October

October is one of my favorite months! when I was younger I loved it because it was my sisters and my birthday month, Halloween, and I loved playing in all the fall leaves. Kassie's birthday is actually today. I hope she has a great birthday-she deserves it. We didn't get along too well when we were children. I was a big time spoiled brat! I wish I could go back and do it better because I was so wrapped up in myself that I didn't really appreciate having such a great sister until I got older. I am glad I finally realized my mistake and became more mature and less full of myself, so I could eventually have a good relationship that I have with her today. I love my sister and I am so glad to have her in my life. She is so compassionate, thoughtful and such a good listener. She is always so supportive of me and my family. This picture of her is a few years old. It was hard for me to find a picture with just her alone because she is always helping he own daughter with something or holding and playing with one of her nieces or nephews. She is always thinking of others and quietly helping and serving them without being asked or needing any recognition. she is a great example to me and I hope I can develop some of her strengths.

In addition to the reasons above I also love October because I love to change my warddrobe for the cooler weather and watch the colors change. I love being able to got outside and play with kids without getting all sweaty and overheated. I also love the harvest time and being able to see the rewards of all my summer gardening and feeling resourceful as I do my best to can or bake a few things here and there. My garden has been pretty pathetic this year because our soil quality is so poor. It is basically straight sand and I tried to put enough garden top soil in when I planted the plants and I fertilized as well, but it wasn't enough to improve the quality-at least not for the tomatoes. I have been quite jealous of some of my friends gardens. Catherine and Valerie I am open to any of your suggestions. I doubt next year I will even be able to do a garden with a new baby. Anyway, I was picking some of my vegetables and Kate thought they might like a chance to swing on the swing. I think it is funny how she attibutes human feelings to things like vegetables.

Another reason to love October is the chance to listen to conference. I must be so deprived of the spirit in my busy mom life because just the music alone was almost overwhelming to me-especially the primary choir. I noticed Kate paid much more attention when the kids sang and she asked a lot of questions about the songs. That made it more meaningful as well. I definitely had a greater desire to improve on my prayers and I plan on trying to have some prayers that are just full of gratitude without asking for anything. I also know I need to study my scriptures better individually and as a family. I want to attend the temple more and make greater efforts to be reverent during sacrament meeting. I had never really considered it to be similar to the temple. I can't believe the nerve of some people texting or making phone calls though (at least I am not that bad). I also need to make sure I am living in the moment and using humor to deal with life challenges instead of getting all stressed out. It was also very humbling to me to hear the stories of members around the world, pioneers, and Joseph Smith. There were so many good messages and I tried to focus but with my kids needing attention and my own fatigue I know I missed a lot, so I am excited to be able to study the talks again when they come out in the Ensign.