Girls Night Halloween Party

Good thing Grandma was here...these spiders were all over the place "EEEEK!"

In Dave's family it's been decided that when the Guys (Meaning anyone old enough to work hard and who doesn't have kids to watch) go to Kanab to help out his folks with projects, the rest of us all get together and have a 'Girls Night'. This time it just happened to fall on the 24th, and I figured it was close enough to make our 'Girls Night' and Halloween Party too. So Carter and I, while the girls were at school, decorated the house with Balloons, streamers, and spiders; and the girls added a touch of spook by hanging up some scary drawings they'd painted and picking out some halloween movies. While the kids played and watched movies, the women munched on goodies and visited. Later that evening we play the "Dangling Doughnut" game (so named by Tami - but I call it the "Doughnut on a string" game). Whatever you call it - we had lots of fun getting our faces covered in powdered sugar. The next morning the kids participated in a treasure hunt and then bobbed for apples.

Family Day at Lagoon

For the past 2 months Dave has had to work 14+ hour days at work. So when his 2 school projects finally went out (meaning the design phase was completed). He took a long weekend and we spent some much needed time together as a family. The girls had school out for UEA, so that friday, Oct 17th we took the three oldest kids to Lagoon for the whole day!! ( Kira, Sunny and Aunt Kari doted over Cooper and gave him lots of one on one attention that he LOVED! - thanks!)

Thoughts on Conference

This fall conference has come and gone. And I wanted to share with you my impressions on a few of the messages that were given.  It's interesting to note that more often than not, what I hear in conference is not necessarily what was said.  Depending on the frame of mind I'm in and the thoughts I've been pondering, the Holy Ghost will impress on me ideas and feelings while certain messages are being given.  For example, Elder Bednar spoke on making prayer meaningful.  While he spoke he said " In the book of Moses we learn that all things were created spiritually before they were created physically upon the earth.... In a similar way, meaningful prayer is the spiritual creation of a meaningful day."  That idea really struck a cord with me. I seem, like most people I suppose, to struggle with managing my daily responsibilities.  I have long known the benefits of visualizing and meditating have always believed they really worked, and I believe that prayer is a form of that. So combining the two ideas of praying (communication with God and calling for the divine) and visualization (being a spiritual creation) seemed to be such a perfect match!  So I going to "experiment" with his words and try it out this week. I'm going to have my morning prayers be more focused on, not only what I'm grateful for, but how I envision my day.  Then recognize throughout the day when I'm being prompted on how to accomplish the things I've prayed for, and following up in the evening with a "PPI" type of prayer.  I'm excited to see what happens.

How about you? What message did you get from conference and what are you going to do with that message?