Conference Weekend

I've mentioned before that I'd love to have my family quarantined at home. Not allowed to run errands, go to work or school, no appointments, just time at home playing together and working on that never-ending household to-do list. This past weekend was about as close to that as I can expect given our current circumstances. It was conference weekend, which means the leaders of our church speak to us during four two-hour sessions of conference. It's a time for us to refocus on what's truly important.

We spent Saturday morning at soccer games – leaving the house at 9am and not getting back til close to 1pm. Before heading home we ate lunch at Herfy’s (a small local diner with yummy fries – and fry sauce, a rarity in these parts).

Once home we watched the Saturday morning session of conference (yeah, for DVR’s). On Friday afternoon, our home teacher brought by cookies and conference packets for each of us to work on as we listened to conference. The kids had lots of fun coloring in the ties for each of the apostles and doing the little activities in the packet - Abigail’s packet included areas to take notes as well.

My visiting teacher gave me a neat little basket full of conference goodies: licorice, a pen and notebook, a mug and hot cocoa, popcorn, tissues, etc… the attached note had a cute little explanation for each of the items.

I’m grateful for people that come up with these cute ideas and share them with our family.

Justin headed down to Auburn Saturday afternoon/evening to attend the Priesthood session of conference with a friend. The kids and I got out our 72-hour kits for their annual clothing and food update. The kids look forward to this each fall cause they get to eat all the food out of their kits throughout the weekend. Which always means we’re eating soup for dinner, beef jerky and granola bars for snacks, and fruit leather for dessert.

(I braided Carly’s hair as we watched conference – something my sister and I used to do when we were kids – she slept in them Saturday night and had quite the fro on Sunday)

Hopefully, I can manage a trip to Winco in the next week or so to restock our 72-hour kits so we can move them out of the family room and back into the garage until next year.

Katie’s kit consisted of three days worth of baby food. My baby from last October has certainly changed in the last 12 months. Thankfully, she’s not a picky eater and had no problem eating pureed squash for dinner.

I love a Sunday morning that I don’t have to be in drill sergeant mode to get Justin and the kids out the door for church. Instead we lounged around in our pajamas, cooked pancakes for breakfast, and enjoyed the rest of Conference.

There were several talks that I really liked, but as a mother of three daughters, I’ve gotta say my favorite was Sister Elaine S. Dalton’s that focused on raising happy, well-adjusted daughters in today’s increasingly toxic world. She concentrated her thoughts on the father’s role in this, but much applies to mothers as well. The highlight for me was when she expressed to fathers that, “The most important thing a father can do for his daughter is to love her mother.” Sure I like it because that counsel also holds some perks for me, but I honestly believe it is true. Our three daughters adore their Dad. He has a special relationship with Abigail and Carly that I will never be a part of and I love that. Miss Katie desires more and more of Justin’s care and attention as she gets older as well. The relationship my girls have with Justin will continue to play a crucial role in the young women they become, and we are blessed that he recognizes that.

After the Sunday afternoon session we decided to venture down to Justin’s parents. Linda made her yummy chicken soup for dinner - yes, more soup, but it wasn’t from a can or styrofoam cup and it tasted delicious. The kids love playing with their cousins and grandparents and we ended up staying until it was time to get the kids home for bed.

It really was a great weekend. No we didn’t necessarily accomplish anything around the house on my to-do list, but we played games, cuddled, wrestled, talked, feasted on lots of soup and most importantly the gospel.