Down in the Swamps

For the past 2 years I have been working on the same Halloween costumes. See, each year we go to an adult Halloween party thrown by one of our friends, and each year we don't win the costume contest. (All the guests vote.) So last year I decided to go all out. I picked a theme I thought would be instantly recognizable. I matched the characters to our body types. I spent . . . let's just say too much on all the materials. And then I made the costumes. Myself. It was consuming, time-intensive work, and when Halloween arrived I wasn't completely done. But then the party got cancelled for a family emergency, and I had one more year to perfect our costumes. Which I did.

I made Farquaad's hat, which was a nightmare of planning and little tiny stitches.
I added trim to everything.

I made Annalee's matching costume. (Gingy has his face on her hood, though you can't really see in this pic.

I even painted myself green and got pregnant like Fiona! (Okay, so that's not why I got pregnant.)

Here is the blastedly difficult Farquaad hat halfway through construction.
Nathan got off so late from work, and it took us so long to get ready, that they were packing up the food when we got to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. We grabbed what we could. Then we tried to get some pictures, only to discover that the camera was dead. Fortunately, a kind soul took these pictures and emailed them to me.

We came home and left Annalee with Grammy, then headed to our adult party. The decorations were spectacular, the food was delicious, the games were fun. Then came the costume contest. And a couple that had bought their Victorian costumes online won.

Disappointed? Um, yeah. I tried my very hardest, and was beat out by money, basically. Their costumes were amazing (I even voted for them since we couldn't vote for ourselves). But it was so discouraging to realize that my best was not good enough. I've decided to not try winning anymore. Maybe I can convince myself I don't care, and then it won't bother me.

Yeah, I'm feeling sorry for myself. Everyone's allowed to every once in a while, so no lectures, okay? Maybe I can blame it on pregnancy hormones.

Oh yeah, we weren't second place either.