Sunday Favorites-More Halloween costumes from the past

It's time for Sunday Favorites hosted by Chari at Happy to Design. I love this blog party as you don't have to come up with something new. This is the ultimate "green" party. We get to recycle an oldie but goody post from the past.

Last week I showed you a post from last October with Halloween costumes from the past of my son Brandon, my niece Danica, my sister Jodi & me.

This week I will show you part two. More Halloween costumes from the past. This week is mostly my nephews. A few more of my son Brandon and finally one of my sister Andrea.

This originally posted last October as well.


Jodi emailed me the following Halloween photos of Andrea's kids. She didn't want to post on her own blog with the photos so she asked me to do it for her.
This is Zak dressed as a bum for Halloween in 2003.

Andrea's kids: Zak, Nate, Simon & Noah (Peter Pan) . Halloween 2003

Halloween 2003: Nate dressed as ? Andrea wasn't sure what Nate was dressed as. Any ideas?

Halloween 2003: Simon dressed as a nerd.

Halloween 2005: Noah dressed as Star Wars character. Not sure which one. Noah, who are you suppose to be?

Halloween 2005: Noah & Simon

Halloween 2005: Simon dressed as the "Flash". I thought this was Nate, but Jodi said it was Simon. I emailed the photos to Andrea & she confirmed that it was Simon.

I may have more photos to post throughout the week. It depends if Jodi and/or Andrea email some more to me.

Kim


Lucky you, here are some more:
Brandon as a Praying Mantis. (Kim made the costume.)

Brandon as an Eagle (Kim made the costume)

I think this is Noah (not sure it might be Simon). Isn't he a cute cow?

Simon in Brandon's dinosaur Costume

Zak (Clown) Nate (Lion King)

Brandon as a Butterfly Catcher






Andrea's boys.










Last photo is Andrea as a scarecrow.







I hope that you have enjoyed our Halloween costumes from the past. I wish I knew what year each of the photos was taken. All I can tell you is that now, my son Brandon is 26. Zak is 19, Nate 17, Simon 14, Noah 12. That might help you gage how old each photo is. I won't tell you how old my sister Andrea is. She would kill me. And I want to live to see this Halloween.

Next week I'll show you some Halloween costume photos from when I was a kid.

Kim

Be careful what you wish for

I don't know if I ever mentioned our neighbors from H E double toothpicks. In case I haven't, let me give you a little background on them.

We moved into our house about 4 years ago. The first people we met were our next door neighbors (we only have one as we live on the corner). They were a couple who were about our age so I was a little excited. But after talking to them for a little while all they did was bad mouth everyone else who lived in the neighborhood. So we were a little leery of them right off the bat.

Then about a week later Brandon had his car parked out on the street. Now you can't park directly in front of our house as there is a fire hydrant. So to park in front of our house you have to park between the neighbors house & ours. Well his car leaked oil on the street. So they complained about
The neighbors put a nasty note on his windshield that he needs to park elsewhere as his car leaks oil & they had to clean it up. He was parked on the public street. Still in front of our property!!!

Next they complained about
Our sailboat. It is parked in our extended driveway on it's trailer. There are rose bushes that hide it from the neighbors. But they still complained. They didn't like that we park our boat on our driveway, on our own property.

Next they complained about our playing
outside whenever we had a pool party. Now we weren't having pool parties everyday or even every weekend. Only for Memorial Day, 4th of July & Labor Day. About 3-5 times a year. And it was always during the day. And we didn't have the music very loud.

The neighbor would always be
peeking over the fence to see what we were doing & to tell us of something he didn't like. Mike told him numerous times to not peek over our fence. But did he stop. NO!!!

These neighbors seemed to think we lived in a homeowners association. But we don't. We were not breaking any laws or rules. They were just being annoying neighbors.

The straw that broke the camel's back came at Christmas time a few years back. Mike & I were outside hanging up
and listening to
when the neighbor came over & asked us to turn down the Christmas music. Christmas music! And it wasn't the Christmas song by the Chipmunks. Or any other annoying Christmas music. It was you basic everyday Christmas music. We didn't even have the music up very loud. Well Mike & the neighbor got into a verbal aurgument & the neighbor threatened to call the police on us. The neighbor was yelling all sorts of obscenities, left & went inside his house.

About 15 minutes later this showed up
I couldn't believe that the neighbor had called the police on us for playing Christmas music outside during the day. But he did. The police couldn't believe he was called out for that reason either. All he did was tell us to turn the music down or off. Mike then told the police to tell the neighbor to stop looking over our fence. That the next time he did, he was going to call the police on a peeping tom. So the police man told the neighbor he wasn't to look over our fence anymore.

Well this happened about 2 years ago. Since then, we haven't heard a peep out of our neighbors. They never complained about anything, never looked over the fence again, nothing. It was sort of nice.

Well move forward to the present day. Last week Mike saw this next door
A moving truck, at the neighbors house, right next door. Could it be? Could the neighbors actually be moving? Had our prayers finally been answered? They never had a "for sale" sign up. Dare we get our hopes up? Why yes!!!! The neighbors did move.

That is when we did this
The happy dance.

Then day before yesterday, we saw this
Another moving truck pulls up to the neighbors. It seems the new neighbors were moving in. Mike met the guy who bought the house. But he bought it for his kids & grand kids to live in. Mike said he was a really nice guy. But he didn't meet the kids who were actually moving in.

Well yesterday, I started smelling this
and hearing this
It didn't sound like this type of dog
But more like this type
Don't they know
No smoking allowed. Oh yeah, we don't live in a homeowners association. So I guess I can't really complain. But I hate cigarette smoke. I'm just hoping that they were smoking outside because they are moving in. I hope that they don't always smoke outside.

I guess I better reserve judgement until I actually meet the new neighbors and see what they are all about. But do you think that our old neighbors purposely sold their house to smokers with a big barking dog just to get one last dig in at us? I thought so.

So I guess the moral to this little story is: Be careful what you wish or pray for. You may just get your wish or prayer answered. And the answer may not be one you really like.

Do you have any neighbors you don't like? Give me all the juicy details.

Kim

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

Today is Katie's birthday. Katie is the daughter of Marti, grand daughter of Joni. Katie & her husband Seth are expecting their first baby in February. But Katie is doing all the work. lol.

In case you didn't know Katie has her own blog (she also lets Seth contribute), you can keep up with their little family at Harp Family. Be sure to visit their blog to see their new car and wish Katie Happy Birthday.



Happy Birthday Katie!!!! Hope you have a fabulous day.

Sunday Favorites-Halloween Costumes Part 1

How many of you love Halloween? Wow! It looks like a lot of you do. Well I do too. So for the next 6 weeks, I thought I would repost all my Halloween posts from last year. This fits in perfect for Sunday Favorites hosted by Chari over at Happy to Design.

This week I'll start with costumes from the past, part 1. This originally posted last year in October.



Halloween is coming up in a few weeks and what better way to get us in the mood then to reminisce about past Halloweens. This week you are suppose to be posting photos of you or your kids in Halloween costumes. I went through my small stash of photos & this is what I found.

Brandon was 3 or 4 when he was a dinosaur. Jodi made his costume. Isn't he cute? We were living in Utah at the time & it was really cold on Halloween. I think a few of the nieces and/or nephews wore this costume in following Halloweens.

Danica was 3 when she was a clown. The funny thing about Danica being a clown was that she was scared to death of clowns. She freaked out when she saw herself in the mirror dressed as a clown. It almost ruined Halloween.

This was the same Halloween. Brandon was 5. We were living with Eric's family at the time as I was their nanny for a year. Brandon wanted to be a bat.

These photos are the year that Brandon was a dragonfly. I'm not sure how old he was. If you remember, when Brandon was a kid, he was OBSESSED with insects. He really wanted to be a dragonfly this particular Halloween. But you can't go down to the store & buy a dragon fly costume or buy a pattern for one (at least back in then you couldn't, not sure you can now either). So I had to make one up. I think I did a pretty good job, don't you agree?

The wings were covered in an iridescent paper. Brandon loved his costume.

I think Brandon was a tiger in the first grade. Jodi made his costume this year.

Brandon was 11 years old when he was a tourist. This was the easiest costume ever!!!! Jodi was a tiger. She worked for Tiger Reprographics & this was their mascot costume. I was a scarecrow.
Brandon & Jodi in front of Mom & Dad's front door.


Me & Brandon


I don't think this was actually a Halloween costume. I think it was when Brandon dressed up for Pioneer Day for a primary activity. But he was so cute, I had to include it.

This is a photo of Zak. It wasn't a Halloween photo either. Brandon & I had gone to the Natural History Museum with Andrea's family & they had these butterfly costumes to try on & pretend you were a butterfly. It was super funny when Zak's pants fell down. Of course I had to take a picture & of course I had to include it today.

I don't have any photos of the other nieces & nephews in Halloween costumes. I'm hoping Jodi or someone else will post those. I also couldn't find any photos of Brandon when he was a praying mantis & an eagle. Jodi should have photos, so maybe she will post them. I need copies. They were cute costumes that I made up.

Brandon usually always wanted to be something quite unusual. It was always fun trying to figure out a way to make his costume without a pattern. I think he won first place in the costume contest at school every year except for one because of his unusual costumes.

I also couldn't find any other photos of me dressed up for Halloween. I haven't been able to find most of my photo albums since we moved to our house. They are probably in a box somewhere in our garage or attic. Maybe someday I will find them.

If you can't get your photos posted today, you can still post them all week. Remember, there are no rules to this blog. I just thought it would be fun to show and tell once a week. But you can do it whenever.

The best part about posting old photos is that it gives you a reason to scan old photos into the computer so that they are preserved. I've noticed that a lot of my older photos have really degraded in quality almost to where all the color has disappeared. Mostly photos from the 70's. I guess the film processing really sucked from that time period. But if you scan old photos into the computer, you have a copy forever that hopefully won't get any worse.

Well there you have it, my Halloween costume photos. Next week I want everyone to post photos of your Halloween or fall decorating around your home. Can be outside, inside or both.

Kim

Thanks for revisiting this post again. I hope that this has started to get you in the mood for Halloween. Next week I'll repost Halloween Costumes part 2 for Sunday Favorites.

Summer Vacation Flashback 2001-Day 14 New Mexico

For Friday Family Flashback I thought I would continue with the past vacations theme. I thought I would continue with our vacation from 2001. Today I will feature day 14, which is New Mexico.

I also want to remind you that back in 2001 while on vacation we had a website where we posted what are plans were for the day & then at the end of the day, we posted what we actually did. It was like we were blogging without knowing what blogging was. So this entry is a copy from our website back then.

Objectives: We'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico all day and see what there is to do in the area. We also may drive up to Santa Fe, and see some of the historic sites up there.

Our Experience: Mike, Brandon, Jesse & Kim drove up to Santa Fe, New Mexico & took a tour of the city. We learned all about the history of Santa Fe & saw some old churches, art galleries & residential areas. It was very informative. Made it easier to walk around afterwards to see what we really wanted to see. We went to this old chapel called Loretto Chapel which has a miraculous staircase. Back in the 1800's the chapel was built with a choir loft with no way to reach it. The sisters wanted a spiral staircase built as there wasn't room for regular stairs. All the builders & architects said it couldn't be done. So the sisters prayed. Along came a man who said he could build their spiral staircase which he did. Took 7 months & had no center support, nor braced to wall. No nails were used, only wooden pegs. When the sisters tried to pay the man, he wouldn't take any money & mysteriously disappeared. When the sisters went to the only lumber yard around to pay for the wood, they were told the wood didn't come from them. The sisters said this was a miracle.

On the way back to Albuquerque we stopped at Sandia Peak to ride the Sandia Peak Tram to the top of the mountain. This tram is the longest tram ride in the world. We went from about 6000 feet up to almost 11,000 feet. Kim kind of got altitude sickness. It was very beautiful up on top of the mountain. Brandon & Jesse thought this was the best.

We didn't do anything in Albuquerque. Guess we may have to come back someday. It's kind of sad that our vacation is winding down. We only have 1 more fun day & then it's back to reality. We wish we could afford to be on vacation & travel all the time.

Photos:

St. Francis cathedral in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Some buffalo sculpture.

The New Mexico state capital building.

The miraculous staircase at Loretto Chapel.

Inside of Loretto Chapel.

Jesse, Kim, and Brandon standing outside of Loretto Chapel.

Looking west towards Albuquerque from Sandia Peak.

Looking to the top of Sandia Peak.

Jesse, Brandon, Kim, and Mike on top of Sandia Peak.

The Sandia tram ride.

Looking to the east down the ski slopes from Sandia Peak.

Coming down the mountain on the tram.
While I was writing this post I kept getting dejavu. It wasn't until after I finished writing this that I realized that I had put this post together already as a draft back in August. I just never posted it. Smack me in the head. I could have saved about an hour if I had only looked in advance. Oh well, you live and learn (or in my case, not).

Next Friday I will finish up with our family vacation from 2001. And I know I never finished up telling you about our Arizona vacation from this year. I'm a slacker, what can I say. So maybe I'll finish that vacation up as well this next week.

I've kind of been living a pretty boring life, so I have nothing else to blog about on the family blog. Plus I forgot to take any photos on Labor Day when Eric's family came over to swim & BBQ.

If you are interested in my decorating blog, Starshine Chic (shameless plug), you can click here to visit it to see what I've been up to around my house (decorating wise). I did post today about some family heirlooms other there.

And if anyone else in the family wants to post old family photos, or about anything from the past, please make a post on Friday's for Friday Family Flashback.

Have a good weekend everyone. It's going to be hot at our house. Anyone want to come swimming?

Kim