OH MY GOODNESS...WE LOVE THE AMISH BAKERIES!

It's a good thing there are no Amish Bakeries here in Nauvoo...way too dangerous...way too tempting.  Last Friday we went to Kalona, Iowa with the Morgans (from Holladay!).  It is a beautiful little town, the quilting capitol of Iowa, sitting right in the middle of the Amish countryside.  We went straight to the Chamber of Commerce, where we got maps, info, and paid for a tour with a cute little old man who used to be Amish (now Mennonite).  He took us on the dusty backroads, past Amish farms, schoolhouses (with children out playing softball at recess in their barefeet), and the most wonderful bakery and little general store.  The prices are so low and the goodies are so amazing...my defenses were down...I usually have to walk way out and around bakeries...but man, you have to support these wonderful people, right?

A beautiful Amish girl and her sisters spent most of the day with us on Saturday, and learned how to play "Fox and Geese" (the game with the clay marbles in the pic)...she then taught other people how to play it!

This is the block I made for the quilt we will be giving to Pres. and Sis. Ludwig when they leave in January.

Then, on Saturday we had the opportunity to serve with "Nauvoo On The Road", where we went with two other couples over to Montrose (across the river...but of course we took the 40 min. trip around and down) to their Riverfront Harvest Festival.  We rode in a van which pulled a trailer full of demo stuff for us to use...ropemaking, brickmaking, candlemaking, bakery and pioneer games, toys, etc.  We set up in the little park right on the river, next to a few (very few) others with demos, etc.  They had antique cars and tractors, food, and of course, an Amish woman who was selling her baked goods (they're out to get us, I tell ya).
Fried pies (fruit turnover but with celestial crust and glaze) brought us great joy that day.  We headed home around 3:30, with sunburned necks and faces and happy tummies.

Saturday evening we finally got to enjoy some of General Conference.  They broadcast the Priesthood meeting in one of the visitor center's theaters, and replayed the Women's Conference (for those of us who were in "Rendezvous" the previous Sat. evening) in the other theater...wow...I had heard how wonderful it was and wasn't disappointed.  The women's mtg. ended 1/2 hour before Priesthood, so they hooked us up to the end of the Priesthood session so we could hear Pres. Monson....since we had to wait around for our husbands anyway.   My first priesthood session!

Sunday morning we enjoyed the first 1 1/2 hrs. of the morning session, then had to leave to serve together at Brigham Young's home.  What a wonderful place to spend a beautiful autumn afternoon.  We're trying to get to all the other sessions online. We missed our traditional walk around Silver Lake up at Brighton, with little critters (cute grandchildren) following behind us, eating up crackers, cheese, apples and caramels.  We will plan on that tradition continuing in Oct. of 2013!

Beautiful refurbished wooden tractor...the Amish only use the metal wheels...no rubber tires...too modern

Every morning now, we seem to meet up with our deer friends...I think they recognize us, and seem to let us get a little bit closer before they head back to their forest home.  They're always heading west, after visiting the meadows and cornfields which are starting to look pretty barren...oh it is so beautiful here, and the air is so clean, and there are squirrels everywhere...and noisy crows and other fun birds.  Please plan on coming with us on morning walks when you're here.

More of our dears friends are heading out in the next few days, and tomorrow is our last show as the Heber C. cast and next week we begin with the new Parley P. cast, on Tues., Thurs., and Sat. evenings in October.  They have a Halloween celebration here in town, where they line Mulholland with carved pumpkins that are lit up (and we get to help with the scooping and carving)...Steve is going to be in the crazy Halloween band, which will ride in the Brass Band's wagon in a parade that evening...and he is going to be singing "Monster Mash"...are you just busting your buttons with pride?

I had the opportunity to serve as asst. site leader at the post office...but only for a few weeks

We've been called to serve together as asst. site leaders at the Cultural Hall, the beautiful 3 story building where we do our show.  Each morning our prep. group meets there for announcements, song, inspirational thought and prayer.  We're involved now with setting things up before others arrive and conducting the meeting, making sure the building is maintained, and this month we're in charge of the farewell breakfast, so there's always assignments for us in this calling...I will probably serve there two days a week to give tours.  OK...that's enough for now...night, night!