Boo to You!

Happy Halloween a day late to everyone!  Last year we had 6 trick or treaters, but this year we didn't even get one.  That's so sad!


 It has been a busy week as usual, but I will apologize in advance for another week with not many photos to put in the blog.  I have come to the conclusion that I must take a good many pictures from the passenger seat of the car when Mike is driving us around to wherever we go.  Now that I do all the driving, I just don't get the opportunity to snap pictures of those things that make me think "I live in a painting!"   

My eyeball cupcakes I made for the party.

Travis and I went to the ward Halloween party on Tuesday night.  They had games for the kiddos and a costume contest while the older  crowd went to the chapel and had a presentation on "How to clean the church" ....pretty exciting, huh!  It was actually quite interesting, not so much the topic, but how it was presented.  Very German-ly.   The gentlemen who gave the presentation was from the German Stake and he had it all on power point  and then his visual aids were the actual cart and colored buckets that he uses in his cleaning system.  They are all color coded and have laminated step by step instruction card in each bucket.  The instruction are in pictures, so you can follow the steps on how to clean a toilet if you speak either english or german!  It was all so technical and efficient....so German!

Here's some of the cute costumes at the party...

Sam and litlle Nemo

 I
After that we went out to the parking lot for Trunk or Treat.  I am still trying to decide if I even like this somewhat recent Halloween tradition.  There's something so "grab and go" about it.  It's so untraditional. But I will say that when we were told a few weeks ago that there wasn't going to be a Trunk or Treat this year, there was a mini revolt and I was so happy for the kids that it got put back on the agenda.  They love it...lots of candy and not much walking around in the cold.


Later in the week, a few of my girlfriends and I drove up to a village past Frankfurt that has a ceramic factory and outlet.  They make the red "You are Special Today" plates.  I got one for about four euro and I think they sell in catalogs and stores in the states for about 30 dollars each!   They had a huge room of seconds that was just so much fun. I also got some Christmas bowls, serving dishes and a couple of very cute pitchers.  It's always fun to spend a day just having some girl chat and shopping!

Tami and Karrie checking out at the ceramic factory

Sunday the ward hosted the monthly after church dinner for the families with deployed members.  It's is really such a nice thing they do for us and it means a lot that they are thinking of us and want to do something to show how much they care.  It's so nice to just sit and have someone serve you a tasty dinner and to visit with others who are in the same situation.

We got a new Bishop last week, Bishop Adams and he is a vice principal at the Ramstein Middle School.   He has only been here maybe two months.  He is so funny....he was going around at the dinner saying "And who are you?  I just don't know anybody!"   


Mike says it's cooling down a bit in Qatar.  He and a couple of friends went to an evening professional tennis match and he said the weather was perfect for it.  He's headed to Afghanistan for a week or so and then will head back to Qatar.  This four month deployment is going by really slowly for all of us.


And a few final thoughts:
  
The BMW is back thanks to two selfless men in our ward.  One, our home teacher Bro. Parish and one just a friend, Bro. Tholen, who wanted to help.  They went to Belgium and dealt with the garage and then drove it home for me.  I didn't even have to go.  I have learned some great lessons over the last couple weeks about selfless service.  I can't express my gratitude enough for those who dropped everything and put us at the top of their list of things to care of.

I still can't get over how gorgeous autumn is here in Germany!!!   Just when I think "That's it...fall's over....it can't get any prettier than it is right now",  I wake up to a day like today.  Brilliant blue skies, warm sunshine and neon colored trees in  sunburnt gold,  hot orange and ridiculous red!   Pictures just don't do it justice ( at least not with my camera) but I did stop today and get out of the car just to take a picture for you....


love and miss you all,
corri