Halloween

Our neighborhood HOA decided to have a party on Halloween night, so we had very few Trick-or-Treaters.  Everyone who went said it was a great party, but I was left with quite a bit of leftover candy.  We gave out full-size candy bars this year and the Trick-or-Treaters we did have were thrilled to get them.  

I volunteered to help in Jonathan's class at their class Halloween party.

I asked Michael to get the pumpkin to carve, and he chose this huge one!  The picture doesn't do it justice--it was massive.  Usually Michael carves it, but I carved it this year.  

Emily's plans with her friends fell through, so she volunteered to take Jonathan Trick-or-Treating.  He was so happy to go with her!  They weren't gone for very long, but they came back with full buckets.

Andrew went Trick-or-Treating with his friends, and Daniel didn't want to go so he stayed home with Michael and me to hand out candy.  He was pretty strict.  He wouldn't give them candy until they actually said, "Trick or Treat!"

Emily--Spiderman
Andrew--BYU football player
Daniel--Jake from State Farm (he made a tag after this picture was taken)
Jonathan--Iron Spiderman

Happy Halloween!

Emily's Dance Concert

Emily did a wonderful job at her dance concert!  I'm so happy to watch her dance again.  

First dance, "1990's"
It's hard to see her in this one.  She is in the second group that comes on stage, and she is in the very back row on the left.

Second dance, "Rewind"
She is front and center in this one!

Ready to dance!

With her brothers

Great job, Emily!

Concert--Josh Groban and Idina Menzel

We had a great time at the Josh Groban concert!  Idina Menzel (she is the voice of Elsa from Frozen) opened for him and she was amazing!  She sang "Let it Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from Frozen, as well as songs from Wicked and Rent.  

Josh Groban was fantastic!  He sang songs from his new album, his classic "You Raise Me Up," a duet of "Falling Slowly" with Idina Menzel, and many more.  I really enjoyed when he played piano and sang "She's Always a Woman" by Billy Joel and a few others.  

It was pretty late for the kids, because the concert started at 8pm and didn't end until after 11pm.  Jonathan fell asleep for a little while.  I think they all enjoyed it, though.  I know I did!!!

We had pretty good seats!

Ready for the concert to start 

We had a great time!

Emily's Flute Recital

Emily did a beautiful job at her Halloween-themed flute recital.  She played the Harry Potter Medley, and also a couple of Christmas songs.  It was kind of funny to watch her play Christmas songs in her Halloween costume!  

Emily in her Spider-Man costume

"Harry Potter Medley"

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" duet with her flute teacher

Great job, Emily!

2nd Trip to Iowa

I'm so glad I went to see my Grandma Horsfall two weeks ago, because she passed away on October 11.  I was able to go to her funeral.  It is so hard to say goodbye to Grandma.  I miss Grandpa so much, and I will miss Grandma, too.  They were a very big part of my life.  These are the memories I shared about Grandma, that Pastor Kittleson read:

I remember staying over at Grandpa and Grandma’s house.  I slept on their couch, and Grandma would wake me up and turn on Sesame Street for me.

Grandma had beautiful penmanship.

Grandma didn’t care about material things, and she was always frugal and happy with what she had.  That is a great lesson that I hope I can teach my kids.

Since my brother Joe couldn't attend (he had just been there to go to Grandma Freese's funeral and he got to see Grandma Horsfall), they asked me to be a pall bearer.  

Pall bearers

Horsfall Cousins

Trantanella Cousins (Grandma's children and her siblings' children who came to the funeral)

Fall Break

We didn't have any travel plans for Fall Break, which ended up being a good thing since I made two trips to Iowa.  The kids did have some fun over break, though.

Here is Andrew at his friend Andrew's birthday party at Extreme Gravity

We watched General Conference, and the kids had fun coloring while listening.

Daniel had his friends over to play D & D and Minecraft.  

The whole family went shopping at Sam's Club.  Michael and the kids always have a great time looking at TVs, lol.

Trip to Iowa

I was able to go on a short trip to Iowa this past weekend.  Linda called me on Friday and said that Grandma had a couple of falls that week and she had been sleeping all day and wouldn't wake up.  I hadn't been to Iowa since last year in June, so I knew I should take the opportunity for a visit.  Thankfully, Grandma was up and doing pretty well when I got there on Saturday, but she did have a hard time staying awake.  By Monday, when I left, she was doing much better.  I was sorry that I didn't have time to visit other family, but it was too short a trip, unfortunately. 

The Kruses were at Linda's Saturday night, and I got to see everyone (except Ben's wife Lori) when I went over there after visiting Grandma.

On Sunday morning, I went to church with Linda and then we went to the breakfast afterwards.  Then we stopped in to see Grandma.  My Uncle Harve was there, so we got to see him for a few minutes.  We went back to Linda's to relax for a bit so Grandma could have lunch and rest and visit with Harve.  While I waited, Ben took me on a ride in the combine.

I went back to the nursing home to spend the afternoon with Grandma.  A cute little boy and his aunt came around giving popcorn to the residents.  He was so sweet and looked like a little Harry Potter.

Jonathan still talks about those kitties!  I know he would have loved being there.  This is Chase and Claire, Brooke's kids, holding them.  

Here are Skippy and Fred, the house cats.  My allergies weren't too bad, thankfully, as I stayed at Sam and Linda's house.

One last visit with Grandma on Monday morning before I had to head home.

I also got some bad news that Grandma Freese passed away on Saturday, so I was able to meet up with Grandpa Freese, Deb, and Kevin in Mason City for a short visit before I had to leave for the Minneapolis airport.  

I did have a nice flight home.  The plane was pretty empty and I had my whole row to myself.

Grandma Freese's funeral was on Thursday, so I watched Betsy's kids while her and Geoff flew to Iowa for the funeral.  I think the kids had fun with us.