Happy Halloween! on November 4th?

We finally got to celebrate Halloween. It was postponed because of the intense storm that hit Saturday the 29th of October.
Alex, Nan, Bel, Melissa, Stephanie and Andrianna

The Defeo's (Joe and Emma) threw a party. It was so much fun. We met at their house for dinner then took the kids Trick or Treating. WE LOVE THE DEFEO'S!!!!!! (they have been Bella's softball coaches since she started playing.)

Tracy and Bri

The kids playing football out front of Defeo's house, and yes! I included you Miss J (LOL)

most of the girls

Hannah, Bella and their girls

trick or treating

the girls and Ethan :)

Brock and his new buddy

A cheezey daddy who LOVES Halloween!

Sunset and a fallen tree leftover from the storm

The Mommies...?, Tracy, Joe, Emma, and Maria

Bella's new boyfriend

Hannah's new best friend

Ethan's woman

After hitting the Defeo neighborhood we took the kids to 1st and 2nd ave where ALL the candy is. We got to meet up with our partners in crime...The NELSON's. We had such a great time! I can't complain about Halloween being held on the 4th of November! Costumes are 75% off and so is all the dang candy! I'm all for doing it in November again next year!

Pix of the October snow storm that caused Halloween to be postponed

These are the kids crashed out after a pretty terrifying day. Troy, Hannah, Ysabel, Ethan, Eric and Brock on the floor. Justine called and asked us to come save her and the boys. We had no idea how bad the storm really was. We don't have trees on our property and the neighbors trees were fine. It took us 30 mins to make a 3 minute drive. I was so worried about Gondola's by the time we got to their house. Branches were everywhere. You could hear more cracking every second. Mark stayed with the house, even after they lost power when the transformer blew up. Justine and the boys stayed with us. More than a week later there are still people without power and roads blocked off because of branches. Delaware, Indiana, Pensylvania, and Georgia are some of the other states who came up to help us out. What a trip!

This is on Seton Hall's campus, just outside Corrigan Hall.

This is coming out of the gate @ SHU

Lining the drive out the gate @SHU

The man in the middle of the road is Mark G. He lives just to the left of this picture. His wife Justine is the friend that called Brian and I in a panic begging us to come get her and the boys.

This is the tree that fell blocking our way back home. Luckily the plow was there to move it out of the way.

A SMALL sample of what peoples yards looked like during the storm. This was only hours after it started!

Another picture of the SHU campus

On my way to class

Montclair

My friend Rilee's neighbors car

This is Long Hill road and Jacobus Ave

Lifting Burdens: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

A Book of Mormon Story

I found out I grew up outside of America!

America is in bright red


My friend Iris Peppers informed me that she keeps forgetting I grew up outside of America. I asked her what in the world she was talking about since she knew I was raised in Idaho! She says yup, outside America. I made her explain herself, because I happen to know that THE GREAT STATE OF IDAHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE A PART OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! She tells me that her mom has told her from the time she was a child that New Jersey is America, done and done. So she explains to me that Idaho is outside of America. I told her ok, so Idaho is outside America, I must have grown up in Heaven, since that is the only one thing better than America. She laughed and now she reminds me I grew up in Heaven. Fall creek, ID, Heaven

POSTPONE HALLOWEEN? only in Jersey!

I don't have pictures, I have misplaced my camera. BUT...on Saturday the 29th of October we got a foot of snow. We were enjoying the storm until a friend of ours from on the hill called us in a panic and begged Brian and I to go collect her and her two boys because the trees around their house were snapping like twigs every 5 minutes or so. It took us about 30 mins to make a 3 minute drive! I couldn't believe it, trees and power lines were down all over town. The closest I have ever been to anything like this was when we had a micro burst in Nutley back in 2008.

Most of the trees still have green leaves, and those who have changed color haven't fallen yet. The snow was so wet it just stuck to the leaves snapping gigantic trees right in half. Literally every yard with any kind of tree lost limbs.

Our friends stayed with us, her husband wouldn't leave the house, all night. Her youngest is in Ethan's class and they are good friends. They were planning to go to church with us for the first time the next day but church was cancelled because no one could get to it to find out if it had power or not...sadly it still doesn't have power. Many friends from our ward are still without power.

I was shocked to see that Seton Hall didn't cancel classes! Everywhere you looked on campus trees and branches were broken. The kids school was delayed an hour, but they stayed home because of a persistent cough. I spent an hour at the Halloween store trying to find Ysabel a costume when I received the call that Halloween had been postponed until Friday.

WHAT??????

Who does that? It was quite a weird demand made by the Little Falls police department...but as I thought about it, it made since what with all the carnage. Halloween on November 4th, hum. Most communities are doing the same. So happy Halloween to those of you who live outside America, and for those of us who live here, we will celebrate on the 4th.

Happy 300 birthday Little Falls!

Ysabel got to be part of the choir for Little Fall's community play commemorating its 300th birthday. She did such a great job. We were so excited that she wanted to do it. The town has been celebrating all month with parades, carnivals, plays...etc. Its been a fun celebration.
Ysabel and her great friend Andrianna

more choir friends

and a few more

The girls had such a great time. The play was about the history of Little Falls. They talked about the Dutch settlers, Lanape indians, and about how the founding fathers bought the land and got it chartered to be a town. It was very interresting and fun. They all did a great job!

Pumpkin patch with Nelsons

After busting Hannah out of jail we took a drive with the Nelsons to Chester NJ to the Stony Hills Farm to go apple picking, but ended up at their pumpkin patch and corn maze instead. IT ROCKED!

The kids had such a great time. The never wanted to leave. We had hot apple cider, hot chocolate, apple cider doughnuts, and other yummy treats.

Beth and John

Pumpkins galore! WHOO HOO!

Brock's choice

Ethan's monster

Hannah's cute pumpkin

Bella's bumpy pumpkin

Bella was having a hard time pickin her pumpkin!

Brock changes his mind

a hay ride

Lauren just loves Ethan.

They had all kinds of mazes. This is the tile maze. You can only take right turns and have to end up in the middle. There was a puzzle maze, miner maze and of course the grand ole' corn maze.

The kids had a great time hanging in Noah's arc.

Parents of the silly people

see what I mean!

ok, we got in on it too!

HA HAAAA HAA...so cute isn't he?

I loved the corn roots, they looked so cool!

The kids were trying to find out where we were in the maze. They also had clues to find at each station.

Children of the corn :)

The maze map

the boys

the girls

Beth and me

We had so much fun...the only bummer was that we didn't get to the apple picking which was just down the road from the pumpkins. The farm was amazing! They had so many fun and exciting activities for the kids. I definitely recommend the Stony Hill Farm to everyone who wants a fun day with the family.