General Conference, April 2011. cont'd

Day two of General Conference weekend started out with a lovely display of Mother Nature's power. She decided our plum tree needed some thinning.

The poor tree may look a little sadder. But at least it will likely survive. Some of our neighbors sadly lost trees completely. But, we still had the rest of conference to look forward to.

We started our morning with homemade beignets. The girls were especially excited to try out this treat. They learned about them from Princess Tiana from Disney's The Princess and the Frog movie. They were quite rich and delicious. Rae did a wonderful job of getting them done just right.

We enjoyed watching the Sunday morning of Conference streamed to us again on the computer. It seemed to have more stutter in it than the day before. Perhaps there were quite a few more people logging on to lds.org to get their semi-annual dose of Conference inspiration. We opted to use the computer to watch Conference because our television is in a smaller room in the basement, and it doesn't get good reception. So we spread out and relaxed in the living room upstairs to enjoy the sessions.

In between sessions my parents provided a delicious turkey dinner. My mother had it prepared for my uncle and aunt that had been in town from Las Vegas. But the snowy weather scared them away early, so we got to be the beneficiaries instead. Yummy!

We took our time eating the turkey dinner. So we were a bit late starting the last session of Conference. Not to worry with the magic of streaming over the Internet. We just backed up the stream a few minutes and started from the beginning. I'm glad we didn't have to miss any of Elder Scott's talk. He shared some pretty tender thoughts and experiences.

During the last session, the kids and I put together a Lego model of the White House. Our family visited Washington, D.C. around Conference time last year. So it was a fun way to commemorate the trip one year later.

Later, Rae and the girls made "bunny buns." Yet another yummy treat filled our tummies on General Conference weekend. These were made of baked dough and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

I'm so grateful for the time we were able to spend together as a family. It was a fantastic weekend! I'll keep thinking back on this time as an uplifting memory to help get me through the challenging work week ahead of me.

General Conference, April 2011

I'm very grateful for General Conference time.

Life, especially work, has been really busy lately. And being able to take a break this weekend has been a huge blessing.

I quite enjoy the messages, music, and the spirit of General Conference. But I also liked the traditions. My favorite tradition is Rae's special snack food she whips up at conference time. We call it "Rae Dip" and it is the yummiest cracker dip ever. It's a mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and salsa. We usually enjoy it with Wheat Thins. Yummy! Too bad the kids ate both boxes of the crackers on the first day!

Keeping the kids happy during eight hours of General Conference is a bit tricky. At least we can be a bit relaxed in the comfort of our home. Rae found some activities online and printed them out for the kids. They included some Conference-themed bingo cards, coloring pages, and puzzles. Our six-year-old got into the coloring the most. She drew pictures of all the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency. See if you can guess who is in each drawing. These are the drawings she did for the Saturday general sessions:

Priesthood Session

I'm really torn about the Priesthood Session of conference.

On the one hand, I really, really love enjoying a session of conference that I feel like is just for me. It's a time to focus on listening to the messages without the distractions of everyday life, especially the children. The music is usually really awesome at the Priesthood Sessions too.

But on the other hand, I don't get the benefit of being able to sit with my darling wife during the session. Worse, she gets to deal with the challenge of caring for the the children all alone: getting them dinner, ready for bed, etc. Sometimes I wish the Priesthood Session were a little shorter. (Isn't the Young Women meeting only about 90 minutes?) That way I wouldn't be away from the family for so long. And the time of the day is a bit tricky since it's right around bedtime for the children. I also wish adult sessions of Stake Conferences weren't usually at that time for the same reason.

Still, this Priesthood Session was yet another really good one. I especially liked President Uchtdorf's message. It was very motivating to me. When I returned home after the session, we had family prayer time. But instead of our usual Scripture Study time after the prayer, Rae asked me to share with the family a report of what I learned from the Priesthood Session. Boy! Was I glad I took notes on my "smart phone." :) (You'll have to watch President Uchtdorf's talk to hear about that little joke!) It was a nice chance to share with the children why going to the Priesthood Session is so important to me. I was grateful to share with them my testimony of the Gospel. Hopefully the things I learned and shared can help them to build up their own testimonies further.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

It's been a week since Thanksgiving, but I'm still very much in a thankful mood. Today, I'm feeling particularly grateful for my wife.
Here are a few of the many wonderful things she has done for our family in the past week:
• bought me my favorite cereal
• cared for our baby while I taught my Sunday School class
• got our daughters ready for their concert and didn't even have enough time to eat her own dinner
• arranged for someone to watch our son and baby so I could go with the missionaries to teach a lesson
• got all of our kids ready for school in the mornings
• took all of the kids to the dentist
• agreed to play several rounds of my favorite card game, Spaced Out, with me
• took our baby in for immunizations
• taught our baby to walk
• washed all of our laundry and even ironed my handkerchiefs

She is so amazing. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

I love you, Gorgeous!