weird mormon rituals

so hunter brought along his non mormon friend to our annual "trunk or treat". for us mormons this is just a rite of passage in october. just something that happens...and all over the church. we did it in murrieta, thousand oaks and we do it here. if i had to guess, probably happens everywhere there is a church parking lot. so fun to decorate the trunk or hatch of your car and hand out treats to darling little kids who's mothers are especially creative and good with sewing machines (its the "mormon" in us, i guess...although i resort now to purchases online...if you think dane has a giant shower cap on, he does not...he is "toad", a giant mushroom, i think). i especially get a kick out of handing out "regular size" candy bars. love the reaction on those kids faces when they see these giant bars in my paper mache pumpkin. indeed a treat...for me. and remember how fun it was as a kid to run around an empty cultural hall? (where did that name come from anyway? ever think of the interesting names we have for things? like primary and seminary...isnt that a catholic word?) my kids still have memories of accompanying me to set up for some big activity...then allowed to run freely in the huge space. i remember too as a kid going with my mom to set up for the annual "bazaar" where handcrafted items were actually sold. imagine that.

this activity last night was a little different. had the trunk or treat, hot dogs and then a fear factor activity all outside. plenty of yucky stuff was eaten. dane broke down and cried when they were "swallowing" live goldfish (i am still not sure if they were actually eating them or not). he was watching so bravely, then came up to me with big tears running down his face. traumatized. feeling for the poor goldfish, with its "eyes wiggling as it's going down a throat", he said. he was thoroughly disturbed, big time. the big boys liked this,

but not my sensitive little one.

very interesting though, to explain all of this to dylan, and try and prepare him for what we were going to do. he was baffled. had never heard of this, or seen anything like it in his life. i think he liked what he saw, and realized there is a lot of good old fashioned fun to be had in the parking lot of a church, with a bunch of little kids running around in circles.