General Conference!

Once again, it has been a long time since my last post.  As usual, I have just been so busy.  Somehow it seems like every night I have something going on, and then, of course, I have to write in my journal when I get home (I still haven't posted to show how my journals that I printed turned out.  I really am going to do that one of these days), so I never find time to post to this blog. I really wanted to post about Johsy's baptism last Saturday.  We were so excited that he decided to get baptized, because he wasn't sure he wanted to for awhile.  Jan did a post about that, so you can find her post here.  It was such a sweet baptism, and I was so happy for Joshy.

On Friday night we had an Easter egg hunt, and had all of our little kiddies there.  It was really fun to see all of them running around the yard--but I haven't had time to go through my pictures of them yet.  When I do, I'll try to get to posting some of them (but with my track record lately, I can't promise I'll get to it).  I just love spending time with all of my little nieces and nephews!

I did want to do a post today though, becuase I just had such a wonderful weekend with General Conference.  I LOVE General Conference--it is always such a spiritual feast, and I just feel so good and happy and blessed, and so much hope that God is in watching over us and that He will be with us no matter what happens in our lives.  I always feel so much gratitude for our leaders, who sacrifice so much for us.  And, this time, I felt so grateful for their personal touch.  I got to take two of my nephews to conference this time, and it was so special.  Actually, I took Ethan on Saturday morning, and Janice took Joshy on Sunday morning.  She's going to do a post more about Joshy, but I will mention some about him a little later in this post. 

Ethan slept over at our house on Friday night, and then we got up early to go to conference together (Jan had to work all day Saturday).  He was so good, and I was so grateful that it didn't snow.  We didn't run into any traffic, and got to Temple Square by 8:00.  Here is a picture of us in front of the temple.

Since we got there so early, we were able to get seats on the front row, at the very end.  I was so glad about that, because I wanted Ethan to be able to see the brethren as they walked in.  I had brought a conference packet for him, with little activities, and that kept him busy before the session started.  He especially loved the page where he could mark off what color tie each member of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency were wearing.  It was a good way to point out the Quorum of the Twelve to him. I  also had the leadership chart that they print in every conference Ensign, so every time we saw a member of the Seventy that I recognized, we marked them off.  I think we marked off about 35-40 of them (I don't recognize all of them, and some may have come in the other side). 

Finally it was almost time for the session to start, and we knew that the First Presidency would soon be coming out.  They came walking out of the tunnel, and Ethan was excited to see what color ties they had on.  He said, "Oh, lets see.  There are two red ties and one blue tie."  But the neatest thing happened as they came walking past where we were sitting.  President Monson looked out at the audience and saw Ethan.  He said, "Oh, look at that little boy," then, to Ethan, "Are you going on a mission someday?"  We both nodded yes, and President Monson smiled and said, "Good." 

I was just so amazed that President Monson took the time to notice Ethan and talk to him.  It was such a special moment!  But I had to laugh when we sat down and Ethan repeated again, "Two red ties and one blue tie."  I don't think he realized how neat it was that the prophet talked to him.  So I said, "Ethan, the Prophet just talked to you and asked you to go on a mission!  That is so amazing!"  Later during the singing, I had Ethan look around at the 20,000 people sitting in the Conference Center, and said, "All of these people would love to have the Prophet talk to them, and he talked to you!"  So then  he was really excited about it, and talked about it all day.  I told him later that someday when he goes on a mission he can tell people that a prophet of the Lord asked him personally to go.  I didn't have my camera out, but found this picture on the Deseret News.  I think this is just as President Monson is saying, "Oh, look at that little boy..."

I also found this picture on the Deseret News of the audience during the Saturday morning session.  I was wearing a red sweater, and have my arm around Ethan.  I put a blue circle around us, and also a circle around where President Monson was as he talked to Ethan.  So neat!

Ethan did so well during Conference--he listened and did the activities in his Conference packet.  And I just loved being so close and able to soak in the Spirit that was all around us.  I love conference!

Here is a picture of Ethan and I after the session got over. 

Since we left home at 7:30, I figured Ethan would be pretty hungry, (and knew I would!) after conference, so I decided to take him to the Conference buffet at the Roof.  It was a lot less expensive than normal since it was during the day, and I knew Ethan would love sitting right by the temple.  He did, and he loved the food as well.    He especially loved the chicken enchiladas, and some raspberry cream dessert that he ate two of.  :)  I loved being there with him, and getting to look out at the temple and the Conference Center, and talk about how much we loved conference.  I think I'm going to make The Roof a tradition every time I take my kiddies up to Conference (we have a couple more turning eight this year, and many more in the future).

Here are some pictures of our lunch.

I had such a great time with Ethan, and felt so grateful to get to have tickets becasue of my job, and to get to spend so much one on one time with him. I  hope this is an experience he will remember all of his life.

As I said, Jan will be doing a post about Josh since she went with him, but I want to write a little bit about it.  We hadn't originally planned to take Josh--I tallked to Stace about it a month or so ago (and I think I asked Josh as well), and we just felt like he needed some more time to prepare for sitting that long. But on Friday night after the Easter Egg hunt, when he found out Ethan was coming to our house to sleep over and then going to conference with us, he started totally crying, and said he really wanted to come. I felt so bad, but knew I couldn't get another ticket so late. But Janice came up with the brilliant idea to take him on Sunday morning.   She was going to give him her ticket, but since she wasn't able to go on Saturday with me and Ethan, I told her he could have my ticket, and I just watched it in the Legacy Theater while they were in the Conference Center.  Here is a picture I got of them right before they went in.  Joshy was SO excited!

As I said, Jan will write more about it--but just a preview--Joshy was so good the whole time, got to shake Elder Nelson's hand--and, President Monson talked to him as well!  Watch for Jan's post for more details!

I just wanted to post a few more pictures of Sunday afternoon. Stace came and picked up Josh after the morning session, and then Jan and went to the afternoon session together. The picture above is one we had someone take of us before conference started.  I also took a picture (below) from our seats this time. This picture actually looks farther back than we were--we were able to see the First Presidency really well the whole time--and I love watching especially President and Sister Uchtdorf.    They always look over at each other and smile.  I also put a picture below of the tunnel the brethren come out of, which is right near our seats.  I love watching the brethren interact--they have so much love for each other.  Again, I just feel so blessed to get to attend Conference in person!  

  

And finally, here is a picture I got from the Deseret News of the brethren interating after Conference.  I love that President Monson and Elder Holland are joking together.  After this picture, President Monson met his daughter Ann and then stopped to wave to everyone.  People were taking pictures, and he joked that he'd better fix his suit so he looked good. 

I just have to say that I thought the talks for this whole Conference were so inspiring. They always are, but they seem to get better every year. I especially loved President Monson's talk about death, and the story he told about the 15 year old boy who died. That boy's father works in our office, right down the hall from me, and is such a good and humble man.  I loved hearing the Prophet of God talk about his experience.  It made it so much more personal to me. 

Also, one of my friends at work did a neat post about conference.  Her mom is President Monson's secretary, and she did a post about waiting for her mom while her mom worked with President Monson on his talk.  I thought it was such a cute post (she's really witty), and also touching to see first hand the work and time President Monson (and my friend's mom!) spend getting ready for conference.  You can find it here:

I'm so grateful for our leaders, and for the sacrifices they make to help all of us learn and understand God's will for us.  We are so blessed!