Pumpkin Pickin is Not the Same...

Although i love this season to death there is still a twinge of sadness when it comes to the pumpkin ordeal.  For many years growing up my family would go to the best pumpkin picking place in the whole universe in northern New Jersey.  No where i have been before has ever topped this place.  When i got married and had kids i kept the tradition alive as soon as we moved back to the East and made sure we went with my mother at least each year.  Even though it's been now three years since we have been able to go there as we've been in Tennessee, i think this year i feel more of the sting as my dear mother is no longer living in the area (of the pumpkin picking place) and so there's really no reason for us to ever have the opportunity to go picking there ever again as it's not like we'll be visiting anyone in that area. 


The hayride was 50 cents and it took you to this gigantic field with thousands of pumpkins to choose from.  You paid by weight and the rest of the place was a gardening center which had many gourds, flowers, and other Fall/Halloween knick-knacks to choose from, as well as goats to feed and things for the kids to play on.  Then there's John's absolute favorite and that's the home-made donuts still warm smothered in cinnamon and sugar, *sigh*!


So at this time i mourn...at least until i come across a new place that meets my expectations (although mostly i just miss spending that time with my mother)....Tennessee, you have a high standard to meet from my home in New Jersey.


Here's my pics from the place we went this year....

 We met up with the Osbornes and the Shoultses.  

I especially like Aurora's face in this one!  ;-)

 Jack being a party-pooper ( a.k.a. he just woke up from a nap that was too short)

The Witches Tea Party

Female bonding is always a good thing 

and nothing goes better with that than good food and dressing up!  

A new friend of mine, Heather, just moved into the area a couple of months ago 

and put on her annual Witches Tea Party.  

It was a first for all of us here in Tennessee, but hopefully not the last and i had a great time.  

Thanks for all your hard work Heather, you sure do know how to put on a fantastic party!

 Can you tell?  It's a witch!  So creative!

 B-I-N-G-O

 Before i left...

 The Woman of the Hour, Heather!

 Teresa

 Taralyn

 Jenni and Mandy

 Close-up of Mandy's awesome glasses!

 Nikki, Katie, and I

 Beth, Amber, and Amanda

 Nikki and Katie

 Sarah and Kelsey

 Jenni and her darling baby girl, Presley (who was by far the cutest!)

 Beth won, most original...

 Teresa won the funniest...

 Mandy won the cutest.

 Table 1

 Table 2

 Lovely Cheryl

 Heather reading a witch story for the gift exchange.  Every time the word witch or broom/broomstick was read we had to pass our gifts to the once to the left.

 So cute i just can't stand it!

All of us!

It's Become My Favorite....

Autumn....i love everything about it!  Today was a perfect Autumn day.  60 degrees and sunny.  Last night's rain brought down a sufficient amount of leaves that i knew it was safe to say that summer heat was finally over.  

I love the smell of the outdoors.....it reminds me of high school field hockey, trick or treating, and peaceful walks.

I love the sounds of the leaves....and here in my new home apparently Autumn is not complete without a thousand acorns dropping either.

But most of all, i love the sights!  How amazing is it that something that is dying can look so beautiful?  There's a lesson to be learned there.  

I love the leaves, the colors are magnificent!  Eastern Tennessee is an especially beautiful place to see Autumn.  I do have to admit that this time of year also makes me miss Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey quite a bit as there's probably no other place i have lived that does Autumn leaves quite so well.  

Anticipation....that goes along with Autumn too.  

I cannot wait for Halloween so i can see the joy and smiles on my children's faces as i help them dress up in the costumes they decided on.  

But wait, then there's the joy of Thanksgiving, a holiday that means more than turkey to me as i had the late introduction to it's splendor when we moved to this country.  It means the Smiths (Bobbi, Brad, Kelly, Brad, and Erin), who taught us how to celebrate it. It means having something Italian anyway at my Aunt Susan and Uncle Bill's.  It means blackened turkeys (a good thing!) that my father-in-law masterfully produces, including the one at my first Thanksgiving with John when we went to Bill's with my whole family and Josh. John and i were just engaged.  It means all family and great friends that we've shared it with, pumpkin pies, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and apple pie with vanilla ice-cream.  It means being thankful and there is SO MUCH to be thankful for.  

And then....the ultimate part of the anticipation.....Christmas.  How many days now?  ;-)

2 months....or..... 70 days......or.........1690 hours........or........101351 minutes (of course again at the time of this blog - Thursday October 14th 9:52pm) 

Liken It Unto Us.....

In the Book of Mormon, Nephi reads the words of Isaiah to his brothers that he, "might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer," for he did, "liken all scriptures unto [them], that it might be for [their] profit and learning."

I love this scripture as it constantly reminds me as i am reading any scripture that there is a lesson to be learnt in applying it to my life and what Heavenly Father wants me to learn at this time. However i think that this can be taken a step further and be combined with the scriptures in Alma and Moses which say that, "all things denote that there is a God" & "behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me."

So together what we really have is a way to see God in everything and try to learn what that means for us each day. He is always trying to help us to understand life more and also give us peace and understanding. Today as i was slicing some bread i made for the kids yesterday i was "likening" the process of bread making unto me. If all things denote that there is a God and he is truly everywhere and all things bear record of Him, then so does my bread (not to say my bread is great tasting or anything, although my kids do enjoy it), but just the principle.

So what i thought about was how it applied to the process many of us go through each day or week or month or year as we experience trials and growth afterwards etc. With bread you take raw ingredients (us perhaps) that are not much of anything by themselves and then you combine them together (people being unified in purpose for a good cause or common goal). Life is truly easier with good family and friends to help along the way. Then you have yeast (perhaps us also...bitter, stinky, not "pleasing") that takes time (we must be patient with life) to dissolve when mixed with warm water (Christ is the living water) and then this becomes the liquid that allows us to become something quite magnificent along with the dry ingredients. You then have the kneading process which pulls and pushes the dough (our trials...painful yet necessary for us to become that magnificent thing - bread), and then you have to let the dough rise and "grow" in a warm place (ponder on the things in your life, reflect and learn the lessons and in the process grow as a person, a child of God). This whole process is quite messy too. There's usually flour everywhere, and all kinds of utensils and bags of ingredients, water on the counter etc. Life is not perfect or even clean. It is a messy thing, and that's perfectly okay. If someone were to try and make bread without dropping a speck of anything on the counter or dirtying the bowls or measuring spoons etc. then making that bread would not only be extremely difficult and really not fun, but really it would be impossible.

After the rising or growing period the dough gets baked at a high temperature, this is like being purified. Fire is a purifying process, we get "burned" before we are made pure and perfect and clean and good. This also is painful and just as the dough turns to bread and becomes something almost completely different so can we, as we seek to purify ourselves and allow the Holy Ghost, the Savior, and our Heavenly Father to purify us and sanctify us too. We become a new being. We are something good. Bread alone is extremely symbolic in the gospel. Christ is the bread of life and we partake of the bread for sacrament each week. Who do we seek to become like? Our Savior...Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." We can become like him, but yes it can be a messy and painful process along them way.

I am grateful for bread and for the lessons that life teaches us if we look for them. I am also grateful for General Conference that i was able to watch this weekend. I love the stories and lesson that other share that i am able to apply to me then grow from. I need to go and review some of them again and ponder on them some more and hopefully "rise" in the process and be closer to my Savior and Father in Heaven.


The delicious apple butter next to my bread is symbolic of the friends (like Teresa Turner, who brought and gave it to me) who make life sweet along the way and help ease the trialling process of life! ;-)

By the way Teresa's bread is much better than mine! ;-)