Happy Halloween!

We had a really fun Halloween! We just made it around our neighborhood and over to the Hodges. We tried Grandma and Grandpa Delgado, but their lights were already out.

Abby (Hannah Montana), Devan (Darth Vader),
and Lizzie (Princess Leah) ready to go!

Halloween is a huge deal in Arizona. People decorate the outside of their houses, sit in lawn chairs in their driveways, and hand out candy.

Spencer made a great Goliath the Lion!

The only thing you have to worry about at Halloween is making sure the kids don't get over heated in their costumes. Spencer had a warm costume this year, so we just had him strip down to his undies before putting on the costume. We never had this problem in Idaho or Utah!

Spencer and Princess Emma prepare
to hit the streets!

One of the fun parts of Halloween was seeing all our friends from church and primary dressed up. Here were some of my favorites!

The 3 Robinson Fairies

Devan wanted to go faster. Halloween is catch up time for everyone. We kept running into people we knew or stopping to visit at neighbors' and friends' homes. Devan just wanted to go!

Julie Mills and her baby girl!

A few of the men from church have been working out really hard lately!

Jason, Emma, and Ivan

The Carranzas were among our favorites!

One of our neighbors had a counter this year to see how many kids came through. When we went by just before 8 p.m., they were already at 287! It's a lot of fun to see so many people from the community out on the streets.

The Fish kids were all adorable!
Here we have Shelley and Ann posing with their pumpkin family!

When we got home, the kids decided to go through their candy and trade each other. It brought back a wave of memories of going through candy with my brothers and sisters on Halloween back in Indiana. There's just something about Halloween.

Dividing all the Halloween Loot!

Signs Of Winter

This is a story that one of our friends, a math professor from BYU-Idaho, wrote. He has written some really good stories. To see more of his works, visit DarisHoward.com

Signs Of Winter
By
Daris Howard
copyright 2006
all rights reserved
Any commercial use of this article without written permission is strictly prohibited though sharing on the Internet is encouraged.

It is that time of year when I go out to help my mother winterize her yard. So recently, one evening, I took my son along to help me with the heavy lifting. I also took my two littlest girls to see their grandmother.
It was a beautiful fall day. The geese were winging their way south, honking to the rhythm of their wing beats, like a person directing the rowing of a racing canoe across the blue ocean of the sky. They were fat and happy from gleaning the grain the farmers had left behind in the yellow stubble fields.
The trees were dressed in a kaleidoscope of colors: oranges, browns, golds, and purples. The regalia they wore made them look like royalty in fine robes and golden crowns, with leaves cast at their feet, as if they were golden coins strewn in their path.
All around us the harvest was still in full swing, though it was beginning to wind down. There were plenty of potato trucks rumbling by and, no matter where a person went, the clang of diggers and pilers was audible in the autumn air. The smell of the rich dirt being rolled and tumbled by the machinery wafted across the cool breeze.
The days were already starting out crisp in the morning and the gardens looked like sleeping giants with quilts pulled up over their heads, as the most industrious and stubborn gardeners, reluctant to give in to the nightly frosts, tried to extend their growing season by coaxing another week or two of maturation out of their tomatoes and pumpkins.
Driving along, I nearly sent a family of racoons to racoon heaven, as they waddled out for their nightly foray into a neighbor's corn patch. They stood on their hind legs and eyed me suspiciously, as if I might be there to steal their ill-gotten winter sustenance.
We drove along while eating hot bread that was smothered with warm apple butter, freshly made from the apple trees in our yard. The spices for pickles, cinnamon for pies, and other rich aromas of canning and baking lingered on our clothes. Our pantry was full of potatoes, apples, and carrots to enjoy through the coming winter. Jars of canned peaches, pears, applesauce and assorted jams and jellies lined the shelves.
The harvest moon hung bright and full in the sky even though the sun was still measurably above the horizon. The clouds roiled in the western sky, carrying an ominous warning of snow in our not-too-distant future.
It was at this point that my five-year-old, Heather, turned to her three-year-old sister, Elliana, and announced that winter was coming. Elliana looked at her older sister with great admiration. "How can you tell?"
I looked at all of the beauties of the world around us, inundating our senses, and wondered which one she would expound on to explain how she knew this important fact.
She looked straight at her little sister and, in her great wisdom, said, "Because grandma is packing up and heading south."

I've been tagged!

Eight Favorite TV Shows:
1. KOLD13 Morning News (I have to give them a plug!)
2. Hannity and Colmes (I love Fox News!)
3. Glenn Beck
4. American Idol
5. Real Simple
6. BYUTV's Scrapbook Memories (to gather ideas that I never have time to accomplish!)
7. Mission: Organization
8. Family Ties (I know this is an old one, but I heard it's now out on DVD!)

Eight Favorite Restaurants:
1. Los Hermanos (In Provo, Utah)
2. Old Pueblo Grille (In Tucson)
3. Golden Corral (My whole family is happy with this choice.)
4. Panda Express
5. Subway
6. Inn-N-Out
7. Bajio Mexican Grill (In Rexburg)
8. Texas Roadhouse

Eight Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. I found out at 5:20 a.m. that my good friend Robin Morse was in the hospital and getting ready for surgery.
2. I shot a television segment for KOLD13's Morning News that aired today.
3. I updated my money saving blog.
4. I made lots of black cat cookies with all the dough from the television shoot.
5. Larene Kimber came over to my house while her mom taught piano lessons making it really easy for me to visit teach her this month! I love the Kimbers!
6. I made a huge dinner- All Day Salsa Chicken (101More Things To Do With A Slow Cooker), Rice, Steamed Broccoli, and my mom's Homemade Wheat Bread.
7. The missionaries came over for dinner.
8. Paid quarterly taxes.


Eight Things to look forward to:
1. My brother Barry visiting next week
2. Our Primary Program at the church on 11/23
3. The daily high temperature dropping below 80 degrees! (We are suppose to hit 90 on Nov. 1st!)
4. The day after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday Sales!
5. Seeing the lights at the Mesa Temple after Thanksgiving!
6. The election being over!!!!!!!!!!
7. My date with Ivan tomorrow.
8. Staying home for Christmas and getting my closets cleaned out while Ivan is off for the Holidays.

Eight things on my wish list:
1. Paying off the house! 9 years left!
2. The Emma Smith and Errand of Angels DVDs
3. A bathroom that cleans itself
4. An organized office
5. Lasik Surgery
6. More time with my husband
7. Less homework. It's quite the ordeal with 3 kids in school.
8. Time to scrapbook.

Eight Things I love about the Fall: (I have to change this to fall/winter because that is when we experience fall temperatures in Arizona until December.)
1. Wearing long sleeves and sweaters.
2. Actually being able to sleep under covers.
3. Trick or Treating in 75 degree weather!
4. Being able to open windows at night!
5. Thanksgiving and all the sales after!
6. Baking!!!
7. Decorating for Halloween!
8. Planning for Christmas

Eight people I tag:1. Suzanne B. 2. Jenilee F. 3. Allison E. 4. Jenn N. 5. Rachel W. 6. Kim S. 7. Amy T. 8. Shawna K.

My Favorite Halloween Treats

This morning on my KOLD segment I showed how to make these cookies for Halloween. For my birthday, my brother redesigned my website! Thanks, Chad! If you click on the news link, video 1 shows a clip of me making a portion of this recipe when we lived in Utah. Click here to check out my new cookbook website.

Black Cat Cookies (from my book 101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix)
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1 chocolate cake mix
plain M&Ms
Red Hots

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together peanut butter, eggs, and water. Gradually add cake mix and blend well. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and flatten balls with bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Pinch out 2 ears at top of cookie. Add M&Ms as eyes and a Red Hot as a nose. Press fork into the sides of the cat face to form whiskers. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Note: You can use candy corn instead of M & Ms for the eyes.

An Unforgettable Weekend-Jenn and Jason's Baptism

The Mouso Family on Their Baptism Day

This weekend was truly unforgettable. We have been good friends with the Mouso family since we moved to Tucson in July 2005. They were the first people we met when we moved to Tucson. We miraculously rented houses next door to each other as we both were having homes built on the same block of the same street in a different neighborhood. We became instant friends with their family. They came to church with us for 2 primary programs and for Emma's baby blessing before Jenn ran into the missionaries who were stopped in front of her home one day. The new missionary was actually looking for our home. She told them that they had been to church with us before. They asked her if she would be interested in learning more. She replied in the affirmative. I was so excited for their family to start attending church with us! We knew the joy the gospel would bring to their family.

Elder Bearss, Elder Moss, The Mouso Family,
Ivan, Elder Olsen, and our newest Elder

They came to church and felt the Spirit. Jenn commented that she had been feeling as if there was something missing in her life. While she was sitting in the Gospel Principles Class her first Sunday she had the distinct impression that "this" was what was missing! Jason commented on how the teachings of the gospel just made sense. My dad said the same thing about his experience when he joined the church.

Jenn's mom, Mary, and Jason's dad, Harvey came to give their support.
Jason's dad came all the way from Georgia for their baptism!

Their two boys instantly loved coming to church. It helped a lot that most of their good friends were already there. Alex, 12, had an amazing experience while reading the scriptures in Sunday School which helped confirm the truth of the gospel and the church to his young heart.

The Ashcrafts and The Mousos

I always love the spirit that is felt at baptisms. This baptism was no exception. Not only did we have our good friends being baptized, but we also had a phenomonal senior in high school also getting baptized.

Jake Weiss (left) was able to baptize
one of his best friends, Nate Prathers.

It meant a lot to Ivan to be able to baptize the Mousos. I was asked to speak on baptism, and another friend, Allison Esplin, spoke on the Holy Ghost. While I was preparing my talk, I ran across a quote that I really thought summarized the concept of baptism as a gate. Bruce R. McConkie, a past leader of the church, in teaching about baptism said, “I think that baptism is a gate. It is a gate which puts us on a path; and the name of the path is the straight and narrow path. The straight and narrow path leads upward from the gate of baptism to the celestial kingdom of heaven. After a person has entered the gate of baptism, he has to press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, as Nephi expresses it, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men; and if he endures to the end, then he gains the promised reward.”

We were so thrilled to see these five amazing people enter that gate on Saturday. Sunday was just as remarkable. We had a baby blessed and all five confirmations during sacrament meeting. Ivan confirmed Jason a member and was able to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Olsen did the same for Jenn. Rion Westfall confirmed Alex, while Brother Hodge confirmed Zach. A father of one of Nate's friends confirmed him. The Spirit was incredibly strong and I had to wipe away several tears as blessings were pronounced and promises were given.

I love this church with all my heart. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the greatest treasure on earth. It blesses families and brings us closer to our Savior. It has hit me with such force lately that we do not belong to an exclusive church. The Savior invites all of Heavenly Father's children to partake of the gospel, and so must we.

Lots of love,

My sister Katrina's Update

Some of you know my sister, Katrina, who lives in West Virginia. She just emailed me what they did for their ward party.

"We had a Chili Cook off and Trunk or Treat at Church yesterday (Saturday). And to my surprise, I got "Best Overall" for the Chili I made. Meaning it was considered to be the best Chili there! And there were 25 or more crockpots full of different kinds of chili and soup. I used Stephanie's (Mrs.101) recipe for Winter Chili in her 101 Things to do with Ground Beef book. I was so excited to win. I won a medal with a picture of a pot full of Chili. Thanks Steph! :)

Cinderella Beka!

Afterwards, we had a trunk or treat, where the kids go outside in the parking lot and trick or treat in the trunk of everyone's car. It was quite fun! Beka enjoyed every minute of it. This was her first Halloween she has really gotten into and she just loves her costume! She is looking forward to the Gym Daycare Costume Party on Wednesday and trick or treating for Halloween on Friday. She's growing up so fast and I'm enjoying every minute of it!"

Katie called me Saturday morning asking for a good chili recipe. I was glad to hear my chili did okay! :-)

Halloween Comic!

I got a laugh from this one!