Oh the Horror!

We spent our day playing games, carving pumpkins, and getting everything ready for the night. David and I took Dave-o and Lonetta trick-or-treating with some other friends. The kids of course loved going door to door and I enjoyed seeing their excitement and gratitude at each house. 

When the little ones were pooped out, we went home with the plan to watch a scary movie while snacking on goodies. However, Steven had other plans. He decided it would be fun to run around in the dark back yard, slamming into the wheel barrow. A huge gash on his knee cap, with all the blood and gore you would expect from a horror movie, sent our stomachs churning. Dave-o turned as white as a ghost. David took Steven to a walk-in clinic that is one minute from our house and within an hour, Steven had 8 shots and 8 stitches. What a horrific Halloween!

This is our Turf!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

This week was super busy, but looking back on it, not much happened...

We did not have much time to go finding at all (not complaining about that at all). Most of our time was spent teaching people and for once doing service. For whatever reason, everyone decided to move this week, so we spent quite a bit of time helping with those. We also helped a few older members of the ward "winterize" their gardens which I knew nothing about. 

We are teaching an unmarried couple named Dj and Amber. Aside from not living separately, they are progressing nicely! They really enjoyed coming to our ward's trunk-or-treat this week. Now all we have to do is get them married... Aside from Dj and Amber, our other investigators have seem to have fallen off the face of the earth! It looks like we will have to commence on another massive rebuilding effort! 

The weather has been surprisingly bearable! Everyone keeps commenting on how abnormally warm the weather is for this time of the year. I really hope that this means that it will be a warmer/shorter winter!

We had Stake Conference this weekend! We had to drive all the way to Iowa City (where the Stake Center is). It was a great meeting, Unfortunately, it was a much harder sell getting our investigators to make the hour drive.

While we were finding in a apartment complex, we ran across some Jehovah's Witnesses' trying to do the same exact thing! They came up to us and started to try to bash with us. It wasn't very productive, but we got one of their pamphlets out of it!

I forgot to bring my USB adapter again... Sorry.

I Love you all!

Elder Zinn!

Fangs

Getting into the spirit of Halloween

Green Belt

Kirsten is now a green belt. She did great testing for it, scoring a 10 out of 10. we are so proud of her.

I Wish I Could Take a Nap

 Jetlag is real and I am feeling it today. However, there was no time to even think about my tiredness. After running children around to different classes and activities, we sent Mom on her way back home. Then I unpacked, cleaned, baked, cooked, and got the family ready for this evening's Trunk-or-Treat party at the church. I enjoyed doing all of this with Loni following me everywhere. Boy did I miss my kids! It's so nice feeling their arms around my neck and kisses on my cheeks. 

The witch and her black cat.

She's a good witch

Captain America

 Bob Ross

 Steven's favorite soccer player.

The Sister Missionaries and myself as a basket of yarn.

I won the "Most Creative" award and David the "Most Artistic". It was a fun evening!

Soaking Up Our Last Hours

We left "paradise" today. It's strange to be home; a good strange. Deborah, Mom, and I sat outside the beach cabin for as long as we could before heading to the airport; soaking up the Hawaiian air and beauty. The view never gets old. I am so thankful that I had this opportunity to spend a week with some of my best friends, to see where my sister served her mission, and share in new experiences with my mother. 

Last day

I can't believe this is our last full day in Hawaii. We jam packed everything that was left on our list of "things to do". We started out driving to Wahaiwa to visit the Dole plantation. This was a snooze. I wouldn't go back. The train ride on the Pineapple Express was a HUGE waste of time and money. It was extremely slow and boring.The highlight of this tourist trap was trying their Dole whip.

We were very hungry by this point so we drove west to Hale'iwa and ate lunch at Ted's bakery to try their famous Chocolate Haupia Pie which was amazing! We also got lunch here and all agreed they should stick with pies.

This was going to be our day to explore the beaches along North Shore. Deborah and I had our swimsuits packed and we were so excited to chill and enjoy the waves. However, Mother Nature had different plans. So, we skipped the beaches and tried Matsumoto's famous shaved ice. Then, we took a 1 1/2 mile walk through a rainforest in the rain at Waimea botanical gardens. It felt like we were in the Garden of Eden.  The path ended at a waterfall where Deborah and I beat each other up for not thinking to bring our swim suits. It seemed we would never get a chance to get in the water this day. However, on our way back to the cabin, we visited Laie Beach again and went for a swim even though it was windy and rainy. Thank goodness the water was warm. We did a little body surfing and fooling around.

We eneded our outing at a restaurant called Flounders in the PCC. Shared a three M pizza and salad and brought home a slice of pumpkin cheesecake for each of us to eat back at the cabin. Best cheesecake ever!