Sunday General Conference

Beka and Matt arrived last night. They were going to go explore Dallas today, so we took a group photo before they left, and before Grant left for the airport - he's going to Portugal for work. 

We all think this trip as been a success, even if the weather doesn't cooperate tomorrow. It's been wonderful to visit with each other and for the kids to all have fun cousin time. I've been sleeping in until about 8 every day here. I feel a little guilty not helping make food, but I have been loading the dish washer and shining the sink. Grant made a wonderful big breakfast for everyone, so nice.

Since were on Texas time, General Conference didn't start until 11! So we had time to relax and visit this morning. Grant shared with us some really cool things he gathered over this past year in preparation for Easter. He brought out a cool looking box (an old ammunition box that he got off of facebook marketplace!) and inside he had some Easter relics - a crown of thorns that he ordered from the Holy Land, two Roman nails (a 5″ for hand and 7″ for feet), a white linen cloth the size of the Shroud of Turin, and two scourging whips that were made by some taxidermist in California that he got in touch with from googling information... 

Grant got in touch with him and they had a phone call and talked for an hour and Grant ordered two scourging whips and the guy sent them but said not to worry about paying him, cause he so enjoyed the phone visit and it was such a pleasure to talk with a believer, so he said that he wanted Grant to just have them for his "ministry". Grant said he's not a minister in the way that man probably thinks, but Grant is a great minister to his boys and to his ward here. Here's Stephanie holding the shroud. It was very long.

Super cool stuff. I want to get more decorations for Easter and make it more meaningful and celebrated, like Christmas. Not that I want to commercialize it more - I want less (or no) jelly beans or chocolate bunnies in our celebration, just more things that bring our focus to Jesus Christ. I loved the display Stephanie had on her mantle. A friend there in Texas made those cut outs. So cute. We then took a group photo (one at top) and a silly face one ~

More conference and perler beads. The kids have all made glasses. They say they can really see through them!

Today's morning session (as I was still thinking about weather and the eclipse) I loved Elder Paul B. Pieper's message of trust in the Lord. and Elder Brian K. Taylor's counsel of how to go forward when we are yearning for miracles. I'll trust in the Lord to provide a weather miracle, since it's my choice - I have the freedom to hope for it if I want to. (Today it shows that it will be partly cloudy at 1pm tomorrow! Yay, that's right when we need it! There's hope!) 

In the afternoon session, Elder Taylor G. Godoy's talk where he said "Call, Don't Fall" spoke to me the most for the same reasons at the others that I liked - sharing teachings on hoping, calling out to God, don't fall into doubt or despair. Loved it. The story he shared of the highs and lows he and his wife experienced when they were trying to get married had me feeling like we were riding the wave of Movie Mouth again (and we are in a way...) one day "it's going to work!" the next day "It's not going to work!!" I'll have to talk with Corey and see what his thoughts were of Conference... I hope he got some answers and hope from the conference messages that God is aware of him and that things will work out.

I was home with the kids after the morning session, while Steph took Grant to the airport. We played outside. K found a lady bug - 

She was careful, just like she is with butterflies. 

Stephanie made a 7 layer bean dip for lunch, but the kids all ate bagged potato chips instead. Katharine working on her bag. I might have attempted to take them to have her eat the dip or some fruit. She pulled her chips to keep them safe and away from me.

She still wanted to eat them - reaching her hand in...

And trying to take a bit of chips, but her arm was in the way...

I got a kick of out that and shared those pics with the kids at home. Nice try Katharine, I could still take those if I wanted. 

Kids are funny. Steph got back, we watched the last session. 

Kids worked on beads - 

Owen making a shark - 

We made a real mess. There are beads all over the floor. But they listened pretty good. If we got 10 kids to listen to conference, well that's a success. So we just lived in the mess and disorder today. I did try to clean up several times, but it is pointless to shovel when it's still snowing! So, we're going to clean up in the morning and maybe do most of our packing for our drive home before we head to Patrice's house for the eclipse tomorrow. After all of conference was over, Stephanie and I agreed that this creation by Natalie won for the most Conference appropriate. 

Patrice came over with her kids after the last session. The kids played outside.

We did arm wrestling (Patrice beat me).

I practiced toy ax throwing. I kept throwing until I got 8 and tied Taden, go me.

We played horse but did P-I-G. Sophi led the cousins in some hand games

Relaxing on the swing.

K fell asleep after reading with me - I left her on the lovesac.

And then the house was suddenly completely quiet. The older cousin kids all took off and led the rest of the little ones down the street to the school park close by. Steph stayed at home to keep an ear on Katharine and went to watch them. The kids loved this whirly thing.

Natalie got her knees scraped up hanging from it but she was tough about it. Kids have school, so we headed home when it was dark. K was awake and snuggling with Stephanie, which she loved.

I did a fb messenger call with Corey and the college kids. Hyrum is done with school at BYUI next week! It will be nice to have him home for the summer (gosh are we already almost at summer?!?) 

He'll be an EFY counsellor for most weeks, but that doesn't start until the end of May, so it will be great to have him around for a few weeks. Wow we're almost at Maycember! ~ I guess the school year IS almost done. I'll end this with a quick update of the older kids. Ethan and Bella are living happily in Orem. Bella sent a text with a link to their wedding photos! 

I'm excited to look through them!!

I don't know what Mel's summer plans are. She's finishing her junior year at BYU. Joseph will probably be working, but he's graduating from BYU and is most likely going to go to Ohio for medical school in August. He was accepted at The Ohio State! He's on the waitlist for the U, and it's been his #1 choice for the past year, but as he's been looking into The Ohio State more and more, he's really liking what they offer, so much that if he is accepted to the U, he probably won't take it. So we'll see, but that's a big thing for him that's coming up.