happy halloween

We had a festive Halloween!

We had a (windy) trip to a pumpkin patch (complete with a hay maze and hay ride)...

We had lots of candy sneaking...

We had TWO Church Halloween parties...

 

Here is my official spider... and my flower (pirating more loot)...

Happy Halloween!

ghoulish good time

I'm part of a couple moms groups, which are sort of intertwined -- there is a group of seven moms (and dads) that took our childbirthing classes together back in early 2008 (Birthing Buddies, we're now calling ourselves), and from that, a few of us attending the moms group at the local hospital and joined with about a dozen other moms and have become this incredible tight-knit group of friends. Taking those birthing classes and going to the moms group have been a few of the best decisions I've ever made, since my friends are just AWESOME and we're close, our kids are close, wow. It's great.

SO. This summer another mom hosted a BBQ, actually two BBQs, one for the Birthing Buddies and another for the bigger Moms Group. At one of those events, I can't remember which one, I said I'd host the Halloween party and another mom said she'd do the Christmas party and cookie & ornament exchange.

I first invited all the Birthing Buddies (six families) to my party, but immediately one RSVP'd no. In a moment of non-clarity, I freaked out and thought no one was coming and proceeded to invite all my Moms Group friends, too. And then EVERYONE. RSVP'D. YES. We had 12 families come. I believe the kid count was 21. It was awesome!!! I'm SO GLAD I have a real house and could host such a fun party!!!

For food, I hosted a baked potato bar, where I musta baked like 50 potatoes, and we had cheese, broccoli, chives, green onions, sour cream, and real bacon (yumm) as toppings. I invited everyone else to bring a "spooky" side dish, and some were awesome. We had little English muffin pizzas that looked like mummies (black olives for eyes and overlapping string cheese), a hummus/veggie tray with plastic black spiders all over it (hahaha), clementines with jack-o-lantern faces, etc. It was great! I made like 50 pumpkin chocolate-chip cupcakes for dessert. I wrapped the waters with a Halloween party wrap (thank you Pinterest) and had CapriSuns for the kids.



For decorations, I had a Halloween banner, which WESLEY helped me thread! That was awesome because we are working on his fine motor skills. I didn't do a lot of decorations. I just had the house clean basically :-)



For activities, I had a coloring station where I had made personalized Halloween coloring sheets for all the kids (I love love love this site), and there was also a foam-pumpkin decorating station. Plus the kids decorated cupcakes after dinner with candy corn and Halloween sprinkles. I found a set of "beakers" at Michaels that had sprinkles in it so the kids looked like mad scientists. It was cute!











For party favors, every child got a chocolate eyeball, candy corn, and pencil in a little baggie. I made 25 of them!! I had 6 left over (Wesley didn't get one actually), so I may make 8 more and take them to our preschool Halloween party next week. Lastly, we had a Halloween raffle (everyone in costume was entered, even the adults), and Shane drew three names that won Halloween decks of cards. I got them on Halloween clearance like four years ago and it was exciting to have a fun use for them. (Was it wrong that Shane actually drew Wesley's name as one of the winners? I couldn't believe it! He had like a 3/30 chance of winning and he did. So we have Frankenstein cards which are all over my house.)



More pictures of our party.... we had pirates, princesses, and Chewie....

 Buzz Lightyear and a Doctor...

Tinkerbell...


















Batgirl & Robin (an entire bat family, actually)...

A butterfly...















 



A really cute little monkey....


I was a gardener, with my cute little purple flower (who did great waaaaay after her bedtime)...



Some ensemble shots, first the Birthing Buddies...



And all the kiddos. Well, minus a few who were running around outside and oddly, my son, whom I have no pictures of.



The kids had a great time playing with our toys, eating cupcakes, laughing. I just loved it. Luckily for us it wasn't raining, so kiddos went outside and played on the swing set before it got dark. YAY! There were some tears (to be expected), some potty adventures (also to be expected), a surprise pregnancy announcement (not me -- but yay for my friend Samantha!), and overall lots of laughs and fun. I just love this group of friends.     

Maybe again next year? Yay!

(PS. I HATE THIS BLOGGER PHOTO ORGANIZER. HATE IT. Sorry the blog looks a little crazy with the spacing and stuff.)

missionary musings

Like many many people (I'm sure), my mouth completely dropped to the floor when, in General Conference last weekend, the First Presidency changed the age of availability for missionary service to 18 for men and 19 for women. WOW.

 

I have lots of thoughts on this. In no particular order...

I had heard that the Church "loses" a lot of young men between the year of high school graduation and age 19. If a young man plans to graduate then leave on a mission right away, there's less opportunity to get into trouble or lounge around and decide not to serve. This sounds pretty good in theory. This means young men will need to be saving saving saving all during high school for their missions, as opposed to having that extra year to "work and save," but I'm thinking that can happen. This means less boys will head off to college and get a year under their belts before they go. They won't really know what they're missing, right?

In the same vein, young men used to head off to college for a year, or work and save, then go on a mission at age 19. Now young women can live out the scenarios the young men used to live. For myself, I hesitated to go on a mission because of the timing of my 21st birthday. It was the fall of my senior year of school. I could leave and come back to one more year of school, but that didn't seem smart -- nor did it seem right to graduate with a degree then come back with no experience to look for a job after having been on a "sabbatical" for 18 months. The timing was all wrong. For women, I think this age change will be much better for the timing of their educations.

I had always heard one reason women went later was because of "safety," that an older woman was less likely to be bothered than a younger woman by no-good folks. I wonder if that issue has gone away? And for what reason?

I had also heard another reason women went later was because the Church (and others) wanted girls to get married instead of going. This is a silly reason, but a reason nonetheless. Maybe with the age change more women will have the opportunity to serve, yet will come back nice and young (still age 20!) and be ready to get married! Haha. Someone even argued that with more men and women serving, having the shared mission experiences of living with companions, service, etc., that marriages will be stronger and more likely to work out (and not end in divorce). Missions tend to "mature" men, and I guess women too. With more mature people getting married, it can only mean better results in the marriages, right?

However, that being said, getting married young isn't the solution to any problems. I got married at 22 and all. the. time. I think I got married too young. So young. With RMs (men and women!!) both age 20, they'll all be ripe for the picking. I know the Church supports it and loves it, but I hope it works out for the best.

Part of me wonders about this: The Church knows the statistics that the average ages of people getting married is increasing, year after year. By changing the missionary ages, it would appear they are hoping to foster marriages of LDS young people at even younger ages. Interesting?

I had also read that somehow this helps with college athletics and the missionaries' availabilities and eligibilities for sports, especially young men. I guess if a fancy footballer goes off on a mission at age 18 and comes home at 20, he can go to college and have four uninterrupted years of play. Maybe this is more desirable to institutions outside of BYU recruiting Mormon athletes.

Regardless of all the thoughts and theories, I have to think about myself. If this had happened 10 years ago, would I have gone on a mission?

I look back to my life when I was 19. I consider that the time of my life when I was a spiritual "10." I took my scripture study seriously. I prayed fervently. I did all I could to grow in the gospel. I even had a boy who wanted to marry me, and I prayed about it lots -- and I didn't want to! I wanted to serve a mission! Maybe that was an excuse for not wanting to marry him. Beside the point. I had spiritual experiences telling me not to marry him, which 1) grew my testimony and faith, and 2) caused me not to get married. If I could have gone at age 19, I would have totally gone. I was prepared.

When I turned 21, the fire that I had had at age 19 had fizzled a bit. I wanted to go, but stuff was in the way. I turned 21 in November 2001, and in February 2002 was the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. I wanted to stay and volunteer. I was really close to finishing my degree (I graduated in August 2002), and it just didn't make sense to go. Instead of listening to the testimony in my heart, I listened to the reasoning in my brain, and talked myself out of it. I also had this "come to Jesus" moment where I had to say to myself that if I was called to Japan (scary language) or Guatemala (scary poverty) or somewhere else scary, that I would go. I couldn't say it. I didn't have the faith. Since I couldn't say, "I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord," I decided not to go.

Do I regret it? I do. I think my parents really wanted me to go (did you, guys?). My life would be so different if I had gone -- in good ways and bad. I'd be a different person, maybe, with different experiences. I wouldn't be married to Shane, and then our two amazing incredible children wouldn't exist. That saddens me. Would I give up my kids for the experiences a mission would have brought me? It's a question I can't even ask, let alone answer.

A year or so ago I went with the Elders in my ward to visit and sister who was investigating. I was able to share some testimony with her and help the Elders out (oh they're so young), and afterwards one of the Elders was just like wide-eyed, asking me if I had served. When I said I hadn't, he was incredulous and said to me, "you would be a great missionary." I guess I wasn't ever really sure of myself, although it makes sense now. Sure, I woulda been great and had fun and done my best. But alas, it's the past.

I guess, after all the introspection is done, I'm excited for the change and am excited for my own son and daughter. I really hope Wesley will answer the call to serve a mission, and do so earlier if he is ready. I'd love to Laurel to go, to have the opportunity to share the gospel that I didn't take.

As for me? Maybe one day I'll get to serve a mission. There was the woman in my home ward who had a great testimony (first up every testimony meeting), and when her husband (who needed her care) passed away, she was out the door faster than lightning! But of course, I can serve "a mission" here at home, too, teaching my kids and teaching my friends, bringing the Spirit with me wherever I am. I'm working on it.

What an exciting time for the Church. It's cool I got to be part of it.

general conference, the funnies

It's General Conference this weekend. First, here are the funnies.

1. We are goofing under the computer desk....

2. We are doing activities! In addition to play Bingo (which we did last time) and eating an entire bag of M&Ms in 2 days, we are cutting the apostles out from the Friend magazine and pasting them to their chairs. Pretty fun. I think ideally you move them to/from a little podium, but instead we are pasting them to their chairs (and Wesley gets to find which chair is theirs by checking their last names.)

I think I need an official General Conference bag next time. It's a goal. Any ideas are welcome.

3. We are brushing up on all our apostles.... here's a funny I particularly enjoy. I can totally hear them speaking these words.

Top 10 Ways General Authorities eat Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
 
10. Paul H. Dunn: “I remember back in WWII that I ate a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Back then, they were big enough to live on for a week. Being the only soldier to have survived the battle in my brigade, I really didn’t know if I could eat it or not, but I remember my fallen buddy’s words as he died in my arms: “Paul, if you just take one bite at a time you can tackle anything.” So I took that giant cup and, breaking it with the bat Babe Ruth gave me after I struck him out with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game of the World Series, proceeded to wolf down the tiny morsels.”

9. David B. Haight: “Imagine 70 years ago on a rough road between Idaho and Logan. There were no Circle K’s, no 7-11′s. You had to bring your Peanut Butter Cups with you. Ruby and I split one for the first time in 1937.

8. Dallin H. Oaks: “The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup challenges us to consume. From the beginning there have been three steps in eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. First, remove the wrapper. This is best done quickly, by turning the cup over, grasping the outer fold and pulling away from the bottom, Second . . .

7. Joseph B. Wirthlin: “When I was young I would sprint to the corner store, buy a Reese’s and run my hand through my hair before taking it down in one bite. These days I don’t sprint (pause), and I have no hair (pause), but the Peanut Butter Cup remains.”

6. Richard G. Scott: “If you have not eaten a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, I plead with you. Eat one now. Enjoy the chocolate, the peanut butter. Do not delay. If you have thought, “That’s not for me”, I plead with you to reconsider. Of all foods I treasure, this one was the first.”

5. M. Russell Ballard: “The time has come when members of the church need to reach out to our friends and share a cup, a Peanut Butter Cup. It is not enough to raise a chocolate bar, it must now have peanut butter.”

4. Thomas S. Monson: “I remember I ate my first Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I was a tender lad of eight. My mother came up to me, and with a loving twinkle in her eye, asked, ‘Tommy, are you eating a Reese’s?’ And I would invariably smile up to her, ‘Yes, Yes, I am.’  ‘But Tommy, did you know that Sister Jensen next door hasn’t eaten a Reese’s Cup in years?’ My young mind thought upon the plight of my neighbor. Tears were shed. Hearts were gladdened. A cup was shared.”

3. Boyd K. Packer: “In all my years, I have always eaten my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups the same way – the established way we have been instructed to eat them. There is a far greater evil in this world, though – those who believe they can eat their cups in a way unconventional to the time-honored manner. We must be true and faithful and eat our Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the customary and recognized approach as it has been established.”

2. Neal A. Maxwell: “I intentionally initiate the delicious design of deglutition of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup by nibbling a negligible nit of the culinary creamy cavalcade. It is exclusively through small entities that the great things are fabricated.”

1. J. Golden Kimball: “H#%ll, Heber, I’ll eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup any d%$*&d way I want!”

Next up, General Conference, the seriousness.