October 4-10: An elk and the zoo, but not together

October 4.  Saturday morning we got ready for General Conference.  Stan put tape on his mouth and managed to use up an entire role putting it on his mouth and fingers.  Oh well, cheap entertainment.  I got a basket of treats the night before and told the kids they could take turns choosing whenever one of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency spoke.  I felt find about this until Elder Jorg Klebingat talked about being careful what we put in our bodies.

Before, during and after the morning session I worked on the Halloween costumes for Abby and Arya.

October 5.  I was able to finish the costumes during the Sunday morning session.  Then we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's for the afternoon session and a fun BBQ with our friends the Kopaigaras.

October 6.  On Monday afternoon I went and bought a small chest freezer in anticipation of a lot of elk meat.  Derek shot an elk in Wyoming and Ed and Cyndy were to pick it up.  I've wanted a freezer like this for some time so I was pretty excited to get it.

October 7.  On Tuesday evening we had a surprise visitor from a praying mantis our neighbor found.  Kimball had been praying for months to find one.  His prayers were answered!  What did he do?  He prayed to find another one.

October 8.  Wednesday was a very long day.  Daddy didn't get home until the kids were being put to bed.  I did a little retail therapy at T.J. Maxx to recover.  I was wishing my sisters and mom could have been with me.  

October 9.  On Thursday the elk made it!  Ed and Cyndy stayed for dinner.  We ate maple mustard chicken thighs, with honey roast potatoes and a salad that had bacon and a cheese with cranberries in it.  Oh, and Brazillian cheese bread.  It was all so delicious.

October 10.  On Friday we went to the zoo with Grandma Hansen.  She and I decided to split an annual pass, so now we are going to have to make it worth it.  It's too bad the zoo wears me out.  

After the zoo we spent the night at Ed and Cyndy's so Bryce could work on building the wooden swing set in the back yard.  It was great that the weather was so nice.