Pumpkin Carving 2024

Last night we had our annual pumpkin carving party and it was a lot of fun!  I keep waiting for the day when Sean says he doesn't want to continue with these holiday traditions but I'm so happy that he wanted to carve pumpkins this year.  We all went a bit old school with our designs but my favorite one was Sean's "Pumpkin Pie."

I love this Halloween tradition!

Thriller 2024

After a one year hiatus ODT's Halloween-themed dance extravaganza Thriller is back and this news made me so happy because it is one of my favorite traditions this time of year!  I saw the show at the Grand Theatre (it moved there from Kingsbury Hall) last night and it was so much fun.  All of my favorite dances were back including a group of the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller," a breakdancing Egyptian mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas at their first dance recital in "Miss Alli's Nightmare," a Pas de Deux that goes horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein," tap dancing skeletons that glow in the dark in "Dem Bones," a trio of Jasons wielding a variety of weapons in "Jason Jam" (this crowd favorite gets more elaborate every year and it was hilarious last night), scarecrows that are not what they seem in "Children of the Corn," a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (this is my favorite dance), demonic dolls who come to life in "Chucky-Rama," acrobatic vampires who find an unsuspecting victim walking home alone in "Lost Boys," and a costume parade in "Trick or Treat."  Even though I have seen all of these dances over and over year after year, I still look forward to them with great anticipation and I cheer out loud (like everyone else in the audience) when they begin.  This year there were three new dances.  I really liked "Day-O," a spoof of the possession scene from Beetlejuice, and "Squid Skid," a dance competition with the same rules as Squid Game, but "Covid Cotillion," a dance featuring highly exaggerated performance protocols from the pandemic, wasn't very funny.  The artists from Aeris Aerial Arts joined the company once again and performed "Black Widow" (this was new and it was my favorite), "Full Moon," "Phantom of the Opera," and "Slytherin."  I think these numbers are so much fun to watch because I have no idea how the aerialists do what they do!  Bubbles the Clown was back performing in between numbers but, unfortunately, so was Giggle Girl (I think she is so annoying and needs new material).  There was a huge crowd last night so, if you are thinking about getting a ticket (and I recommend that you do), you need to act fast.  It runs at the Grand Theatre through October 26 and at Tuacahn Amphitheare in St. George from October 28 through November 2 (go here for tickets).

Note:  This is my usual warning to avoid making eye contact with the undead roaming around the theatre before the show.

Pumpkin Carving 2023

Since Tashena is living in Washington and Sean is in college living in a dorm, Marilyn and I thought that we probably wouldn't be doing some of our holiday traditions this year.  Then Marilyn got a text from Sean asking when we would be carving pumpkins!  We had our annual pumpkin carving party last night while he was home for dinner (my family gets together every Sunday for dinner) and it was a lot of fun!

I am quite proud of my pumpkin this year because it actually turned out like the pattern!

I have a picture like this from every year since he was a little boy!  We'll see if he wants to do gingerbread houses for Christmas!

Pumpkin Carving 2022

Yesterday my family got together for our annual pumpkin carving party and we had so much fun.  We have been doing this with Sean and Tashena since they were really little and every year I wonder if it will be the last time because they will have outgrown it but Sean called me specifically to remind me to buy pumpkins!

I really love this tradition and I think our pumpkins turned out really cool this year!

Thriller 2022

I have been attending Odyssey Dance Theatre's annual Halloween dance extravaganza Thriller for the past fifteen years and it has always been one of my favorite Halloween traditions.  However, Derryl Yeager, the founder and artistic director of ODT, is retiring so this year's production will be the final one.  Since I won't be able to see it again I enjoyed it even more than usual last night and so did the loud and enthusiastic crowd at Kingsbury Hall!  There weren't any new dance numbers but that didn't really matter because I felt very nostalgic about all of my old favorites.  I looked forward with great anticipation to seeing the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller," a breakdancing mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas during their first recital in "Miss Alli's Nightmare," a Pas de Deux gone horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein," tap dancing skeletons in "Dem Bones," schoolgirls who are possessed by porcelain dolls in "Annabelle of the Ball," a trio of Jasons wielding a variety of weapons (including chainsaws) in "Jason Jam," scarecrows that are not what they seem in "Children of the Corn," a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (my favorite number in the show), demonic dolls in "Chucky-Rama," acrobatic vampires in "Lost Boys," and a costume parade in "Trick or Treat."  Every one of these numbers put a huge smile on my face and I think "Jason Jam" was even funnier than usual!  Once again the artists from Aeris Aerial Arts performed "Siren of the Sea," "Phantom of the Opera," "Full Moon," and "Slytherin" and these numbers were so much fun to watch because I have no idea how they do what they do!  My favorite was "Full Moon" which involved a group of six artists costumed as wolves and one as Little Red Riding Hood performing on a spinning globe.  Finally, I was so happy to see the return of Bubbles the Clown (he is hilarious) in between the numbers!  I had so much fun last night (as well as at every performance through the years) and, if you have never seen it before, I highly recommend getting a ticket before it is too late!  It runs at Kingsbury Hall through October 22 and at Tuacahn through October 31 (go here for tickets).

Thriller 2021

I have been attending Odyssey Dance Theatre's Halloween extravaganza Thriller for years and years and it is always so much fun!  It is one of my favorite Halloween traditions!  I was able to see this year's production at Kingsbury Hall (it is being performed in six different venues) last night and I loved it!  I (along with the rowdy and enthusiastic crowd) always look forward with great anticipation to all of the old favorites, including the undead cavorting in a graveyard in "Thriller," a breakdancing mummy and his maidens in "Curse of the Mummy," misbehaving pandas in "Miss Alli's Nightmare," a Pas de Deux gone horribly wrong in "Frankenstein & Frankenstein" (I am always amazed at how flexible the Bride of Frankenstein is in this number), glow in the dark tap dancing skeletons in "Dem Bones," a trio of Jasons who wield various weapons in "Jason Jam" (this gets funnier every year), scarecrows that are not what they seem in "Children of the Corn," a coven of condemned witches seeking vengeance from beyond the grave in "Salem's Mass" (my favorite number in the show), acrobatic vampires in "Lost Boys," and a costume parade in "Trick or Treat."  I am also very eager to see if there are any new numbers in the show and this year there was one called "Annabelle at the Ball."  This involved dancing porcelain dolls inhabited by spirits summoned by a group of schoolgirls and it was really creepy when the lights came on to reveal the dolls in the audience!  As in year's past, artists from Aeris Aerial Arts performed in between the numbers and they were absolutely amazing.  In addition to "Siren of the Sea" and "Phantom of the Opera," which were performed last year, this year included a group of six artists costumed as wolves and one as Little Red Riding Hood performing on a spinning globe in "Full Moon" and two artists costumed as snakes performing on silks in "Slytherin." I have no idea how these aerialists do what they do!  My only complaint with this year's show was the return of Giggle Girl and her comedy routine in between the numbers.  I think she is so annoying and I wish they would bring back Bubbles the Clown!  Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I highly recommend adding Thriller to your list of Halloween traditions (go here for information, venues, and tickets).

Note:  This year marked the return of the undead who wander the aisles before the show.  Do not make eye contact with them!  Trust me on this!

Pumpkin Carving 2020

Last night Marilyn, Tashena, Sean, and I had our annual pumpkin carving party and it was a lot of fun!

Tashena and I picked out pumpkins from the Cross E Ranch pumpkin patch and we have accumulated a lot of carving tools and kits over the years.

Carving our pumpkins!

Our finished pumpkins!

Marilyn's Old School Jack-O-Lantern

My Witch Feet

Tashena's Sugar Skull

Sean's Miss Me (He designed this and I think it is cool).