Halloween Updates

Hello my sweet friends!

Wow--where do the weeks go?  Monday I thought:  "I'm really in a blogging mood this week, maybe I'll post a bunch."  As you can tell, it's now Thursday and that hasn't happened, but here I am today to share updates from my weekend and Halloween.

Also, be sure to tune in tomorrow for my first ever "Lately" link up in which bloggers will post random snapshots taken from their life "lately" with short captions.

Now onto the life updates.

Over the weekend, Bryce was on a hunting trip in South Dakota.  I definitely missed him but enjoyed having a little extra time with family and friends (it never seems that there are enough hours in the day and days in the week to see and spend time with everyone I want to).  Friday night I had a pizza girls' dinner with JLA and SEG.  Afterwards, JLA and I headed over to her boyfriend's apartment for a band and party.  She and I had not seen each other in well over a month so it was great to get some special catch up time with her!

ABE, JLA

Saturday I spent some time with my family and then went to an Oktoberfest party with ALG.  It was so nice and so much fun.  The family who hosted the party had homemade bratwursts, sauerkraut, and German food, as well as spiced cider and German beer.  Most of the night a group of us sat outside around a fire chatting and joking around.  It was really nice to meet some new people and do something a little different. 

Finally, Sunday was a family day.  We slept in, had a big breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, watched a scary movie in honor of Halloween, and even carved pumpkins.

My favorite part has always been pulling the guts out of the pumpkin!

My dad is quite the master carver...

Final Products

After carving we always roast our pumpkin seeds.  My dad roasts them with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar and it is a DELICIOUS treat.

Monday, Bryce got home from South Dakota, and we headed of to SC&BC's for chili, pumpkin carving, and trick-or-treaters.  

I dressed up as a cat for the occasion!

When it was time to carve pumpkins, I told Bryce I wanted to carve a cat.  I thought that our individual sketches were quite funny:

Mine on the left was a cute cat, Bryce's on the right was a fierce cat with fangs...

BC & Me scraping out the guts

Bryce hard at work

Our final cat--I think we came to a good compromise on the fangs!

Allie & Bryce

Our wonderful hosts:  SC, BC, Riku, and Kingsley

SC&BC carved multiple designs all around their pumpkin:  I loved this heart!

The rest of this week I have been busy--I cooked a spaghetti dinner for my parents Tuesday night and last night I got dinner with one of my best friends from college, CEG, who I had not seen in almost a year.  

How were your Halloweens?  What has your week been like?

Have a wonderful day and don't forget about the "Lately" link up tomorrow!!