General Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was so incredibly awesome. It is such a great opportunity to hear from the leaders of our church. It's such a blessing that we can watch conference in our home and have it bless our lives. There were a lot of powerful talks given and I feel very uplifted and want to be a better person and make better choices. There were some great memories of this weekend that I want to remember.

*In the first session, President Monson announced that there will be 5 new temples built - Philadelphia, Calgary, Argentina, Kansas City, and Rome. Jim served his mission and was thrilled that they were building a temple there. I think he wants to go to the open house. He was so excited that he had a hard time paying attention to the next speaker. Jim's brothers served in Calgary and Argentina. Jim was thrilled that there would be a temple in each mission that he and his brothers served. My mom served a mission in Kansas City and there building one there too. I don't know anyone who served in Rome, but I have a friend who visited Rome. Cool! I've made a connection to each of the temples announced.

*Jim headed off for school and missed the second session of conference. The kids were all so good and watched General Conference with me. They sang with the Primary Choir. It was one of the sweetest moments for me on Saturday. Jim will be able to watch the Saturday session with us later since I recorded it.

*Jim and Josh went to the Priesthood session. I was thrilled to see Jim and Josh all dressed up to go to Conference together. It was Josh's first priesthood session. While the boys were attending conference, the girls went to Grandma Pace's house to play and eat. The girls had a great time with their cousins. Angela and Emily were on the trampoline almost the whole time we were there. We don't have a trampline, so when we go see Grandma they jump as much as possible. Dani has a cousin her age that she absolutely loves and spent the entire time with her. My kids have awesome cousins.

Josh and Devon both attended the Priesthood session. It was fun to listen to them talk about the the Priesthood session and the talks that were given, especially President Monson's talk.

*Sunday morning, Josh went to serve at the Randolph Center with the youth in our ward, so he missed the morning conference session. We had it on DVR so he will see it again and again these next 6 months. It was a great opportunity for him to serve. My sister went with her ward and commented how sweet Josh was while he was serving.

*Sunday afternoon, Dani set up a tent for the family to watch the last session of conference. In the latest issue of the Friend, there is a story of a family who set up a tent to watch conference just like the people in the Book of Mormon did to watch and listen to King Benjamin. The homemade tent faced east as the kids watched the Prophet and his apostles. It was fun for the kids and helped bring the Book of Mormon to life.

The kids had their tent facing east as they watched the leaders of the church. They loved it and we'll try again next conference. We only did this for the last session. It's tough having a tent in the middle of your family room - but it was a great experience.

*After conference, we went to Grandma Wall's house for Sunday Dinner. We talked about Conference and commented on our favorite talks. I love to hear which talks touched those in my family. My kids played with their cousins the whole time and loved every minute of it, except when it was time to come home. Did I mention my kids have great cousins?

It was a great conference weekend. I loved hearing from the President Monson and the other leaders of our church. I can't express in words how much I enjoyed listening to our leaders. Their messages were so powerful yet so hopeful. I feel so refreshed and ready to go forward and move in faith. I plan to listen and read their messages often.