Monday's letter...and a fall festival

As usual, I can get basically nothing done on Mondays until my email from Elder McKinney arrives!  I just have to keep going into the office and checking my email (which I keep open all day!)  It did come and he sounds good!  They played dodgeball with some other elders and he was really sore!  He ate Panda Express and LIKED it!  That is a huge deal for Joel...we could NEVER get him to try it whenever we ate there.  He said he loves it.  Missions really do change people!  :)  He is busy working with all their investigators and less actives...and they have several baptism dates set.  On Halloween they will be going to the Jordan River Temple so they are safe and don't run into any trouble.  The senior couple that works with them in the Kearns stake sent us an email as well.  THAT was a wonderful surprise!  It was great to hear what a wonderful missionary Joel is and how they can feel his spirit and testimony when he teaches.  That letter made my day almost more than getting one from Joel!  

After those emails came, I was finally able to get something done and had a productive day.  Then we went to the Fall Festival at David's school.  It was a nice event and a chilly evening!  We went on a hayride, David and Jacob did the hay maze, we looked at all the pumpkins all the school kids decorated, and bought some donuts, suckers and hot chocolate while listening to the Monster Mash in the cafeteria.  All the classes made gift baskets to bid on, and at the close of bidding, Amanda won TWO!  She thought she was only going to get one, but she slid in under the wire and got a second one as well.  It was a fun way to end our happy day!

On another note...today is my mother-in-law's birthday and we wish her the happiest 82nd birthday!!  We sure love her and she has been so wonderful to our family through the years!  It is also the 8th anniversary of my dad's passing.  Time is really flying...we think of him every day and he is not far from us...we look forward to the day when we will see him again!  Love you Barbara and love you Dad!!!

Friday night at Trafalga...

We bought each of us a "Pass of all Passes" to use at different places and events (you get in free or discounted at many attractions across the valley).  We had to go and activate them and get our "official" picture cards.  So we made it an evening and went to Trafalga!  We did a little mini golfing.  The boys had never done this before...we had the hardest time getting them to hold the club right, so more often than not they just hit at the ball in whatever way worked for them!  It was funny to watch.  Little David did get a couple of holes in one!  He was pretty excited!  They also rode the little airplane ride...but David did not like it!  He got up there and couldn't get the plane to come back down!  He was crying and not happy!  He would reach behind to Jacob's stick and try to get his to bring it down...nothing was working!  He was not a happy pilot!  We decided if they ride it again to talk to the attendant and make sure they know how to raise it up and down.  I was so surprised that he didn't like it because he swings really high and seems to love that...so we moved on to the race cars.  They were very excited to do that!  Jacob was just tall enough to be able to go in one!  They had to wait in line for about 20 minutes and they thought they would never get their turn!  But they finally did and they had a blast!  Even though it was so cold that evening, waiting in the cold and then riding in the cold, they didn't even mind!  That was their favorite part of the evening.  We will go back another time when we can do more of the activities.  Since we get in for FREE.  YAY!  We have seen Trafalga many times driving down the freeway, the Mt. Rushmore stands out and draws your attention to it.  It was a fun Friday night!  We did have hot chocolate when we got home.

That was fun!  Let's do it again!  Next time, too cold to wait in line again!

Elder McKinney Email day...

Have I mentioned how I LOVE Mondays now!? I keep my email open all morning just waiting for that little pop up telling me Joel's email has arrived!  I can hardly get anything done because I keep going into the office to check!  It came!  He sounds good and is keeping very busy!  They have several people they are teaching and baptisms lined up!  He hit is one month mark and says "only 23 left, it's almost over!" They got to go to the Oquirrh Temple and he loved that.  Yes, I do love Mondays now!

Alpine Loop...

Today we took a drive up the Alpine Loop.  The colors are changing fast and we knew we needed to get up there!  It was a little stormy looking, and yes, we even got a little bit snowed on!  The colors were beautiful, but due to the rainy weather, we didn't get out of the car much!  Just drove and enjoyed the scenery!  It goes up in the canyon and around the back of Mt. Timpanogos.  Just a few days before this drive, the mountain looked so pretty in the sunset...and then bam!  Stormy and some snow on the top!  That's why we knew we needed to do this drive NOW.  I'm so glad we did!!

 Beautiful sunset on the mountain...and then the snow!

 Stormy looking day, starting our drive up into the canyon...

 Bridal Veil Falls...not much water left, but that will soon change!

 We jumped out a couple of times in the rain and mud to gather a few rocks for David who needed them for a rock collection for school!  And then we drove out of the canyon and back home...beautiful day!