General Conference!

this past general conference weekend was hands down the best one we have ever had as a family. i am so grateful for the chance we had to sit at the feet of the prophets and just soak in the togetherness! we'll see how the next one goes when seth is mobile lol 

we went and got donuts saturday morning. and look, kent scouted out a donut AND bagel place just for me =o]

i'm sure the workers all thought we were insane- this white family all in their pjs walking into their shop at 7am lol

when we got home the boys made eggs and sausage while the girls set the table and such. 

(not sure why this is sideways, but still) looks great, right?!? as you can see from the pictures below we couldn't have been more pleased with the meal! 

(seth had his normal oatmeal and fruit, but i'm sure by next time he will be ready to join in a bit of the fun!)

then comes the magic. in the past we have set up blankets like a tent to be like king benjamin's people. cool, but not actually that cool because they would fall and just be frustrating. so we set up the real thing in our family room and seriously the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven! here they are dancing around and LOUDLY singing about how great general conference weekend is lol

just look at them. best. idea. ever. 

here is natalie singing along with the hymn and reading the verses she didn't know by heart =o]

natalie asked if she could snap a picture of us in the tent with my phone. nbd. (this will come up later)

then sunday morning we did our tradition during music and the spoken word of making little cue cards so the kids can listen to the talks and when they hear that word/topic they get a candy/snack. good times =o]

this is the sunday afternoon session with caleb working on his packet. 

he asked if he could take a picture of us and our journals with my phone. nbd (again, this will come up later)

here is caleb circling the current speaker, which is another cool tradtion we have that the kids just love. 

(they made new cards for the second session)

this is the later part where the picture taking comes up again. little did i know that caleb was taking picture after picture of us in the tent. over a less than three minute period so far as i can tell, he took no less than 76 pictures all more or less like these: 

that kid. harmless. but mischievous. him and #3 both!

and then of course before priesthood session we updated our 72 hour kits. natalie has been worried about natural disasters since our 5.3 earthquake so doing this was another weapon in her anxiety-fighting arsenal. 

but aside from all the fun memories, more than anything this weekend was about feeling the Spirit of the Lord touch our souls as we listened to the words of God fill our home! we had discussed several times questions each of us had about things we need to know or do, and every single one of them were answered in some way. one of us would say "oh did you hear that? maybe that is what can help us." or "mom, see? just do that and you won't feel grumpy!" lol seriously though, i am excited to go back and listen to them all again and read them for deeper understanding over the next six months until we get to do it all again! we LOVE general conference!