Halloween 2015

It was really fun to have a new member of the family for Halloween, as it has been the three of us for the last four years. Elanor wanted to dress as a squirrel in her costume from the Willy Wonka play, so we themed our costumes around that. I made Alice a little acorn costume and Tyler and I were trees.

My face paint looked pretty good in person. I tried to make my skin look like bark.

Alice was such an adorable acorn and I love that Tyler humors me and dresses up. Though I suspect he likes it/does not mind and loves how excited Elanor gets when we are all in costume.

 Another one at Mema's (Tyler's mom) house! 

I did not get any good pictures unfortunately! It was too rainy outside and too dark inside to get any decent pictures.

It was raining so much (it had not rained for awhile and then this week, and especially on Halloween, it was torrential!). We had an umbrella, but Elanor was too excited and running from house to house to stay under an umbrella. Plus, her head was covered and she was warm.

A wet, but very successful squirrel with a full bucket of candy.

There is this house in Troutdale (little old people), who go all out and decorate for every holiday. Elanor loved trick-or-treating here!

 Look at that happy baby!

Here is Elanor's pumpkin. She just wanted everything to be very themed this year!

 We were able to see family, visit with friends, trick-or-treat in the rain, eat pizza and eclairs--so it was a good night! 

The Weekly Photo

We went to the zoo this week with some good friends! We all have girls as well, which was kind of fun. This was the best group shot we got.

The lions were awesome this time (actually it was probably one of the few times I have seen a lion awake!). They were walking around, licking the windows and came right up to us!

So very cool.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

I love going to pumpkin patches.  My longtime friend, Kate, invited us to go with her and her daughter, Killian, to a patch near their house. It was super busy, which was not my favorite, but we had a fun time!

 Elanor, Alice and Killian.
 I did not really get a good picture of these three, as there is not a single one where they were looking.

These next few pictures are so very cute!

As I already said, Elanor loves doing these cut-out face pictures, but for some reason looked super bored in most of the pictures. Alice is pretty funny though and seems to be enjoying herself.

One thing I love about being back in Oregon, is seeing so many friends that I grew up with. Kate is one such person and I have known her for so long! We were in school together, did plays and ballet together, have traveled to England together, etc. She is one of my favorites. I hope our daughters can be friends too. We should have taken a picture together at the pumpkin patch!

Harry Potter Party

Becky and I hosted our annual Harry Potter party as usual. However, this year we were both in the process of moving and this was also to be our last time having the party together. We were both rather busy, but thanks to some other friends we were able to pull it together. We had a lovely time doing trivia, munching on Harry Potter themed food, and playing "pin the pig tail on Dudley" ( a great idea from my friend Lori).

Elanor was a merperson from the lake this year. I just used material I already had and I think it turned out pretty good, albeit she does not look fierce. We forgot a spear (at least she did have a rock necklace).

 This picture makes me laugh! Im not sure why she did this pose but at least you can see the green in her hair.

Alice was a mandrake and played the part well.

 I was Professor Sprout (my hat did stick up and have patches, but I don't have a picture with it like that!), and Tyler was Harry.

Tyler did a great job drawing Dudley and the kids really loved playing this game!

I sadly do not have a picture of Becky and I, but we did have a lot go fun and stayed up late with some other die-hard fans playing trivia (we write our own questions). We have had fun over these past three years hosting Harry Potter parties together and I will really miss doing them with her. It was a wonderful thing that the Pitchers moved in above us. Becky is a kindred spirit and I will miss her.

So, we're moving...

As most people know, we have been wanting to move back to Portland, Oregon for a long time. We have been living far away from family for seven years and really want to be closer. Plus, we both grew up there and miss the beautiful northwest. So, we are finally moving in August! There are a variety of reasons it has happened now (Tyler is applying to PA schools in Portland and needs a few more prereq classes and it is cheaper and easier to take them in Portland, he does have an interview for a job, we can live with family until we find a place/are in a position to move, etc.). We are sad to leave Salt Lake City and our many friends here and we ended up liking Utah a lot more than we anticipated. When we moved from Virginia I made a pros and cons list about what I will miss and not miss about Virginia and I enjoy doing that for some reason. So here is my miss/won't miss list:

Will NOT miss about Utah:

The air pollution/inversions--

probably my number one con for SLC. They seriously need to do something about this.

lack of water--

I love to go swimming, but there are few fresh water options unless you want to drive quite a distance. Plus, all of the Wasatch Mountain lakes are part of the water shed, so you are not allowed to swim in them if you hike up to one.

It gets pretty hot in the summer--

also the no lakes/rivers nearby makes this much less bearable.

The billboards--

Seriously, why?

Gardening--

It is so hard to garden in Utah and not have everything shrivel up from the heat. I know a lot of people who are successful, but I really think you need a drip system. I am so excited for rich, dark earth!

Will Miss about Utah:

Our friends--

We have so many good friends here, so does Elanor. It will be hard to leave them. So, all of our friends, you should come visit us in Oregon!

My aunt, uncle and cousins who live here--

We will miss you and thanks for everything you have done for us!

Our ward (group of people we go to church with)--

We have such a wonderful ward, full of so many great people. We did not have to deal with the "Utah culture" problem. This is such an accepting, friendly, and interesting ward. I'll really miss the Young Womens group I just started serving with!

The mountains--

Yes, there are beautiful mountains in Oregon, but I will miss the closeness and the only half hour drive to get up into the mountains and on a hike.

All of the National Parks--

We were only able to go to two out of the five, but most of the parks were only within a three or four hour drive.

Our close proximity to everything--

This was something we sort of needed after living in Virginia, especially being so close to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. 

The snow--

I LOVE snow and love snowy winters and it hardly snowed our last winter here, which was a bit disappointing.

Here is a short jaunt down memory lane in Utah: