Trunk or Treat!

Saturday was our Wards annual truck or treat and the kids had a great time. They all wanted to be a cowboy (Aubrey a cowgirl of course) and they had a lot of fun dressing up. Took me awhile to convince Dallin to get into his costume. He didn't want to take his pistols as they didn't make any noises like Justin's and instead he wanted to bring his toy army machine gun which had the sound of rapid fire. The army gun made it to the van but that's about as far is it got. Things as usual are pretty busy and we were lucky to get the Wayment traditional pumpkin totem pole up this year. Justin actually helped me clean all the pumpkins out while Aubrey looked on in disgust. As Catherine says, she is becoming more and more like a "girly girl". I am afraid that as time goes on that phrase will quickly change to "high maintenance".

Before the trunk or treat we took the kids to the Doctor to have their flu shot this year. We missed it last year and they all were hit pretty hard. Of course I didn't get the flu shot this year. For most of those that know me, I am not a big fan of needles (yes I am a wuss) and so far have been pretty lucky to not get the flu. (Knock on wood!) It was a pretty comical experience at the Doctors office as two of them would watch on as one of them got the shot. Justin and Dallin didn't cry at all and Dallin seemed to have a quizzical look on his face as if to say, "what just happened?". Aubrey on the other hand was playing the role of drama queen quite well. In the end I ended up having to hold her while she got the shot.

Justin and Aubrey just completed the Elementary school annual Eagle Run which is kind of like a field day for the kids and they get to participate in various activities outside. I think Catherine gets as excited as the kids for this event each year. She spent most of the day helping the teachers and bouncing between Justin's and Aubrey's class and keeping Dallin out of trouble.

The weather here in Tennessee has started cooling off and it feels great! The leaves have started changing colors and before long will all be in my backyard waiting for me to rake them up. It amazes me each year how quickly time moves on. Before we know it will be Christmas and then on to 2009. Over the past week I have spent time listening to a talk by President Henry B. Eyring entitled "This Day" which he gave during the April 2007 General Conference. The main focus of his talk was to help us understand the need and importance of acting today and to avoid the trap of thinking we can wait until tomorrow. President Eyring stated "The God who gives us each day as a treasure will require an accounting. We will weep, and He will weep, if we have intended to repent and to serve Him in tomorrows which never came or have dreamt of yesterdays where the opportunity to act was past. This day is a precious gift of God. The thought "Someday I will" can be a thief of the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity." This statement has given me a lot to ponder on and has helped me recognize the need to act each day and to try and prevent procrastinating which I have mastered so well. During a meeting at church recently, a member of our ward describe it best for me when he said "Planning pays off in the future but procrastination pays off today!" Too frequently this has been my motto. (Hence the large gap in my blog postings!)

Well it's time to bring this posting to an end. To go along with the President Eyrings comments about "this day" I thought I would leave you with the following poem.

“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!—

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,—act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

With all our love!

The Wayments