Halloween

Yes. I'm actually here blogging on Halloween night looking like this.

For the first time in many years, there is the actual potentiality of trick-or-treaters coming to our door (other than our next-door neighbors out of charity). Such is the life you lead when you live out on four acres in the woods in the middle of New Hampshire.  In Mapleton Utah, however, I would say we have a plethora of kids around.  So Adrienne took the little ones out and I am manning the house and blogging at the same time - I hope they don't pull anything.   And once again I am dictating this using Dragon. So if anything is amiss, take it up with them.

Many families choose to do Halloween themes for the entire clan.  Our theme is "you are lucky to have a costume now shut up and smile." Here is the brood.

I am also enjoying the kids being old enough to carve their own pumpkins without any artistic interference by their father.  In fact, both Patrick and Locke have received many "oohs" and "aahs" over their pumpkins.  Try to guess whose is whose.

It is nice that the kids have so many friends close and the houses are within walking distance without risk of becoming coyote food so that we can send the big three out on their own.

So sitting here thinking of Halloween gone by, there are a couple of memorable Halloween moments. And since this is my blog and I can bore everyone to death if I so choose, I shall so do.

Growing up, I believed that it was my moral duty to go to as many houses as possible on Halloween.  I didn't have to eat all of it, but it allowed for quantity based bartering for my favorite treats (Kit Kats if you should know).  I would even fill up an entire pillowcase most years.   One year, I was nearly done with my neighborhood rounds and had seen two kids on ATV  passing us a few times.  Just as we are coming back from the darkest part of neighborhood, these boys came barreling down on me and my friends and started grabbing and stealing our bags.  

My Halloween instincts kicked in; it was every man for himself!  I tucked my bag of candy inside my shirt and bolted for house that was under construction like a pregnant woman. I hid out there until  the sound of screaming kids and two-stroke motors subsided.  Venturing out into unknown waters, I found one of my friends had lost his entire bag and the other had half his bag pillages.  In a highly unusual act of charity amongst us friends, we each donated a large portion of candy to our two be-spoiled friends (except the Kit Kat, of course).

The next memorable Halloween came my freshman year of college when I was too young to trick-or-treating, but not mature enough to realize it.  We made our way from BYU back to Sandy where I am from to the house of a high school/college friend (Jen). Estimating, correctly so, that if we had some cute college girls with us we could get candy, we ventured out to trick-or-treating and flirting (trick-or-treating with girls was a new concept for me as I found as a kid the girl/boy dynamic got in the way a filling up that pillowcase).   Suddenly, a jacked up pickup truck slams on his brakes in front of our little group of three boys and three girls.  Some dude then jumped out ran over and hauled off and decks one of the guys in our group.  We were all a little shocked, but California Tyler and I managed to wrestle the guy back. 

After a diatribe by the truck dude using non-BYU approved language, we managed to sort out that this third guy in our party had thrown a Smarty at the truck some 30 minutes before.  This guy had nothing better to do but to seek revenge.  We secured and apology for our comrade and got Rocky back in his truck.  We then scurried off into our friend's home only to be greeted by the TV with a woman overacting a panicked scream sequence.   After realizing there was something familiar about the scene from a book I had read, I asked my friends "Do think this is Helter Skelter, have you read it?"  One of girls, Sarah, turned white as a ghost and ran out of the room looking like she was going to toss up her Halloween candy.  I guess she had.  That closed an interesting Halloween night.

Well I best be making donuts for the family when they get back, because nothing goes better with sugar than more sugar.

Happy Halloween and a merry All-Saints day (if that is the proper salutation for All-Saints Day).