creekbend haunted trail

Happy Halloween blog friends! I'm blogging on Halloween evening because Paul is busy studying tonight for yet another certification for work so I figured this was the best time to tell you about our weekend halloween festivities. As I mentioned several posts ago, my aunt and uncle put on a haunted trail every year and my immediate family is invited to participate in it. It is a blast. Lots of work goes into making it happen, but again it is just so much fun. It's not just a little rinky dinky trail either. It's legit! Paul, who was Dracula, jumped off of a 20ft building and my dad, who was Jack Sparrow, hung from a cage that was fastened up in a tree. There was also a car crash, explosions, and oh, I can't forget, a life size Ghostbusters Stay Puft Man (about 15ft tall:) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the trail at night because I was a vampire slayer in one of the scenes, but I did manage to take a few pictures while we were still setting everything up.

Here's the building Paul jumped off of.

This is where my parents' scene took place. Dad was Jack Sparrow and my mom played the gypsy woman. They were fantastic!

Not only is there a 20 minute haunted trail ride, there is also a bonfire with plenty of food and drinks. Every detail was thought of...

...even an outhouse.

There were two trailers that ran during the show. Here is one of them. Isn't it great?!?! I think about 170 people came through the trail last night.

Here are a few photos that I think you might enjoy...

Ashley and Leighton (butterfly and Snow White)

Mom and Dad (Gypsy Woman and Jack Sparrow). I love that my parents never do anything half way. They always go all-out to make it the best that it possibly can be. Don't they look so real?!?

Paul (Dracula)

We had such a great night with friends and family! I hope you and yours had a spooky weekend full of fun!

happy haunted weekend

Enjoy all the halloween festivities this weekend. I can't wait to tell you all about mine! Have a good one!

taste of belmont...

or at least that's what we're calling it! Paul's mom started a little something called the Taste of Belmont. She said that each family (Paul's parents, my parents, Ashley, Daniel and Leighton, and Andrew and Danielle) has to cook something that they haven't cooked before. Paul and I hosted last night's Taste of Belmont. It's a lot of fun, but I must say we were a little intimidated to serve something that we had never made before. Everything turned out good though.

What was on our menu:

- Pesto Brie and homemade pigs in a blanket (Paul's recipe) for our appetizer

- Sliders with caramelized onions and mushrooms

- Garlic oven fries

- Fall salad with maple vinaigrette

- Apple cobbler and cinnamon ice cream

Here's the spread.

Mom and Danielle are in deep conversation while Leighton is just dancing away. Love it!

Here are some recipes from the evening that I think you might enjoy.

1. Fall salad with maple vinegrette

2. Garlic oven fries

We ended the evening with apple cobbler. Paul made the cobbler using his Eagle Scout skills;)

What you need:

Fresh apple slices

cinnamon

2 cans apple pie filling

White cake mix

12 oz can of Sprite (yes, that is not a typo)

Paul's directions:

- Line your dutch oven with foil

- Layer your apple slices and apple pie filling in the dutch oven

- Mix the cake mix and Sprite in a medium bowl and then pour the mixture on top of the apples

- Sprinkle the mixture with cinnamon

Paul dug a small hole in our back yard and filled it with coals. He then heated the coals until they turned white and then he placed the dutch oven on top of the coals. Let it bake for about 30 minutes. Tada! I couldn't believe it. It tasted great!

We had such a fun evening! You know it was a good night when your ending looks like this!

I'd like to...

wrap up in you today! Have a great weekend folks!

source

fall foliage

We headed to the mountains over the weekend to see the changing leaves. They were beautiful! I think it was 37 degrees when we woke up on Saturday. I loved the chill in the air - I finally could wear a scarf and boots. The whole clan went Saturday morning to the Valle County Fair in Valle Crucis, NC. We enjoyed sipping on apple cider, walking around the vendor booths, petting the alpacas and eating chili.

I enjoyed the homemade apple butter aroma. Don't you just love the raccoon hat? Paul said he wants one:)

We did venture over to the Wo0lly Warm Festival, but we decided just to drive through. It was too crowded. We did spot a wo0lly warm though! I think we might have another harsh winter folks.

We ate dinner out in Blowing Rock, NC on Saturday...

...and played in the park on Sunday.

While playing in the park, a man (creepy I might add) asked if he could take a picture of me taking a picture of Ashley. He said he collected them. I don't know if I believe him, but I did it any way. Here's the picture sis!

What a fun weekend with the family.

traditions

I have a new favorite store. It's Traditions. It's a home decor and interior design store with the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. Unfortunately I can't really afford much of anything in the store, but I just love walking in it to get ideas for my own home. They do have a small section in the back of the store of baby items, handbags, scarves, jewelry, etc... Be sure to check it out if you are ever in Charlotte.

Love the chandelier and bench (I recognize the fabric:)

here

packed full weekend

Hello friends! I hope your weekend was grand. Ours was packed full, but lots of fun. We left after work on Friday for a very quick trip (13 hrs) to Raleigh. My aunt and uncle put on a haunted trail every year for friends and family and for the past few years they have invited us to be a part of it. This year Paul is going to be a vampire. He has to jump off of a 20ft. building. It's a legit haunted trail, seriously. Anyway, we went to Raleigh so he could practice and be fitted for his harness.

While we were there, we saw these little guys!

Around noon on Saturday we left Raleigh and headed to Mocksville for our dear friends' baby shower. Baby Josie Claire got many cute things. Paul told me that I said the word 'cute' at least 10 times or more in a 5 minute period while Erin was opening gifts. I must tell you that this was Paul's first experience at a baby shower. I could tell from his non-verbal communication that he felt uncomfortable:) He was a good sport though.

After the shower, we headed back home and finished up some yard work. I think we are FINALLY finished with our fall planting. The yard looks great!

("And don't trample the pansies...") - any idea what movie that line is from?

I ended my weekend by going to my first Stella and Dot party. I had a great time and treated myself to a little something special. You should check out the website. Everything is beautiful!

Have a great week friends!

you asked...

...so I'll fill you in on how I made the leaf letter wreath.

Remember this wreath? Well, if you made one of these, you quickly realized that after about 2 months, it was no longer green. That didn't seem to bother me too much because for some reason I left it hanging on our door until just recently. Yikes! It was time for a change. I really wanted a fall-ish wreath, but couldn't find any that I really liked so I thought I would make my own. I almost threw the 's' away, but luckily I didn't. I went to Michael's and bought 3 packs of assorted leaves and brown grosgrain ribbon and of course I already had the letter from Hobby Lobby. I still had some moss on my letter wreath. I took some of it off, but kept most of the moss as a base since it was nice and brown:). I then hot glued the leaves on top of the moss. The first layer of leaves looked a little strange, but I just continued to layer them until the entire letter was covered. I hung the wreath exactly the same way I did it here. You should try it. It added a nice pop of color to our door! Welcome Fall!

hello deck!

Remember way back when I told you we were adding on to our deck? Well, it's finally complete and I forgot that I hadn't shared the pictures with you. It was quite the process and the deck seemed to get bigger and bigger the more we talked and planned for it. It turned out beautiful though. I can't even tell you how proud I am of Paul. He did such an awesome job! He put in countless hours and it paid off. Many thanks to all who helped, especially Paul's dad. We are very lucky to have such handy men in our family. Okay, now for the reveal...

Before:

Groundbreaking!

After:

Ahhh! Now it's time to go relax on the deck!