So sometimes when a weekend comes along you find yourself dressing up like a witch
and talking Grandma Julie and Aunt Kristin into meeting you at Gardner Village for some witchy fun.
Wyatt got to wear his Halloween costume.
We didn't go to the Witch Fest. We just went to see the witch decorations. And in my search of the witch activities at Gardner Village online (here) I found that they do a lot of crazy witch stuff.
Next year I want to have breakfast with a witch. You can print a scavenger hunt off and find all the different witches placed around the village and get a chocolate chip cook for 39 cents at the end. And they do Witchapalooza, a witch dinner and show which I'm certain The Man wants to take me to this weekend for date night.
But what I found that I really wanted to do with the girls was Ride To a Witch.
So we bought our tickets, which ended up being cockroaches.
And got into line.
Let me tell you, Witch Lucinda will give you what for while waiting in that line. I got yelled at a lot. Lucinda called our tickets crickets since we were going to cricket hollow. Julie countered with I think this is a cockroach.
We got yelled at for the fact that we are not going to Cockroach Hollow, but Cricket Hollow. Did we have cockroaches? We must be in the wrong line then. So she had us move to the other side of the path to stand in line for Cockroach Hollow. Except I didn't want to go to Cockroach Hollow, I wanted to go to Cricket Hollow so I said I had a cricket. I got yelled at for not knowing the difference between a cockroach and a cricket. Casidee was then told that when she goes wrong in life her mom, a finger wags in my direction, will have no one to blame but herself.
Tayler, who was the only child with brown eyes in the line (trust me, Witch Lucinda made sure to ask) was told that the mother's of children with brown eyes, who's your mother? Oh, that figures, mothers of children with brown eyes pick their nose. You might not want to hold your mom's hand anymore.
I did point out to Tayler that she got her brown eyes from her dad and not her mom, thank you very much.
At one point Julie argued with Witch Lucinda and was asked, "and how long have you been a witch?" To which Julie replied, "oh for quite some time now." "I thought so."
Finally we made it on to the hay ride to Cricket Hollow (not Cockroach Hollow because that's just gross).
Where we passed the duck ghosts and arrived to be greeted by a witch who's name I can't remember.
Who told us that the only way you can enter a witch house is if you enter it with witch attitude. Hand up, hip out, let's go.
And then she taught us about all the delightful things that witches have in their kitchens, like eye of newt.
Outside on our way to a witch dance lesson Witch Prudence wanted to know if Brynn was using the blanket she was carrying to do magic?
And she was quite disgusted when Brynn told her no.
She also accosted Casidee, pulling on a lock of her hair.
"Are you a Weasley?"
"Because you look like a Weasley."
She then proclaimed Casidee her cousin and renamed her Leah.
Off to dance lessons with the witch from the house where I received a phone call from The Man and stepped to the side to talk to him and watch all the fun.
After that Prudence took us over to the cauldron to make a witches brew.
She told Tayler to stir.
Jayme poured some liquid in out of a bottle, then everyone else found a "magic rock", gave it a name, and threw it into the pot.
*poof* you have just made a spell for your future boyfriend. The name of your rock will be the name of your boyfriend.
Just for the record, Cali is going to catch herself a Bob.
Next up we met a Jersey witch who's name I can't remember who showed us the witch spa with a farting snake in the bathtub.
And we attended a cockroach funeral where we sang "Amazing Grace" with some pretty twisted lyrics.
And we said good-bye to those crazy witches and left Cricket Hollow.
Until next year because this is now a tradition.
It was Friday night and Grandma Julie took Brynn and Tayler home with her to sleep over and to earn money by helping her out with some chores around the yard the next day.
I was down to three girls so we stopped at McDonald's for a sweet treat (hot fudge sundaes and smoothies... and I may or may not have chosen to get a Coca-Cola) and then curled up on the coach and watched "Nightmare Before Christmas" because it just seemed fitting.
Sometimes when a weekend comes along you find yourself getting up way too early on a Saturday and helping out at the Stake Farm.
Which is just a giant garden.
The food grown there goes to help with Humanitarian Aid and it's run completely on volunteer work (and local missionaries).
I'm proud of these girls, even though we had to get up early on a chilly fall morning, they were excited. I'd received a text the night before that said "please please please come help in the morning" and there was no hesitation, they wanted to go.
So sometimes when a weekend comes along you find yourself cutting lettuce out of a garden with your girls.
After that Cali headed to Orem for a birthday party and that left me with Casidee and Jayme. That also left me with my family pretty much spread across the entire state of Utah. West and Sean were in Moab, Brynn and Tayler were up in Davis County, Cali was in Utah County, and Cas, Jay and I were sitting in Salt Lake County.
There was nothing left to do but crank up the music and clean the house. Jen showed up with her beautiful watches (have you entered to win one yet? Do it here. Go do it. Right now.), and then I took the girls out for smothered burritos. Also, we somehow managed to squeeze in going to the dollar movie once I had collected all five girls back home again.
P.S. Thanks to Grandma Julie for taking Brynn and Tayler. They loved that they got to earn some spending money. They loved that they got to hang with Wyatt. They loved that you took them to McDonald's. They loved that they got manicures and pedicures... wait a second... can I come earn some spending money from you?
The boys came home Saturday night. Can I just say that when I hugged that man it just felt so... good. He'd only been gone one night but I just love being around him.
We had fun as girls though. We packed the activities in and giggled a lot.
I might just be the luckiest girl in the world to be surrounded with the family that I have.
