Winter is here!!

That's all I wanted to say. :) It keeps coming!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

I don't know how you feel, but this is my favorite time of the year!! I love the holiday season! I wish I could have it all year round, but then I guess it would get old. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I started to put up mom's Christmas stuff and we got it done last weekend. It has been so nice to just sit by the tree and enjoy the lights. We didn't put up much this year, but what we have put up has been so nice to see. I just wanted to send you a few pictures just to show that I'm not crazy...or maybe I am. :) This year we did things differently. I hung the stockings on the stairs because with the nativity on the fireplace they just didn't look right. It's a fun change. Santa will just have to find them there.

A Halloween Gift

I went out yesterday to get a Halloween gift for my friend Angelina. I wanted to get her something that would help her to smile. I found this cute balloon and this awesome flower arrangement. Is it not the coolest!??!!

Anyway, it did put a smile on her face. Then last night, mom and I stayed home to answer the door to the trick-or-treaters....who by the way, don't say trick-or-treat anymore. They just stand there and stare at you like..."you know what I want" with their bags open. But, our activity, while I was making study sheets, was watching Christmas movies. :) I couldn't put up the tree this year while answering the door because of my tests coming up, so the movies had to do. I do hope that everyone had a safe Halloween this year, but had fun too.

Apples, Apples, Apples!!

So, here is the outcome of the apples. Mom and I spent all last weekend, during General Conference, canning apple pie filling and drying apples as well as making applesauce and canning it. Yeah, it took us all day and yet, we still have tons of apples left, but we just filled up the two crisper drawers in the fridge and then have about 30 apples in a paper bag in the kitchen. Oh, apples, apples, apples.

Apple Picking

On Friday, the 26th, mom, Karen and I went apple picking...we picked Empire Apples. They are the best tasting apples ever. Little trivia for you....the Empire Apple comes for the parents of Red Delicious and McIntosh, which makes it a sweet yet tart apple...SO GOOD! Yeah, it was raining, once again. Everytime we go pick fruit, it seems to rain on us. Last time in August we went to pick blueberries and it down poured. So this time we brought jackets and got soaked. We had to go on Friday because Saturday we had a Stake Enrichment that mom needed the apples for.
So, here's the best part. Mom needed 50 apples for the church thing, so she paid for 3 bags. When we got them all home, I weighed the three bags and it came to a total of 75.2 pounds. Mom started washing and counting out 50 apples. Turns out, my bag alone had 80 apples in it. This picture is of all the apples minus what went to church last night. So, if anyone has any great apple recipes or things to do with apples, we could use some help. :)

Time Out for Women 2008

This weekend, I has an amazing experience. I was able to go to Time out for Women in Springfield, Massachusetts. What an incredibly awesome experience. I loved the feeling of just being there and listening to the speakers who were so motivational and each had something to say that, of course, I needed to hear.

The theme was Joyful Life. It was told to us over and over again that Heavenly Father loves each of us and He wants us to be happy. You can't hear that enough times. So, I'm just going to share some of the highlights.

On Friday night, it was a concert. Kenneth Cope, Kim Nelson, and Michael McLean. Kenneth Cope sang some songs (he said to warm up the crowd) and Kim Nelson spoke and sang and then Michael McLean sang. It was a great evening. I wanted to share some thoughts from Kim Nelson. He is a therapist. He shared some thoughts about how we look at ourselves, as women. One thing he told us to ask ourselves everyday is "If you saw a mother treating her daughter the way you treat yourself, what kind of mother would you think she was?" Isn't that an awesome thought?!

Saturday we heard from Mary Ellen Edmunds. She is so hillarious. She shared with us that she likes to call Satan What's-his-no-face, because she knows it ticks him off. Then, we heard from Kenneth Cope again. I must admit, I love his music. I was touched by the spirit he brought in with his music. He shared that we are daughters of a Heavenly Father that loves us and all that it involves. He stands at the doorstep knocking and never leaves us. Then, we heard from Camille Frank Olsen. She was an inspriation to me. She didn't marry until she was 48. She told us that she found that she needed to get on with her life and worry about how to take care of herself and then he came. Then, we heard from Merilee Boyak. She stressed the importance of giving a compliment. It only takes a second and it will change someone's life. Jason Wright taught us about how important some hand written letters are to the people receiving it. Then, finally Sharon Larson spoke. She told us that Joy is our responsibility, and the only way to get there is to turn to Christ. Like I said it was an amazing conference. I would love to go again. Thank you to mom for getting the tickets for us to go.
I just had to put this picture in to show that I got my picture taken with Kenneth Cope. :)

P.S. to Previous Post

Need I say more? :)
Love you Karen!!!