Odds and Ends....

The month ended in a whirlwind. John and I realized on the Sunday before Halloween that we still hadn't set aside time to carve pumpkins.  We then realized that he wouldn't be home any evening before Halloween to help carve pumpkins.  Since I was in no mood to carve 3 pumpkins by myself I finally convinced the kids that this year we could paint our pumpkins instead.  Some how that seemed much easier.  And it was.  They eventually conceded (Ainsley waaaay before Owen, in case you were wondering) we pulled our all of our paint an craft stuff, and this is what we came up with.

I swear that we did indeed dress up on Halloween, attend school classroom parties, trick-or-treat at John's work, trick-or-treat relentlessly in the neighborhood, and came home with more candy than we know what to do with.  But I didn't take a single picture. It was fun :)

 

 We also began the festivities of Emmie's birthday. My parents will be in Hawaii for her birthday (poor them) and so they brought her gifts over before they left.  The appropriately named "Pony" and "Barbie" have yet to be out of her sight.

We are also approaching the re-opening of the Boise Temple.  We've been without a temple nearby for over a year now.  I've missed it. But the rededication stuff has been kind of fun. John and I were called and asked if we could clean the temple last Friday.  John ended up being sick so I called a friend and she went with me.  It was a great night for me because they actually had too many people from our stake volunteer so my job ended up being dusting all the gold and crystal in the temple with a feather duster.  I felt very "Downton Abby-esque" all night.  I wandered and explored every nook and cranny of the temple.  Kind of cool, since I'm sure I'll never have that opportunity again. 

We wanted to take the kids through the temple when it wasn't so busy.  Saturday's they have literally of thousands of people they are shuffling through tours.  I've been told over 1000 people an hour.  I wanted the time in the temple with the kids to be calm and special.  So we took the kids out of school a little early and headed over on a weekday when things were a little calmer.  We got to go on a talking tour.  I think the kids enjoyed it.  Well, actually, maybe not Emmie so much.  Ainsley was impressed with the bride's room in particular.  Strange to think that the next time I'm even near that room with her could be when she's getting married.  We also had a moment to look into the eternity mirrors in the sealing room as a family.  It was touching.  The sweetness of the moment only lasted for about 2 seconds. There I was contemplating my eternal family when Emmie hopped up on a chair and nearly sent it smashing into the wall.  And then the moment instantaneously ended.  All in all it was a nice afternoon with the kids and we're excited for the rededication in a couple weeks.  Our excitement may or may not be due to the fact that there is no church that day.  Just a dedication and then home.  Nice :)