Hello friends, I am sorry it’s been so long since my last post, I want to thank you all for being patient with me. I was really busy through November, but now that it’s over I am excited to inform you of all the great things that have kept me so busy. First of all, I am extremely excited to announce that I am officially done the first draft of my book! I was able to reach my goal of getting to 50,000 words by the end of November. I crossed the finish line of my Goal yesterday on November 30th, but even after meeting my word goal, I found myself not quite to the end of the book. This afternoon, the words “The End” graced the bottom of my page as word numbers 53216 and 53217 after which I immediately collapsed on my key board. Now after picking myself up deleting all the stray A’s and numbers scurrying across the screen I am here trying to get up to date on my blog and once I am up to date here I can start the long and grueling process of editing, revising, rewriting and more editing, hurray! I will start where I left off, at one of my favorite times of the year...
Halloween
This year we had a great time celebrating All Hallows Eve, even though we were not able to decorate with my usual enthusiasm or even carve pumpkins. But that didn’t stop us from making the best of what we had to work with. First of all the weekend before Halloween some friends of ours here had a FANTASTIC Halloween party, it was a potluck dinner and mingle. I made some scalloped potatoes in my newly acquired crock pot. To save on the electricity bill, Joel took the crock pot to school with him and let it cook all day in his little study room. We need to remember to thank the school for cooking our supper for us, and we also need to thank the school for providing us with costumes. We covered ourselves in toilet paper we took from a few of the restrooms here at the school and went as Mummies. It was really funny because we rolled ourselves in toilet paper at the school and then tried walking to the house with the party, but the toilet paper was falling off us bad, we couldn't bend over to pick it up or it would rip the rest of the toilet paper all over us, so we had to just let it go. There was a trail of toilet paper all the way from the school to the house, lucky it wasn't that far. (We picked it all up on our way home) But the walk there was extremely hilarious. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. We had a great time at the party; there were some really creative costumes, great friends, and great food.
Just a quick explanation about my hair, earlier that morning there was a relief society activity where the local branch members taught us how to make Guava Juice and how to braid our hair Dominican Style! I was a demonstration model for the hair, didn’t the ladies do an excellent job? Kelsey and I were a little surprised and amused at how much sugar went into the juice, but it was pretty delicious!
For actual Halloween night the spouses club here on the island held a Kids Festival which I was an active participant in. First of all I just want to say that the women here are amazing. So many people with and without children helped to put together an excellent party for the kids here. The kids were able to trick or treat around different faculty offices, and come back to the party for some food, snacks, great games and a costume contest. Here are some pictures of the fun. Again, huge props to all the people who made this happen, it was really fantastic.
I will
admit, I was feeling a little down about not being able to carve pumpkins this
year but again I improvised. This was actually really fun, and the carving
process was a lot yummier and quicker than usual. I do miss pumpkin seeds
though...
That completes our Halloween Adventures. Tune in next blog for news about some fun snorkeling trips.
