this past week, the new barn is up and running, and General Conference

We found out on Tuesday that Ryan was getting transferred out of New Orleans. Normally we don't know until the following week where he wound up, but apparently the office workers were very efficient and changed the companionships on the mission's webpage ahead of time, so Ryan found out he was going to Lafayette, which is about an hour west of  Baton Rouge. We'll find out tomorrow exactly where he is. One of the cool things is--our friend Jiaxin had met Ryan's new companion, Elder Jean Louis from Haiti, while they (Jiaxin and Elder Jean Louis) were in the MTC. Wow.

Another exciting happening from last week is that we got our computer back from the shop. I can now post photos again. :)

Zach, Landon, and Stephanie at the Ogden Temple Open House

me, Zach, and Denise inside the museum at Hill Air Force Base

Denise, me, Andrew, and Heather in the BYU bookstore

Haley and Matt

they started milking in the new dairy barn on Tuesday!

60 cows can be milked at once (it was only 20 in the old barn)

Last week was my last week subbing for Mrs. A. I enjoyed the job and am very grateful that I could work since we had extra bills in August. I will also enjoy and be grateful for a little time at home this week to clean the house, work on family history, go to the temple, and work on seminary without having such a time crunch.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, there are just a few "best" days of the year, two are at Christmas time and the others deal with General Conference. Conference seems to get better every time.

Having said that, I'm going to add that Conference just isn't the same as it used to be in our house. Hannah worked on Saturday and then on Sunday she watched the sessions in at the church with an investigator (since we don't have satellite, we crowd around our computer to watch and that didn't seem the best for inviting someone over, although we've done that before). We chose our words to look for during conference (hope, wisdom, covenant, mother, civil-that's Eric for you, box-that's Eric's companion for you, pure, temple, high, potato-that's Geoff for you, and story), and we had our bowl of skittles, but it was just kind of a calmer affair than it used to be with just Glen, Alex, and me being here. It was still great, though.

Now, while there wasn't a single talk I didn't enjoy, benefit from, and like, there are a few that really stood out. These will be the ones that will be first for me to watch and read again:

Last Saturday's Women's Broadcast-
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf "Living the Gospel Joyful"

Saturday Morning session-
Elder Lynn G. Robbins "Which Way Do You Face?"

Saturday Afternoon session-
Elder Jorg Klebingat "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence"

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "Seek Opportunities to Care for the Poor"

Priesthood Session-
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf "Lord, Is It I?"

Sunday Morning session-this session was a bit different in that I liked all the talks, but none of them had me saying "wow" the entire time the speaker was talking. If I did pick just one talk that I will probably go back and review before the others, it would be:

Sister Carol F. McConkie "Live According to the Words of the Prophets"

Sunday Afternoon session-this session was a bit different in that I would put just about all the talks on the list. Fabulous session. Which will I read before the others? Probably:

Elder Richard G. Scott "Make the Exercise of Your Faith Your First Priority"

Elder M. Russell Ballard "Stay in the Boat and Hold On!"

There was a fascinating article in the Deseret News this past week that dealt with a topic that several conference speakers mentioned. The article is titled: Too Old? Out of Touch? LDS prophets and apostles engage globally to stay informed, connected and relevant


So, it was a great weekend and we're looking forward to a great week as Alex turns 14 on Friday. He'll be old enough to go to church dances! Wow. Mind boggling.