Harry Potter Halloween

So here is what I've been working on in my free time for the last month. Ruth and I have talked about cosplay as Luna and Trelawney for a long time, but about 2 months ago I got it in my head that the whole family should dress up as Harry Potter characters for Halloween. And so it began.

The two Harry Potter robes were purchased on eBay. You can get them there much cheaper then I could ever sew them and they are pretty good quality.  I also got Ruth's tie off ebay.  Everything else was my creation.  Dumbledore's robe was a repurposed bathrobe. I sewed his hat. My dress and scarf. Ruth's necklace and earrings.  Jared's Quiditch armor and broom were all made by me.  We made our wands as a family home evening activity.   It's been good fun and a nice break for me to make things that don't have to compete in a competition but just for fun.

I've put up more pictures on facebook. These are different from those. We had so many good pictures!

Jared's First Band Concert

Jared played in his first band concert of the year.  He really loves band.  And he looked very handsome.

Debate Competition

I went with Ruth on Friday to judge at her 2nd debate tournament. I was lucky enough to get a bye the first round and was able to go with Ruth to her first round to see her compete.  This is the first time I've seen her compete.  She did really great and smoked all the competition in the room.  She has another competition next weekend.

Pumpkin Adventures

It's been a tradition of ours to spend a Saturday in October at my mom's farm where we usually find a pumpkin patch or do other fall activities.   This week we picked up my mom and then headed north to a Pumpkin Walk.  There was a park full of scenes from history or from pop culture made out of pumkins.  Some were all pumpkin, and others were just pumpkin heads but all were very creative and we had a good time walking around and looking at them.

After the pumkin walk we stopped to buy some cheese curds at the cheese factory there, and then we went to a farmers fruit stand (the kind where you drop some money in a jar after picking out what you want) where we got some pumpkins.

It was a fun day and it was great to visit with grandma and spend some time together.

Stake Choir

I forgot to mention last week that the stake choir I conduct sang at stake conference last Sunday.  I had around 30 singers and we sang two numbers.  One of the great things about conducting the stake choir is that I can choose more difficult music and my singers are usually a little more versed in music.  The choir responds better to direction both verbal and when I am conducting them.  It challenges me, because I have more control, but it's also a thrill when things go well.


Cosplay Contests

This weekend I competed in a couple of contests.  The first was a new cosplay contest at the Halloween Expo.  Because it was the first year for this one, the competition wasn't too crazy. The judges really liked my costume in judging and they asked some really good questions.  It's nice to be able to talk about your craft with people who really know what you're talking about.  What I didn't know at the time was that for this contest, pre-judging was the only judging - there was no stage portion - which was good for me because often, my stage presentation is my lowest score.  In the end I won Best-in-Show which means I won the whole thing.  This is my first ever Best-in-Show win.  As a prize I won a creepy animal scull plaque.

At the Halloween Expo I was also able to meet a few of the contestants from the TV show "Face-Off" .   Two of them even approached me to talk to me about my costume - they really liked it.  It was super cool to have some pros look at your work and approve of it.

Chuck accompanied me to the Halloween Expo as my handler, and he dressed up in his steampunk garb as well.  If anyone asked we were the tinman and the wizard of Oz steampunk style.   Chuck was a really good sport, and I was glad to have him watch me compete as he has never gone to any of my competitions before.

The Halloween Expo contest went a lot faster than I expected so I was done in time to hop over to our community Pumpkin Festival and compete in their costume contest.   Now there is a huge difference between a costume contest and a cosplay contest.  In cosplay you have to had made it yourself and you are judged on your level of craftsmanship, in a costume contest you are judged by which ones the judges (who usually know nothing about costuming) like the most. So you're competing against store purchased or "gag" type costumes, so you just never know how they are going to go.

Ruth competed in the teen contest as Astrid and won, and I competed and won in the adult contest.  That's my second year winning this contest in a row.

Before the costume contest Ruth had been working at the Pumpkin Festival as a volunteer for the Youth Council. For an hour she ran the pumpkin bowling booth - today her back is sore from setting up bowing pins (pop bottles).

Kaitlin Update

In Kaitlin's letter this week she seemed super excited and happy about what she was doing in Paraguay. She's still in the city and close the mission office. She loves her new companions and her health has been good.  She's now been out for a year and two months, and will be coming home the 2nd week of February.

And So It Begins

Ruth came stumbling into the house late Saturday night, after spending 23 hours over two days at the first debate tournament of the season, with a shiny first place trophy in her hand.   Debate season has started with the first tournament at the University of Utah. There, Ruth competed against varsity high school debate students from all over the state in the categories of Humorous Interpretation and, for the very first time, Dramatic Interpretation.   She felt good about her DI performance but didn't make it to finals in that category. She did, however, take her HI all the way to finals and then got the win.  She's really happy about it because she knows, since this was her first time competing with this script, that she can improve and be even more competitive in the future.  Her next tournament will be at the end of this month.

Jared's .001 %

This weekend we took Jared to Asian City to buy him some chopsticks and while we were there we also bought him some healing spheres. Since then he's been eating everything with chopsticks and the light clanging of the spheres has become a constant.  It's all part of him getting in touch with the .001 % Asian part of him that showed up on his grandfather's DNA test.  He also says he has learned enough in his Chinese class that he can count to 999 and call people names.

Bonus: While Ruth was away at the debate tournament and Jared was off at scout camp, Chuck and I went out on a long overdue date.  

Happy 17th Birthday Ruth

Today for Ruth's birthday we watched General Conference.  She asked for homemade cinnamon rolls and popcorn chicken bowl for her birthday treats.  To give you some insights into Ruth's interest she got a black pant suit (to wear at debate tournaments) and also a Harry Potter robe, among other gifts.   On Friday she had some friends over and they watched movies and ate pizza.   Ruth is smart, ambitious, confident, talented, and beautiful.  She's been working very hard at her AP classes and is practicing constantly for her first debate tournament of the season which takes place next weekend.