Halloween Part II

More costumes, more parties, more treats, and more Halloween spirit...all combined into one long post!

I love dressing up, so I am glad I had a bunch of parties to do so! Our garden gnomes were my favorite this year, but to mix things up I created a few other costumes as well. Zombies was sort of the theme this year (as you will see from the pics). I went to three different zumba Halloween parties, and tried to change up the costumes a little bit for each one, so I was a zombie on Thurs (and a freaky one at that...its crazy what make-up can do!), an 80s girl on Friday, and an 80s zombie on Saturday! It was a blast!

Thurs zumba:

I look like Sweeney Todd the demon barber lol

Friday zumba:

Saturday zumba:

I did both mine and Karen's make-up for each party, and I'm pretty proud :)


Saturday afternoon we had a family Halloween bash which included pizza, games, and scary stories; I didn't want to wear zombie makeup the entire day (my face has already suffered the consequences of my zumba zombie-ness) SO we simplified things and went as bowlers (our garden gnome costumes were borrowed and we forgot to get them back in time). Later that night we had a party with friends which equaled more pizza and more games...(side note: has any one played battle of the sexes?? Horrible game and completely biased towards the woman!) We decided to try another zombie creation, this time as sports zombies...we may have overkilled the zombie theme!

My bro David as a hippie

50's bowlers and Gpa T

Costumes for Sat night's party, once again I did both our make-up

The party crew

Yuki was our little pumpkin :)

She wouldn't keep the hat on

Ha ha it was fun, but I don't think I can even see another zombie for at least a year!! It has been a crazy, busy weekend, and I can't wait to relax all day Sunday.


Happy Halloween!

October Madness

Madness might be an understatement. October has been busy! Lots of homework, lots of stress, and lots of fun. But who wants to hear about our homework or stress?? So about the fun...

The main event (or so I like to think) was my birthday. Yep, 23 and rolling. We celebrated by taking the day off work and biking down Bennie Creek in Payson Canyon with my bro David, Dan's dad, and brother, Jake. It was pretty intense; some spots were so steep that I had to get off my bike and walk it down, but it was still so much fun! I was afraid I would die on my birthday, but I didn't even wreck! (We've already been 2 more times.) Later that night we met up with some friends and ate at Outback. I got a kitchen mixer (which I LOVE) and an i-pod (which I broke already). That Sunday we celebrated with my mom and siblings. She made a delicious meal, as usual! We played volleyball in the back yard in the pouring rain.

Another fun event was pumpkin carving with friends. Ours turned out pretty good for no stencils... We also played catch phrase (which always gets more hilarious the later the night gets).

Group shot

Another event was Jensen family FHE. It is supposed to be a monthly thing, but rarely works out that way lol. I am blogging about this FHE because something small and insignificant to most people happened that made me realize how lucky I am to have married into such a great family. Dan and I were walking out the door, down the front steps when one of my earrings fell out. It was a pretty big one, and I thought I had seen were it landed, but Dan and I started searching for it in the grass and couldn't see it anywhere. One by one people came outside and started helping us look. Gpa J was on his hands and knees in the wet grass, aunts and uncles, cousins, and siblings came out just to help us find my stupid earring. We looked for about 20 mins when Dan and I had to go; it was only a cheap pair of earrings, and I was fine with letting it go. But the family was determined to find my earring, and sure enough they finally did. They must have been out there looking in the dark for about 40 minutes. On the way home Gpa Jensen dropped it off at our house. Such a small thing, but they were willing to stop everything until they found my earring. This is true of them in all aspects, when someone needs help, they are there to give it! It's refreshing to be surrounded by a family that is so selfless, positive, and just plain good!


Usually Dan and I don't make too much of a fuss on Halloween. Last year we just painted each others' faces and called it good. This year, however, we went all out. We decided it would be fun to have a Halloween party with friends, so we had to think of some clever costumes...I had lots of ideas, but we finally settled on garden gnomes. It was fun putting together our costumes! We made a simple felt skirt and Dan's belt and the hats. I found the shirts and shoes at DI, and just sorta put the look together with stuff we had lying around. We did buy the boot covers and the beard. The party was fun! We visited with friends whom we hadn't seen in a few months, and played catch phrase (it's a party favorite). There were plenty of yummy treats. I was the only non-pregnant woman there, but I am pretty sure I ate the most :) Halloween only comes around once a year, so I made sure we got plenty of pictures in our costumes!

Okay...the sign might be a little overboard lol.

My favorite part of the outfit. These shoes were a great $5 find at DI and I bedazzled them.

Pumpkin Creme pies with cream cheese filling, yum!

Ace and Easton, such cuties!

Oh yeah, Jersery Shore yeah (Pauly D anyone?)

Who ya gonna call? (I had this song stuck in my head all night)

When we got home and looked through the pictures, I realized none of the ones of Dan and I had worked, so, of course, I made us take a few. I wish we had a front lawn...

Dan is so good to put off with me and my crazy ideas :)

I have a few more costumes up my sleeve for other zumba parties this weekend; it should be fun!

Fishing the Provo River and Big Spring Hollow

Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn (literally...6 am!) to fish the Provo River. We met Lorin, Bridgette, and Brent up there. It was a "first time" experience for many reasons: 1. First time wearing waders, 2. first time trying to shove a foot the sign of a football into a size 7 tennis shoe (thanks to the waders), 3. first time fishing waist deep in a river, 4. first time losing 3 lures in one fishing trip (snag after snag after snag!). I caught one fish, but it got off my line before I could get a picture. Dan caught three. These trout were much bigger than the fish I caught earlier on this year up Payson Canyon and down at Scofield, so reeling mine in was fun! Yes, I had fun...though it is not something I can see myself doing more than once a year.

Lorin with his first catch, and very first cast of the day!

While my shoes felt five sizes too small, my wader were five sizes too big!

Later on we decided to take our first "off road" mountain bike ride. We found Big Spring Hollow trail, a "must see classic" according to utahmountainbiking.com, and decided to give it a try. It was a short ride, about 4 miles is all, but man, for a beginner like me that was enough! It is steady climb the whole way up. At one point I was walking my bike up the trail. The way down was a bit scary at first. I was flying without even touching my pedals, and it took me a minute to get used to the rocky trail, but once I did I had a blast! Riding down hill is quite the adrenaline rush, the feeling is almost addicting...now I am not an adrenaline junkie or anything, but I can't wait for the next ride! It took us about an hour to get up (mostly because I wanted to take so many pictures, but okay, if I'm being honest, taking pictures was my excuse to take a breather lol) and only 20 minutes (at the most) to get down. The scenery was amazing! It truly was a "must see." The leaves have started changing colors, and you ride over several wooden bridges that cross over Big Spring Creek; all of which made for awesome pictures, and if there's one thing I love, it's pictures!

a beautiful meadow

I was praying for a 4-wheeler, a horse, really anything that would carry me up the mountain lol

The fun part! Flying down the trail

Once we got back down we took a short nap on the grass.