Pie anyone?

I cooked two medium pumpkins today and got over 20 cups of pumpkin. That's over 10 pumpkin pies. That's a lot of pies! While I was chopping, cooking, peeling and smashing the pumpkins I thought longingly of the Amish communities. They would take a mind-numbing activity like this and turn it into a social event. I wanted to invite someone over to work in the kitchen with me. Instead, I later invited a ward member over with her two youngest kids to play for an hour until the older kids got home from school. It was the best I could come up with. We don't know each other really well, considering we shared a backyard fence, so it was good to visit.

Daniel's parent/teacher conference was yesterday. His teacher used the word "super" a lot. I guess he's pretty super at school. I'm glad to know he's well-behaved when I can't reach over and pinch him back into good behavior! He's doing really well, academically and socially. We have really tried to emphasize having a good name with the kids. We are the only ones with our last name in our town. We don't want to tarnish it!

Nathan gave his first talk in Primary this Sunday past. He's the first one of the kids to give one and it was only because someone else couldn't do it. He did really well. I really noticed his speech problems during his talk. We'll work on that. Anyway, he really impressed his Primary teachers who weren't even sure he could talk! He went on to challenge their hearts by agreeing to give the prayer in class. If only he'd be so quiet at home.

So today was Election Day. Chad and I voted this morning. It's really hard to believe that our votes make a difference in an area like ours. We sure aren't adding any votes that would make any changes. But still, it's a freedom that comes with a high cost, so we don't ignore it!