They are all on a bowling team up in Tremonton. They bowl all over as well. Some day, they all want to be on the same bowling team with Ben and his brother Brian, "the whole Sagez fam," maybe one day.

We went up to watch Nelson bowl in a tournament in Salt Lake. He played in teams, doubles, and singles. He did very well. In his singles, he came in 4th and his team came in 2nd. Sometimes they even win prize money depending on how well they finish. We love to go and watch him bowl because it is something that Ben and his dad have in common and it is something that we all enjoy. When we go up to visit his dad we like to have a good time, one way is to go bowling so we can bowl together. Ben wants to someday be as good as his dad. Practice makes perfect.

Halloween Dinner Party

Every other Sunday, we get together for family dinner. This last Sunday it was mom's turn to do dinner. For fun, she decided to do a Halloween party. The theme she did was " A "Frank" en "Stein" Party." She even went all out and decorated the kitchen. 

To start off the night the kids got to decorate pumpkins. We had crayons, makers, and paint, so the kids had a variety of ways to decorate their pumpkins. The kids had so much fun, that they had a small competition to see who had the best pumpkin. The kids did a really good job too, they all looked really cute. Even the two youngest boys had a blast coloring their pumpkins.

 

For dinner, we had "Fanks" (hot dogs) served with baked beans and a salad. Dad made homemade root beer, which was served in a "Stien" mug. It was really good, even though it was really simple. Then for dessert, we finished with mom's famous pumpkin pie. It was truly the best. After dessert, we watched Young Frankenstein to finish up our night. We had a blast. It was so much fun.

Halloween Week

Ben and I have never been big on Halloween. We don't dress up, we don't do anything special, we just hand out candy like every other person. But this year it was a little bit different. We have Gabbi, she made it so we actually do stuff this year. It was a very busy Holiday. The next few posts are going to describe how busy of a week we had.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Gabbi is doing great. at just 5 1/2 month, Gabbi can now sit up all by herself. She loves her new found independence while playing. She is also close to crawling. At first she was kicking her legs, really excited, then she was able to do push up's, getting her arms in the motion. Now she is putting herself up on her knees. But she is having a problem going forward. She can go backwards all over the room, but when she gets ready to try to go forwards, she starts to fall forward and she corrects herself by getting back on her belly. It's crazy, but she's so close.

Family pictures

These family pictures were taken in November, but for some odd reason I never blogged them.

Ben and I didn't have a family picture taken since Gabbi's baby blessing. We decided that we would go to the place where I had my bridals taken. While we were there, we'd spend some time with Grandma Shupe, which was an added bonus. The pictures turned out okay, not bad considering we took them ourselves. I guess I should be happy how they turned out because it was pretty chilly.