Halloween Memories

My favorite Halloween went something like this:

I came home from school and went to my best friend's house (which was right behind mine) and we raked up leaves in her backyard and jumped in them. Over and over again.

Eventually, her mom came out and told us that if we didn't get our costumes on, we would miss trick-or-treating. I hopped the fence and ran home and changed as fast as I could. I ran back over and we went trick-or-treating until it was dark. It was so much fun!!!

My weirdest Halloween went something like this:

I had gone on 2 dates with this guy in college- and Halloween night was our 3rd. It started off that we had dinner with his sister. I got cold in the restaurant and put on my jr. high track hoodie and it ripped- a sign of how the rest of it would go.

After dinner he took me to a store- I think it was Fred Meyer or KMart. We picked out Halloween costumes (I was a pink fairy) and we went to our single ward's Halloween party. It was fun... but people kept looking at me funny. All of this dude's friends kept looking at me like they knew a secret about me.

We left the party and we planned to go see the movie 'The Ring' with my roommates and their dates. I wanted to change first and so we went to my apartment. As we pulled up, he asked me to grab his CD case from under the seat. I reached down and pulled out... some roses! I can't remember how many. I was totally thrown off. I was in shock. He came around the car, got down on one knee, pulled out a ring and said,"Will you marry me?"

I don't know how I did it, but I said a quick 'no' and ran inside. I was so confused- it was date 3. We hadn't kissed or anything. And he... proposed.

But it was Halloween and we had movie tickets. So without telling my room mates, we had an awkward ride to the movie. We watched 'The Ring' and I managed to not hold his hand on the scary parts for fear I'd lead him on (to date this is the scariest movie I've ever seen. Partly due to lack of comfort, partly due to watching it in a theater full of precocious college students).

I think we talked about the whole thing a few days later. But we never dated again. So weird.

Halloween lately...

The last few years have been good. We'd throw a big party and hand out tons of candy- until we were handing out Mac N Cheese! We lived in a dense neighborhood that was super popular for kids to come trick-or-treating to. Last year's was probably the best one ever- so many friends, so many fun things- even my mom was there!

Halloween Now...

Since we've moved out on our ranch, Halloween will be different. It'll be a nice quiet night at home... because no one will walk the football field length up our driveway for a fun-size Snickers.
This year we ran around getting our septic worked out and meeting with some stake leaders. Russ's work took off at full speed due to flooding so we were up at 4 am  on Halloween morning.

While I will miss the fun, party-filled Halloween of my past years, I look forward to the simple life- until P demands trick-or-treating.

You know what they say- enjoy every stage!