Trick or Treat 2011

We love Halloween at our house. I mean L.O.V.E. Or at least I do. And of course, my enthusiasm spreads to the circus. This year I stole an idea from pinterest.com and made... wait for it... WITCH CURTAINS! I think next year I might double layer them, but I am so happy with how they turned out! And they were easy too.Making magic. Making monsters. On Halloween it's all the same thing, right?We hit a trunk or treat a few days before Halloween and Cas won a prize.And we got to hang out with neighbors and friends.And Sean got to show off his Grim Reaper mask, since it wouldn't be allowed at the parade for school.And with that we were ready for THE day.

Sean the Grim Reaper (sans mask for school):Tayler the Cheshire Cat:

Cas the dead skateboarder:

Cali the Vampire:Brynn, half devil half angel:Jayme the pirate:And I love that my new boss let me go to the school parade to watch the circus. In his words, "Well, you have to go that!" And he was funny excited about it too. Yup, still loving the new job.Happy Halloween from our circus to yours. (Trick or treating with friends and neighbors).

Halloween Half Marathon 2011

Confession: I am a quitter.
Or at least I have been in my life. I've never stuck through with anything. If it got hard, or I realized I didn't like it, I didn't finish it. Plain and simple.
Somehow I got "talked" into running a half marathon. Actually, it started when I signed up to run in the Dirty Dash 10k, which just seemed like a whole bunch of fun, not a whole bunch of running. And that's exactly what it turned out to be. But when I said I was going to do the Dirty Dash, my cousin suggested I then run in the Vegas half Marathon with him in December. I said okay. I was looking for something new to get into, running could be it. When my friend Jen heard that I was thinking of the Vegas marathon, she told me I should do the Halloween half with her in October. Okay again. Mostly because we had to wear costumes and it sounded hilarious.
So I started to train. And I found that as I added a mile, or as I pushed for a faster time, my body adapted really well.
But then we went on the cruise in the middle of my training... and I never got my groove back.
So with a lack of finishing my training I knew I wasn't physically ready to run 13.1 miles. I was close, but not ready. My finish goal went from 2:30 to 2:45. I was going to do this.
So I got up at 4 a.m. and put on my pirate costume and met up with Jen and Kim in 36 degrees to wait for a bus to take us up Provo Canyon to the starting line.
I literally lost all feeling in my toes, and even by the time the race started I still had no feeling in them for the first few miles. But the view at the starting line was beautiful,
as was the view for the entire run. And I ran.
Until Mile 8 when we stopped and took a picture in front of Bridal Veil Falls. What? We're running a marathon? I guess we should keep going then.

And by mile 9 it hurt. My hips and calves just hurt with every push forward. But I thought of my kids, and how they had watched me train (in the beginning before the cruise messed it up ha). They had ridden their bikes with me on my runs, and asked me every time I came home from a run how far had I gone? How fast had I done it? And they started talking about joining the track team, just to be like Mom. So with every painful step, I thought of them, and I had so much to teach them right now. How NOT to quit. Even when it's hard. I knew they'd be at the finish line. And I was going to run across it.

And the circus was there for me. They were yelling, jumping, screaming, and I laughed. They joined me for the last few feet to the finish line. It was probably one of the most significant moments in my life. I didn't quit. My circus was there. I did it.

And I have the medal to prove it.

2:48 is realistic. I wasn't 3 hours, and if I do it again, I'm nailing 2:30, maybe less. Today is Halloween, and it's fitting that I'm walking like a Zombie from the soreness in my hips and calves. But I think about it, and it makes me proud of myself. I did it.

Neighborhood Spook House

We had no idea that just a block away from us, ghosts, ghouls, and all sorts of evil things had taken over a backyard. Including this pirate ship with ghostly pirate captain at it's helm.

Something wicked this way comes. I think our neighbors nailed it! It was tame enough for the young kids, but had its fun moments enough (mostly people jumping out or making sudden loud fire cracker type noises) that Cas wasn't sure she wanted to go through it again ha ha. Though Cali and Brynn took another go at it.

(Nice Bieber glasses. I know, what can I say? Except that thankfully "style" is such a fickle thing). The cost for this surprisingly fun event was a can of food for the food bank, which gave you unlimited access to the spook alley. They had a fire with chairs set up in the front yard with hot chocolate, donuts, and popcorn for sale. They also had a TV set up in the front playing "Nightmare Before Christmas". Apparently this is an annual deal, they've done it for five years now. So anyone who has smaller kids (or UNbrave kids, such as we have been blessed with), that still want to have fun with taking them to a spook house, but don't want them sleeping in your beds with you for the next month, should go with us next year :).

LAST year's Halloween costumes.

How did I not get these posted last year? I'm so utterly proud of how well they all turned out that I'm not going to just shrug my shoulder's and so "oh well". They're getting posted!
The Joker:
Frankenstein's Monster (diy head with a milk jug):

A Black Fairy:

And with the other three we hit a theme. Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" had come out last year and we weren't escaping it come Halloween time. We had:

Alice in Wonderland, I stuck more with the Disney cartoon version for the costume:

The Cheshire Cat, relying heavily on the Disney cartoon again. We even made her a "fade away" smile:

And since masks aren't allowed at school:

And the Mad Hatter herself. We went half and half with Johnny Depp's version and the Disney cartoon version:

The circus, incognito:

Wait until you see them this year :).

Annual pumpkin carving with Ert

The kids call West's sister Lindee "Ert". West's family is really into Halloween (so am I, so it works :)). Sam and Lindee did their apartment up with awesome Halloween decorations and all the food had an eerie but delicious theme to it. With "Gremlins" on the TV, the kids sawed away at their jack-o-lanterns.
Cali and Sean wearing Granny Suzann's mask:
Cali's jack-o-lantern (I would NOT recommend getting a gray pumpkin... they are THICK): Brynn's jack-o-lantern: Sean's jack-o-lantern: Jayme's jack-o-lantern was two sided, there was the vampire: And then the scared face because the vampire was behind it: Casidee's jack-o-lantern: Tayler's jack-o-lantern: