Halloween 2014

Beckie came to Columbia on Wednesday before Halloween.  So exciting!  I prepared the room she would be staying in by trimming the crazy spider plant that was threatening to take over.  I have
never seen a spider plant send out tendrils like this, have you?
 

 

It was so fun to have her here.  She took this photo of me and the dogs. 

The dogs all loved having her here.

 

 Thursday morning, Sarah, Beckie and I enjoyed a walk in autumn loveliness on the nature trail behind our neighborhood.   

 

 

We ate BBQ from Lonnie Rays one night and Beckie cooked amazing roast chicken another night. 

Beckie wanted me to help her perfect her cake decorating skills so we created a “sincere” gluten-full and a gluten-free cake/pumpkin patch for Linus to await the Great Pumpkin.

 

We drove back to St. Louis Friday afternoon to be a part of the Southerland’s Halloween fun.  

 Quinn is a train engineer and Lucy, the owl, is blowing on a wooden train whistle.  She called Quinn "train boy"

 

 Noah is "Ender" from his favorite game, Minecraft.

 And look who drove over from Indiana!  

Steve and I returned to Columbia that night but Beckie and Julina stayed over so they could watch Noah’s soccer game Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon, the Columbia Civic Orchestra stretched Halloween to another day with their Post-Halloween Concert.  I was a cello, using a costume I made YEARS ago, and my cello was a person.  Can you see the tuning-peg hat I am wearing?  And notice that my cello has yellow braids.

 

 By then,  Julina, Beckie, and the Southerlands had arrived at the house and Steven, Julina, Beckie, Noah, and Melanie all attended the performance.  We played some great music - Danse Macabre, Night on Bald Mountain, the March to the Scaffold and Witches Sabbath from Berloiz Symphony Fantastique, an overture from a 19th century vampire opera, and the funeral march from Beethoven's 7th symphony.  Five days later and I still can't get those tunes out of my head!

It was also a Stake Conference weekend so Steve couldn’t attend the concert due to meetings.  After the Sunday session, we all gathered at the house for a meal and as much visiting as we could get in before Southerlands took Beckie back to St. Louis so she could catch her Monday morning flight back to Hawaii.  Boy, it was so great to have her here.  And to have Julina come, too.  We sorely missed Elise and Kirsti  :(

 

 

 

 

 Tamara didn't want to be in the group photo but I captured her with Emily.

This is a cute photo of Noah helping Melanie pick up after a game of dominoes 

 

 Lucy explored our back yard in her elephant pajamas and pink cape.

 

What a great weekend! And, whew, I think I have caught up on blogging now….at least until this Sunday.

Church History tour

On Saturday, October 25, Steve and I hosted a tour of various church history sites in western Missouri for several single adults from the stake.  It was open to everyone but only five individuals participated. 

We left at 7:00 am (which is kind of early for a Saturday) from Columbia and our first stop was Lexington, Missouri.  This small town is located on the Missouri River and it is where a steamboat carrying many Mormon immigrants exploded leaving many dead and injured.  Citizens of Lexington cared for these poor saints and there is a small park and monument dedicated to this event in the center of town. 

Steve, Roberta Mahanna, Lizzy Crippen, Cherie Bechtel, Ted Devere, Woody Casteel

We then went to nearby Richmond, Missouri to visit two cemeteries.  The first one is owned and beautifully maintained by the Church and it is where Oliver Cowdery is buried.   

 

Steve is looking at some of the tombstones that workers rescued from being lost to time and decay

 

  

This cemetery was neglected for so many years that very few grave markers are intact.  It looks more like a park than a cemetery.

The second cemetery we visited is owned by the town of Richmond and it is where David Whitmer is buried. 

 

We saw beautiful autumn views everywhere we went that day!

 In the Richmond town square is a statue of Alexander Doniphan who was a friend to the saints while they were in Missouri.  

 

Next stop was Far West where we had our picnic lunch.  The fenced-in area behind the picnic table is where the temple cornerstones are located and preserved.

And then we wended our way to Haun’s Mill.   The Church has recently bought this property and, on the day we visited, there were individuals from BYU at the site looking for the well where the murdered men were buried. 

 

Then it was on to Adam Ondi Ahman.  So beautiful there.

Here we all are.  There was an LDS fellow from California who was in Missouri on business and we pretty much followed each other from site to site.  He took this group photo.

We visited Liberty Jail and briefly went in to the Independence Visitor’s Center before going to a BBQ restaurant for dinner and then drive back home.  We didn’t pull into Columbia until about 11:00 pm.  It was a VERY long day and we logged a lot of miles but I think everyone had a great time – at least from later reports and Facebook accounts.  In spring, we plan to take the group to Nauvoo…..

Other news of that week was that Beckie came in to town!  She spent the first part of her visit in St. Louis so Steve and I drove there Friday afternoon to see her for a few hours before she went to dinner with friends and we went to the temple.  We also got to see Kyle!  He and Beckie got to be here together for a few days before he flew back to Hawaii.  

Before leaving for St. Louis, Steve was the guest speaker at a Friday Forum that the LDS Institute holds at noon every week.  He spoke about the deeper meaning in certain movies.  You know that he has his list of movies that he watches in a year - one per month?  He did a really good job of sharing some of the deep spiritual insights he has found in some of his favorite films.  

And that pretty much gives you the big highlights of that week.