Pumpkin Seeds!

The Family Home Evening went really well. It helped that the morning of, one of the co-chairs called and said, "What would you think about adding pumpkin carving to the activity?" Then she volunteered to make pumpkin bars. Like I would say no to that! I sent an e-mail to the communications committee so they could tell everyone what was going on and to bring carving knives and patterns. The FHE committee was to provide the pumpkins.

I arrived about a half hour early to help set up tables and chairs, and hang out with the FHE co-chairs and other early comers, who are all awesome people. I decided I wasn't nervous about leading a discussion, even though I hadn't prepared anything. I had watched most of the talks, took notes, and prayed during the Conference, so if I couldn't at least keep up informed commentary or talk about the lessons I liked then it would be more than a little pathetic.

We set up a huge circle of chairs that ended up being too small (there were at least 60 people there by the end), but I walked around the outside and didn't say much. I told everyone that I didn't prepare any kind of lesson, because we'd listened to Conference talks for two days, and I didn't think we needed another one. I opened it up to the group to talk about the lessons they like, and when the silence between raised hands got uncomfortable, I'd say helpful things like, "Hey, there are a lot of us here, and half of us don't know each other, so if you say something goofy it's no big deal." (I really hope that to be true, because I have said some embarrassing things in Sunday School that I hope people don't remember.) The discussion went on about half and hour. I thought we reached a good stopping point when two people shared their testimonies, so I added my own and thanked everyone for coming and for their thoughts. I think it went well, and a couple of people even came up to me later to tell me they thought it had, too.

Then we dug into the pumpkins. Well, I didn't, but a lot of people did. It didn't take me long to realize that with at least 10 pumpkins being carved there would be a lot of seeds possibly going to waste. I asked four people if I could have their seeds and they said, "Have at it." So, I grabbed some large paper cups, stuck my hand in the goo, and "harvested" two 12 oz. cups full! Pretty much spent most of the evening doing that. I'd feel guilty or silly, but it's still easy to chat while doing it, so I still met and caught up with a lot of people.

About 9pm, I had been at the church 2 and-a-half hours and was ready to go home. Two people were still carving pumpkins and more were standing around and talking, so I couldn't clean up fully. I tried not to be annoyed. Fortunately, another member of the committee offered to stay to clean up so I could go home. I thought it was awfully nice of him.

When I arrived home, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees, washed off the seeds in the first cup, spread them on a cookie sheet, daubed some oil and salt on them, and stuck them in the oven. I checked them every ten minutes for an hour, but they didn't seem to be cooking. Well... turns out I accidently turned off the oven at some point when I turned off the timer. I would be embarassed, but I don't use my oven often, and on my mom's oven the heat and the timer are turned off with the same button. My oven doesn't work the same way. Now I know. I turned the heat back on -- it had cooled to 169 -- and within 15 minutes the seeds were ready! The second pan of seeds took far less time :)

The best part? When I went to bed that night, my house still smelled like warm, roasted pumpkin seeds.

I took a jar to work today. Golly, they are tastey! They are one of my favorite Fall treats.

Autumn is officially here as far as I'm concerned, and I couldn't be more happy about it!

Predecessor to Facebook

Does anyone else prefer the shoe method of networking?

Another Happy Conference Weekend

Conference Weekend is pretty much the only LDS-only holiday there is, though, technically it isn't a holiday. And it isn't exclusive -- non-LDS people are encouraged to watch. Instead, it's an opportunity to hear the leaders of our church give us advice and counsel, and remind us of what we're already supposed to be doing. I love it! I'm one of those people who will sit in front of the t.v. for all four two-hour sessions on Saturday and Sunday. I'm not saying I stay awake the whole time, but I love to listen and take notes.

Yesterday I slept until noon, so I'm grateful for DVR. As of now, I still have a half-hour of the morning session to watch. Today, I watched both sessions at my parents' house while we ate french toast, quiche lorraine, chocolate-covered strawberries and other fruit, assorted juices, sausage, and bacon. Adam's family all came over, as well as Lindsey's parents, Bob and Sandy. It's nice to be together all day long. G-unit helped me color during President Monson's talk in the morning session. We only color in my Cinderella book during Conference, so we've been working on it for years. G is really nice about not coloring in it until I give him permission.

In between sessions, my parents taught us a card game they learned earlier in the week called "Boonda", which is a lot like "Scum." I like when we play games together and laugh and are silly. The best memories are made that way, don't you think?

As for Conference itself, the messages were great! The have all of the talks available online at lds.org (text copies will be available on Thursday), but I'm glad that I took notes when concepts and quotes jumped out at me. My favorite talk might have been Neil A. Anderson's "Come unto Him and be wrapped in His arms." He talked about how the Savior is eager and able to forgive our sings and that even if we continually mess up, as long we we're trying to overcome our sins and weakness we are repenting.
And repentance not only changes us, but blesses our family and those we love. My other favorite quote of his is, "We each need to feel the Savior's arms of mercy though the forgiveness of our sins."

I also appreciated Elder Russell T. Osguthorpe's talk, where he reminded us that we can accomplish more than we think we can, so we should "Aim high!" He told a story about how his first talk in Primary went badly, so when his teacher asked him to speak again he didn't want to. However, the teacher persisted. "She expressed so much confidence in me that her invitation was hard to refuse." How great is that? Just a reminder to be supportive of others, and help them to be the best they can be. I love it!

Tomorrow, I'm in charge of FHE in my Singles Ward. Since we didn't have church this week, we thought it would be a good idea to do something low-key just at the Ward building because everyone will probably drift that way tomorrow anyway. We decided to just get everyone together and talk about what we liked at Conference. I agreed to lead the discussion, but I don't really have any sort of direction for the discussion at the moment. I probably won't worry about it until 5pm tomorrow, at which case I'll really stress out... and yet, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.

Whether you spent it watching Conference, or not, I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I know I did!

Hope

When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us,
And we know that deliv'rance is nigh.
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.
We've proved him in days that are past.
The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last.

- "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet"
Hymn #19, Hymns of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wolf Cooking Grandma

Today I'm trying to recover from some odd virus/bug that has been making me dizzy for the last four days, and my head's a little fuzzy. The nice thing about being sick was that I got to go to the InstaCare yesterday. "How in the world is that the nice thing?" you ask? Because the tall, blonde, tan, male nurse, and perfect-nose doctor were both attractive, young guys, so if nothing else I was rewarded for going to the doctor with some men to make me smile. And give me meds...legal meds...

Speaking of attractive men, watch this clip from the 10th Kingdom. If you haven't seen this miniseries, rent it from NetFlix, 'cause it's awesome. Two cynical New Yorkers get caught up in a world where characters from the Grimm brothers's fairy tales come to life. The miniseries is about 8 hours total. It's funny, it's thought-provoking, it's very bizarre. Try it. You might be surprised. (Also, you might be in love with Wolf by the end. I know I am.)

Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather

I had a great time at the audition and callback for Sleeping Beauty. A lot of darling young men read for the prince, but when I realized how young they all were, I started to steel myself for the possibility I may be cast in a different role. Jana pulled me aside after the callback and asked if I'd be willing to accept another role. I absolutely said "Yes" and she cast me as one of the good fairies! I'm excited! The cast is going to be awesome, the script is adorable, and I love my part and the ladies playing the other fairies. And the girl who was cast as Princess Rose was fantastic! If they couldn't cast me, I'm glad they cast her. She'll be darling. The first rehearsal is next Tuesday and I can't wait. This is going to be a lot of fun!

So, plan on coming to Sleeping Beauty in November. I know the holidays are busy, but if you put it on your schedule now, it won't be so inconvenient then, will it? It will mean a lot to see you all there :^D

Yay! I'm in a play! I cannot even begin to tell you all how happy I am!