Lot's of fun on Halloween!

Our little Halloween spooks! Hyper before they even started the candy hunt! Well another Halloween has come and gone and that means another ward activity under my belt. What a zoo! Wed. night was the traditional Trunk-or-treat and for the second year in a row we also made it a chili cook-off/cake decorating contest night. It was impossible to count but we think there were about 300 people. Not enough tables in the building to accomodate but everyone was a good sport about the chaos! Lots of people had done as we requested and brought their friends and neighbors. Next year we will have to move it outside. The fire marshall would have shut us down! Good thing he didn't make a surprise visit! Hope our little spooks in Salt Lake had a good time tonight as well!

Bishop putting on a brave face and trying out my Kitty Litter Cake. It looked disgusting but some people said it was delicious. It wasn't the disgusting presentation that got to me. It was the texture!

Ariann's cake was an adorable graveyard! She won one of the four prizes and there were 18 amazing cakes. I thought she deserved to place but I promise I had nothing to do with the judging!

A shot of Travis and Gary at the chili table.

It's the New Me!

These pictures are for you Aubrey.....Proof that I really did something drastically different! For two years now I have had kids at the high school ask me if I am Mrs.____________'s sister. I have "subbed" for her a few times and her kids always ask me that, but this year, a whole new batch of 9th graders asked me that question when I was "subbing" for a teacher in an entirely different subject and part of the building. I had to believe there must be something to it. She is a very nice lady (that must be why they think we're sisters...... lol) but she isn't particularly attractive (so our looks certainly can't be the similarity factor......again, lol) Anyway, I decided that I must be in desperate need of a make-over. Now, here's the sad part: Ariann and Aubrey couldn't agree fast enough that I needed a new look and they have never even seen Mrs. _________________! Poor woman, she must have the same dark circles and bags under her eyes. This week I'm going to hit a cosmetic counter (if I get a day off) and see if someone can work some magic on my face. Here's hoping! Ariann went with me to get the haircut. I needed the moral support. Maybe she'll be willing to help me pick out the perfect eye shadow and lip gloss. Actually, concealer is what I really need! Does anyone know what product can erase about 10 years? I'm open to suggestions. Just don't recommend a plastic surgeon. He's not in my budget!

Perfect Setting for a Halloween Tea Party

Maybe if you enlarge these pictures you will see the spanish moss hanging from the tree branches and the ferns growing profusely on the limbs in the first picture. Enlarge the second one and you will see the headstones in the background. Can you think of a better spot for a "little sqwee Halloween tea party?" Okay, so maybe some over protective mothers would find it a bit morbid but I bet I wouldn't have to worry about reserving the gazeebo!

Gary was anxious to get his hospital picture off my blog and since I had nothing to blog about and since we were both going stir crazy, we decided to take a little drive. We have lived in Apopka for 4 years this month and believe it or not, we have never walked around our city cemetary-----that is until this afternoon. We were surprised by 2 things. First, we expected to find some really old graves. The oldest we saw was birth date 1819. Second surprise, they don't have rules about how much junk you can clutter your loved-ones grave up with or how long it can grow mold before you have to remove it. Let me just say that some people have never heard of "spring cleaning"! I should have taken pictures of some of the worst offenders! Note to my kids: "If you ever turn my burial site into a landfill, I will haunt you until you clean it up! I can handle a few weeds but I draw the line at stuffed animals that are growing things from every pore."

Poor Gary!! Here He Goes Again!!

You can imagine he wasn't too thrilled with my taking his picture but I convinced him I needed something to blog about! What a good sport huh? Soooo here's the story. Last week we got yet ANOTHER bill from his hospital stay due to the stringray surgery 2 YEARS AGO. We have been fighting hospital/ insurance companies and a collection agency over the bill for more than a year. They finally got it right and mailed us a rebate check about 3 months ago and then out of the blue, here comes a new bill! We were spitting nails and Gary made the mistake of proclaiming, "I'm never going to the hospital again!" Famous last words. He has been sick with acute bronchitis for about 2 weeks, and his second round of antibiotics and steroids had made little improvement so he kept his 7:30 am appointment with the doctor yesterday. I had to leave for the high school at 8:30 and was disappointed that I wasn't able to get hold of him before I left. After I signed in, I started leaving messages on his cell, wondering by 9:15 why he hadn't called to let me know what was going on. Just minutes before the first bell rang, my cell finally went off. I grabbed it quickly, expecting his voice----instead, a woman asked for Mr. Davidson. When I explained she had reached his wife's phone, she said, "Oh, this is Florida Hospital calling to let him know his room is ready." Are you kidding me?! I guess I didn't have to wonder any more (as a bunch of rowdy 12th graders were filing into the room.) Evidently he had one of his coughing spells that renders him completely breathless---I'm not kidding----it even scared the doctor----thus the hospital. The pulmonary specialist says they are treating his condition like a combination of whooping cough and asma (spelling). He has lots of tubes and treatments going on and is not happy with his situation. I can't say that I blame him but I do think we have to be grateful that we live in a time when medicine can still save us from such horrible things. It's scary to hear about all the virus and bacterial strains that are becoming immune to our medicines. We are hoping and praying he will be released some time this weekend. He says he feels a little better today.