Conference Weekend

I love General Conference so much. It always comes and just the right time and is so uplifting and motivating! This year my mom was in town having just come from watching 3 of my siblings run the Saint George Marathon (Hooray Jen, Tara and Billy!), so we had my mom and my little brother Sterling and his wife Katie over to watch with us on Sunday. We had German Pancakes for breakfast and then Katie made some DELICIOUS cinnamon rolls for lunch (yes that's ALL we ate for lunch... yum!) and then Billy and Jen and Britta joined us for dinner after Conference was over. We always like to have the kids listen to conference but understand that the reality of having them sit through 8 hours over 2 days isn't very realistic. On Saturday we had them sit through at least one talk for each session and then let them play while we watched but on Sunday I really wanted to have them listen, so we did a few different things to keep them interested. In the past we've done Conference Bingo and the activity booklets where they color a tie to match the one on the person speaking and do other activities, but they whiz through those in 2 talks and then it's over!! So this year I decided to shake things up and do something different for each talk. One talk I had them do conference bingo (the bingo cards have gospel topics on them so they have to listen to the talks and then they can mark off spots that the speaker has talked about). And they use candy for the markers, then after they get four in a row they can eat the candy for that row. Then for another talk we pulled out a big poster board and had the kids draw things that they heard the speaker talking about. We had pictures of families and hearts for love and missionaries and Tyler was so excited when someone read a scripture that said the word "destruction" in it and so he spent the rest of the talk drawing things being destroyed! Lol! Leave it to Tyler! Then for another talk they wrote words that they heard, for another one I used the candy again and instead of having to get four in a row on their bingo card, they got candy every few minutes when I'd ask them what the speaker was talking about or what the topic of the talk was. Then we let them color in some new coloring books for another talk. Anyway! It seemed to work really well. Nathan didn't' last too terribly long but enjoyed the talks where I used candy to keep them interested and the coloring. Maddie on the other hand sat through both Sunday session and even took notes for the afternoon session in her journal! Sweet girl! She was so cute trying to learn how to write what they'd said, without getting confused by why they were saying right then! I think it's a good skill to learn! Although 6 is a little young to be an accomplished note-taker, I was so proud of her for trying! Anyway it was a great day and I'm so glad that we had family here to share it with. Here's a few pictures from Sunday:

our Conference Bingo cards with yummy skittle markers:

Sterling, Katie and our sweet little Logan:Maddie singing one of the rest hymns:

And all of my boys sitting together:

I've been thinking a lot recently about my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and what that means to me and how it has blessed my life. Especially in light of the passing of my friend Becca Leonard and thinking about her sweet family and what challenges they have in front of them now that she's gone. And as I was getting ready to do my visiting teaching and I read the message for the month in the Ensign and it was on how Understanding and Living the Gospel blesses our lives. In it was a quote from Elder Robert D. Hales that said, "The reason we pray, study the scriptures, have good friends, and live the gospel through obedience to the commandments is so that when—not if, but when—the trials come, we are ready". I loved that he pointed out with no hesitation that we will all have trials, I was reminded that Heavenly Father is aware of this trial of the passing of sweet Becca, but even in the midst of our trials but we can be strengthened as we do the simple things to nourish ourselves spiritually. Then they quoted Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin and said, "Spiritual nourishment is just as important as a balanced diet to keep us strong and healthy. We nourish ourselves spiritually by partaking of the sacrament weekly, reading the scriptures daily, praying daily in personal and family prayer, and performing temple work regularly. Our spiritual strengths are like batteries; they need to be charged and frequently recharged." What a great reminder that in order to be prepared when hard times come we need to keep our spiritual batteries charged even BEFORE the trials come, not try to start doing it once we are already in the face of trial or tragedy. And then comes the promise from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that said, "I testify as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ that He lives, that the gospel is true, and that it offers the answers to all personal and collective challenges the children of God have on this earth today" What a blessing! As I read this message I again felt SO grateful that I have the knowledge of the gospel that even death will not separate us and that we can still find peace and even happiness. My testimony was strengthened as I recalled the simple things that I've tried to do in my life that have made the trials in my life more bearable. The weekend before Becca passed away was also the General Relief Society Broadcast, and I was able to go with a group of women in our ward to the Conference Center in Salt Lake and listen in person to the General Relief Society Presidency as well as President Henry B. Eyering. I feel like I was being prepared in a way for the trial of Becca's passing as I had a huge outpouring of the spirit at our own Ward Temple Night and Stake Conference and then going to the RS meeting and then afterwards enjoying General Conference. I'm so grateful for that. Some of the things that stood out to me in the Relief Society meeting was when Sister Beck said that we need to learn the noble art of getting things done, but the even nobler art of leaving things undone. Basically seek out the MOST important things and learn to leave the things of lesser importance undone. And the message from President Eyering on remembering the charitable heritage of the Relief Society and finding ways in our lives to be more charitable. Some of my favorite quotes from Conference were: Richard G. Scott, "The Lord will not force you to learn." Russell T. Osguthorpe, "Aim High" and "Think about, Feel about and then DO something about gospel principles." and I LOVED Elder David A. Bednar's talk when he gave us tips on how to be more diligent and concerned at home. He said that we needed to "1-Express love and show it, 2- Bear Testimony and live it, and 3- Be Consistent." As he talked about being consistent as parents and how the kids may not ever remember the details of any one Family Home Evening Lesson that you taught them, or the words to a certain prayer that you said, what they WILL remember is that you HAD Family Home Evening and that you prayed together as a family. He drew the analogy of a beautiful painting and how if you examine each brush stroke individually, it may not seem that they are very significant or impressive, but as you step back and observe the entire painting you see that each stroke is important in creating the whole painting. We are making brush strokes on the canvas of our children every day. And though it may seem like our efforts are sometimes wasted in the end we are still adding to that beautiful painting in instilling in them values and creating habits and teaching them where to turn when trials come. He then quoted a scripture that has taken on a whole new meaning as he used it in this context and it's found in the Doctrine and Covenants 64:33 and it says, "Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." Sometimes as a mother I feel like I'm only making tiny insignificant strokes on a great canvas and this scripture reminded me that it's okay. It's all good things that I'm trying to do and it's the foundation of something great. And without my small efforts, that great result of good, faithful, hard working children wouldn't stand. Every little bit helps. I feel so grateful for a living Prophet and for all of the general authorities and their testimonies and strength that we could feel so strongly this weekend.