Annual Lagoon Trip!

I'm obviously not blogging chronologically these days. So sorry!

Anyway, nearly every year, the Lytle clan heads to Lagoon for a weekend. It never seems to get old. The couple of years they've decided not to go, we really missed it, so the kids were pretty excited to go this time.

This was the first year we'd ever gone during Frightmares. That's when they have the park all decked out for Halloween. They have employees roaming around in elaborate, creepy costumes. They have haunted houses, festive musical shows, etc. It was fun.

We got to the campground adjacent to Lagoon between 9 and 10 pm on Friday, ate tasty spaghetti made by Ryan's dad, set up our tent, visited with family, went to sleep, woke up Saturday morn, got ready and spent the whole day at Lagoon.

Cora grouped up with the young teen cousins for a large part of the day, so I didn't get the chance to photograph her. =(

I made Ethan and Oliver pose with this lad in leather leggings. They were a little nervous. =)

  

Janey being camera shy. Tomi was also on the carousel with her, but I guess they couldn't be seated near each other.

My little girl isn't so little anymore. =/

I wish I would've taken more pictures to illustrate who was there. Ryan was also with us. =) The adults all took turns chaperoning various kids. I think we all had a blast.

Sunday morning, we took our time waking up and getting packed up, but had to vacate the campground by 11:00.

Cora and Jane were playing with little Lexi. I think they kind of like her. =)

She likes to stick her tongue out all the time. She's such a cutie!

The kids love going to Lagoon, and I'm glad it's been a tradition. I love seeing the kids having fun! I'm happy to report that our kids will go on all the rides. No chickens among us. =)

Farmstead?

One October evening  (the 27th, to be precise) Oliver and I went to Farmstead with Shirley, Jackie, Ethan, Alex, and Tomi.

Cora had already been there twice that month with friends and as a church activity, so she didn't want to go once more. Jane had other plans that night, and Ryan was working. It was the only remaining chance we had to go, so we took it.

After a few minutes of the corn box and slides and stuff, we went through the maze. Kind of. =)
As the minutes ticked by and the wrong turns multiplied, there was no promise of us making it out alive.
Shirley was certain that the sun would sink down and we'd be stranded in the corn forever. =)  We wound our way this way and that, trying to find the exit. Shirley kept announcing to anyone we approached that we were lost. About 45 minutes later, we had backtracked enough to somehow emerge from the entrance.

One of these times I'll make it all the way through the intended route. Maybe.

The kids spent most of the rest of the time jumping on the giant inflatable pillow thing.

It was a pretty fun night!

Alex, Tomi, Oliver, Ethan

Ollie and meeeee!

A Beautiful Burley Getaway

The second weekend in September was a special one. The "Boise Babes" had a much anticipated date with the city of Burley, Idaho. "Boise Babes" is what my high school friends and I call ourselves. And why wouldn't we?! It's plain to see we're all babes. It's nothing to joke about.

Since we don't all live in Boise anymore, we needed a central location for a retreat. Some live in Utah and others live in Idaho Falls, so Burley just made sense. For so many reasons... =)

The original plan was to have all the babes congregate in Burley on Friday evening and stay until Sunday morning. On that Wednesday, Joni let us know she couldn't join us because her mother had been admitted to the hospital after being found unconscious at home. Her mom lives in Boise, so that's where Joni was going.

She was the one who made the reservation for the house and collected our dues, and now she couldn't be there. She encouraged us to carry on without her. It didn't seem right for us to head to Burley for a fun-filled weekend while Joni and her family were in distress, not knowing what would happen with her mom.

After some discussion, those of us who live in town (Renee, Maria and I) decided to stay at Maria's parents' house that Friday night to make some freezer meals and cards for Joni and her family. Juli also opted to come support Joni. She drove from Idaho Falls, saying she wouldn't go to Burley until after she could visit Joni.

By the time Juli arrived, we had almost finished preparing the freezer meals, so we were ready to meet her at the door with a triple mooning. (Hey, we had to do something to lighten up the mood. ;)

She brought a bunch of supplies for making cards, so we sat around the table until 4:00 AM, chatting, eating candy and trying to write appropriate sentiments on our homemade cards.

Suzy, Emily, Darcie, and Beca stuck with the original plan of spending the night in Burley.

Saturday morning, we went to the hospital to see Joni. She seemed so grateful we came. We visited with her for a while, then we had an early lunch with her downstairs in the cafeteria. She'd already been in Boise for a couple of days, but needed to get back home to Utah for the rest of the weekend. Her sister was set to take a turn sitting with their mom.

Joni carpooled with us to Burley, where we met the other babes at a restaurant. Suzy had already left for another engagement, so we just barely missed a chance to have us all there in one place at the same time. =(

Joni continued on her way home after about an hour of catching up with the others. We sent the cooler full of freezer meals with her. We hope they were edible after the longish car ride. Seriously. Juli also had the idea to send her with a gas card. She's so thoughtful!

The house we stayed in was really cute. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Emily, Renee, and Beca takin' it easy.

Juli (discreetly picking her nose?)

Tootsies and a view of the dining area

Maria's reaction to the severe shortage of foodstuffs. 

Cute house, eh?

After we got settled, we went for a stroll through the bustling downtown area. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of all the abandoned store fronts. Maybe it was just too sad to capture.

Darcie is a famed Utah cross-fitter, so she had her workout clothes on for the eventuality of climbing stuff and doing other impressive exercises while the rest of us simply walked. 

I spotted a tree with an S-shaped trunk. Planted expressly for me, I assume.

We stumbled upon a Latin radio station in a run-down building space. We could see the authentically Mexican DJ through the huge window, and he appeared to be on air. Maria disregarded the signs that said something along the lines of "Never Enter!" and happily went inside to make a dedication to our friend, Natalie, who lives in Arizona.

The rest of us wandered in after her. The poor guy tried to be polite. Maria wanted him to play "Livin' La Vida Loca" for Nat. I doubt he'd ever had so many babes in his studio before.

One thing led to another, and the next thing we knew, Maria was on air being interviewed. I wonder if anyone was tuned in. =)  I think she committed us to meeting up with him and his cronies at some kind of discoteca later that night after his shift. It was a funny few minutes, but in the end we decided to go out to dinner instead. Chadwick's came highly recommended by Beca. It was all she could talk about! Maybe because it was the only restaurant around. Beca, Emily, Suzy, and Darcie had eaten there the night before. They couldn't stop raving about it.

We had some yummy food, including fried pickles! And I tried my luck with their house burger, which had ham, a fried egg, cheddar cheese and aioli sauce on it. (I just now had to Google the menu so I could accurately list the ingredients - great! Now I'm hungry!)  It was actually pretty tasty.

Renee and Me

Darcie, Beca, Emily, Juli

Looking pleased with their dining destination

At one point, when our chatty waitress stopped at our table, Beca asked if the place was haunted. She confirmed Beca's hunch and told us a few accounts of sightings upstairs. Eeek! 

Beca shared a couple of her own ghostly experiences, and others recounted even more stories they'd heard. 

I had major chills, to the point of tears springing to my eyes because I was so creeped out. 

Somehow we made it back to the house safely after our meal. We spent a few hours hanging out, stalking people on FB, catching up and generally enjoying each other's company. We missed the babes who couldn't stay or lived too far away. Maybe next year we can try again. 

Here we are Sunday morning shortly after waking up. 

It was time to go our separate ways.

But only after taking a picture of a the most literal footstool I'd ever seen...

And that's it for beautiful Burley! I know you're sad there isn't more. I think we all had fun. It's always a treat seeing old friends, especially when they're babes.


P.S.  Joni's mom was in a coma for several days, but doctors were gradually able to bring her out of it. She is recovering, and from what I understand, doing much better.

A Really Happy Halloween!

This Halloween season was a treat. I had the feeling it was going to be extra special when I noticed a perfectly creepy scene in our flower bed as September ended . . . 

And to think I could have missed this.
I'm glad I was out watering flowers or weeding or whatever that day.

Oliver even got our milk jug in the spirit with some spooky stickers. For a few weeks, every time we opened a new gallon I transferred his stickers onto it. It was a cute little idea.

This was the extent of out front entry decor . . . 

I decided what my costume would be early in September. I think that's a record for me. Usually I'm trying to help the kids come up with ideas and I don't figure out my own until kind of late in the game.

This time I wanted to stray a bit from my typical silly costumes. 

I've been feeling like I'm looking sort of weathered, so I thought dressing up like an old lady would make me automatically appear younger after taking the costume off. I think it worked for at least a few minutes. =)

I put a considerable amount of effort into making sure the costume would turn out better than my halfhearted get-ups from previous years. I found a blog with instructions for applying old person face. This was my first test run halfway through Sept. :

I basically just used eyeliner to trace existing wrinkles. Yup. That's them. I did scrunch my face a bunch to uncover some sure-to-be future creases.

This was my second attempt after my hair coloring gunk came in the mail. I only covered the front of my hair to see how it would work. It wasn't pliable like a reviewer had claimed, but it was better than any spray bottles I'd tried in the past.

I found this total gem of a dress at St. Vincent's one fateful afternoon before October arrived. It's probably the reason I ended up leaning toward a vintage/serious grandmother rather than a fun and friendly granny.

I didn't get the wrinkles very defined on my second try. It looked better in person. Maybe. =/

Cora finally decided on her costume mere days before the big night. She found a video on how to do makeup for a ventriloquist dummy. 

I suggested she do a test run, and at last she got around to it on the evening of the 30th. I joined her for a while, using the excuse that I was practicing possible hair arrangements for the morrow.

I'd been about to attempt a high bun, but my hair was too fluffy, so I left it like this for some obligatory pics.
I decided my hairdo of choice would have to be a low bun.

I think Cora made an error somewhere in there with the eyeliner, so she proceeded to go crazy with it instead of trying to fix it. =)

She really did a nice job on her trial run. It was well worth her efforts and time. =)

She couldn't have done it without my presence and support.

She swiped my cheek with the eyeliner, which sent me into a tizzy.

Somehow we made it through all this to see Halloween.

The pic on the left was taken 3 days after the one on the right. I just thought it might be good to have a current headshot to compare it side by side with my old lady self. It was sheer coincidence that my head was turned similarly in both.

I felt like trying a variety of facial expressions since I'd gone to the trouble of getting ready. It does seem like a shame to plan and prepare just to go outside in the dark and take the kids trick-or-treating. It's not easy to see everyone's costumes that way. =(

Oliver wanted to be Link (from The Legend of Zelda). His costume was pretty easy to put together with the help of some fabric glue. I thought he looked really cute. 

(He would only wear the ears for this picture since they felt weird on him.)

Ryan made the shield out of cardboard and colored it. It turned out great!

Cousin Ethan came with us on our quest for candy.

Bad lighting, but I need to share some evidence of my whole ensemble. 

I found the perfect purse at Savers.

Here's Cora's finished look:

She did well. Doesn't she look creepy?

We met up with Gavin's fam, Megan's fam, and my mom. Cora ran into some friends and opted to go with them. Ryan was with us as well, though he seemed embarrassed to be seen with me. He said it was a good costume, but that he couldn't stand looking at me like that. He said it was disturbing. So I kept it all on for the rest of the weekend. ;) Haha. I might have if the hair stuff wasn't so icky. 

I guess he can only hope I'll stumble upon a magical fountain of youth before I look like that for reals. 

I personally loved the way my costume turned out. Somehow I don't think genuine wrinkles will look quite as taut as my drawn on ones.

Here we have the lovely Jane and her friend Cristina. Jane decided to be a Greek goddess and Cristina was Miranda Sings, a popular YouTuber. I had to look her up, but Cristina pretty much nailed the look. 

We barely caught them for a photo op since they got ready over at Cristina's and we were leaving before they arrived. Before we made it down our street, they rounded the corner on their bikes. Crisis averted! I was worried I wouldn't get any pics of them.

This duo went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood on their own. It's sad when they outgrow wanting to go with their families. ='(

I thought she made a pretty convincing goddess. If only we didn't need to wear long sleeves on account of the cold.

The kids didn't last much more than an hour. Oliver and Ethan wanted to get back home and play. I went against my natural candy-loving instincts and didn't even pressure them to do "just one more street". It was among my life's most impressive moments of self control.

Oliver thought it was funny that his bucket was so full it wouldn't dump out.

In case you wondered what the top of my hair looked like...

And the back of it...

I even filled my purse with assorted hard candies as a prop. I had planned to make a brief video of me saying a short Halloween greeting and then feebly opening a piece of candy and slowly savoring it without acknowledging the fact that the camera was still rolling. Sadly, I didn't get to it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!