Living the Life

I hope you had a happy Halloween! Creed had a full day. After a birthday party and a nap, we cruised the neighborhood. For our ward Trunk-or-treat Halloween night, Creed was the Pigeon again.

My cousin Whitney and her fiance Scott came along dressed as a Democrat and a Republican Which conveniently relates to today. I was wary of the lines, but not knowing when Larry would get home, Creed and I bundled up and trudged out into the rain to vote at the Elementary School down the street. I was sad/happy to find only three people in line in front of me so only a few minutes later, we were headed home with our "I Voted" stickers. It was cold outside so my camera fogged up, but here's a wet Creed on our walk home.

It's funny how much Halloween and the Election have been making think a lot about our old life in Columbus. In Columbus, they did not usually Trick-Or-Treat on Halloween, they had a different assigned Beggar's Night in each community. This year our old neighborhood was trick-or-treating the night before Halloween. I quickly learned there that everyone in our neighborhood handing out candy sat outside on their porch or in their driveway and trick-or-treaters will not usually knock on your door, even if all of your lights are on and your house is decked out. This year, I missed having a few kids waiting outside my door at exactly 6:00 because they knew we always handed out full-sized candybars. Here Trick-or-treat is always on Halloween (unless Halloween is a Sunday), but in our neighborhood, they held Trunk-or-treat at a nearby church instead.

It's crazy how different the election is here. Sure, you can't avoid Political stuff during national TV, but in Ohio we were bombarded with ads since the elections could always go either way. Here, the majority is so strongly Republican that I feel like my vote would not possibly effect the outcome, but I still vote just because that's what a good citizen is supposed to do. In Ohio, reliable information on local candidates was so easy to find. I could pull up charts on the issues and each candidates stance, and make an educated decision from there. Here it is so hard to find that kind of information. Instead of each candidate's stance, I most often just find a statement on what they intend to do that does not address most of my questions. Larry says he's so grateful not to be in Ohio receiving recorded messages from candidate Mary Jo Kilroy at 2:30 in the morning, but I kind of miss all of the excitement and debate.