Harvest Festival

We went to our Stake Harvest Festival on Saturday night and had a great time dancing!  My friend Rachelle said her kids had fun watching me dance because I knew "all the moves".  Haha!  Peter did some dance move last night and said, "Mom, can you do this?"  You should have seen his chagrin when I said, "Sure", and pulled it off without a hitch.

This is a video of Mary dancing the Samba with Kevin.  She said she had "terrible technique", for the record, but I think they look awesome!

And here is Libby dancing with Travis (Kevin's brother).  They are doing a Lindy to "I Will Survive". The choreography is a dance their whole team learned last year.

It was super fun to see the girls dancing like this!

Jesse is training a new companion!  She is having a great time with this companion.

Cider Festival!

We had our 16th Annual Cider Festival this week.  It's always a miracle that we pull it off.  This year I got stung by a bee two days before and my arm got swollen and infected from the sting.  I pulled out all my healing arts tools for this one, as it was a pretty serious infection, but thanks to the healing power of the Great Physician, assisted by some wonderful friends, I was able to be functional enough to make all the doughnuts on Saturday and be fully present for the event. It was truly a miracle.

(Blog warning: Lorena gets up on Soapbox)
In the past, I would have written a whole blog on just what tools from the healing arts I used, but because I didn't use a pharmaceutical drug, and because of FDA regulations, I cannot link any unproven remedy to an ailment.  This is a recent change.  Up until now, I was able to at least share my own experience, but that is no longer the case.  This is so pharmaceutical companies that spend millions of dollars proving that their product is effective can connect their product with curing ailments.  It's important that these companies justify the money they spent on these studies.  Meanwhile, when a natural remedy is effective, we are silenced.   Be assured that I am looking to vote fore people who will change these regulations, but in the meantime, I am able to say I was much improved and functional, but not able to share how that happened.  However, I will say that all healing (whether you use a pharmaceutical drug or not) takes place because of Jesus Christ, and His healing power.  He is the light and life of the world, and I witness my gratitude for Him.
(Lorena gets down from Soapbox)

SO, we had a wonderful time, and here is an essay in pictures of the event.  Thank you to Nic, who attended the Cider Festival for the first time (what???) for taking these pictures!  (And Mary and Becca helped).

Hello Duke and Daisy!

Nic, Mary and Becca

Talia helps Bruce press the cider.

Hello Buttercup!

I had great help from Royden and Penny frying the doughnuts, and earlier from Collette.

The final product!

Here's Mary turning on the charm!

Nic liked the doughnuts!

I love this man.

This little guy balled his eyes out when his Mom told him it was time to go.  :)

Bruce said these boys pressed most of the cider.  They worked hard!

My next rotation of helpers with the doughnuts.  Thanks guys!

Pumpkin/apple/straw art!

Poor Emma was not up for this tractor ride!  Mean Uncle Bruce!

Thank you to all who came, participated, brought chili, and helped in any way.  We had a wonderful time with family and friends!

We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet

Nic, Mary and Joseph went on a road trip to General Conference this weekend!

 Mary posted on Facebook, "This morning I went to conference. I know that the Prophet and Apostles are inspired and have the authority from God to run His church. This morning when the prophet and first presidency walked in and everyone stood up, I could feel it so much! I just wanted to shout praises to the Lord. I thank thee, O God, for a prophet!
 ‪#‎plazaseats‬ ‪#‎soamazing‬ ‪#‎iknow‬ ‪#‎testimony‬ ‪#‎ldsconf‬‪#‎prophet‬ ‪#‎thomassmonson‬ ‪#‎iloveconference‬"

They met up with friends Marisol, Shailor and Denise.

What a wonderful General Conference!  The calling of three new apostles at once has not happened since 1906.  It was history in the making.  Elders Rasband, Stevenson and Renlund will be wonderful apostles.  I'm so grateful for the calling of Apostle and Prophet.  They are set up as a great protection for us.  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is the unique opportunity to be both led by personal revelation and the voice of the living prophet, and therein lies the protection from being deceived and led astray.  I am so grateful for this protection!

Libby has been doing "plush blanket art" on the counter.  Jesse - this is your green blanket that Kalli gave you for Christmas.  :)

Libby selfie!  This is where she can be found 24/7 - well that's exaggerating, but not by much.  This is her favorite reading spot.

Nic took this picture earlier in the week.

It's Libby and Mary asleep on the massage table in my office.  This is mid-afternoon.  They take after their mama - they can sleep anywhere, anytime.

Peter asked Nic to help him make a water turbine on Friday.  It generated up to 44 volts!

Nic is so kind to spend time with Peter - we appreciate him so much. (But truth be told - Nic had as much fun as Peter did - haha.)

We had a challenge this week with the battery on the Honda Accord.  It took us awhile to figure out what was going on, and in the meantime, Bruce put in a spare battery and we were jumping it from the spare in the back seat everywhere we went.  When Libby and I were out running errands, we jumped it 3 or 4 times in a row.  Finally I said, "This might be the last time we do this (because we were going to buy a new one)," and Libby replied, "Oh, and we were just getting a system down.  That's not good!"  We had a good laugh over it! 

It's so good to laugh.  I went through a time in my life where laughter felt foreign.  It doesn't feel so now, and I'm ever grateful for that!