Halloween in Utah has been good to me in the past, so I was really looking forward to all the possible spookiness Halloween could bring our first year living in Utah. Aside from waiting until the last week to do pumpkins, not really having a solid costume together, and the weather not feeling very Halloween-like, we did succeed at some things...

1. Making spooky treats

For one, Britt and I all of a sudden had the urge to bake and create other edible things! We used Pinterest for ideas, picked up the ingredients and went to work. It was a little more than we would ever normally do (for me, that's at an average of nada) so it felt like a big moment, and it was way more work than we anticipated.

You can observe our success below:

The spiders above had us laughing a lot because they did not look promising when I first started on them. Neither did the bones below. It was really hard to dip the pretzel stick in the melted white chocolate. I now understand why smaller pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows are usually used.

Britt's obviously turned out the best. Look how cute her monsters and ghosts are! (Although they might be mummies, not ghosts. Maybe they're both ;) )

2. Pedal Provo Ghost Tours

One of my favorite things Matt and I did together was go on a Pedal Provo Ghost Tour! It combined a lot of my favorite things: ghost stories, night bike rides (although I've struggled a little with this being in an unfamiliar place and riding at night, we went slow enough and in not crowded areas that I didn't feel uncomfortable), and tours.

We met at a cemetery, then from there listened to a number of ghost stories all over the town. It was a spooky blast!

3. Revisiting Little Bear Bottoms Corn Maze

We were actually on our way to Rexburg, ID, so we stopped in Logan to spend some time with our friends Makenzye and Peter. I was really excited to revisit Little Bear Bottoms for their corn maze, haunted maze, hay jumping, and haunted hay ride. I might have laughed even harder during the haunted hay ride. It's so dang funny, and even funnier to see Matt's reaction.

Matt doesn't like scary things — he won't watch Stranger Things with me and was hesitant even about Hocus Pocus (once he saw it he realized it wasn't too bad), so I was kind of nervous about him going through the haunted maze. I remember being legitimately scared last time. While we were going through it, I could tell he did not like it at all. But he survived and I'm proud of him for trying. It might be the only haunted maze we ever go through together. So a moment of appreciation and remembrance is needed.

PS. There is real corn in the corn maze. It's not some Hollywood set-up — Matt even took one off the stalk!

4. Going pumpkin picking

We waited a pretty long time to pick the pumpkins, so by the time we got out there, a lot of them were diseased and of course we went at night (for some reason I thought this was the time you were supposed to go, turns out it's not), so we could barely see most of them.

It wasn't until we got back to Noelle and Kelly's apartment that I realized mine had a small hole in it, which meant that water got into it. When we opened it up, it looked like someone had thrown up inside it. Matt kindly carved it out for me.

We carved a boat, a pineapple, constellations (which was mine and I had this whole idea about painting it and making it look like stars, and I plotted it out, and then I put it in the freezer thinking that would preserve it but the pumpkin ended up sweating and was actually worse off, so I had to throw it away :( ), and a poop emoji.

5. Work Halloween Party & Pumpkin Contest

I dressed up as one of the only things I had in the closet: a panda bear onesie. I didn't win the costume contest. Nor did Matt's pumpkin win the pumpkin contest. I still think it should have though. It was well done (although slightly deteriorating, so I had to improvise on how to make the sails stand up).

6. Took a blacklight spin class

The recreation center I go to had some special Halloween themed classes, including this spin class. Matt and Noelle came too! I loved how they decorated — it made the class way more fun. Matt rides his bike so much that at one point, we were supposed to be on level 11 or something, and I was really struggling, and I look over at Matt and he's just going as if he's on like level one. So I ask, "What level are you on?" thinking he must not be doing this right, and he replies he's actually 3 levels UP! After that I never questioned him. Plus there was a Zumba class right after that was amazing.

On the actual Halloween night (Matt had to work), I went with Noelle and Kelly to their friend's apartment (dressed as the only other thing I could muster up in my collection of regular clothes — a cowgirl) and played "Werewolf" and then went back to Noelle and Kelly's to watch Stranger Things!

Halloween Treats & Tricks