Jack-o-Lantern Party (or, Fun With Knives)

Last night I had some friends over to carve pumpkins for Halloween. Warm cider was drunk, pumpkin parts were removed (and, somehow, flung onto the walls), seeds were roasted to perfection, Halloween treats were consumed, much laughter was heard, and some exceptionally creative carvers were revealed.

Here are a few pics of the fun. (Try not to be too jealous.)

The refreshment table--notice the Black Cat Cookies!
(The bread sticks & sauce on the left are meant to be "bones & blood")

Almost the whole gang (Sue was in the kitchen roasting seeds)

From L to R: Nicole, Jake, Jenny, Rachel, Dave, Mary Frances

Rachel wields a knife in support of Jenny, who had no problem scooping the innards out of her pumpkin but hesitated when it came time to actually carve it. Luckily, Jake and Rachel were on-hand to help her create a masterpiece of stars and stripes.

The ghoulish jack-o-lanterns
(mine is the second from the left)

Thanks to my fantastic friends for a terrific evening!

Utah/Kids/Pumpkins

Since I just started this blogging thing, I feel the need to catch up a bit--to make up for lost time. Hence, some photos and anecdotes from my recent trip to Utah for my cousin Tyler's wedding.

The Happy Couple

Me with my newest neice

Mom and Nancy

Uncle Bob

Three Generations

(should be four, but my dad wasn't there to be in the picture)

Visit to my brothers, Jeremy and Marshall

Maintaining Favorite Aunt status through pumpkin carving with my sister's kids and my brother's kids (aka "The Utah cousins")

(I know, I look ghastly in that top photo, but I didn't want Megan to feel left out by me only including a photo of the boys)

The boy cousins really bonded playing video games on my mom's computer. Possibly the sweetest moment of the entire visit was when James (age 8) and Elijah (age 3) were playing a game together (actually, James was playing and Elijah was watching) and James spontaneously said, "I just love you Elijah." Elijah replied right on cue, "I love you too, James." Makes you a little veclempt, doesn't it?

Birth of a Blog

Dear World,

The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived: I have created a blog. Yes, yes, I know you're all thrilled and delighted and wondering what took me so long. Your accolades humble me. (I'm still not on Facebook though, and don't plan to be, so don't get too excited.)

In all seriousness, I decided I'd give this blogging thing a shot for awhile and see how it goes. Many of my random thoughts of late have come in blog-type prose--probably a sad indication that I've been reading too many other people's blogs instead of doing homework, reading another chapter of War and Peace, or working on new solutions for actual peace--so I thought I'd give them a chance to come out and be seen. In addition, since the, erm, hiatus of my magazine 31 last year, many people have mentioned that they miss the link to me that the magazine provided. I admit, I miss the link to the world that it provided too, not to mention the creative outlet. Hence, I will blog to fill the void--and waste more time by not studying.

So here you go World, a brand new blog. You can expect some brilliant thoughts to appear here in the next few days. They've been accumulating in my head for awhile now. Enjoy. And comment often.

Your Humble Inhabitant,

Moi

PS Snazzier background design and probably some photos to come soon so stay tuned....