Halloween 2010

Charlotte does not think we're as clever as we do. Hehe.


This year, a bunch of my fun neighbors decided to host a carnival on "Play Street" the night before Halloween. Play street is a street (with a grass island in the middle) that runs behind the back of the houses across the street from us. It has Do Not Enter signs to keep cars out, a communal trampoline, and a variety of discarded play equipment which seems to belong to no one in particular. It's also a great place for parties.


Naturally, since there was going to be free food, we invited the Elders...



And handsome Elders, they were. Troy put forth a token effort with his costume (which was more than I could say for myself) and Coree came up with the oh-so-clever, "Smartie Pants". Only, she was traumatized by the little children in the costume parade pulling the candy off of her clothing.



Lots of cute details in the food and activities. (And don't you just love the rednecks up in the left corner? This is what leadership in our church has come to...heaven help us all.)



Our adorable neighbors decorating cookies.



Elder Stuart approves of the offerings.



Aloha Cliff lends a hand with the food.



The fun went on into the night.



Jake, I mean...Elder Stuart, tried his luck at musical chairs.



Even the teens had a good time. Although, right after this, Troy told me to stop trying to act like a cool mom, because I was failing. Nice, huh? When is he leaving for his mission, again?

Pumpkin Drop 2009

Call us crazy...but sometimes Cliff and I not only go along with stuff like this...but we initiate it. This year, we never got around to carving the pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. They sat out on our front porch for over a month. They didn't look too bad on the outside, but inside I was sure they were rotten (they were).

When one of the kids asked if we should just throw them away, I can't remember if it was Cliff or me that said, "Let's drop them off the roof first." We both thought it, though...that's the scary part. Needless to say, the kids were very enthusiastic.

Here's how it played out:













Um...ya. This one was a little disturbing. We're going to keep an eye on this kid. Just sayin'.







Yikes!








The deal was, they had to clean up the guts when the fun was over...which they happily complied with. Well, they were cooperative, at least. That's all I care about.

I wonder if this will become a tradition?

Halloween...Soaking Wet Edition

So Halloween was a bit on the lame side this year. The older two are really too old for the whole trick-or-treating thing anyway, and besides, it poured down rain, making for a miserable Halloween for everyone anyway. Jake lasted the longest, not allowing the weather to deter his candy begging efforts much...but Coree barely took a spin around the block before coming home content to feast on our leftovers.

We were warned by many to stock up on candy. We were deceived. Don't know whether to blame it on the rain or what, but we didn't have all that many trick or treaters.

Just thought I'd at least record pics of their costumes here for posterity:


Troy the docile dentist



Patrick the Narcissistic Ninja



Coree the Pretty Purple Witch



Jake the Awesome Alien Commander

Flashback Friday...Pumpkin Patch Fun

Man, we miss this family! This is 5 years ago with the Kellys in San Diego...Oct. 2004. We went to the pumpkin patch and did the big slide and the rides and such...but went to Albertson's to get our pumpkins because these were SO outrageously priced. What...did they think we just fell off the pumpkin truck?

Beatnik Coffee House and Fright Night

Patrick's drama class puts on a "Coffee House" each quarter. It's a way to raise funds for the drama program, and let them perform for an adoring audience as well.

I'm not exactly sure whose accent he's channeling here. It seems to travel around between Boston, Brooklyn, Britain and speech impediment. But I'm sure with some practice he can flesh them all out.


He really seems to be in his element here.


Soaking in the acclaim.



Patrick and his teacher. The kids LOVE her.



Then we had to rush of to Foster Fright Night, where some friends and I were serving up taco rice for a good cause (the football association).



Troy came by for dinner after he helped out in the dental department of the haunted house (that is SO wrong).


And Patrick ran around with friends balloon sword fighting. Tough job. Someone's gotta do it.

Conference 09...Day Twelve...Auntie M and More Italian

Aunt Marsha made the 3 hour trip from her home up to SLC to meet us for lunch and some shopping. We struck out on every store I had Googled...all 3 of them had closed or relocated. Even the Cheesecake Factory was at the wrong mall! So, we enjoyed lunch at Red Robin (first time I had been there...it was great!) and while Cliff left to conduct some military church business, Auntie M, Coree, Jake and I set about finding what we needed (Halloween costumes for Troy and Patrick and a certain kind of skirt for me).

A couple of hours later, we had managed to strike out on all of the above...but we did find some gifts at a church bookstore, and some bonus clothes for Coree...Marsha found some dresses AND a shower curtain she was looking for AND we had a nice time chatting.



Of course it came to an end way too soon...but we were so happy she made the time to see us.



Next we headed back to Dad's for a family dinner. We invited his Bishop and his wife to join us at their favorite Italian place, Piccolo Bros.



The food was wonderful...and as you can see, we had fun, too.















What a nice way to spend our last night in Utah.



Still determined to find those Halloween costumes, we ventured out one last time to the local Halloween Superstore...



And Grandpa Jim let Cliff take his new pick up truck on the errand!

We found the costumes!

That was a big Win/Win!

Flashback Friday...Gotta Love the 70s

Doesn't THAT look like a FUN clown on Jimmy's costume? I want to invite Chuckles to MY birthday party!

That's me...the cute little bunny. Remember when these costumes were made out of shower curtain material? That was comfy!



I remember the scene below, actually. My dad was trying to get Jimmy to stop licking his lower lip. Every time he was about to snap the photo, Jimmy's tongue would come out again.

I loved this Raggedy Ann costume. These days, it would come with garters and a push-up bra.

Halloween has been such an easy flashback theme. I guess next Friday I'm going to actually have to work at this!

Happy Halloween!

A Drunk, A Barbarian, A Thug and a Doll walk into a Bar...

I thought it sounded like the makings of a good joke! We now present...Imperialstuarts Halloween 2008...

Bacchus...The God of Wine and Merriment. Look it up.

No...not Conan the Barbarian...just a random barbarian. He wanted this sword in particular, and thus designed a costume around it.



No...not Al Capone...not Bugsy Malone...just a random, old-school mobster. Again, wanted the weapon. Designed costume around it.

Okay, am I the only one a little disgusted by the trend of turning even the most innocent of costume concepts into something a street walker would wear? (No, not the Trick or Treat kind of street walker, if you know what I mean!) I think the whole section of girl costumes at Party City had TWO that weren't totally trampy.

Anyway, luckily Coree wanted to be her American Girl doll, Nellie. I guess I should be grateful I got to stay up until 2:30 AM sewing this dress...we could have been fighting the Slutty Red Riding Hood battle instead.

A Motley Crew...but on the other hand, a potentially VERY interesting history lesson!

Good Times!