I Love Halloween

October 3rd — Football against Utah State. Such a tragic, season crippling game. Even the refs didn't escape unscathed.

October 4th-5th — I worked on my "carpet" bag and the chimney sweep broom/brush whilst listening to General Conference. As always, conference was wonderful. This time, I think one of the talks that stood out to me the most was Elder Holland's talk, "Are We Not All Beggars?" ...I hope that I can be better about helping those in need.

October 6th — We had investigators and missionaries over for dinner. 

October 7th — We had dinner at the Ferrins. Good food, even better people. We had a blast. Thanks, guys!

October 9th — BYU football Central Florida. Please enjoy this extremely unflattering photo of us watching football.

October 10th — Pumpkin patch and pumpkin painting. You guys... I had 16 pumpkins this year... and if I am being honest there were moments where I thought to myself how it would be nice to have a few more. Do I need to seek counseling?

October 11th — We fed the missionaries breakfast. Later in the day we went to see Meet the Mormons. It was great. There were some good stories.

October 12th — James and I and the missionaries all fasted for the investigators. It was getting to the point where there needed to be a little more action or the missionaries would have to move on to others who were ready to accept the gospel.

October 13th — We took the investigators to the Independence visitors center. After seeing a few things there. The missionaries did some teaching and at the end they invited the investigators to come to church. They declined and missionaries regretfully told them that they probably wouldn't be able to meet anymore then. Under those circumstances they accepted. I guess there was enough interest that they wanted to keep learning more, but they needed to be pushed a little out of their comfort zone. I think fasting helped soften their hearts. It is hard to gain a testimony of the gospel and the church or the Book of Mormon or any other part of what we believe if you aren't willing to put forth the effort to gain that testimony. God usually waits for us to ask —and ask with real intent. We have to show God we are actually willing to act based on the answer he gives us and sometimes that requires taking some actions before you receive a witness. You can't be a bird that stays in the nest, dreaming of a worm. You have to go find your worm. I know that God answers prayers and that anyone can gain a testimony if they search and pray specifically and with sincerity and with faith. Anyway, they did come that Sunday and they have come again since. Fasting works. Prayer works. Faith works. Work, works. I do not know if the investigators will choose to be baptized or develop the level of commitment needed to know for themselves, but the chance to fast for them has blessed our lives and strengthened our testimonies. 

October 15th —I went visiting teaching, James went to mutual.

October 16th — James left for Arkansas. I worked on making a chalkboard.

October 17th — Pest control came and now I don't have any spiders. I took a picture of one a couple of days before they came. I promise they are bigger in real life and there were always several of these beasts that would come out at night. Bye. Miss you already. Just kidding. Not at all. My only regret is not doing it sooner (I didn't know my apartment did it). 

October 18th — I worked on the artwork for my chalkboard. James returned from his trip and brought me 2 dozen roses. I made pumpkin pie. We chaperoned a youth activity and then watched BYU football against Nevada. When I die I want the BYU football team to put me in my grave so they can let me down one last time. —stolen joke. Thanks, Chelsea! Truthfully, who can blame them, they are basically running on all 2nd string players, thanks to Utah State induced injuries. It is sort of heartbreaking. We had a decent shot at going undefeated this season and instead we lost 4 games in a row.

October 21st — James went down to Tulsa Oklahoma for a last-minute business trip. I babysat for some friends who went to watch the Kansas City Royals play game 1 of the world series. 

Oct 23rd — I went to the Relief Society service auction and won the bid for family photos. I am pretty excited. 

Oct 24th — James and I took the day off and went to Ikea to pick up a few pieces of furniture, which we spent much of the rest of weekend building. We got 2 chairs, a bookcase, a cabinet, a bookcase, and a dresser. The other major project of the weekend was organizing now that we had storage. I organized a closet we have mostly neglected since we moved in because of lack of shelving. I also organized another closet and the pantry a bit. I was feeling very accomplished by the end of the weekend. I love projects. James puts up with them sometimes.

Oct 26th — I got a special assignment to be a girls' camp certification leader, which means I will be going to girls' camp next year. That will be pretty crazy.

October 29th — We babysat again so our friends could go to game 7 of the World Series. It was fun to watch her. It has also been fun to watch the Royals fight such a good fight this season. Go Royals!

October 31st — I took the day off so I could get ready for our Halloween party, bake and make caramel (some of which I made into caramel apples and wrapped up like witches' brooms. Next time I want to find real, food-safe twigs for the handles). James and I want to throw cool parties and stuff when we grow up, so we have started practicing. We were somewhat limited by our space (and seating), but we had a good time. I didn't get any pictures of the table fully set up with the food, but I am including a picture for you to get the gist. We had fun throwing the party and feel blessed to have such fantastic friends. Surprisingly, we did not get a single trick-or-treater this year.

I may or may not have taken a lot of pictures of my pumpkins. I really don't know what the deal is with my pumpkin obsession. 

November 1st — We had brunch at the Corner Restaurant with some friends that were in town. We went to a fireside featuring Jeremy Guthre of the Kansas City Royals. He was actually a very good speaker. One of the things he talked a lot about was putting God first in his life and how he has been blessed because of that. As an 18 year-old he sat in the office of the New York Mets and was asked to sign on with them. He told them he would sign if he could serve his 2-year mission and return to play with them. The man making the offer told him that would never work because those were the 2 most important developmental years for a pitcher. He essentially told him that he would never pitch in the major leagues if he served a mission and then posed this question: "What if I gave you a million dollars to sign and forgo the mission?" ...and to that Jeremy told him that not even for a million dollars would he give up serving a mission. The conversation was over and he went on his way. Guthre definitely has had his ups and downs in his career, but he attributes his success and his ability to press forward through the tough times to the things he learned on his mission in Spain where less than 5 times in 2 years did he ever get the chance to teach someone past the 2nd discussion. Anyway, I too know that God blesses us tremendously when we put him first in our lives. It is cool that he has gone on to not only pitch in the major leagues, but to pitch in the World Series games.