Halloween Party Oct. 30

I had a costume Halloween party at my house last night, and it was really fun.  I totally decked out my apartment in Halloween decor, and everyone that came loved the atmosphere, and asked where I got all the decorations. All I have to say is-- thanks Mom! :)  We made homemade root-beer, which turned out great!  And I made cute halloween cupcakes, and a batch of sugar cookies that we decorated with frosting and chocolate sprinkles.   I did end up with three boxes of pizza left, a pot of root-beer, and many, many cookies that are still waiting to be decorated (I think I will take plates to my visiting teachees).  So we invited people over today for lunch to help eat more of our leftovers, but my roommates and I still have leftovers for the coming week :)

I enjoyed seeing everyone's costumes.  My roommate was a girl scout, and Lon was a Ghostbuster, and Havid was a construction worker.  I was a witch, and I wore a fabulous dress and a witch hat that everyone said looked great.  I am planning on wearing them again tonight at the huge dance party up at Camp Tracy in  Millcreek Canyon.  It has a big hoop skirt, and every time I sat down, I felt like my dress covered most of the couch.  It was funny.  Jared said that we needed to dance, because I needed to be twirled in my fabulous dress, so we did for a little bit, and then he dipped me. 

When Amber, Sara and I made the rootbeer, we used dry ice.  Amber, who was so nice and helpful  to go to the store for me to purchase several last minute food items, including the dry ice, brought back two big slabs of dry ice.  But we weren't sure how to cut it down in size (and we thought, what would we do with extra dry ice?... nothing...) so we just added it a slab to each pot, and it was so cool!  It looked like we had our own fog machine.  The rootbeer was bublling over, and spilling onto the oven, and even getting on the wall, but we couldn't clean it up, because we couldn't see anything from all the fog.  It really was fun!  And, the rootbeer turned out soooo great.  My friends Jared and Graham arrived soon after this event, and they got to enjoy the effect of the dry ice.  They thought that we had bought a fog machine.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the party. This is me with Graham on the left (white trash, complete with a mullet), and Jared on the right, as a BYU jockey.

 

I Can't Believe...

I can't believe that this is my 90th post, and that I am writing it about spiders.  I am hosting a Halloween party tomorrow night, and I have been busy decorating my apartment and planning for this big event, which has been fun.  I have several spider webs that I put up, but when I got home I thought to myself "there are a lack of spiders in these webs."  (It is hard to find certain Halloween decor the week of Halloween).  Immediately after my thought, I saw a big creepy crawly spider on my floor.  How ironic, don't you think?  Not at all what I had in mind :)

Thank you!! I Am Enjoying This

One of my new callings currently is Ward Chorister for Sacrament Meeting.   And yesterday was the first time I conducted  the hymns in my new ward.  It seems like my claim to fame.  I was able to meet a lot of people, because so many of my friends and ward members have been complimenting me on my conducting skills since then, and how nice it is that I smile up there, and I must have a musical background, because "you know what you are doing!  It's wonderful!" as our ward organist, and Counselor in the Bishopric told me.  I am really enjoying this opportunity :)  There is a guy in my ward who has told me four times now- between yesterday and today- that I have the most beautiful smile.  He said, "Have I told you.... because that would be a shame if I didn't."  I think that's cute.  He also told me that I have a great laugh, and that those two things are a great combination :)  Did I mention that I like my ward?

Tonight at FHE, I met another girl who told me she thinks I look like Tapanga (sp?) from Boy Meets World, and also Herminee Grainger.  That made me laugh.  She told me my face belongs on a magazine.  I must say, I feel so flattered from this weekend by everyone's compliments.  Who knew a person could look like so many people!  Last summer six different people told me I look like Katie Holmes, and in high school I was told I look like Mandy Moore.  And whenever I move to a new ward it seems that someone says I look like their cousin or friend.  Funny!  But, I don't mind  :)     

Halloween Party!!

Jill and Mike invited Dad and I to the annual Vanikiotis Halloween Party this past weekend.  We had so much fun!  Here are some great pictures of our costumes, and our pumpkins.  Dad is Zorro, Jill is the Octo-Mom.

I went as a cat, and Jill, Mike and I thought it would be funny if I brought a litter box.  So I filled a paint tin with oatmeal and granola with raisins, and placed gross-looking candy bars in it, like 100 Grand, with chocolate syrup in a few places.  Total ewww factor,huh?

Some people came as the characters from Alice in Wonderland, and she looked like a great rabbit!

Here are our pumpkins.  Jill's has the funny face, mine is the cat(self portrait), and Dad did a great Christmas pumpkin that I think won second place! 

  I left this on the counter overnight, and in the morning I opened the fridge and saw the litter box.  I thought it was so funny that it ended up in there!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I had the opportunity to go to a session at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple last week with some wonderful girl friends.  Wow!  It is absolutely beautiful!  I was in Arizona this summer, so I didn't go to the Open House.  But I am so grateful for this opportunity.  It was a neat experience looking across the valley at the mountains covered in fall leaves, with blue sky and white puffy clouds.  Temple worship is such a blessing to me.  I was touched seeing two other temples (West Jordan and Draper) from the temple grounds.

These Are Times to Be Remembered

I am so happy that I have the opportunity to play my flute again- in the Salt Lake Symphonic Winds.  And we had our first concert of the year tonight!  I love playing and performing on my fantastic flute!!  The flutists I play with are great.  Our section leader the past few weeks has been telling me ,"Everyone in our section is very complimentary of your playing...  They told me, 'we would have told you if she wasn't a good player.' "  That sure makes me feel good! And the piccolo player is trying to set me up with her 27 year old,  "handsome" son (he, he).

Thank you so much Mom, Dad, Marilyn, and Grandma for coming to my concert!  I love you!  And it was so awesome knowing you were there to hear and support me (and give me hugs after the concert).  I do so love my family.   

Some other fun things.  The Skyline High School Wind Ensemble performed several pieces before our group played, and I ran into one of my tap dancing friends.  She is a Junior.  That was fun.  I am definitely going back to tap class again.  Apparantly this Sat. we are going to be doing STOMP steps.  So fun!  Also, at the end of our concert, as I walked down the front stage steps to say hello to my fan club :) , a row of my past students said, "Ms. Greenfield!  HI!  Good job playing up there."  That was so fun to see them again!  Isn't it amazing how much they grow up in just two or three years!  The boys have the shaggy hair, and were so much taller!  I will always remember them as they were in fifth and sixth grades.  I do like teaching!

West Side Story

This morning I left my house at 7:45 to get to my school way out west on 62 S and 62 W.  Class starts at 8:40am.  plenty of time to get there and get set up.  So I hopped on the I-215, and I got off on Redwood Road to make the long journey across town to the west side.  It's pretty straightforward, except I wasn't paying attention when I got to Bangerter Highway.  If you're not careful, you can end up in the lefthand lane, when you think you are still in the lane that crosses straight through the light on 62nd South.  Well, that's what happened, and I didn't want to be one of those annoying drivers who puts on their turning signal and waits to get over when they are in the wrong lane.  Now it shouldn't be a big deal, right?  Oh no.  The next light on Bangerter wasn't until 7800 South (aka Jordan Landings), and that winds around til you wonder where you are.  So I just kept heading West until I saw a big neighborhood/subdivision.  I thought to myself, "I can just cross over here, and this 'main road' should take me to 62nd south again!"  But no- the west side has a bunch of housing communities with NO ROAD TO CONNECT THEM TO EACH OTHER.  So I basically road around for 20-25 extra minutes trying to get back to 62 south.  I found an SR highway, thinking again I had found my way out, but you couldn't turn right before 5400 South.  Talk about back tracking.  What a relief when I got to 5600 West, and knew where I was again, and how to get to my first school.  Luckily, I made it on time, with five minutes to spare before my students arrived.  It sure was frustrating, but once I started class it was fine, and we had a great class today.  Moral of the story... don't drive on the west side :)  You better believe I won't be making the mistake of missing that light again!

Conference was WONDERFUL!!

  

                Temple Square is so beautiful!

                                                                                                         





 









 Conference was so special.  I really felt my prayers were answered, and I felt "warm fuzzies"  as Pres. Monson talked about.  There were so many amazing talks.  I'm so grateful for the Spirit I felt.
I am so grateful for the Gospel, and I LOVE how the Lord's teachings bless and influence every aspect of my life.  His words apply to everything we feel and experience.  I love our leaders so much!  Dad and I had a special opportunity to go to the Sunday Morning Session, which included Music and the Spoken Word.  My friend got tickets from a friend, and they were amazing  seats (Thank you Jamie :).  We were six rows from the front!!!  And we got to see the General Authorities coming in and conversing.  I was so touched by how caring, and people-oriented they all are.  They truly have the Light of Christ that emanates from their countenances.  It was also so neat to see Pres. Monson and the Apostle's expressions throughout the meeting.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to see and hear God's chosen servants so close.  I could see their lips moving, and their facial expressions- in person.  And I was sooo close to Elder Bednar.  I just love him, and seeing him reminded me of the sweet experiences I had up at BYU-Idaho.  I know that our leaders are called of God.