The Color of Beauty

 Autumn has arrived!  It creeped quietly in, a little at a time, and then exploded all around us.  It is breathtaking to say the least.  We are surrounded by orange, yellow, red, and greens in every shade from light to brilliant.  I can't seem to get enough and knowing it is our one and only Autumn in New York we are taking complete advantage of it. 

Our week started off with a trip into the Adirondacks and we were amazed at how the color was beautiful in some areas and not so much in other areas.  We were under the impression that the color would peak and then be gone but there is still some color coming for the leaf peepers.  In fact, we are counting on slower colors going West so we can hit a couple of more places on our P-Days.  This little trip was a two day trip.  Our Mission President had told us couples to take advantage and make sure we saw the beauty and to spend the night somewhere so we could see as much as we wanted to.  We drove to Old Forge which is a big tourist area about an hour away- but it was pretty slow on the day we were there.  We made our way to Lake Placid, passing through lots of lakes before getting there.  We saw a few of the Olympic Venues but didn't hang around too long! Because our mission was to get pictures of the color!

We drove to a little town called Jay because we had read about a covered bridge there. It is pretty cool. The river underneath it was filled with granite slabs of rock.  We hiked right down into the river on those rocks.  There were some great rapids running through. It was so bright that I couldn't get that milky white water though.

We headed back toward Lake Placid with the idea that we would be driving through Saranac Lake and up to Malone.  We were planning to stay in Malone with Elder and Sister Rudd.  We had met them at our couples retreat and became fast friends.  We were excited to spend some time with them.  The drive was awesome and we pulled into their place close to 6:00.  She fed us soup and homemade bread and then showed us a little pond to go see the sunset.  We walked over and the sunset was beautiful but what was even more amazing was to watch the geese coming in to settle down for the night.  They had been out feeding all day and this was their nighttime stop.  A man who lives in Malone told us that they come back every night.  The sky was full of geese-coming in from every direction. The sound was almost deafening but we couldn't stop watching.  It almost felt like the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds.  As soon as the sky would seem to empty, there came more and more.  Soon the entire pond was full and they would stay there until morning.  The Rudds told us we needed to go back to the pond at sunrise to watch them take off. They walked down with us.  It was so freezing cold and so completely enthralling to watch as they would take off in groups.  We were told that they would do this every night until sometime at the end of October and then one day-they would just be gone.  Gone South for the winter.

The Rudds put us in their car and off we went to see the sights around Malone.  We stopped by a river to get some photos (of course) and Sister Rudd is as obsessed as I am and Elder Rudd is as sweet and patient as Mike is.  No wonder we get along so well.

They also took us to Almanzo Wilder's Farm. He is the man who married Laura Ingall's from the Little House on the Prairie.  In the show he is Almonzo but he is really Almanzo which is probably why Laura called him Manley.  We gathered leaves from the big tree there and pressed them flat in a book to use as a book mark I guess.

We said our goodbyes, vowing to meet up somewhere soon and have another adventure.  They are about 4 hours from us.  As we drove down the 11B toward Potsdam, we found other great places to snap some photos.  

We made our way through Watertown and to a little cider mill called Burrsville Cider Mill where we grabbed some freshly picked apples and, of course, some apple cider donuts. You can't go to a cider mill in New York and not get donuts!

We arrived home tired and so happy and so glad that we had ventured out for two full days of seeing, stopping, shooting and laughing.  We sure love being together.

Halloween in Rome (maybe all over New York) is fun. The people really get into decorating their homes.  They have as many lights as most of us have at Christmas.  They have blow up decorations, pumpkins, ghosts, scary mannequins, all kinds of stuff.  From what we hear, we will be seeing even more as the month goes on.  Then we were told that they leave those decorations up until almost Christmas and then they leave their Christmas decorations and lights up until Easter.  Should be fun!

There is something else that is really fun that they do with their yards.  You know how we buy the little cheap mums at Memorial Day? They don't do that here but in the fall they buy beautiful huge mums and put them all around their yards. They are expensive too. They just have potted flowers everywhere with their pumpkins.  They also put pumpkins in all of their flower beds.  I love it. It's really cool!

Our week was filled with lessons and visits with our members and our friend, Jack.  We worked on our Book of Mormon lesson and had a wonderful lesson from Mosiah 3.  Have you, by chance, watched the entire movie that President Nelson showcased at Conference?  If not, watch it.  And have tissues close by-you will need them.

Friday found us in Syracuse with the office missionaries.  We went to dinner and then back to one of their homes to help prepare bedding packets for the new missionaries that will arrive this Tuesday.  What a process.  We had a great time bundling up everything and sucking the air out of the bags to flatten them down.  We have 20 new missionaries arriving-most will stay and a few are awaiting their Visas for another country.

Saturday was a temple day for us.  We love be able to go to the temple but it only happens once a month, usually.  We loved President Nelson's talks and his admonition to get to the temple as often as we can.  It's almost a two hour drive but a beautiful drive at that.   I had a feeling, all the way there, that we would be asked to be the witness couple.  I was worried because I don't kneel so good.  Sure enough! We had that wonderful opportunity and my knee did okay.  Afterwards we ran down to the Sacred Grove to see if the leaves were changing there.  It was simply beautiful.

We then headed to the Palmyra Chill and Grill.  We have been determined to go there before it closes for the season.  We drove through town and there were no cars in the parking lot but then we saw an "Open" sign in the window.  We were so excited.  It was cold and they only have tables outside so we decided we would eat in our car.  We bought a bacon cheese burger and onion rings to share because we knew we would be getting ice cream.  Those onion rings were the best rings on the planet. And they had fry sauce.  No one here even knows what fry sauce is.   You can tell these guys have a huge Utah clientele.  Well, Mike wanted to get a large cone-just for the picture-but it has 8 scoops of ice cream and we decided it would be a waste to get one just for a picture and not be able to eat it.  Normally they only let you choose two flavors, but because no one was there they let us choose 4 flavors.  We had Toasted Coconut, Cookie Dough, Pumpkin Pie, and Panda Paws.  So Yummy! This ice cream cone is a small!!!  Four scoops is a small.  Can you believe that?  Unreal!

It seems like all we do is buy ice cream.  We kinda do!  But that will be coming to an end in 14 days because the shops are all closing for the winter.

Today was interesting.  We only had 8 people when church started and then a mom and two littles came a half hour late.  It makes me want to cry.  Mike conducted the meeting, passed the sacrament, talked, and was supposed to lead the discussion in Priesthood.  Because there were only three men, we just joined together for Priesthood/Relief Society.  Still no word on when we will merge with Rome.  It's the strangest thing.  It feels like we've been hung out to dry. Oh well, we just keep keeping on.  

Life is good here in New York. It's getting cold, we are staying busy, and we are seeing some great beauty.  We are seeing miracles happen, we are shaking our heads at times, we are rubbing shoulders with some amazing people.  We love the Sisters and Elders and are a little sad each time transfers roll around.  But we also know that the Lord is in charge of this amazing work and our Mission Leaders listen to and heed the Spirit.  We are so thankful for our testimonies.  We are thankful every day that our parents taught us by word and example to love the Lord and to serve Him.  We know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and our Savior and Redeemer.  We love Him.  We love the Holy Ghost and are so thankful for his influence in our lives.  We love our Heavenly Father and are thankful for the abundance of blessings that flow from Him.  Have a beautiful week.  We love you all!