Hunger Games Book Club

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble
Our book this month, for Book Club, was the Hunger Games! What a great discussion we had. I think this was the most we have ever discussed a book before. Usually we talk about the book for about 5 minutes and then 2 hours about life in general. I LOVE BOOK CLUB!!...and you already know how much I love Halloween, so I EXTRA loved this girls night!

On the menu:
Worms
Mummy Stomboli
Spider Web Cookies
Carrot Finger Stubs w/ dip
Apple Fangs
Candy Corn Bark
Witches Brew



Jello Worms

First pull the bendy part of 100 straws then place a rubber band around them to keep together. Put in a tall container. Pour your prepared jello over the straws. Let the jello set. Squeeze the jello out of each straw. It's pretty time consuming and I'd probably never do it again... it was a lot of work and my fingers are still a little red. Oh! You can add cool whip, or sour cream, or sweetened condensed milk to give the jello a more pasty color. I used cool whip and it all settled to the top.

Candy Corn Bark

Melt a bag of white chocolate chips, spread on to wax paper. Squeeze a few drops of yellow food coloring around and swirl with a butter knife. Sprinkle with candy corn.

Spider Web Cookies and Apple Fangs

You can top any cookie or cupcake with these webs made from white chocolate. Melt the chocolate, fill a ziploc baggie and clip the end. I piped the webs on to wax paper and put them in the fridge.
Core and slice your favorite apple, dab a little peanut butter in between two slices. I used string cheese for the fangs.

My 2 Most Exciting Halloween Treats!

I'm as happy as a witch on Halloween after she's found her final ingredient for her witch's brew! My gravestones turned out perfect! I LOVE THEM!!!

The Beach's are related to Lydia Gilbert. She was tried and convicted for witchcraft and sentenced to death by hanging. She disappeared shortly after her trial. So there is no record of her death. Her husband moved away also. It is thought that Lydia met up with him later but nobody knows for sure.





I have broken a Halloween commandment. I coveted my neighbor's halloween decoration. Last week I was driving past the Dimond's house and this fantastic chomping skeleton was illuminated and actually moving (chomping) in their front window. I was intrigued and thought, I'll have to ask them about that later. As luck would have it, I was helping out another friend and needed to pick up something from the Dimond's, so I asked and complimented them on their awesome decor! (They has gravestones too!) They told me they found this skeleton at Disney the last time they were there. It's a necklace and people were wearing them around their necks. COOL! So I went on my merry way, thinking I would never have one of my very own. The next day I dropped off my sister, Erin, and niece, Annika, at the airport. They were going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios... only in Orlando Florida. Erin and Annika say that the frozen butter beer is the best thing they have ever tasted. The Wizarding World was totally awesome!

I called Erin when she was in Florida to see how it was going, she said that her husband, Nat, was still in his conference so she and Annika were going to go to Disney World by themselves first. Still not thinking, I wished her well and ended the phone call. HOLY COW!!! Disney = Super Cool Halloween Decoration... so THEN I texted her and asked if she happened to see one, please bring me home one of the super cool decorations. Erin didn't mention anything about it the rest of the trip and Monday night I went to pick them up from the airport. On the way home, she started unwrapping something and guess what it was!?? My Halloween is complete!! The pictures don't do it justice, but the skeleton "chomps" his jaw up and down.

Look at those spooky glowing green eyes in the bottom of the window... NOT a halloween decoration, just Buddy wondering what the heck is going on outside.

My Favorite Holiday... HALLOWEEN!!!

Todd n' Erin (from a local radio station here in UT) made one of my Halloween dreams come true when I saw that Todd had posted a Gravestones 101 FB photo album.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2066698&id=1210836853
Here is my version.
For years, I've been wanting to make some gravestones of my own to add to our Halloween decor. I knew this was the year when I happened upon a lot of styrofoam off the side of the freeway - FREE!
I cut out my stones and started to paint them. I used the Gripper Gray Primer from Home Depot ($10)We had a 2 x 4 and some plywood in the garage, so I (yes, me) used our circular saw and cut out 5" blocks from the 2 x 4 and large enough plywood to back the gravestones. I screwed the blocks to the plywood like so. Then I drilled a hole in the middle of each block for the 8" nail to anchor the gravestone in the lawn.

I also found some liquid nails in the garage and slathered up the back of the gravestones using the "gun". Thankfully, I knew from previous experience that you do not want to get the liquid nail goop anywhere except the places you need.

8" nails at Home Depot are 45 cents. Here is what the back would look like if we had a see through lawn.

Painted Gravestones. Now I just need to let them dry, write on them and add some more shading.

If you stop by our house you will see some of the following decor...

... and be greeted by our 6 Foot Vampire!

We have 3 trees in front of our house with these skeleton apparitions floating in front of them.... ooooooh!

Spooky Stormy Cloudy Full Moon tonight! I love it!

Christmas Lights!

Of all the gifts this year, I think this is the one that really "MADE" my Holiday!
On our doorstep one night we found a bag of Christmas M & M's and a note that read:
We love Christmas here at that Beach House and have fun decorating our house! It was nice to know that someone else enjoyed our efforts!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and John is dressed in his favorite Christmas shirt and ready for the day!

Kevin & Corban

A nice picture of all 8 Worthington Cousins

How they normally look...

I love the girls funny faces...
Grace & Ella can pull the best faces...
Parker got some Blue Antonio Banderas Cologne... it smells really good! We were all ooohing and aaahing about how all the girls are going to LOVE him and he was blushing!
Dex always loves some Legos! Lego announced this year that they would be discontinuing the BIONCLE line!
Mom knows the lady that sold Nat's parents their current home years ago. She was in her house and recognized the painting and asked about it. They gave her a copy and Mom framed it and gave it to Erin & Nat. It is the home that Nat grew up in. Great Gift Mom! Way to GO!

I gave allllll the nieces and nephews on both sides (Worthington's & Beach's) Marshmallow Shooters! They were a big hit! For some reason they weren't allowed to start an all-out Marshmallow War!

Annika was HIDEOUSLY excited about the toe socks Grandma gave her for Christmas. Annika kept touching me with her toes and totally grossing me out, which only led her to do it more! Her toes felt so long and she definitely has MONKEY Toes now!
Grandma brought homemade pitzels and Corban WENT TO TOWN on them! He loved them and couldn't eat them fast enough! We grew up with my Grandparents Meme & Pepe Martino making Pitzels. My grandpa would make them a lot thicker so they didn't crumble so easily. I'm not a fan of Anise flavoring, so one bite was all I could ever take.

We are home now. John dressed Brillo in his Christmas Pajamas...
and the boys unwrapped their Christmas Lounging pants...

and it was off to bed to wait for Sugar Plums to dance in our heads!... I mean for Santa to come.

Oakwood Christmas Sing-A-Long

This was our last Elementary School Christmas Program... the boys are growing up! :o(
And this new camera sure is sensitive, the slightest movement and I get blurry pictures!


Luckily, our cute Ashley (niece) goes to Oakwood too, so we'll get to enjoy the Christmas songs from her for the next 6 years....then Aaron!!

Christmas Orchestra Concert

Dexter started playing the Viola last year and is quite a superstar... especially when you know that he NEVER practices. Never. Ever. EVER!
I told his Orchestra teacher and she laughed and said that she was the same way. Her mother would always say, "Just think how good you would be if you actually PRACTICED!"
The day started out pretty hectic with Brillo (our dog) being sick and I was at the Vet with him at 8am. Dexter called me about 8:30 to tell me that, "Aaaa, Mom, I forgot that today is the Orchestra Concert and I forgot my viola and I need nice clothes and it starts at 1:30. okay. At 11:30 when I dropped off all his "supplies" he told me that the concert didn't start until 2:30. okay. So after taking Brillo back to the vet for more tests and running in to work, I made it back to the school at 2:20, only to find out the concert REALLY didn't start until 3pm. UGHGH! I still hadn't showered and was suppose to be at my part-time Holiday job @ 5pm. So I ran home, took the quickest shower EVER and made it back to the concert on time with camera rolling...
Oakwood Orchestra Christmas Concert




Dexter performed as a trio with Reid Dimond & Ethan Anderl. They played We Three Kings.

Bye Bye Bye Baby Rex

Chris, Jessi and Rex had to head back to Texas to pack up and move to North Carolina. Chris will be stationed in Fort Bragg.

The cousins came over to say their goodbyes. Lucas entertained himself until Chris and Jessi got there. We could hear Darth from the kitchen...just breathing...breathing that scary Darth Vader breathing!

Brillo wasn't too sure about this black mask thing that sounded like it needed an inhaler!
As soon as Rex got there he ran to Kristen and just wanted to cuddle. He was just clinging to her I think he didn't want to go home to Texas!


Back again for more hugging!
Oh! or maybe it was because he thought Aunt Kristen could get him through the gate ;o)
We had to do a little bit of unwrapping of Christmas gifts. Yes! We HAD to! and this was not regulation "Beach Family Christmas Gift Opening" but this was a gift that might break on the trip home and needed to be properly packed, so we HAD to have them open it! A glass pie plate for Jessi with the BEACH name etched into it and the Army Strong Star.
Rex got some trains to play with on the truck ride home
Mike Beach Family
John Beach Family
Steven Beach Family
Good Bye Chris and Jessi and Rex! Drive Safely!!! Good Luck in your new adventure! WE LOVE YOU!!!