This is Halloween

Halloween is not just a one-day event.   With parties and activities, it is more of a week-long celebration for our family.  It was even extended this year to include a Zumba costume party (pictured above).  I was pleased that I managed to dance in my flapper dress and high heels for the entire two hours.  I have to say, the fringe was well suited to all the Latin dance moves.  It was a blast!

After a quick jump in the shower, it was time to begin preparations for the Park family party that was to be held at Greg and Tilly's that evening. I had to give myself plenty of time to convert Jason into a bald black man with a goatee.  His entire transformation process took about 45 minutes. The two of us were laughing through the whole procedure.

The party was two days before Halloween, so driving to Orem was just as amusing as we watched reactions to our appearance from other drivers.  Once there, we enjoyed visiting with family, seeing other costumes, playing games, and eating food.  The Park family party has always been such a fun tradition. 

Because I think our assembled group looked pretty 

nifty, I had to post this picture to my blog again.

 Tilly had prepared a new game for this year's party.  

We got to try and eat doughnuts hanging from a string.  

I loved how closely Ella observed all of the action.  

Of course, we played Pass the Rat and it was fun 

to see that the final two players who avoided elimination were 

Garrett and Coulter.  (Garrett ended up as the winner.)

Another traditional party game we play is Ghost Bingo.

And speaking of traditions, we've kind-of started one where we have pumpkin shaped pancakes for breakfast on Halloween morning. 

No sooner do we have children fed before it is time to get costumes on and ready for school.  The children were allowed to wear costumes to school, but masks were not permitted.  Brevin and Spencer each came up with an alternative costume using items we already had in our storage.  Brevin chose to be a mummy and Spencer went with my suggestion to be Pinocchio.  The rest of the family came to the school later in the afternoon to watch them parade around in their costumes.

Once the parade was over, the children were dismissed to leave with their parents.  We made a quick stop at the civic center on the way home so Jason and I could do early voting (I was dressed as Thor when I voted), and then we headed over to the Novell corporate offices where we had been invited to trick-or-treat around the cubicles.

I usually do an elaborate themed dinner on Halloween night, but we made a last minute decision to keep it simple and pick up a pizza.  (We saved the "yummy mummy" for another night.)  That decision worked out really well as we were able to get the children out trick-or-treating at a reasonable time and with little or no stress.  Brevin and Spencer ran up ahead of me and Garrett as we walked up and down a few of our neighboring streets.  When their bags were full and their feet were tired, they came home and effectively put an end to all of the Halloween celebrations by stripping off their costumes and going to bed.  The boys made off with enough candy to last through the end of the year, though, so I guess the long-term effect of the holiday has a greater reach than I really know.  It's all good fun.  Happy Halloween!

 Here they are, all ready to hit the streets.  Garrett definitely 

has the "pose-with-hands-on-hips" thing down.

This post authored by Amber

The Art of Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins really is an art-form that Jason has come to perfect over the years.  And just like the artisans of old, he has his "apprentices" who are learning from his example and being given expert tips.  With the help of clever patterns, the pumpkins from our garden are transformed into light displays that we use to represent something about our year, interests, or current events (or in this case, about our costumes for Halloween).  The pumpkins don't last forever, but the memories made and the lessons learned do (and so do the pictures). 

After a night of cleaning and carving pumpkins, they are ready for display on the front porch.

 

 Brevin did an amazing job on his carving!

 Garrett is posing next to the pumpkin Jason

 carved for him, but you can also get a glimpse of the one

 he carved himself in the bottom left-hand corner.  

 I know what you are thinking right now.  You're thinking, 

"Wow, the similarities are striking!"  Am I right?

The pumpkin designs are at their best when it is darkest.  That is when the light shines through and you can really appreciate the amazing detail.

 

This post authored by Amber

Dressed to Impress

It's no secret. We take costuming pretty serious at our house.  When a family theme is selected, months of thought and preparation go into pulling off something that we could be proud of sporting around the school, neighborhood, and parties we attend.  We have a reputation to uphold, you know!

Brevin and Spencer wore costumes they already owned to the theatrical release of the film The Avengers.  That got me thinking about expanding on the costumes we already had and figuring out a costume for each family member to represent the other main characters in the movie.

I tried to be reasonable about our costume budget. To avoid buying a wig, I decided I would cross-dress and utilize the similarities between my hair and Thor's.  Ella could easily be turned into Black Widow, and Jason conceded to wear the bald cap and pancake stage make-up to look like Nick Fury in a borrowed Matrix costume (thanks, Craig and Heather!).  All we needed to do was get a Captain America costume for Garrett, and we had struck themed-costume gold.

We made a superhero entrance at our annual Park family Halloween party.  It should be noted that the family photograph was really hard to come by due to Ella's absolute fear of Spencer's Incredible Hulk costume.  He had to hide around the side of the house and wait until the rest of the family was posed.  Once everyone else was in position, Spencer had to sneak into his place, unbeknownst to Ella.

Well, I think we did pretty well.  At least the pictures make me laugh whenever I view them.  I guess that was the end result I was aiming for.  Now I'm off to think about next year's costumes.

This post authored by Amber

A Costume Assortment

Halloween was simplified this year as everyone went their separate ways with costume design concepts.  There was no elaborate group theme, and this new approach allowed artistic liberty for all, including myself.

Ella got to be CinderELLA,

Garrett got to be Indiana Jones (a "recycled" costume--bonus!),

Spencer got to be a mummy,

Brevin got to be Harry Potter (he's a bit obsessed right now),

Jason got to be a Utah Ute fan ('cause who doesn't fantasize about being that! Sorry.  No individual photo. I know you are all disappointed that you don't get a glimpse of the mullet wig in a larger view.),

and I got to be Elphaba from the musical Wicked  (I'm a bit obsessed right now.  Did I mention I have tickets for SLC in 2012 already?)

Brevin and Spencer were excited to wear their costumes to school.  Meanwhile, Garrett, Ella, and I went into Jason's work to trick-or-treat.  There were still NuSkin distributors from all over the world touring the building in conjunction with the convention that was held the week before.  Apparently, Asians are obsessed with large-eyed, beautiful babies and middle-aged German men are obsessed with Elphaba, as they all wanted to pose for pictures with us.  It was pretty funny.

Do you know what else is funny?  Imagining doors being opened to hand out candy to this group:

This post authored by Amber

Parading Around Town

We love the festivities of Art City Days.  Some years we participate in many of the events offered.  Other years...not so much, but we nearly always have the children's parade and Grand parade on our agenda of things to do each year.

For the children's parade, the boys like to wear costumes. I dressed up this year as a monkey and pushed Ella, my baby banana, in the stroller. Garrett was obliging and donned the clown costume, thus continuing tradition. Each of my boys has done that now. Brevin and Spencer chose to go the Marvel Comic character route. They looked pretty cool with their masks. After the parade, Grandma and Grandpa Park took us all to lunch at Burgers Supreme.  That was fabulous!

For the Grand parade, Jason happened to find a great spot for spectating.  We had a front row seat for catching candy and for Garrett to charm all of the beauty queens by running up to wave to them.  I was glad that the weather was quite pleasant for sitting at a parade, and Ella enjoyed a nap from the comfort of her baby sling.

Well, until next year!

This post authored by Amber

Halloween 2010 Reconstructed

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20:  Halloween festivities kicked off at the annual Park Family Halloween Party held at Greg and Tilly's house.  Recent dealings with road construction projects in Springville and on I-15 inspired our family themed costume this year (and also inspired Craig and Heather, as they came dressed with the same concept).

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22:  Jason left in the afternoon to campout prior to opening day of the deer hunt.  I took the boys to the annual Ward Chili Cookoff and braved one of the three-alarm chili entries as well as braved taking three boys to a ward function without reinforcement. Not good...oh, but the chili was lovely!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23: With Jason gone for the entire day, I costumed the boys and packed them in the van for a day trip to Ogden for cousin Addie's birthday. The visit with family and cupcakes were well worth making the trip. We arrived home late that evening (as did Jason).

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24:  After church, Jason left to head back up to the deer camp.  Hail and fierce winds pounded the windows all night and Brevin ended up in the room with me sleeping on the floor. I was enjoying hogging the whole bed to myself too much to let him join me.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26:  Snow storms and unfavorable forecasts caused the deer hunters to break camp early and bring trailers home while the roads were passable.  The timing was nice, because it allowed Jason to be back in the afternoon in time for Spencer's kindergarten Halloween program.  Spencer did us parents proud by singing his little heart out from the back row.  He knew every single word and choreographed gesture of every song, and he garnered the praise from his teacher for being a great performer. After the program, Jason returned to the mountains for an evening hunt while I commenced making cupcakes for Brevin's class party.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27: Jason left early in the morning for the final day of the deer hunt.  I finished preparations for Brevin's class party which I had signed up to be in charge of. (Don't ask me why I thought that was a good idea!)  I made rat and cheese cupcakes inspired by this amazing book, we played pass the rat, and party favors that included stretchy rats were given to the children.  I'm kind of a sucker for themes. After the party, the whole school did a costume parade and the children were excused to leave early.

    

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 (CONTINUED):  Once home from school, we got a phone call to meet Jason at the meat locker to see the deer that he nabbed this year.  I opted to wait outside with Garrett while the boys went in and watched the deer have its head removed.  It's not the sights that are so bothersome, but the smells that I was concerned about.  I'm sorry, but that place stinks!  We got home, cleaned up, and Jason suggested the whole family go out to dinner.  I did not protest in the least.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29:  School was out for the children which conveniently allowed us to go into Jason's work to trick-or-treat.  After canvasing each floor of the nine story building, the boys were exhausted and their buckets were full.  While there, the costume contest judging committee insisted that Jason enter the contest.  As he was the only employee among our group, he was included in the individual category for most creative. We were considered his "props" (I know!  That's stretching it a bit). It turned out to be worth forcing our overtired, overstimulated children to stay for the judging since Jason won second place and was awarded a cash prize.  Cha-ching!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30: We spent the morning carving pumpkins and I spent the rest of the day preparing the traditional family Halloween feast of dinner in a pumpkin.  After our elaborate meal, we bundled the kids, waited out the hailstorm, and then Jason and the boys went off into the drizzly night for more trick-or-treating.  I stayed home to pass out treats, quite relieved to know that we were on the holiday "home stretch."

    

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31:  With Sunday being the actual day of Halloween, I tried a recipe for pumpkin pancakes that I found from this website.  I will pass this tip along, though.  If you decide to make the black cinnamon syrup, cook it only until it barely starts to thicken.  I cooked it a bit longer and it turned out to have a sludgy consistency that was reminiscent of black snot.  While grossly appropriate for the holiday being celebrated, it was deemed as inedible by my children.  But we did have a bit of fun decorating our pancakes.

Whew. We survived Halloween! (Did you survive reading that long post?) Now the real question is, are we going to survive the ongoing road construction?!

This post authored by Amber