Who dunnit?

This year's Halloween party was a Murder Mystery dinner. It was a lot of work to put it all together, but in the end it was worth the effort. The costumes turned out amazing, and everyone did a great job with their characters. 

The hostess of the evening:

Shay's character was Countess Bathory, a 16th century mass murderess.

As usual, Shay went all out on the decor, and it turned out so beautiful:

Here are some pictures from the evening:

 Kaylyn and Shay

 Amber and Kaylyn

 Teri and Kaylyn

Kaylyn, Brandi and Kate

 The guys - Danny, Chaz, Mike, Brett, Ryan and Nick

Kaylyn, Shay, Jen and Kate

The company that we ordered the party kit from was a little disorganized, so a lot of work went into rewriting the clues and the format in which their questions and answers were set up was a bit scattered. I really enjoyed writing the character stories though, and I am seriously thinking about making my own Murder Mystery dinner party business. It would be a great creative outlet. 

Overall, I am so glad that we opted to go with the Murder Mystery theme, and I really do think that we will do it again next year. 

I want to send a special thanks to Chaz and Shay for always hosting these great shindigs!  Maybe next year we'll live closer and I can host so that you two can take a break. 

I am the luckiest girl alive

If it wasn't for him, I'd be completely lost.

He has done so much for me in my life, and has made so many sacrifices for us to better our situation.  He is the most thoughtful person I know.  I've never met anyone who works harder than he does. He would go to the end of the earth and back to help someone that he loves, and he would give anyone the shirt off his back if they needed it. 

It's hard for me to imagine what life would be like without him.  I have known him for almost half of my life, and I can't even remember what things were like before he was here. I don't want to.  He is my number one fan, and he encourages me to be the best person that I can be. He supports anything I do, and that means the world to me.

The best thing about him though, is the incredible amount of fun we have together. I can't even begin to tell you how often he makes me laugh. I love spending my days off with him, even if we are just hanging out at home.  He is my favorite person in the whole world!

I love him completely.

Happy birthday love!  I hope that this one is the best one yet.

The time has come

Tonight, all of our hard work will finally pay off.  We have been slaving away in preparation for this dinner, and it is going to be killer. (pun intended)

Clues are hidden, queue cards are written and the costumes are all complete. I think this year, I can safely say that we will not be scrambling to the last minute to get everything ready. It feels nice to be prepared for once.

The only thing that makes me a little sad, is that Halloween is almost over. I'm dying to know, what are you going to be for Halloween this year?? 

The evening of the enchantress

It has become a tradition for us to attend Witchapalooza at Gardner Village each October, and this year we actually went on Witches Night Out.

I have never seen so many grown-ass women in costumes in one place.  It was amazing.

If you live in Utah, are a fan of Halloween and have never been to Witches Night Out, I highly recommend it for next year! You see so many awesome costumes, the shops are incredible and if you choose to go to the dinner show, there's also great food and entertainment!

There are some professional witches, who go all out on their characters:

Then you get to see a bunch of amateur witches:



I could not believe the effort that went into some of the costumes we saw this year! I would love to be a professional GV witch! Thanks to Shay for making it possible! Every year she orders our tickets way in advance to make sure that we have good seats for the show. I love that we have found this little gathering, and hope that the tradition continues!

My weakness is that I care too much

"When I shut my mouth, and turn to walk away, it doesn't mean you've won. It simply means your stupid ass isn't worth anymore of my time."

I have spent so much of my life trying to make sure that other people are happy that it has finally taken it's toll and is starting to make me bitter. Thank god I have finally opened my eyes and come to the realization that people change, no matter how hard you try. Their actions are beyond my control, and I can no longer exhaust all of my effort by trying to make things stay the same.

I have recently gone through some family drama, that for some reason unknown to me, has caused the relationship that I once had with my sister to fall apart completely. It's been months since we've spoken and she has no idea how terrible all of this has made me feel, but only because she doesn't care enough to try and find out. I have spent so much time trying to get a hold of her in every way I know possible, only to have no luck whatsoever. I have her address, but I just don't think that showing up on her doorstep is going to change anything.

I have always been the mender.

I try so hard to pick up the pieces and put them back together when things fall apart, and it just makes me angry and hurt when the other people don't seem to care as much as I do. Still, I call and make the effort to keep the relationships strong and continue to keep pushing forward despite the betrayal and hurtful words that have been hurled in my direction. I have always felt that if I just keep on trying, the other person will eventually come around.  Now I know that is not the case. Some people are just hopeless.

Three females in my life lately have basically become void of emotion and began to let our bond disintegrate completely with no explanation. I have, until now, given it my all to attempt stitching up the tears that have been carelessly created in the fabric of the relationship, but it's too late. As much as it breaks my heart to do so, I have to let go or I will lose my fucking mind.

I just wish I knew how to make myself forget the way they have. To come to a place where I don't give a damn either. On the other hand, then I would be a soulless monster too, and I don't want that.

Instead I will just continue to nurture the relationships of those who still matter and try to tuck the others away, somewhere in the back of my mind.

Dearest Shay,

Today is a BIG day!!

Today you hit a milestone.

Today you turn 30!!

I am sad that I can't be with you guys today, but I am happy that you are spending your big day in the happiest place on earth!  I know that there is no where in the world you would rather be today, and that makes my heart happy. A little jealous, but happy none the less.

I know Chaz isn't quite the Disneyland companion that I would be, so I have to apologize for that, but I know that you will be able to forgive me for not being there. There's always next year.

When you get home, as you know, there are great things for us to look forward to in celebration of your new chapter in life, and I cannot wait to experience them with you! You are the best friend that I could have ever hoped for, and I love you more than you will ever know.  I am so lucky to have you in my life, and I don't think that you realize all that you do for me. 

Happy birthday buddy!  I hope that this is your best birthday yet!! You totally deserve all of the happiness in the entire world.

Love,

Kaylyn

Have I ever mentioned to you guys that I am not a fan of Monday's?

There are too many reasons to name. 

Today specifically though, it could have a lot to do with the fact that I am sitting here at work, and Chaz and Shay have been in Disneyland for the last eight hours.  We were really hoping to be able to go with them this year, however, things didn't seem to go as planned. We spent the majority of this past weekend hanging out with them and wrapping up preparation for the murder mystery dinner next weekend, talking frequently about how jealous I was that they would be spending the week in Disneyland.

Then last night, I had a dream that Brett decided that he was going to fly out to California and join them, leaving me behind because I couldn't get the time off of work.  That's just fucking rude. He kept sending me videos of the three of them on rides, taking pictures with Mickey Mouse, and rubbing it in that I was not there with them. 

Then I woke up.

Which brings me to the next thing that I don't like about Monday....it means the weekend is over.

What did you do this weekend?

Too cute

This is seriously the cutest damn thing that I have ever seen.  I laughed so hard that it made me cry. I think that every kid should get a chance to be surprised with a trip to Disneyland when they are little.  This is what the pro sports players should be doing with their 20+ million dollar contracts...donating it to little kids.  Instead they sit around bitching and complaining that they don't make enough money and some of us struggle to even pay our bills. Fuckers.

You can't hide from her duck feet

When friends converge and there is alcohol involved, it's inevitable that someone will take a photograph.  It's never really a surprise when you flip through the camera the next morning, because you are doing so expecting to find some incriminating evidence. 

Today, while I was examining the contents of my phone, I found a new avenue for capturing some of this glorious content.  Audio.  My phone came with an app, that until this weekend had never been used, called voice memo.  Apparently during the period of time that we were all inebriated, I discovered this app and decided to record my good friend Kate babbling from the bathroom floor.

I must say, most drunk people slur their words to the point that they are not even recognizable.  Kate doesn't have that problem.  She is the type of drunk whose words you can hear clearly, it's just the content and the way that she mixes it all together that makes no sense. My personal favorite was the two minutes that she spent telling us all how we couldn't hide from her duck feet. 

I'd like to send a special thank you to Kate for entertaining me tonight while I sat at work, listening to this new found audio, waiting for my phone to ring.

Crunch time

With one week left until Witches Night Out, I still had a lot of sewing to do, so my plan was to spend the majority of the weekend sewing. Doesn't it suck when things don't go according to plan? 

I got quite a bit done on Friday while Brett was at work, and then we packed everything up and headed to Ogden to see our favorite friends.  Friday night was spent mostly planning what we were going to accomplish Saturday, and my costume was at the top of that list.  Halloween is one of those times of year where I just have way too much going on.  I always over commit myself to projects, but this year I feel like everything, though there is a lot of it, will be easily managed if I just stay on top of it. 

Saturday morning threw a little wrench into my plans..... my sewing machine broke. 

It took a good part of the morning, but my handy husband finally fixed it, and sewing continued.  Then a little while later, it stopped working again all together and I was so frustrated at that point that I just gave up.  I don't deal well under pressure when there is a deadline to meet, and I can't very well go to Witches Night Out naked.  I don't think anyone would appreciate that.

Sunday, all was well again because I took Shay's sewing machine home with me and was able to finish my costume and get Brett's mostly done. 

I can't wait for next Saturday to post the pictures of our costumes! 

This is seriously the first year that I'm not out shopping or sewing the day before our Halloween party to try and get my costume done.  I'm a procrastinator.

What are you going to be for Halloween this year?