here it goes:

our favorite tradition of all, the annual donut party, was last monday night. we started planning this sucker in august and worked right up until the day of! the cabin is going bye-bye in a couple of months so this year was the last time we could use it for the party. thats why, we went all out this time around: bigger decorations, way more donuts and the BEST spook alley ever. (i can say that because we subcontracted the preparation of the spook alley to our good friends, the johnstons!) it all started with these invitations. i worked so hard on them that after making seventy my fingers were sore for days.

tagg, of course, was the star of the show. he had worked so hard the day of the party that he conked out for most the actual event. however, like most hot-shots, he made a late appearance and basked in the attention from the crowd.

these are my pride and glory. they are the infamous pumpkin ghosts. those are REAL carved pumpkins under there. we made eight different ones and placed them all up the driveway. 

craig went a little nuts carving this particular pumpkin's mouth. it was pretty much all mouth. the lighting in the driveway was my favorite part of the entire party. 

my mom and tagg, in the kitchen. they make such a cute pair.

the skeleton looked kinda cold, so i let him borrow my halloween quilt.

i loved this halloween tree. 

craig was helping to set the mood. 

the festive mantle in the cabin's living room.

tagg and me, in our matching skeleton get-up.

there is SO much time and preparation put into these donuts. you have to start the process of making them at nine in the morning. but there is nothing like the smell of homemade donuts in your home.

my cute aunt megan, slaving away over the hot oil. and yes, hundreds of donuts are fried individually in one little pan.

the finished product. SO worth the effort. these babies get snarfed up so fast we cant make them fast enough. and every year, while we are rolling out the dough we think "there is nO WAY we are going to go through three hundred plus donuts" and every year we run out.

my mom and holly. they stood at that window and passed out donuts for hours. they had a great time!

tagg got a little taste of a donut and loved it! i had to distract him with the lights so that he wouldnt beg for more.

for some reason, i get a kick out of the the dry ice in the apple juice every year. i love the effect it makes. i am like a five year old, ok? 

not the most aesthetically pleasing picture, but i wanted to document the crowd.

i loved that orange rope of lights. however, it didnt give off very much light. we never really solved the problem of poor lighting in the backyard.......  oh well, it gives off the spooky effect, right?!

alex and megan. alex sure did love those donuts. and megan sure does love alex. they make such a cute couple.

our good friends, bart and jill, and bart's younger sister. we were so glad they came and brought little holden (their month old baby boy).  he had the cutest dragon costumer ever!

the foot. my favorite part of the spook alley. to tell the truth, that thing had been down there since last year's party and REAL mice had nibbled on it. very authentic!

this was the mirror room. it had a strobe light in it and some kid with this evil clown mask on jumped out at people. people hate clowns.

so that about does it. we had a fabulous time at out donut party this year. we love making yummy food and entertaining with all of our friends. we are incredibly sad that the cabin wont be around next time, but i am already thinking of ways to transform my moms house for next year! 

dental people know how to party

last weekend, we went to a mormon-dental-students-and-their-families-halloween-party. we had a fabulous time. i love getting together with the women who share in my joys/pains of having a husband in dental school! this year,  i was put in charge of the cupcake walk.

 
these are some of the cupcakes i made for the game. the crappy mini cupcakes were just afterthoughts slash decent cupcake-stand fillers. i had such a fun time thinking of different designs....... and a little less of a fun time executing them all!

notice my bat headband? that was a big deal for me: in the sixth grade (my first year at middle school), on halloween day, i dressed up to the nines in a witch costume. green face paint. fake warts. big black dress and hat. i boarded the school bus that morning and quickly realized that no one wore costumes in middle school. kids threw things at me and everyone had a good laugh (except for me, of course!). it was pretty much the worst thing ever. obviously, because i am still traumatized and still wont wear a cosutme. so at this dental party, craig had to go in before me and come back to the car to reassure me other people were dressed up too. and only then was i able to reluctantly put that stupid little headband on. tagg looks cute though....

this was my cupcake walk. the little kids had a great time stomping around to the music and trying to win a cupcake.

tagg got in on the cupcake walk action too. side note: i may be passing on my lame costume phobia..... i made tagg a tooth costume this year but at the last minute thought it was too intense and couldnt go through with it. wow. pathetic.

a sunday afternoon walk

after church today, we decided to go on a stroll around the neighborhood. the weather here has been FANTASTIC all month and i cannot get enough of it. also, i got a new lens for my camera and have been dying to try it out. i am not used to craigy without his glasses. but i kinda like it..

tagg looks like he has a naughty little secret that he is very proud of.

it is SO hard taking pictures of babies. they never look where you want them to and are always trying to eat the dirt!

my cousin, sam, loves walks around the neighborhood. he didnt know he was going to be a victim of one of my photo-shoots or he would've coifed his hair! 

notice the parted hair follicles? i am trying, ok?!

tagg loves to go on the swings! they sanitize those things daily, right?......

i love the pumpkin stuck on his arm in that video. he thinks its the funniest thing ever. 

his favorite toy in the world is the bottle of childrens tylenol. also in this video, tagg is making his new clicking noise and showing off his two little chompers! 

pumpkin waffles for my pumpkin

yesterday, i woke up early with the lofty goal of making pumpkin waffles and vanilla syrup for my family. so when craig and tagg finally decided to roll out of bed (rough life), they were greeted with our favorite autumn-time breakfast menu! this is tagg, filled to the brim with waffles and playing with his halloween-mini-replica.

the vanilla syrup didnt make an appearance in the picture above because it didnt look all that photogenic. but trust me, you will want to make these waffles for your loved ones. hurry and make these babies before fall-time is over!

pumpkin waffles

from smitten kitchen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 large eggs, separated

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat waffle iron. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth. do not over mix. In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined. Grease waffle iron lightly and spoon batter into waffle iron. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.

eat up.

getting our share

the smith family went pumpkin shopping a couple of days ago. it was pretty cold and tagg was heavy but we still had a great time. 

do i smell a class clown? watch out class of 2025!

seriously, could he get any less hair? but his eyes make up for it. :)

ok, this blogger thing messing up my photo's colors is making me crazy. 

tagg, with his autumn quilt. what better place to take one's autumn quilt than to a pumpkin patch? nowhere. 

i LOVED this litte gate. i wanted to steal it. 

haha. craig and i loved having our little pumpkin participate in one of our favorite traditions. speaking of: on our way out of the patch, we drove past the christmas trees growing......... all in good time......

we love our little monkey.

tagg didnt feel like going to bed tonite so craig and i decided to have a little cuddle time. i wanted to give a tagg update because he just turned eight months. 

tagg at eight months:

- loves his grandpa and little kids a whole lot

- is loving anything and everything i feed him 

- is standing up 

- waves bye-bye and hi

- crawls at the speed of light

- is getting his first two teeth

- sleeping thru the night

- enjoys quality and frequent mommy time

craig and i are so proud of tagg's accomplishments and are very grateful for our healthy boy.

quite possibly a duplicatebut if oh-so-observant-jocelyn doesnt recall me already doing this tag, than who am i to question it? i LOVE this kind of stuff.
CRAIG
1.where did you meet? byu-idaho. turns out though, that our hometowns were/are only twenty minutes from each other. how is that for fate?
2.how long did you date before you got married? a year and half. with a major break-up about two months in: "the more i get to know you, the less i like you" -craig. yeah, he will never live that one down.....
3.how long have you been married? a little over three blissful years.
4.what does he do that surprises you? puts up with my crap.
5.what is your favorite feature of his? his eyes and jaw line.
6.what's your favorite quality of his? sometimes it is my least favorite too: even tempered and calm.
7.does he have a nickname for you? poodle. (a barf bag would be appropriate here.)
8.what is his favorite color? he always wants to wear blue.
9.what is his favorite food? cuban, cookies, and cereal. (ok, the last one is just out of necessity. when the big bad wifey doesnt cook anything for din-din.)
10.what is his favorite sport? baseball.
11.when and where was your first kiss? the second time we had hung out. in his apartment, "watching" willow.
12.favorite thing to do as a couple? watch reruns of sex and the city, read celebrity gossip blogs, and talk on the phone for hours..... alright, those are things that i like to do and that drive him up the wall. honestly? we love to eat out and go to the movies together. pretty standard.
13.do you have any children? yup. two little boys. one is furry and lazy and the other has close-to-NO fur... i mean hair and never stops moving! (as i typed that, tagg was crawling on top of me and yanking my hair out)
14.does he have a hidden talent? he loves to impersonate adam levine (the lead singer of maroon 5). it annoys me like nothing else, but i think thats half the fun for him.
15.how old is he? 28. an oldie but goodie.
16.who said I love you first? no idea. but i can remember a funny/disturbing story about this very topic that happened on the same night he spewed forth the classic line found in answer number two...
17.what is his favorite type of music? gladiator soundtrack.
18.what do you admire most about him? he works really hard for our family. he adores my family. he is a great handyman. he unconditionally loves tagg and me.