Saturday, November 24, 2018

The Halloween that Keeps on Haunting

When I was growing up, Halloween was a single day.  A parade at school, then trick-or-treating at night.  Well let me tell you, not any more!  We celebrated all month long, and then some.  I can't tell you how excited I was to finally put the Halloween costumes away for another year.  Dressing up may be fun, but it's certainly exhausting.

Brooklyn grew so much this past year that she decided to wear the Halloween costume NomiAnn made for me years ago.  She was the cutest Dorothy!  We watched the Wizard of Oz in her honor and were amazed by the precision of NomiAnn's replica.

Our first Halloween event was held at Mabey's Pumpkin Patch.  We'd been invited to a free event sponsored by City Creek Mortgage and weren't quite sure what to expect.  It was impressive...


Albeit very muddy.

We sloshed through the fields to pick out our free pumpkins.


Some were heavier than others.


The photo booth was next.


Can't forget face painting.



Add in free donuts and hot chocolate for an evening well-spent.

Our next event: Little Haunts at This is the Place with Ruby.  Ruby was the only one who remembered to dress up.

My children tried to adorn themselves with serpents instead.  Wow, Talia, that snake is quite the fashion statement!

This kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.  Is Annie holding one snake or two?



Next up, the pumpkin roll.


Can't forget the Halloween parade.  Ruby was an adorable dinosaur.

Just not quite as large as this one.  Best of all, the parade was followed by an actual candy cannon that shot out all sorts of blackened taffy.


We rode trains big...

...and small.

Many thanks to Justin, Brianna, and Ruby for inviting us to This is the Place with them.  We had a hauntingly great time.

Class parties.  Eli's class at Emerson celebrated Halloween early with cookie decorating, games, and more.

We sponsored the popcorn monster hand craft.  So fun!

Next up, Halloween at the Leonardo.  With such beautiful leaves on the trees, it was hard to want to go inside.

Fortunately, all the bubbly fun made it worthwhile.

Talia is quite the ham on green screen.


Waiting to mold sugar skulls.

Annika held an actual brain, then asked if she could hold the half brain, followed by a brain slice.  Perfect for a future veterinarian, although she's going to have to get used to the smell of formaldehyde.

My favorite part of the evening--observing how scorpions glow in UV light.  Now that's Halloween worthy.

Girl Scout Spook Alley.  You'd think the Leonardo would be enough Halloween for a single evening, but we crashed the Girl Scout Spook Alley as well where Brooklyn and Talia debuted as pirates.  Eli and Annie enjoyed crafts and snacks while their sisters volunteered.

Still not satiated, the kids asked to celebrate Halloween at the Gallivan Center the next day.

This Pinkalicious fairy godmother looks ready to turn her pumpkin into a carriage.

Fun, but a bit (read a lot) too crowded for my taste.

That evening was our ward Trunk or Treat. The donut eating contest was pretty epic.  Annika never succeeded in doing much more than licking hers,

One evening was set aside for pumpkin carving.


Our pumpkin has a visitor.

Spark thought his cage was pretty tasty.

Looking pretty good!

At last, October 31st arrived.  My office at work put together quite the spooky food party.

The evening was filled with trick-or-treating, chili, cinnamon rolls, and a cauldron full of bubbling root beer.  Justin, Brianna, and Ruby joined us for the trick-or-treating fun while Brooklyn's friend Chantal came over to help pass out candy.  (The eighth graders decided they were too old to go door to door.  Sad!)

Let's be honest.  By this time, I was too Halloweened out to even bother with pictures.  The kids were all pretty much the same except for Eli, who transitioned into Harry Potter courtesy of these cool glasses.


And yet, the festivities still were not done.  A couple days later we celebrated el Dia de Los Muertos at Emerson.  I helped serve burritos while Annika got her face painted and decorated sugar skulls.

All in all, Halloween had enough sugary fun to last all year long.

Arches National Park

You'd think that Aztec Ruins National Monument would be enough of an adventure for a single day, but we managed to squeeze in more during our return trip with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  

First of all, Annika's dream came true when she spotted a stray pony.  Too bad it refused to come home with her.

My own fantasies were fulfilled with some tasty burritos for lunch.  Looks like Jason liked it too.

Best of all, we swung by Arches for a brief but glorious visit.  You don't even have to get out of your vehicle to be awed.

Eli's missing out on the splendor.

We stopped by the Windows for a little bit of hiking. 


Charles and Susie hadn't been to Arches in years, so I think they really enjoyed it.




Unsurprisingly, it got a bit windy up top.

Gazing up at God's masterpiece.





And with that remarkable end, we called it a day.
Susie and Charles, from Aztec Ruins to Arches, thank you one last time for the spectacular trip home from Santa Fe.