General Conference at our house

What a wonderful weekend we've had. General Conference was fabulous. Besides watching Conference itself, we have a few other conference traditions.

One, I make an almond cream cheese bundt cake to snack on:

Two, we all choose a word for our "Listen for" list. Then each time we hear one of those words during Conference, we get to take a skittle for our pile. This conference we listened for temple (and boy did the kids score big when President Monson gave his talk on temples), covenant, commandments, Jesus (Alex's choice and it was said so often that I'm wondering if we should not allow any words from "The Church of Jesus Christ" during October's conference), hope, and comfort. Since Glen and I aren't really into skittles we rarely take any, but the kids sure love them.

Alex listening to Pres. Monson's talk on temples

Ryan and Hannah with the skittles bowl

Another tradition we normally have is to put up the picture of the Apostle that is speaking. That is how we discovered that each conference we hear from every apostle except one of them only speaks at the Priesthood session. Did anyone else notice that we didn't hear from Elder Hales? Elder Andersen spoke in priesthood, so he didn't speak in a regular session, but Elder Hales isn't on the list at all. Anyone know if he was there? Is he ill? Did they announce that or that he was elsewhere and I missed it? Anyway, I couldn't find our Apostle pictures yesterday, so we didn't do that this time around, which made me sad because I learned of a new tradition that I wanted to try. It's called a General Conference wall.

To make a General Conference Wall, you put the pictures of the Apostles up on the wall, then as that speaker is talking everyone has post-it notes that they use to write down something they learned or really liked that the speaker said. Then you put the note on the persons picture so later you can use that for Family Home Evening lessons or just a family discussion. Maybe next time. (wonder where my pictures are)

Ryan and Glen just couldn't endure to the end

Usually we do a good job staying awake. Glen even napped in-between sessions, yet he wasn't able to keep his eyes open the last 30 minutes...and Ryan joined him. I'm glad we can already find the sessions to watch on lds.org! Ryan and Hannah already watched yesterday morning's session that they missed due to sports. I love technology.

http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/04?lang=eng
I was going to post a few notes here about the talks themselves, but perhaps I'll save that for my other blog.

Happy Birthday Andrew! and other stuff

Andrew turned 21 today.

Elder Ray and Elder Perazzo 2 April 2011 Oskaloosa, Iowa

Andrew blowing out his candles

I just have to love the internet. The lady, Sister Davis, who fed Andrew his favorite meal today (chicken pilaf) has already sent me pictures of Andrew on his birthday today. How cool is that!?


He should be home from his mission in 3 months.

I get to sign him up for his classes tomorrow night at 11 pm. I don't want to do any rearranging, so I hope there are still spaces available in the time slots he wants (2 of his classes are down to only 7 & 8 spots left).

Meanwhile it is transfer time for him this next Wednesday. I had been thinking that his companion, Elder Ray, has been in the current area several transfers, so I would think if anyone is being transferred, it would be Elder Ray. But you never know. I still figured Andrew would be staying in Oskaloosa. In Sister Davis' email she mentioned that Andrew and Elder Ray found out today that they are both staying in Oskaloosa. Once again, I just gotta love the internet.


It's General Conference weekend. What fabulous messages today. I think the one I'm going to study first is Elder Russell M. Nelson's. I think his was my favorite today. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Hannah had a track meet at Reed in Reno today and was able to throw the discus...she has a sore leg and so hasn't practiced this week but was able to fill in for a no-show. She was excited because she managed to not hit anyone (apparently that almost happened once).

Ryan participated in the "Aqua 5" today. Normally each swimmer can only participate in 2 different events. At the Aqua 5, they can complete in 5 different events. And Ryan did-- including a new event for him--the 100 m butterfly.

I had to bring Hannah in at 5:45 this morning and Ryan in at 7:45. Thank goodness they both arrived back in Fallon within a few minutes of each other so I only had to go in once to pick them up. It's amazing how such a little thing can make me feel so happy.

Tonight Glen, Eric, Hannah, and I are going to the Arts Center here and watch "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It's always fun to see what others do with a play. (play update: it was FABULOUS...so glad Glen helped with the unpacking and the set take down so we could get free tickets)

Denise and I also signed up for Ed Week this week. Pretty exciting.

We are going to call and cancel our satellite this next week. And call and sign Eric up to take his driver's test. Yikes.

Well, that finishes off my week. Hope this next one is another good one.