Trick or Treat

"Trick or treat, smell my feet
give me something good to eat
if you don't, I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear!"

I'm sure you've heard it before...and sung it too (though if you're like me, you left out the last line in the presence of your parents). I have such fond memories of Halloween as a kid. I was quite the scaredy cat, and never liked anything genuinely spooky, but I loooooved dressing up and even more I looooooved CANDY!!!! 

I remember one time sneaking to the local Dari Mart with my friend when I was about 4 years old. We were playing in the back yard (most likely wall-ball against the house) while my mom was inside caring for my other 10 siblings. Don't get me wrong, she was a GREAT mother, but sometimes I was left virtually unsupervised. And, being very independent in nature, I didn't mind a bit.

So, Danielle and I decided (remember we were 4) to scrounge up all of our pennies and go get some candy from the store....aaaand not tell my mother. We walked the 3 blocks to the Dari Mart with what was probably 20 cents. We gathered up as many candy bars as our little arms could carry and went to the check-out to pay for our goods. The cashier (who thankfully recognized me as one of the doctors daughters), quickly realized we were unattended by a parent and had largely overestimated our ability to pay for the 15 candy bars with 20 cents. She graciously walked us both home to a surprised, and very embarrassed mother, who had pity on her sweet-toothed little four year old, and ended up buying her a pack of jumbo gumballs...after reminding her not to "run away" ever again. 

So, Halloween, as you can guess, was one of my very favorite days of the year. I got to dress up like a princess (which I did for almost 12 years), and eat lots and lots of caaaaandy. It's been 21 years since I ran away from home to the candy store, and many things have changed since then, but my affinity for Halloween (and candy) remains the same. And this year I had a little more time to plan...

My sister-in-law, Leigh, and I decided to have a little Halloween get-together....and then we went to Utah and didn't come back until right before the party....

Ah well, it all worked out in the end and we had some yummy food, spooky (and not-so-spooky) costumes, and lots of laughs along the way. I felt so lucky to be able to spend a whole week celebrating one of my favorite holidays with so many of my favorite people...and, of course eating a lot of candy.