Happy Trunk or Treat!

Saturday was our ward's "trunk or treat". For those of you unfamiliar with this, it's where kids go to a parking lot and trick or treat to each other's cars. We had so much fun. (Remember this from your visit last year, Mom?) Our ward also serves homemade Idaho potato french fries (of course!), hot chocolate, and donuts. It's fun because everyone comes, whether they have kids trick-or-treating or not. So we went, decorated the trunk of our van with spiders and spiderwebs, and the kids got SO MUCH candy. Seriously, I couldn't believe how much they got just at that one activity. Here's a picture of them in their costumes. (We didn't dress up Krysta.)

I bought these cool spiral curlers for Emalyn's hair, and after trying and having it not work out very well a couple of times, we decided to try again yesterday for the primary program. It finally worked! The pictures don't show it as well as it really looked. Scott took these pictures, and I guess Emalyn wouldn't hold still. So, this is Tyler, "man", and Emalyn. One night while getting ready for bed, Tyler made this. He says his name is "man."And here is Krysta, practicing her typing skills. I hadn't realized how close her high chair was to the computer, until I looked over and saw her doing this.

Also, yesterday, I was called as our ward organist. Yeah, I'm scared. I've played a couple of times, messed up badly at least once each time, but I'm the only one in the ward who knows anything at all about the organ (other than the organist just released). Our organist that just got released has a bad back and needs surgery, so our ward is pretty much desperate. But I'm going to use this opportunity to get really good at it! and I'm going to need to practice tons, which might be difficult with three children at home... And just for those of you wondering, the organ is VERY different from the piano! I'll just share with you what happened yesterday. As previously mentioned, it was the primary program. So there's like tons of kids sitting on the stand all around the organ. Especially these two boys who kept trying to play the foot pedals, while I was sitting up there. So, after the sacrament song, I turned the organ off completely, so that they wouldn't be so tempted. Then after the program was over, and it was time for the closing song, I went up, and turned it back on. That was when I found out how long it takes an organ to completely turn on. About two full minutes. Which, when you're sitting there, with the chorister and the entire congregation looking at you, waiting for you to start the intro to the hymn, is a VERY long time!! I kept trying to play the keys, but no sound would come out at all. So I'm sitting there very panicked and people are wondering why I'm just sitting there, and finally it turns on. But I was still pushing keys trying to get a sound out, so when it turned all the way on, it pretty much blasted these awful notes for a second or two. Then we sang the closing hymn. Everyone in my ward knows I'm still learning the organ, so no one asked me what happened. They are all very kind and patient with me as I'm learning to play. The funny thing is, I wished they would ask, just so I could explain what had happened!