Halloween is kind of a oxymoron when it comes to living in the middle of Happy Valley. Since we work at the "Y" we have standards to maintain or in keeping with the "honor code." Nevertheless, we aren't the stuffy shirt type, and like to have fun. In my office, I encouraged our workers to dress up for the 31st, and they mostly did their part. Not everyone likes to dress-up in costume because if you have to move about campus, it can be a tedious task, depending on the c
ostume you wear. For the most part, the best is going through the "Wilk" and the bookstore. Their, they even have employees dress up and have a contest. Well, this year was no different, except Jo got the competitive spirit in her and she prepared well, choosing her character, and all the needed costume to portray the character. There were some spooky ones and some well done costumes, all adding to the fun of the day. What do you think of Jo's costume? This year, she won the employee's best costume category, so on Monday, she gets to collect her prize.
With her winning like this, we'll be preparing far in advance for next year's costume contest.
In the evening, we attended our home ward chili dinner and trunk o treat. We had a nice time there and it was fun.
Some members even decorated the trunks of their vehicles for the evening. Last weekend, my married student ward had it's chili cook off with halloween costume dress up. The costumes were great, the chili wasn't. Our members there haven't learned the art of making good chili. Oh well, give them time.
My comment about the oxymoron is because here in the middle of Utah, where the predominant religion is so prevalent, people really like to get into the Halloween dress up. There are seasonal things such as corn maize, haunted houses, and all forms of costume dress up. I saw a couple of people whose costume looked a bit like a cross dresser. I guess, they didn't get the memo or hear the talk relating to the appropriate nature of dressing in your own gender. Now, this is the second time in a row where we've observed this in our home ward. Last year's
contest winner for best costume was a teen dressed up as the opposite gender. I am sure it was all in fun but if you let things become a norm, then you've got bigger challenges.
I enjoyed reading the experiences of our family member's eventful halloween fun.
So, now, it's starting all over again and finding a costume for next year's contest. Enjoy the pictures of Jo's dress up.
The things that matter most in life is family. Family members are generally born in to a family, adopted in, and by choice, choose to marry in to a family. Well, today, we add another family member to our extended family, that of a new baby daughter to Erin and Mark's family. She has the facial features of their youngest son, Teddy, and resembles her older brothers also. We are all excited and mother, daughter and dad are doing fine. Even Grandma and Grandpa survived watching the grandsons and Bubba, the dog. So her are a few pictures hot off the camera within the last hour. 
