FYI...

Sara and Jacob have posted more picture of Elliott on their blog.  Be sure to check it out.  He's a keeper!

WELCOME GRANDBABY #51 (I think?)

Elliot John Ashley has arrived! Weighing in at 7 lbs., 6 ozs., 18 inches and a full head of hair. I'm not sure of the exact time, but it was around 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Utah time. Overall mother and baby are doing well. Elliot has had to make a trip to the NICU for a while due to the fact that his lungs are slightly immature and he needs a little help with the breathin process, but Jacob says the doctors are not concerned and that he should be fine by morning. I'm sure more details will follow. Jacob is one happy pappy!!!

2008 Dia de los Muertos

This year Mom, Jeff and Devon (wearing a stylin' hat), Sydney and Logan joined me to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)  at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  We started at my house and made our own alter honoring our loved ones and friends that have passed on.  I explained the alters, the holiday traditions and what to expect so hopefully they wouldn't be afraid of anything they saw and to understand that this is intended to be a joyous celebration.  Oh, and we ate minicupcakes to celebrated Jeff's birthday.

Photograph were difficult to take.  It was pitch black so you never really quite knew if you had anything framed well and it was crowded!  Almost impossible to get pictures without strangers standing in them.  

This was one of the performance stages set over a lake.  It was really beautiful.  On the side of the building they were projecting colored light patterns that looked like the paper cutouts that they use on the alters to represent wind.  At the end of this post I've added a video of a performance at this stage to give a little  sense of scale.

This is one of two 15-20 foot skeletons that stand guard over the door to the mausoleum.

I love this picture.  It's one of two skeletons that are sitting in boats on the lake.  On the right are groups of candles that also are floating along but in this picture they've already burnt out.  When lit they add a beautiful effect.

More papermache figures, however Logan, Devon and Sydney are very real.  Below is a video of some of the dance performances.

Calacas Attire

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You're encouraged to come in Calacas (skeleton) attire.  We all agreed that next year (always next year) we want to participate in the calacas.  The picture above is of one of the dancers.  I loved the shot I ended up getting for several reasons but the biggest being that it's so dark and there are so many people that I just blindly held my camera up and shot.  This was one where I actually liked what I got.  

These ladies looked amazing and I'm not sure the pictures do them justice.  This is the view from behind and in front.

The Alters

These pictures are a little misleading.  It's totally dark out there.  Most times you're not even sure if you have the picture framed correctly if at all.  So this is Jeff, Mom, me, Logan, Sydney and Devon at the cemetery.  When it was all over I asked Devon what she thought of it and if she'd come again.  Her response?  "Maybe next year in the daytime"... we'll see next year now, won't we?

This One's for Jeremy and Kristy

This is the alter for Johnny Ramone who (obviously) is buried here.

I liked this picture because the lighting made it look like this skeleton royalty is holding this man's head.

They try to discourage Halloween attire in an effort to try to separate these two holidays but it's really inevitable that Halloween will creep in, especially when it's just the night before.  I thought this was cute so I included it.