The Halloween Craziness Continues

Growing up, Halloween was my least favorite holiday. Trying to be creative with a costume idea and stepping out of my comfort zone to dress up in a silly getup are not part of my forte. But those are the exact reasons why Halloween is Brian's favorite holiday.  

Over the years, out of love for Brian, I have learned to embrace the Halloween spirit.  Although it has been a very rough road getting to this point, I think I'm getting close to really enjoying this holiday. 

I have tried to tell Brian that he must end the Halloween madness by having his costume(s) decided on a month ahead of time and have everything together the weekend before. Has this ever happened? No. Does he still dress up? Yes.  So, as part of my learning process, I have come to realize that the week of Halloween will be crazy. With several different costume ideas and projects going on, there is no telling what is happening in the Deaver household. I've been doing this now for over 10 years. I know there is no point in getting stressed out or worried about how it is all going to come together. I just try to be supportive in whatever crazy ideas Brian is trying to pull together. This year, I even took the time to make my own Halloween costume to go along with his idea.  It only took an hour and half but still, it shows just how far I've come.  

Just as expected, it was an eventful week with tons parties and activities.  Lots of fun but so happy it's over, at least for another year.

  

Neighborhood Halloween Party:  Batwoman and Joker

Halloween Carnival for Miss Callie (at the Child Development Center) - happily, her sister and brother tagged along.

Trick or Treating (Deaver's and McKeon's)

Two cute little pirates and one adorable ladybug

The Joker (round 2)

McCann Halloween Contest:

If you don't know, every year Brian's work holds a big Halloween contest.  Every year, for the past 9 years that Brian has worked there, Brian has crossed dressed as a girl.  This has become a tradition in his office I hoped would end years ago but the custom just continues to become stronger each year.  Here are the pictures from this year along with some from 2007 where they recreated a few of Brian's costumes (Deaver Girl) from the past years.  

I tell Brian each year that our children will definitely be scarred for life and will eventually have to seek therapy because of this, but the tradition lives on.

Wig preparation on Halloween Eve

The skit: This year they had girls cross dress as guys from the office and Brian, of course, cross dress as a girl. 

(The one on the left is dressed up like Brian)

Danielle and "Danielle"

2007 McCann Halloween contest: The Deaver Girls

Aimee and Deaver Girl 2007

4 BYU Football tickets, 2 parties, 2 skateboard cakes, too many presents = 1 happy 4 year old

Yes, it's hard to believe our little Emerson is now 4 and counting. He had a great birthday celebration that lasted over a few days. Here's a run down of the ongoing celebration.

       

Saturday: Brian got tickets to the BYU Football game.  He's been talking about going to a game since last spring, when we went down to Provo to visit his cousin and he thought we were going down to go to a football game.  Brian, Savannah, Emerson, and my dad (who happened to be visiting) headed down to Provo to cheer on the "BYU Broncos" (he just can't keep his favorite football teams straight).   Despite the snow that morning, they ended up staying warm and having a great time.

          

Sunday: Family birthday party with lots of gifts (including his favorite present, a skateboard) and an amazing skateboard cake made by BaBa.

Tuesday (actual b-day) Morning: Breakfast in bed with his sisters

Tuesday afternoon:  Playgroup birthday party with a skateboard cake #2 made by Daddy.

Governor's Gala

At the beginning of October, we were able to be a part of the Annual Governor's Gala. 

It was such a great evening filled with good food and fun entertainment. 

A big thanks to Mike who orchestrated another amazing Gala.

A few pics from the evening

The Deaver clan with Lt. Governor, Gary Herbert

Aimee, Debbie and Monica

Brian and Jon Lee 

US Open

Brian and I were able to go to the US Open this year.  It was something I have always wanted to do and even more so since I've gotten into playing tennis over the last few years.

Brian surprised me for our anniversary back in June with a planned trip to New York including tickets for the Open.  Brian and I both agreed that it was the best sporting event we have ever been to.  It was so much fun and we will definitely be going back again soon.

Inside Arthur Ashe Stadium

 

Andy Rodrick warming up

 

   

Roger Federer serving it out for the win

A frustrated David Ferrer 

Rained out at the end of a great day

First Day of School

         

Savannah started her first day of 2nd grade a couple of weeks ago.  I can hardly believe that she can be that old.  She was so excited to start and has been doing great.  She is very grown up and is such a hard little worker in school and everything she does.  I never have to worry about homework being completed or her forgetting anything at home.  She is so responsible for her age, it's a little scary.  

               

Savannah with little sister                                Savannah with little brother 

                                                                                      (who just had to bring his backpack, too)

Savannah's clothes literally laid out for school.  

It was so cute, I just had to take a picture.

Now, for the flip side of my life - Emerson!  He is so crazy, it's definitely scarier than Savannah being so responsible. Although, on his first day of pre-school, he was the cutest thing you've ever seen. His excitement was contagious and Brian and I were giddy just watching him. His favorite thing about going to pre-school is when he gets to bring his backpack with show and tell inside. He feels so grown up - just like "S-vannah". Unfortunately, I think he might end up being a little bit different student than Savannah but I am hoping he proves me wrong.

Emerson on his big day

Something to Smile About

I'm back.  Okay, I know I've taken a little hiatus from this blogging thing.  Tennessee was not good for blogging (I could never get a connection there on my laptop).  When I got home, I was too overwhelmed to post all the amazing things we did and sort through the over 2,000 pictures taken (no, that is not an exaggeration) to find the right ones for the blog.  I am now trying to start current and maybe I'll be able to go back and post about the beach and all the fun things we did in Tennessee one day. 

I might be the only one smiling.  But, if there is still someone out there reading this totally lame blog, stay tuned because there will soon be some new posts coming.

Alpine Slide

Whoa Hoo!

Me, Danny, Mike, Lucy and Suzy all headed up to the annual McCann summer party at Snowbird and rode the alpine slide. Good times.

Mesmerized

The NASCAR Camping World series is like the minor leagues to the MLB. A couple weeks ago, me, Mike, Cameron and Emerson headed out to Larry H. Miller's Speedway. The event was great. The VIP hook-ups from Mike were great. Emerson loved it. Since then, he's committed to become a racecar driver (as well as a football player).

First and Last

Yes, it finally happened.  The garage sale that Brian has been making me save all my DI junk for over a year and a half took place last weekend.   This is our first garage sale together.  Brian loves garage sales but I really would just rather haul everything off right away and take the tax right off.  Luckily, we didn't spend  much time pulling it together.  Here are a few of the problems I had with the sale:

1. Waking up early to get ready - Why do garage sales have to start so early? And why do people always come before the posted time? Brian even wrote in the ad that "early birds would be bombarded with water balloons."  And no, it didn't work.
   
2. It was freezing cold.  Okay, not freezing but for June it was ridiculous to be wearing hoodies and fleeces and drinking hot chocolate.
3. Spreading out all the junk that I don't ever want to see again out on the front lawn for strangers and neighbors to rummage through.  It was a really weird and almost embarrassing experience for me.
4. Haggling over $1 and $.50 items.  REALLY???  Who are these people?  When did a couple of coins become too much money?  (Also, having a guy gather up a couple of toys that totaled $.85 and asking for his change back from $1.)
5. Having people keep coming for over 2 hours after the sale "ended" and search through all the bags and boxes I had just packed up.

The best thing about the garage sale was Savannah's little lemonade stand.  It was so cute!  She ran over to her station anytime someone pulled up.    She probably had better business than the rest of the sale.  It was a great experience for her.   

All things considered, it actually turned out to be a fun family day.  The kids loved it.  Savannah and Emerson both wanted to know if we could do this every Saturday.   My response: "First and Last."

Savannah's birthday

Savannah turned 7 last Saturday.

She had a wonderful day. Here's how it went:

• breakfast in bed
• bowling with the family
• sirloin steak at Outback (her favorite meal)
• lots of presents
• Baba's cake + ice cream







Thanks for all the calls, cards, gifts and love she received. She was very excited about her presents (especially her Webkinz)