October = Halloween = PUMPKINS

I have never been to a haunted house or a haunted corn maze. I have a hard time thinking of something I want to dress up as and finding a costume. I don't know if I care incredibly much for Halloween parties because it seems like an excuse for girls to dress up like skanks. I don't like scary movies and the only scary stories I look forward to are my Grandma Croslands'. But do you want to know what I love?
Pumpkins.
I love everything about pumpkins in the month of October. Carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin seeds, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins. So amazingly delicious.
A couple years ago my family invested in a second garden located in a community garden location. We've been growing mostly our corn and pumpkins there. And for the past two years I've been up in Rexburg during Halloween which means I have missed pumpkin greatness. Well, this year I wasn't going to miss out and we were going to have a fantastic pumpkin episode. We ended up having 88 pumpkins grown this year. Most of them were on the smaller scale but they looked fantastic spread out all over in our yard.

Brilliant right?
Well just wait until you see what we've carved.
(Warning: lots of photos coming up.)

Boogie Man carved by: Nate

Smiley Jack and Sally carved by: Megan

Boo carved by: Amie

3 Pumpkin Tower carved by: Dad

Michael Jackson and Thriller carved by: Megan

Zero carved by: Megan

Angry Birds carved by: Nate, Megan, and KaLee

Neytiri from Avatar carved by: Mom

Cheshire Cat carved by: Natalie

Mad Hatter carved by: Megan

Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog carved by: Nate

Angry Birds carved by: Amie and Grandpa Packard

Batman carved by: Heather

Jolly Rogers carved by: Jake

Pretty sweet huh? I enjoyed myself and I've gotten my fill of pumpkin carving for the year. Time now to make some goodies. 
I hope the trick-or-treaters enjoy our display.
Happy Halloween :)

We Are Young

The Trolley Song

Remember how I was obsessed with this Judy Garland song earlier this summer? 

Well, here's another song that I became obsessed with as well. 

The Trolley Song

Mom surprised me with a gift she found at an antique store: sheet music for The Trolley Song from the movie Meet Me In St. Louis starring Judy Garland. 

Completely fantastic. 

Judy Garland, she's brilliant.

Faith Hope Assurance

I was reminded the other day of the correlation between hope, faith, and assurance. It's a thought that has stuck with me throughout my religious classes and I find myself consistently coming back to it.

Define:
Hope: to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence. To believe, desire, or trust.

     Ether 12:4 "Whoso believeth in God might with a surety hope for a better world, yea even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith."
     Ether 12:32 "Wherefore man must hope or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared."

Define:
Faith: To hope for things which are not seen, but which are true. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone.

To me, hope is a level of faith. You cannot have one without the other. Moroni 7:40-42 says, "How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."
Hope is a level of faith which then leads to action.
You should have hope (desire and look forward with reasonable confidence) in the atonement of Christ, in the power of the resurrection. By first desiring and looking forward with confidence you gain the level of faith that will lead to action.
Helaman had faith in the Lord during the war period, which led to hope of deliverance through Christ. Once he had this faith he took courage and it led to action.
Faith = Hope = Assurance.

Romans 15:13 "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost."
Faith and hope will enable us to act and to be filled with the Holy Ghost giving us assurances. Acting is a present thing which leads to assurance in what the future holds. As we look to the past we see evidence of the Lords blessings which will give us faith and hope in what we are doing in the present, leading us to act.
Action = present.
Assurance = future.
Evidence = past.

Faith
Hope
Assurance

(I think one of my favorites things of the gospel are the correlations between everything. It reminds me of this post.)