From Scary to Cozy.

Monday morning, after trying to sleep in the front seats of the van because the back was full and awaking exhausted and aching, we made it all better with some breakfast at this spooky place ...

We found this scary ghost inside to welcome us.

Oh My.

Oh, and a spider for Dad ... it's funny how the cone lights ended up looking like candy corn in this photo. 

Lunch time was even scarier. 

Even stopping for gas was scary.

This antique mall was our choice for the day, but it was only scary to my bank account!!

Then when we decided to check into a hotel for a good night's sleep Monday night, there was a haunted house picture above our bed. 

Look how well it fits in with all the haunted houses in TV land.

But our drive that day was absolutely the scariest part of the whole week, when it took us 2 and a half  hours to do a 45 minute's drive.  A memorable evening in Wyoming.

Wednesday dawned to help us celebrate Titan's 14th birthday. 

Then its back to real life, and time to unload the van.  We found and brought in this brass horn I had found at Julie's, hoping it would fit my angel statue that I got at the last flea.o.logy, how perfect is this?

Then as we were unloading the rest of the van, and I was taking some garbage to the big cans, I saw that the zinnias I'd planted in the spring in the fountain were in wild bloom.

How fun is that?

When we got done unloading, we had filled one of the big tables,

the green bench,

the buffet table

and under the table with goodies from Julie's house.

There was also a table full of goodies that I purchased on the way out and the way back.

And this Cabinet of Curiosities sign to hang on the mantle was the first item to be placed, the day before Halloween. It was a long day, and oh so tiring.  Just looking at the piles was scary, especially trying to imagine how long it would take to sort and clean it all, then place and price it. 

Other scary moments, while looking in the past for witch pictures for an Insta post I wanted to do, I ran across this picture of me 10 years ago.  What a difference a decade makes.  Me and 70 and me at 60.

Here were some favorite pictures I found while looking for those pictures.

More fun photos were gathered by Dad and me on the internet of our family members celebrating the spooky season. 

Some people are having fun!!

The Spanish Fork Perkins celebrating.

Is Davin's costume the most perfect of all. 

My old hiking and kayaking friends had a friendly witchy outing on Salem Pond, does that make them Salem Witches, that's a scary thought.  Dang I'm sorry I missed the fun. Trevor even sent us some excerpts from a site he found showing how we are related to several of the participants in the Salem witch trials. Now that is a scary event. 

The Summers costumes look scary and sweet. 

And here is Ian, no costume, but we love that face!!

And the Pleasant Grove Perkins had fun with their costumes too, and who doesn't find sharks scary?

In two different counties Spencer and Brittney's kids look adorable, but that skeleton looks a bit scary.

and up north Charley's having fun with her scary friend.

On Halloween I dressed up a bit and went to work, I loved when others came who were celebrating, I got a few photos.

Great shirt.

Here's the cutest of our celebraters. 

When I got home I saw that Dad was dressed up to give out the candy.  We think we got half a dozen to ten trick-or-treaters, because after we waited and hour, until 7:30 with no trick or treaters, we left the goodies out on the porch with a sign.  Bummer. But we did get scared watching a murder mystery. I just wonder if our house is a bit too scary for Halloween visitors.

On Friday I got some of Julie's stuff sorted and started a batch of laundry to prepare some items for sale.  Dad was busy in another part of the house washing off the excess grout on his shower project. 

Then Dad cousin Eric came for a visit, and we went to lunch at Mi Rancherito.  He lived in Austin when he was growing up, and loves Mexican food, especially since he now lives in New Jersey just a mile away from his Mom's. 

Here they are, the two oldest sons of Milt and Ida's two boys. 

After lunch we headed to Highland to pick up Becca and Brady's kids from school, as they were off to a conference, and we got to play with the kids.  How fun is this graveyard with life size, or should I say, death size gravestones that Brady made and decorated with his kids. 

On Saturday morning Dad went back to Payson to attend his first companion, Van Devereau's funeral.  Such a sad occasion, and such a good man.

But Dad did get to see his Mission Mom, Sister Wade.

He also ran into Van's cousin, Scott Devereau who worked for Associated too, and was kind enough to let Dad know about the service. 

I meanwhile took this little man to his Junior Jazz game, 

And got to hang out with his siblings.  Here Madi gives some hugs to her new build a bear, that is a dinosaur dressed as a Slytherin.  Her birthday was a while back, and on Friday after school she got to go on a grandma (Summers) date for her birthday.  How fun is that? Though you have to admit that a dinosaur is a little scarier than a teddy bear, and the Slytherin element just adds to that. 

Here they all are. 

I enjoyed witnessing the friendly relationship between these too.  

Here is Loki wearing the glasses Reagan got at DI after school on Friday with me and Mac.

What a well-trained dog.

When Dad got back from the funeral, we did an activity where Dad dropped me off at The Grove, to do some tidying in my booth, while he took the kids to Macey's to get ice-cream and to choose their own dinners. 

While leaving Macey's they ran into Scott, what a fun coincidence.  Looks like Titan has passed him up  I love Scott's cute pouty face. 

Here's Jenn's latest holiday display at the Grove.  I thought it was charming; she is so talented.

Next Dad and I left the kids in Titan's capable hands and drove to Salt Lake to the Cottonwood Country Club for our second 135 art show.  Here we are with another missionary who served with Dad, Dean Brunson, with his Finnish wife, and artist daughter.  Ainomaija Lehtinen Brunson, who is the older sister of the current Finnish Mission President, Juha Lehtinen, with whom we were great friends in Finland.  When they were here last Summer, they told us about their artist niece, Kristen Tye, who I started following on Instagram, and I went to her one-man show, where I bought the program piece, Mantua Poppies. 

Here Dad holds the first picture we picked up to buy, and its Kristens'.

Kristen holds our whole stash as they pose together. 

Happy us.

We all drove down to Payson to attend church, since between our trip, General Conference and Stake Conference, we haven't seen our Primary kids for a month.  Here we see Jacob holding a picture of Mormon as a ten year old boy, the age he was when Amoron choose him to be the next prophet.   Dad played Amoron, and Jacob, who is 8, played the part of Mormon in a short skit.  I really think he looks a bit like the picture, don't you?

And here's another look-alike.  We had the kids draw favorite blessings in their lives, and the other kids guessed.  When Dorothy started her picture with a round circle and the neck, we thought it was a tree.

And Emily was thankful that they had been able to find her pig, after praying for it when it was lost.

Mac said he was thankful for the Book of Mormon.  Here we see him back at our house with a device he built from Legos that had 'magic crystals'.

Here Madi made a bouquet of flowers.

Back in Highland, for some cozy dog hugs.

And men with devices moments.  Nothing scary about that.

We hope your week was fun and memorable.