. . . top '10 costumes . . .

{disclaimer: someday i'll own a fancy schmancy camera

that doesn't require the use of evil flash . . . grrrrrr!}

. . . that said . . .

. . . and taking note of the fact that

our trick-or-treater numbers

were slightly down this year . . .

{saturday/sunday/do we?/don't we? confusion}

. . . here are my top picks . . .

. . . number ten . . .

. . . the cutest nemo you've ever seen . . .

. . . complete with ping pong ball eyes

and drool . . .

. . . number nine . . .

. . . the zookeepers and their wild animals . . .

. . . among them a toothless monkey,

a pink-hooved giraffe,

and an exhausted lion . . .

. . . number eight . . .

. . . flower pot complete with little bumble

{including matching bee-nky} . . .

. . . number seven . . .

. . . arrrrrrrrrrgh! a miniature piratess

with the bluest eyes ever . . .

. . . number six . . .

. . . nerd who's expecting his first son

in the next few days . . .

{hey, cory . . . you might want to listen to that brad paisley song "anything like me"}

. . . number five . . .

. . . my favorite pair of witches . . .

{pay no attention to headwearless buzz yet}

. . . in role reversal from last year . . .

{see below}

{at least one of them wasn't too happy about the change, either}

. . . number four . . .

. . . buzz {now you can look} and woody . . .

. . . both thrilled with their costumes, obviously . . .

. . . number three . . .

. . . squeaky-eared mickey . . .

. . . he was even cuter asleep . . .

. . . number two . . .

{for reference}

. . . abe himself . . .

. . . who absolutely unbelievably . . .

. . . didn't even place in

the university of phoenix costume contest . . .

{i demand to speak to the judges!}

. . . and number one . . .

{again for reference}

. . . i give you russell . . .

. . . simply fantastic . . .

. . . happy halloween to all! . . .

. . . hole~y pumpkins, batman! . . .

. . . far from scary . . .

. . . no . . .

. . . these beautifully-carved gourds

are purely decorative . . .

. . . how to get those

perfectly circular {well} circles? . . .

. . . a pumpkin carving kit? . . .

. . . that's so walmart . . .

. . . an apple corer perhaps? . . .

. . . that's so martha . . .

. . . we're talking power tools . . .

. . . that's soooooo home depot . . .

. . . yep . . .

. . . hole saws . . .

. . . and drill bits . . .

. . . pumpkin guts flying everywhere . . .

. . . and one happy son-in-law . . .

. . . no need for menacing eyes . . .

. . . toothless grins . . .

. . . or spooky messages . . .

. . . nope! ~ you can never go wrong

with polka dots . . .

{although i'd like them lots better if they were on white pumpkins}

. . . must be halloween again . . .

. . . that time of year when

overachiever neighbors

create delectable treats

like this . . .

. . . and bring them to your house! . . .

. . . and although there are many components

representing different food groups ~

cashews {protein},

homemade caramel {dairy, right?},

and MILK chocolate . . .

. . . we are {slash were} totally counting this as a fruit . . .

. . . a gaggle . . .

. . . of flying geese for dummies . . .

{my name for these quilt units }

. . . that's what i've been working on . . .

. . . so easy with no points to match

or worry about cutting off . . .

. . . loving {oh-so-popular in the quilting world} bliss . . .

. . . the pattern calls for bajillions of these . . .

. . . seriously ~ bajillions . . .

. . . elliott got a new shirt . . .

. . . and apparently ~

that's not the only new thing

he's getting! . . .

. . . we're definitely looking forward to may . . .

. . . congratulations to amanda & brent! . . .

. . . a little healthy competition . . .

. . . in the form of the highly anticipated . . .

. . . semi~annual . . .

. . . general conference jeopardy . . .

. . . the fireside~approved version

of extreme sports . . .

. . . khodie and the young men's team

wielded their gigantic bell . . .

. . . and proved themselves a worthy opponent . . .

. . . for the young women's team ~

captained by nichole . . .

{siblings as opposing team captains ~ rethink that next time!}

. . . but in the end . . .

. . . the girls came out victorious . . .

. . . by one point . . .

. . . competition that's good for the soul . . .

. . . under the knife . . .

. . . dear dr{s} jackson . . .

. . . please do

your very best work this morning

on our boy . . .

. . . he needs to get better real quick . . .

. . . he has a lot to do ~ ~

go to school,

teach some new missionaries,

and get married soon . . .

{i'm more worried than he is

about the fact that i'm not there

to at least make him some soup.

quote: "i'm not having throat surgery, mom!

i'll be fine."}

. . . cooking up an excellent evening . . .

. . . a little project recently . . .

. . . my assignment for

young women in excellence . . .

. . . favors for all the girls . . .

. . . they were super simple . . .

. . . but making thirty of anything takes

a little bit of time . . .

{special thanks to my ironing friends who saved me hours! xoxo}

. . . and, hey ~ i'll take sewing any day

over preparing a talk! . . .

{go ahead and ask me about cheesecake with various toppings

in the colors of all eight young women values.

go ahead . . . ask! we have an awesome ward.}