Halloween 2012

Because we live in a locked four-plex apartment building, we never get any trick-or-treaters. We don't even see any of them, so we had to be content to have pictures of our grand-children to look at this year.  Here is the Sanders family. The ones of Colby and Cambria are at the pumpkin farm. The other is when the family dressed up as "rockers" to go to another family's home for a party:

She also made these cute treats to take to the party:

The Mahaffeys had an "OWL" theme going on....

Layne and Paula dressed up for Pre-school, then her kids dressed like this:

Zach was the Joker, Mason was the Penguin, and Arie was Rapunzel.

The Monroes dressed up like this   (all except for Tanner, who is MUCH too MATURE for it all) :

Ashlyn had the owl theme going on too!

She is really doing well... just to show how she has grown, here is a picture on the left with her and the build-a-bear her brothers made for her when she was born, on the right is today.

Misty, not to be outdone... dressed up too...

What a great family we have, eh?  Happy Halloween to everyone!

Our new District

Now, after transfers, we have a new district:

Left to right around the table:  E.Mahaffey, E. Ballard (Arizona), E.Freeze (Alberta, Canada), E.Hansen, E. Randy Wright (there are 2 E.Wrights in the mission - Wyoming), E.McLean-our new district leader from Australia, E. Boone Smith (there are 3 E.Smiths in the mission!). This was an unusual lunch because of transfers the day before...We usually all make the lunch since our Mission President's wife wants the elders to cook for themselves and save money and eat healthier.

But since we have a new district leader and transfers were the day before... we chose to make it easy and just eat at Subway.

October Departing Missionaries

This is our STELLAR group of missionaries that are departing this month. All senior couples go to the temple with them the day before they depart.

Front: E.Blank, S.Chadburn, E. Tam, E.Rivera, E.Glenn.
Back: E.Anderson, E.Hayden, E.Bernier, E.Odle, E. Pistorius, E. Holbrook, E.Brandt, and E. Mollinet.
This was also the last month that our wonderful Temple President & Matron - President and Sister Galbraith, would be with us. They have finished their 3 year mission here and now they are back to Provo, Utah.

Nancy Sheedy's baptism

Tonight was the baptism of a lady we've been teaching. Her name is Nancy Sheedy. The young missionaries tracted her out, and then we have been teaching her. She is so wonderful ! She has overcome smoking and has read the Book of Mormon completely and comes to church with a member- Gillian Bluff.

She is approximately 60 and lives with her daughter and 2 grandchildren. The grandchildren are twins and are autistic. She takes care of them at night and during the summer while her daughter, Erin is working.

She was originally tracted out by Elders Neitz and Kastendieck, but Elder Neitz went home. So here are the elders she finished up with: Elder Smith (American Fork), Elder Kastendieck (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), Nancy, and Sister & Elder Mahaffey.

Elder Mahaffey baptised her and Elder Kastendieck confirmed.  (Elders Smith & Kastendieck were also witnesses).  Quite alot from the ward came.  The week before her baptism she was talking to Suzanne Rogers in Relief Society and Suzanne lives in Winchester Springs. Nancy said that her sister lived there and it turns out she & Suzanne are neighbors.  So, unbeknownst to Nancy, Suzanne (being a good member missionary) went to ask her non-member sister if she would like to come to Nancy's baptism. Nancy hadn't really talked to her sister Lorna in two years, so she was incredibly excited to see her there.  Lorna also brought her daughter.

It was a wonderful evening.  The ward members filled the Relief Society room and brought all kinds of treats for refreshments afterward.

Wood cutting service project

Recently our mission president asked if we could help with an elder who was in our district. Elder Brandt was having a hard adjustment. He has such a good heart, but was having some trouble adjusting to mission life. He asked if we had any service projects we could involve him in.  Elder Mahaffey knew that a man in our Monday night Institute class (Walter Svenson) lived on a large acreage and had cut down a lot of trees, but needed it cut and split. He, like many of us, is getting older and it gets harder and harder to do such physical work. So, we got Elder Brandt and his very tall companion, Elder Prawitt, our district leader, to come and help cut and split the wood.

Since we knew that physical exercise is good for what ails you... Bro. Svenson had them cut the wood with the chain saw, but split it by hand. It was a LARGE amount of work.

However, they worked so hard, that they broke several wedges and ax heads! Whoa !

Then, just as they were through for the day, guess what started to happen...???

Still, the Elders had a good time playing on all of Brother Svenson's tractors:

Even with four men working for 4-5 hours, they didn't nearly finish the huge stack of wood. So, the next week, when the Svensons were gone working at the Family History Center, Elder Mahaffey and I called Earl Bridson (Elder's Quorum Pres.) and Gerry Mazerrolle (2nd Counselor in the Bishopric) and we rented a Log-Splitter, and finished the work as a surprise to the Svensons.

The men split while I stacked. Here is our finished work. It was fun to do something in secret for a family who usually does things for everyone else!

The Gatineau Hills

Today we went with the Merpaws. They wanted us to see the beautiful fall color up in the Gatineau Hills. Gatineau is just north of Ottawa. First we drove to see the country retreat of Mackenzie King- the 10th Prime Minister of Canada for most of the the 2 decades between 1920 and 1940. 

The grounds were absolutely beautiful.  He had many statues and art work brought in to beautify the grounds.

The home - Kingsmere - is sort of like our Camp David... just with no security.  It was what King used as his getaway place.  He was a little eccentric: never married, thought he could communicate with the dead, etc.. Still he was very smart - got his PHD from Harvard.  The home has been refurbished to the time period, but they won't let you take pictures inside.

It was wonderful to go inside and see what life was like in the 20's and 30's. Then we strolled the extensive grounds and took in all the gorgeous color...which doesn't look nearly as wonderful when you look at the camera's pictures!

We love having Connie and Sheila Merpaw as our tour guides. They have lived here all their lives and know so much about the history of every place we visit.  Plus, they feel it is their DUTY to make sure we see and do as much as we can!  They have become great friends.

Next we got back in the car and drove up to the top of the hills where there is a gorgeous spot which overlooks the entire valley.

It was a glorious day. We saw gorgeous fall color, beautiful vistas of the Ottawa valley, and had a great time with good friends. As the sun began to set, it became increasingly cooler...reminding us that winter will be shortly on the way! 

They are changing our look...

Today we heard BIG, heavy equipment outside our front windows. When we looked out they were cutting down the huge pine trees in front of the townhouses. There are 5 townhouses in a row, and our landlord owns 3 of them.  He decided that the huge pine tree roots were causing cracks in foundations, leakages, raised sidewalks, etc.  So... here is BEFORE:

Here we are DURING the chopping down...

And finally, the AFTER picture... in all its nakedness!!!

They SAY they will be planting some evergreen fir trees soon, we hope so!!