Halloween Fun

On Saturday night our ward had a Halloween Party at our bishop’s “barn” (which is actually more of a rustic looking reception center and perfect for parties like this). The girls were ecstatic and had so much fun. We had our pretty little tiger, a mischievous monkey and a cuddly pink leopard. To complete the ensemble, Daddy was the zookeeper and I was the tree (unfortunately my prop slept through the whole thing, somewhat spoiling the “kitty in the tree” look I had be going for). After a brief but tasty dinner (the girls were too excited to eat), Daddy (as the Young Men’s president and therefore in charge) got the games going. First was the costume parade and then the fishing pond. Those were both pretty chaotic but as the tables got put away and the crowd thinned out, the kids were able to have a lot of fun. The highlight of the night was the piñatas. Daddy was the emcee, gathering the kids by age group and managing the taking of turns (all while holding a little monkey in one arm, which kind of completed his zookeeper costume). I had fun “chumming” the kids. I realized that the younger kids weren’t getting any of the candy (and were getting stepped on in the mad dash every time candy flew from the piñata) so I starting stocking handfuls of candy that I could throw to the outskirts of the circle. Overall the party was a blast and our girls had a ton of fun.

On Halloween, the girls talked all day long about going trick or treating. Last year it was snowing on Halloween and our girls were too young anyway to know what they were missing so we didn’t go. They had a blast hanging out at home and passing out the candy. But this year, Butterfly had learned about Halloween in school so the girls spent the day practicing trick or treating and jumping up and down in excitement. They got to wear a different costume tonight and were adorable University of Utah cheerleaders (they even made up their own cheer (“go utes! Hip hip hurray!”) Grandma and Grandpa joined us for dinner and then stayed to watch the baby (our little ghost) and answer our door while daddy and I took the little cheerleaders trick or treating. At the first house (a good friend of ours), Ladybug accepted her candy and then wandered right in to go sit on the couch and began to open the candy! But they soon got the hang of it and had a great time. I loved watching them run to each house (especially Ladybug with her bowlegged gait) and then Butterfly would knock repeatedly until they answered the door. Then more often than not, they would forgot to say anything and just stared at the bowl of candy. After receiving their candy, there would finally be a chorus of “trick or treat, happy Halloween!, go utes!” before they came back to us and asked to go to another house. Their costumes got some mixed reactions of people cheering for the Utes and complimenting them while other houses teasingly booed and said they should be wearing blue. At one house, the gentleman tried to prompt Butterfly to say “go cougars”. She looked right at him and yelled “go utes!” with an energetic fist pump (that’s my girl!) They lasted much longer than I thought they would and filled their bags. We even stopped at home for a potty break and went out again, this time teaming up with some good friends for another block. Finally we came home and the girls sat down on the floor and I dumped out all the candy into their laps. Their eyes were huge as they dove in and devoured a portion of it. (My plan is to let them go crazy for one night and then send it all to daddy’s work so it’s out of the house.) After they had their fill of candy, daddy took them downstairs to watch a movie and wind down before our two tired cheerleaders went to bed.