General Conference Weekend

Yesterday and today were the 2019 Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One of my favorite times of the year, always a spiritual feast. I already know I need to go back over all the talks, cause this is the first time in a long time (like prob since I was a teenager) that I didn't take any notes! I didn't fall asleep at all though so that's good (that was also prob a first!) I didn't catch Priesthood, so I need to listen to that, and when I listen to all the talks again, I'll have pen and paper to help me really process things and write things down. I can remember that I loved Elder Holland talk, with his comment about the Ox always being in the mire, and also that he gave mothers and their "marvelous disarray" a pass on being tardy for church, yay! That's me. Mostly the disarray part... boys with messy hair, girls with wet hair, dirty fingernails (we haven't been doing great at frequent baths for the kids since Peter's been born) so yeah, we're often a mess, but I'm usually there on time with the toddlers before the meeting starts. I'll have to encourage my oldest boy at home to review this talk. It's fun having two solid family days though. I like having everyone at home.

We all spent more than a little time adoring Peter - He was being real cute smiling at Wesley - 

we tried to capture it on video (try to ignore the screaming toddlers in the background, they were fighting over who got to wear the pool floaties)

He's so cute

He's been eating his hands and is starting to try and grasp his hands a little bit -

His little fingers are getting active and learning how to work -

That means pretty pinky fingers!

What else - yesterday at Costco I bought some treats for us to snack on during Conference, to make it fun. Bad part about that - I ate most of them. Note to self (again): DO NOT BUY IT ("it" meaning = junk food). Just don't let it in the house. 

I had more than anyone of the chocolate European cookies and I bought them, so I can't blame the unhealthy food on Corey this time. So, since I was full of rubbish and sugar, I didn't feel like making a meal, so the kids fended for themselves, and Corey cooked too - and all those cooks in the kitchen means the house is a mess. That's what I get. But again, I do like everyone being home, I just need to manage myself and our home better.

Something else that happened this weekend - Ethan came home in tears last night. The 3 older boys share a room, and Wes and Hyrum didn't talk to E when they saw how sad he looked - they knew they should give him space, so they grabbed their pillows and blankets to sleep on the couch. After Priesthood session, Eth went to go hang out with his girl (despite our reminding him to not have a serious girlfriend - see For The Strength of Youth - topic: Dating) During their visit, they happened to share small parts of their patriarchal blessings as they talked, and they mentioned parts of their blessings which upon further discussion made them feel like they are not going to get married to each other - like hers says something about her supporting her husband (made it sound to them like he is inactive in the LDS faith?) and Ethan's says he will be strong in the gospel, so then were both heart broken and crying cause it isn't meant to be. I'm sure there was more to it than that, but there's my nutshell version of it from what he explained to me. So, eventhough we don't even want him to get serious with a girl right now, as I was in his room comforting him, I assured him that that is not how blessings work - he and she both have agency, if they want to get married, they can get married, but hello.... you are both still in high school! "Who you are going to marry" is not a decision that needs to be made right now, or any time soon. Please, Ethan, focus on getting accepted to college first! Please? Who you chose to marry is up to you, but I am fairly certain that you WILL marry, therefore you might want to be ready to provide for her and your family, hence our encouragement for where you should be focusing your attention - ACT, music practicing (keep Ray happy! He is your teacher and the professor of music at the school you want to go to!) Focus, child, focus focus. (I do think things have been better since we took away his smart phone.) We will continue to try and keep his approaching future before his eyes.