Halloween Snow?

Isn't this fun?  Snow before Halloween.  This is what

it looked like on the day of Halloween and it was cold,

oh so cold.

Poor little trick or treaters, in fact we didn't have any "little"

trick or treaters, just large groups of 8 year olds and older.

Quite a few teenagers, there isn't much that will hold them back from

getting free candy.

But the snow and cold made for a very interesting evening.

We had between 40 and 50 hobgoblins, not too bad.

But snow, already?  Really?

Happy Halloween

I had fun making some yummy Halloween treats.

 I made Oreo's, filled them with some awesome frosting,

 then rolled them in these sprinkles and orange coconut.  They

turned out so good.  I took a plate to Meldrum's and one to Bodie's.

It was so nice to make and take treats to friends again, it's been too long.

Mom's Donuts

Heather called and reminded me that it's donut Saturday,

I'd forgotten, it's usually the Saturday before Halloween.

She was heading down to Grandma's to help.

I love Halloween donuts, so I decided to make a batch of my own.

They were definitely not as good as mom's.  I don't know what I

did wrong but they were very heavy, in fact they sank to the bottom

of the hot oil and I almost had to force them to float.  So, they were 

good for about 20 minutes after they were cooled, iced and decorated,

so we just had to eat them fast.  I cooked a fresh batch for us and the

assistants, then I cooked a second batch on Halloween and gave a plate

to two of our neighbors, and kept a few more for us.  I'll do better next year!

250 days

As of today. . . . .

days left of our mission!

Let's see what we can do with the time remaining!

Two hundred and fifty days to complete a to do list

of two hundred and fifty items, wish me luck.

Spooky Departing Lunch

I did the same menu for departing as I did for ZLC,

couldn't resist, it's Halloween.

We had sloppy joe's with orange buns,

orange chips and chex mix,

orange punch,

carrots and olives, always very festive,

orange jello with spiders.

And of course, spider web brownies.  Yummy!

Mayhem at Transfer

Another transfer meeting, another hour of craziness.

the departing missionaries luggage, so sad

There is no way, they will never fit all that stuff in

The piles just keep getting bigger and bigger

Big hugs, for dear friends

Now THIS is the way to hold everybody's stuff, a truck

This truck is filthy, naughty elders.

Football? Hockey Stick? Is this a mission or a sports camp?

Basketball, really?  Must be the latter.

Welcome to Edmonton

When we arrived back in Edmonton, we were greeted by 

these strange creatures.  They weren't here last spring,

 they must be new.

We have the Edmonton Oilers,

playing soccer on top of the luggage carousel.

Welcome to oil country!

The silver faces were kind of creepy.

But they appear to be very excited, sticks in the air and all.

On the other carousel we have the Edmonton Eskimos

I was pretty intrigued by all the work and detail, the huge helmet,

another "world's largest" I'm sure.

I can't quite figure out the machine on the left, any ideas?

I get this part, this is great.  The players are hitting the cement pillars 

and breaking them apart.  Stellar, dazzling, outstanding!

Gifts!

I have to admit, I love going to the seminars, because

 they treat us so well and we receive some wonderful gifts.

When we arrived, we were welcomed with this

bottle of concord juice from Baxter's Vineyards,

a fruit basket

and this assorted tray of peanuts.

We were given this gift on the last evening, at dinner.

It is a bronze statue of Joseph Smith.

Loved it!

We also came home with a Nauvoo brick, a prairie diamond

ring, a horseshoe and fudge from the fudge shoppe.

Awesome!

Other Scenes In Nauvoo

We took one last drive down the "trail of tears"

on the banks of the Mississippi they have a covered wagon

and an old wooden barge that they used to ferry across the river.

"Eyes Westward"

The statue of Brigham and Joseph sits right on the banks of the Mississippi River

This is the Mississippi River, and the plants that grow on the banks.

The river at sunset.

We went souvenir shopping down on main street and while we

were there we saw these beautiful flowering planters, everywhere.

And then, we were done!

We are on our way home, back to Canada.

Community of Christ

They had scheduled us for a tour of the sights 

around the area owned by the community of Christ.

This was our tour guide, he's a member of the community

of Christ and one of the most knowledgeable people I'd

ever met.  He knew all there was to know about Joseph and

Emma and the history that is so vital to this area.

This is Nauvoo House.  This was supposed to be a 

major hotel, but this is as far as it got, it was never finished.

I remember this location too, when we came with Mom and

Dad.  Such a reverent place, the burial place of Joseph,

Hyrum and Emma.  Such a sad sobering site.

There is a gorgeous view over the headstones, 

so pleasant and peaceful.

You can see the old homestead with the newer addition.

They are really not sure where their final resting place is.

They just put the markers here but there have been several

places known to hold their bodies.  

This shed was a possible place where the bodies might

have been, overlooking the Mississippi River.

An original well.

Our guide talked a great deal about Emma and the 

entertainer she was, not by choice really, and what 

a huge job that must have been for her, given the 

circumstances, tiny kitchen, wood stove, no Costco.

Chris in front of Joseph and Emma's home,

called the "mansion house"

barrels of candy at the little red brick store

This was the final leg of our tour, the red brick store,

this holds very deep roots in our church, this is where the

Relief Society was founded, upstairs, right through those

very windows.  What a special place to be.