Holi Colors, Krishna!

I have a strength training DVD that I work out with weights with where the buxom blonde leading the charge to build my muscles proclaims "It all starts out good!" after having us switch from our exhausted side to our fresh side. That is what I think of when I look at this first picture. We look so clean! Why is that so amazing for a family of 4 who showers regularly? The Krishna Festival of Colors.


We played "hooky" from church to drive south to Spanish Fork to the Krishna temple on Sunday morning. It is a two day festival, starting on Saturday, but the thought of hanging out with thousands of BYU zoobies throwing colored corn starch at each other (and me) was too much of a deterrent. Knowing they would all be tucked back safely into their student wards by Sunday morning, we figured we would be "safe" from the co-eds who have no other outlets or free festivals for their youthful aggression and frustrations. (I should know, I used to be one of them.)

Asking the boys if they were interested in going was one of my favorite parts of the whole adventure. Romney upon hearing what would be happening lit up like the proverbial Christmas Tree. William looked anxiously at Bill and I and said "Uh, I don't think that sounds very fun. You guys can go, but I will just stay home." Could it have been a more characteristic response from either one of them at the thought of "getting messy"?


By the time we bought our colors, (They only had pink and orange left by the time we got there.) Romney and William were already covered by going up to strangers and saying "HIT ME!" to festival goers with colors they thought were radiant. After we bought them, trying to keep Romney from completely using them all up before the official "throwing" still an hour away was like trying to keep carbonation in an already opened soda bottle. William would sneakily throw a puff at a passing strangers back, so as not to upset them. Romney was not afraid to dump a handful all over a perfect stranger while giggling. Nor was he afraid to dump a giant handful from his bag of pink onto the top of Bill and I. (Realize that in order for him to accomplish this Bill and I would have to lean down to allow him to do it.)


We rocked out to the Krishna chanting rock band (yes, rock band,) watched the crowd pulsating in unison at the bottom of the hill in a giant mud puddle, observed as the effegy of witch Holika burned, listened as a devotee instructed us that we should love ourselves and utilize the special talents each of us had been granted, and finally joined the masses in throwing our gorgeous spring colors in unison into the air. Who knew family bonding could be so, well, colorful. Helpful hints for next time: Dress in layers or bring other clothes to change into for the car ride home (Better yet, a white hazmat suit to zip out of-- like the two teens who obviously had put a lot of thought into how to navigate the festival successfully prior to arrival.) Dark colored clothes come clean in the wash much easier than lights, though lights show the colors better at the festival. Bring something washable to sit on in the car to save an hour of color clean-up off of leather seats later. Last, but not least, NEVER, EVER attend on a Saturday! Best Sunday in a long, long time.