"However, if the Higgs bosun is simply the result of exciting the underlying field such that it momentarily changes state (to a particle) and then decays away then I can almost square that."
That's closer. Think of a charged particle being accelerated in a magnetic field. The magnetic field has some value of energy density, which is transferred to the particle causing it to accelerate as it moves through the field. The Higgs Field also has some value for energy density. When it interacts with certain particles (they're not really particles, they are fields, but thinking of them as particles is fine for this), energy is transferred to the particle, but instead of that energy being in the form of something like acceleration, that energy is transferred by E=MC^2 as mass.
If a particle absorbs or releases electromagnetic energy, it is really absorbing or releasing photons, as they are the force carrier for the electromagnetic force allowing energy transfer to take place. Similarly, the Higgs Boson is the force carrier for the Higgs Field, and are absorbed by certain particles, again allowing energy to be transferred from the Higgs Field into mass by E=MC^2. Running particles through an accelerator and smashing them together with enough energy does the opposite as you already know.