Halloween Carnival and Trunk or Treat

We had an amazing Temple Table experience last Sunday. We've noticed that when the spirit is really teaching our voices change, from our normal voice to one of surety, confidence, and power. We studied about Ezekiel this week in Come Follow Me. All day President Nelson's talk "Overcome the World and Find Rest" came back to me over and over. It all finally clicked during our devotional. Ezekiel lived in time similar to our, wickedness taking over the Saint's most sacred places. Ezekiel saw the spirit of God leaving his temple and following those who were still righteous. The lesson? God is with us when we are righteous. President Nelson taught us how to overcome the world by asking 3 questions (and get to doing). What does it mean to overcome the world? How can we overcome the world? What is the blessing from overcoming the world? We had a great discussion while reviewing the talk and reading the first chapter of Ezekiel. 

This week the kids had themes everyday for the end of the quarter fun. Both girls wanted to be photographers for Career Day! The rest of the days were not very exciting but did provide a distraction from our normal morning routine. Wednesday Evelyn was a gymnastics coach for sports day. Josie just wanted to wear normal comfy clothes. It is finally cold outside, coat level cold in the mornings. I got all my potatoes and tomatoes in the garage before the frost killed my plants. The carrots are almost ready to harvest! Everett made carrot sandwiches (think cucumber sandwiches but no cucumbers) and whipped up a batch of brown sugar muffins for his cross country party. He made a huge mess that he struggled to clean up, BUT made the finger foods all by himself. 

My van quit working. Took me a couple days to corner Justin before bedtime to get the error codes off the interface reader. I tried to get the device to connect to my phone for several days without success, even Dusty was stumped. Looks like cylinders 2 & 6 are misfiring, there is oil in the spark plug wells, and for replacing the spark plugs 6 months ago they are super dirty. I have no idea where to take the van, so I'm driving the default truck for now. So frustrating. 

We enjoyed an evening at Shindigs Pumpkin Patch and Hay Maze with the Ostlers and some Finch girls. The YW had to cancel their pumpkin patch trip for the third time this week. Shindigs is right down the road, $8 cheaper than Farmstead per person, and we had the place almost to ourselves. The kids loved the zip lines, that was the most popular! The hay maze was really challenging. Josie and Oliver led our pack in circles for quite a while. With a little help from the maze runners we finally headed in toward the exit. It was nice and warm in the maze, our allergies were extremely cozy as well. We caught a ride out to the pumpkin field where we managed to find some decent pumpkins in the pitch dark. I had a terrible idea that Sara went along with: get in my wheelbarrow then try to steer her wheelbarrow in front. It all went sideways real quick. The laughter was stellar. Hooray for cold fall nights and good company. 

Thursday we resumed MCO, I was behind all day long. I taught two of my students in their home, which was interesting. The kids were very excited to show me all the toys. I went grocery shopping on my way back because it was along the way. By the time I finished shopping, unloading from the truck, and putting it all away the kids were almost finished with school. Even in speed mode I barely had pigs in a blanket and fries made before we had to leave. Sara let us take her van in order to safely fit everyone. At MCO the Young Singers were wiggly squiggly. Basically, it was a strange day. I came home feeling like a failure,  next time will be better! The little girls and I stopped by Justin's work for a moment after MCO to cheer him up and see him during daylight hours. 

Gratefully, the kids had Friday off school for a teacher workday. Our plan was to clean up bedrooms then relax until dinnertime when we would carve pumpkins. I really needed an editing day to finish the twins photos, plus a new session that same day at 5:30 pm. I buckled down to work only to find my computer was in the middle of updating and needed more memory. I took a chunk of time moving files over to my hard drive so the updates could finish. Just as that process was finished the doorbell rang. One of our neighbor kids needed a ride to South Meridian so he could pick up a truck, first the bank then a 30 minute drive. Since we were out I took Amelia with me (strength in numbers) so we could find her some comfy choir shoes and return some items I got for the twins photo session that did not fit. In short I only edited 6 photos the entire day. Huge bummer. Justin worked very late, was not in the mood to carve pumpkins but the kids were all quite keen so we went ahead. I tried hard to carve Bluey and Bingo for the girls, the struggle is real. I was able to talk them both into easier designs like a kitten eating food and an elephant. Phillip picked a gourd for his "pumpkin" only to realize it was very hard to carve. He carved my pumpkin into some strange alien design only he can comprehend. Everett designed a pumpkin with musical notes and other favorite things. Amelia spent a chunk of time carefully carving a cute witchy cat. Justin arrived home just to time to break out the dremel tool and help her shave away layers instead of cutting through the pumpkin flesh. Phillip and Evelyn insisted on roasted pumpkin seeds, delicious. Sorting through the pumpkin guts is not my favorite job. 

Saturday was another busy day. The three wards in our church building hosted a Halloween Carnival and Trunk or Treat event from 2-4 pm. I got a green screen just for kicks and giggles to try out for Halloween costume photos. The kids loved dressing up and playing with me for a bit. I was in charge of setting up a photo booth for the event. Amelia and I volunteered at the face painting booth. Phillip and his deacon buddies manned another carnival game. Justin joined us around 2 to take the little girls around. Everett developed shin splints from running around so much with his friends. Amelia decorated the back of the truck with a blanket and pumpkins. Evelyn helped me pass out candy to all the little cuties. Josie somehow deeply stained her Bingo dress within minutes of arriving. I've washed her dress 3 times with different stain treatments each time, no dice yet. I splurged on their dresses...karma hits again. 

I am on a mission to finish the table and chairs before it freezes and snows next week. The table top is finished. I worked on washing all the chairs and the table legs then painting them. I love that all the chairs are different colors. I am almost finished painting the chairs, last of all is sealing the paint. Hoping to carve out some time to get that done tomorrow. 

Justin is having quite a time at work. The poop hit the proverbial fan by mid-week, he had to fire one of his teammates on Friday. This quarterly report is brutal. We've only caught glimpses of him via video chat for scriptures in the evening or a quick visit right before bed.