Balloons and Birds

Jeremy built balloon puppets and skulls for Dia de Muertos at Thanksgiving Point again. We delivered the puppets the morning of the event then headed out to do some birding. We finished one site for our birding challenge and tried out a new birding spot.

We got our selfie. "Agh! The sun's in our eyes." We thought we'd get a better picture under the trees. We got distracted by a late season osprey, though. We weren't expecting to see one toward the end of October. We thought they'd all moved on.

For dinner that night we tried yet another new recipe from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4, by Jordan Page. White Chicken Chili with Cheesy Garlic Rolls. Mmmm.

Since October 26 was National Pumpkin Day, we had pumpkin bars in the freezer that we finished off for this holiday.

Halloween 2023

We don't have time to do a fun Halloween themed dinner on Halloween anymore so this year we had a Halloween themed dinner a few days before. October 29 was National Oatmeal Day. Jr. and Jeremy helped me to figure out what we should make and what the food should be called. Bonemeal muffins, Baba Yaga's chicken legs, alfraidy sauce worms (pastaaaaagh!), and shredded lettuce with a costume... I mean dressing, scream soda to drink and batberry cobbler (blackberry cobbler) for dessert.

Here's what happened on actual Halloween. 

Jr. Jr. hadn't decided what costume to wear as of the night before Halloween. Jeremy had made balloons for Dia de Muertos at Thanksgiving Point again so he suggested he could use one of the puppets that was still in good shape. 

Jr. Jr. liked that idea and managed to maneuver around his school like that. Of course I dropped him off and picked him up for there was no way he was going to fit that thing on the bus.

Jr. was the happy mask salesman from Majora's mask. We were up late the night before and got up early Halloween morning to work on his costume. He did the sewing that needed to be done by himself. 

Lucky was a dementor from Harry Potter. He likes to do costumes inspired by his teacher's classrooms if he can. 

 

Jet and I bundled up to watch Lucky in the elementary Halloween school parade. They did it outside this year. The marching band from the high school up the street walked over to provide music for the parade. They led the parade through the school then continued to play in one spot while the rest of the students walked around for everyone to see. That was fun.

 

Trick or treating around our neighborhood went well (except I slowed everyone down because I like to talk).

The next morning I felt like a genius. I emptied Jet's Halloween bucket and put all the toys and activity items back in it along with just a few pieces of candy. 

When he found the bucket, he did not go straight for the candy as it was not an overwhelming amount. He played with other items first. Woohoo.

Dia de Muertos

I got to help Jeremy deliver balloon puppets for the Dia de Muertos celebration at Thanksgiving Point this year. He delivered balloon sugar skulls a couple days before. The puppets have become such a fun tradition. Kids/people can go around giving them high fives or waving at them. 

It was nice to see things before the crowds got there. There were dancers rehearsing. Such beautiful dancing. And though we only had a little bit of time (I had to get Jeremy to another gig that same day), it was still nice to see what we did see.

It's nice to see a culture that, though it may not be my own, I can respect and see the beauty in.

And of course the rest of the day, I had songs from the movie, Coco, running through my head.

At a later date, the high school also celebrated. Nichole and Jr. both got to perform with their combined orchestras, "Cielito Lindo," a familiar Mexican song.

Yet another day, Nichole's Yoga teacher asked the students to bring in pictures of loved ones who have passed on. Sweet. Nichole brought a picture of her great grandma who she remembers visiting in Washington.

Luz de Las Naciones

Who wants to make a trip to Salt Lake City?

I do!

Saturday, we made a trip to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.  We went for "Luz de Las Naciones" cultural event called "My Family. Mi Herencia."  It was "an evening celebrating families, heritage, and latino culture."
Now I don't have latino roots like a lot of people who were in the conference center that night, but I sure can appreciate beauty and there was so much beauty in that event and in the culture represented.  Again, all of us on Earth are children of God so we do have that common heritage and that is also beautiful. 
It was a beautiful night with a beautiful program.  We enjoyed watching it live but they are rebroadcasting it on lds.org right now.  Here is the link.
Jeremy had the opportunity to build some giant (10-14' tall) balloon puppets for this event.  They danced on stage with the other dancers.  That was a lot of fun to watch (and can be seen on the broadcast).  He also built a balloon bouquet like a balloon vendor would hold to hand out balloons.  The balloons looked helium, but they weren't.

There was so much talent to see that night- great music, great singing, great dancing, great balloons, and everyone else who put so much work into it.  Well done on the sound and lighting and sets and just everything.  I'm so glad we went, even if the kids didn't get to bed until really late that night.  We had to stick around after the show for Jeremy to get some of his gear to bring home, then he had to find us in the auditorium (you know the Conference Center is huge, right?) when they made us move from the place he left us when he went backstage (they were really nice about it, though- they were just trying to clear the auditorium after the show).  He kept coming back onstage from backstage and looking around for us then going backstage again.  I was worried he was going to leave a different way and we wouldn't know how to find him.  Finally he came down off the stage and we chased him down before he left.  Phew.  Then we had to drive all the way home and eat something.  Yeah, it was a late night.  But it was so cool.  I am so glad we went.