ROSSI & GARCIA & PRENTICE & JJ & REID

I've said it before... and I'll say it again:  I LOVE Halloween!  I LOVE our family tradition of dressing up together!  I LOVE handing out candy to the cute kids in costume and making an individual comment to each kid: "What a beautiful princess!"  "Oh my!  I'm awfully scared of Darth Vader!"  "Argh, matey!  You are an amazing pirate, Savy?!"  

But my favorite part is dressing up.  This year we choose to dress up as our favorite television program: Criminal Minds.  

I LOVED channeling my inner-Penelope Garcia!  

Scott rocked David Rossi complete with his book.  

Key Lime Pie "joined" us via satellite on assignment as Emily Pretiss.  

Kotten Kandy was PERFECT as Jennifer Jareau (JJ).  

And Tyler was supposed to be Spencer Reid,

but ended up more as another random FBI agent helping us out.  

Soooooo... we rocked the Behavioral Analysis Unit at our ward Trunk-or-Treat tonight!  

Raisin cracks me up!  Her cat costume is too cute...  And two suckers at once?!

I'm sure I'll get better pictures of Amy's kids this Tuesday!

Did I mention I love kids dressing up in costumes and celebrating candy?!

It was a great night!  And guess what?!  My chili even won a prize!  Halloween rocks! 

SPIDERS AND MONSTERS AND PUMPKINS, OH MY!

The gang!

With their "spook"tacular creations!

Nuts, Juice, Jelly Bean, Kotten Kandy, Apple Pie and Marmalade

Top Left = Kotten Kandy's Masterpiece
The Rest = My Cute Critters

We NEEDED a craft day.  It has been too long since we have had a craft day.  So Amy and I got the kids together and let them have a free-for-all with a ghoulish theme with my paint and terracotta pots.  Everyone was so creative!  And it was super fun listening to "The Twilight Tone" and "Thriller" while we created our masterpieces!

Kotten Kandy mixes the colors to create art...

Juice is an artist with his unique colors...

Nuts is deep in thought (and the sunlight) while he paints...

Marmalade has grown a LOT in her crafting techniques...

Nuts actually really loves craft days...  And he's always been creative!

Jelly Bean LOVES the process and puts a lot of thought into the emotions of each piece...

"Mad Ghost" is in the back ground.

He's showing off his "Mad Monster" and "Happy Pumpkin."

Apple Pie's Candy Corn pot was my favorite, but his ghost is really unique and spooky.

Marmalade's cat is amazing.  I also liked her tombstone landscape.

Nuts was all about the monsters!

And Juice created unique monsters and his take of the famous artwork: Scream.

Kotten Kandy went with a more fall theme and her landscape silhouettes were amazing!

Kiara is STILL loving college life.  She and her roommate, Amber, have become besties!!!  I'm so grateful for Amber!  Check them out, cheering on their other BFF, Mary, at her soccer game!  I love these girls!

Kiara hit the roommate jackpot!

MY HEART IS HAPPY...

A happy mother is one whose daughters are happy.  It sounds cliche, but it's true!  And I am full of joy right now.  Both of my sweet girls are content and upbeat right now.   They have dear friends.  They are trying to live Christ-like lives.  And they are beautiful inside and out.  And I am happy right now.  I know that there will be struggles and disappointments throughout life.  But the last two weeks have not been that kind of moment.
Key Lime Pie is LOVING college life.  Being a co-ed suits her.  She LOVES her roommates.  She enjoys her classes.  And she's realizing that she can do hard things and survive without mom and dad.  I'm really proud of her!  She's kinda a social butterfly:  She's been learning how to dance almost every weekend, attending Mary's soccer games, watching movies with friends, fixing delicious foods, and playing games.  AND she even remembered to take a few pictures for her mom:

Roommates with weapons?!

These cute girls are so funny!

The haunted mill was tons of fun with this crazy group!

Kotten Kandy has gotten to go dancing two weeks in a row: once with a youth costume dance, and the second time was with the Single Adult Conference.  She "extroverted" and said she enjoyed it.  Although she was exhausted by the end of it.  Her favorite part: Hanging out with her best friend, Taffy.  She really enjoyed the Single Adult Conference.  They played games, had great devotionals, ate catered meals, participated in a service project and danced - a lot!  Kotten Kandy and Taffy both looked so happy after the dance.... and although they forgot to take other pictures during the conference, I did get some after the dance pics.

The Youth Dance

EVERYONE wanted in on the picture...

Although we don't know who most of these people are.

Of course the two cute girls pointing in the front are Sweet Tarts and Kotten Kandy!

I LOVE these two, crazy pirates!

Taffy and Kotten Kandy

I am truly one happy mom!  I love Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy (and Taffy and Kiara's amazing roommates) soooo much!

REASONS TO CELEBRATE

My baby is 19!  And she is happy, and doing well!  What more could a mother hope for?!  Well... I do wish she could live a little closer... but I'm excited about all the new adventures she is having and all the great things she is learning.  I couldn't be more proud of this cheerful, energetic, kind and spiritual young woman!  We love her sooooo much!

Her birthday was kinda fun... thanks to family, roommates and new friends!  Mariah, Gary and Shanae all took Kiara out for shakes.  Grandma and Grandpa took her out for dinner.  Her roommates and Family Home Evening family celebrated with cake and friendship.  And she got to go out with a new friend to play games and visit.  This Kentucky mom is sure grateful for all the good people in the west!

Cousins

Celebrating Kiara's Birthday

Shanae and Kiara at the temple....

On top of spending time celebrating the big 19... Kiara has also been sharing lots of stories of how wonderful her roommates are!  She loves all of them!  She and Amber have been attending Mary's intramural soccer games every week and enjoying them.  They love watching movies together, listening to music, visiting and eating Sunday dinners together.  She was blessed with the roommate lottery!  :-)

Mary - Kiara - Amber

Kiara and Amber

Other happenings:  I am no longer the Sunday School gospel doctrine teacher.  I actually was sad when they released me.  I was starting to get the hang of it.  I am now the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society.  I'm excited and nervous about my new calling.  I'm excited to work with such wonderful ladies.  I'm nervous because I'm not sure what I'm doing.  I guess I'll figure it out.

I just finished reading an interesting book.  I actually enjoyed it and learned a lot... but I have to warn possible readers that there is a LOT of terrible language throughout the story.  The book is Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.  It's "a personal and passionate analysis of a culture in crisis - that of poor, white Americans."  It was troubling, but also inspiring.  I wasn't as offended by the language as I have been in other books, because the language here was used because they didn't know better and it is a way of life.  When bad language is used to be "edgy" I seem to be more offended.  Anyways... I love how J.D. continued to grow and progress throughout his life.  I also loved that he could have used a "victim mentality," but he didn't.  He took responsibility.  He still carries around the demons of his past, but he's moved forward with hope and faith.  I liked the book a lot.

SOUPS AND SWEATERS AND FAMILY HISTORY

I love Fall!  And so does my family!  It means cooler weather and fun times!  So this week we decided to celebrate!

But before our party, the YW decided to have an autumn activity: pumpkin carving on Wednesday night.  Kotten Kandy did such a great job on her pumpkin....

Isn't she talented?!

Then Friday came...  And we had so much fun with some of our great friends!  We enjoyed ALL the soups!  And I'm wanting recipes!  We loved visiting and spending time with those we love celebrating the change of seasons!

Working on my selfie "game" before the party....

Scott and Kotten Kandy indulged my selfie-taking mood.

This family is AMAZING!  We really love the Youngs!

And these girls are so adorable!

They remind me of my own daughters!

Amy and Mark!

Jill with two adorable boys!

Raisin was fascinated by the wood.

Teenagers enjoying homemade rolls and homemade soups!

Tony and Teresa Pina!

Kotten Kandy LOVES the Coolbears!

Scott and I do too!

Spaghetios and Watermelon are two of Kotten Kandy's favorite kids!

They are amazing!  And we all love them!

These two crazy kids were not cooperating at this moment with my selfie-practice....

I still like them!

It got dark fast... and I didn't get pictures of everyone.... 

And FYI...  Kotten Kandy LOVES hamburgers!

Today was the Family History Conference.  Kotten Kandy and I went to support our ward members and friends!  It was actually really cool.  And my BFF, Amy, did a FABULOUS job with her presentation about research!  (I'm not just saying that because I love her, she really did an amazing job!)  And my other dear friend, Mary, did a fantastic job of putting the whole thing together!  

I love Mary!  She is talented!  She is amazing!

And I'm proud to call her my friend!

Sharon and Nat Leezer are also some of my favorite people!

They are loving, kind and fun!

And Nat reminds me of my Grandad!

Amy rocked it!

Finally...  I don't have pictures, but Kiara is LOVING BYUI!  She's happy!  She loves her room mates!  She loves her classes!  And she's loving the college life!  I'm super happy for her!  And super proud of her!  She's doing great things!