a new tradition and photo overload

In April, we made good on a plan we've had in the works for years: Take each child to General Conference when they are 12 years old. Just mom and dad and one child. I don't know why it took so long to enact this plan, but I'm sure glad we were 4 years late.

Molly is now pushing 16, and she was the first benefactor. She was much more excited about the trip than she would have been at 12. She appreciated the effort. She listened. She took fastidious notes. She enjoyed the music and the sights much more than her younger self would have. So I'm thinking about bumping the age to at least 14 for the rest of the kids. That's called a parental prerogative. Sorry kids.

Molly and I flew to Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon. Rode the Trax public train (super easy for our first time) to our downtown hotel. Mark met us much later that night after he could get away from work. In the mean time, we shopped and ate and had a great time at City Creek shopping center, which was a quick walk from our hotel.

Mark's dad met us for lunch on Saturday. It was great to spend time with him.

Fortuitously, we stumbled upon the cast of Studio C. They were just finishing up an autograph event at Deseret Book. I'm sure they were annoyed that we wanted to keep them just a little longer for some photos, but they were gracious and accommodating. However (in the photo below) I'm pretty sure they were laughing at me and my failed attempts to play "Do you know?..." with Matt. Or maybe Mark said something funny. I don't remember. Probably the former.

Joseph Smith Memorial Building 

We watched one of the conference sessions in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. The benches were more uncomfortable than I remember from my last visit to conference 20 years ago. Hmmm....funny how that works.

Salt Lake is seriously so beautiful in the spring.

My sisters both live in Provo and they drove up to meet us for dinner and more shopping. The cousins had a braiding bonding moment with Molly. Their handiwork was fabulous, though there was some pulling and ripping involved in the removal of all these ponies.

Emily, Me, Abby and Golden

Sunday morning, we had tickets to be in the Conference Center. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I cannot express how touching the music was! The Tabernacle Choir took my breath away and I could not look away when they sang. I was completely in the moment and it was so so good. My favorite song was a new arrangement of "Let Us All Press On." Cannot get enough of that song. Download it here.

I love this shot of Molly and Mark and the throngs of people pouring out of the conference center.

Lots of missionaries and lots of languages back at Temple Square.

Sunday afternoon we were back on a plane and heading home. Such a quick trip and so perfect! Many thanks to my mom and dad who stayed home with our other kids. They can never get enough of Nana and Papa! 

mark my words

Mark recently celebrated his 37th birthday.  So I made him this 37-things-I-love-about-you garland.  It spanned much of our living room.  [Idea from here.]

He had fun reading each one.  Yes, the banner is still up.  Can that pass for Halloween decor?

My mom came over later so Mark and I could go to La Grande Orange.  SO SO GOOD.  It never disappoints.

Then our friend, Kim, who shares Mark's birthdate, brought over cinnamon rolls.  Yum.

And Grace made a very cute and clever card.  Which was actually a menu and everything was Mark a la Mode, or Roast Mark.

It was a great day/weekend.  Especially with General Conference to watch the following 2 days. 

This is George, wondering where the garbage can went.

Perfect for Easter

We no longer have eggs in our nest.

We have baby birds.

Mark got the wreath down to show my parents the eggs and we found this instead. I don't know that they look like birds {yet}, but they are definitely not eggs.  This is crazy.  

Other exciting Easter news:  

1.  The kids colored eggs on Saturday.  We also had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  

2.  On Saturday and Sunday, we watched General Conference.  It was so good.  I especially loved the talks by Julie Beck, Jeffrey Holland, Russell Ballard, Henry Eyring, David Bednar and Neil Anderson.  That might have to be a whole separate post - I'll post links when they are available.  Seriously.  Awesome.

3.  Our parents came over for a casual Easter lunch:  Delicious ham and turkey sandwiches, pasta salad, fresh strawberries, chips and salsa, Martinelli's, pineapple cake, and chocolate/caramel covered apples.   

4.  We looked through the pictures of my parents' trip to see my sister in St. Kitts.  What a beautiful place.

5.  As Mark was out front saying goodbye to them, I looked out back and noticed the water in our pool sloshing around, splashing over the edge.  It was not windy at all.  But the water was moving, bigtime.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I asked the kids if they had thrown something in.  They hadn't.  Mark came back in and briefly panicked, thinking someone was in there.  Seconds later, the phone rang,  it was Mark's mom who had left earlier and was already home.  She asked if we felt the earthquake.  Earthquake?  She said her house shook for 30 seconds.  I looked up at our chandeliers.  They were swaying.  None of us felt the earth move, but the pool and chandeliers confirmed her report.  

Sure enough, there was a 7.2 earthquake centered in Baja California.  We are 210 miles away from the epicenter. 

WOW.

in review

We spent the weekend watching and listening to our church's General Conference. I learned so much and renewed my resolve to be better. A few of my favorite talks were:

• Elder Hales - Debt and addiction and excess. "I love you" = 3 most important words. "We can't afford it" = 4 other loving words.
• Sister Lifferth - Self discipline. Reverence and respect start at home.
• President Monson - Perseverance
• And then the choir sang "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" with a fantastic photo tribute to President Monson - WOW!
• Elder Oaks - Entitlement is contrary to the teachings of Christ.

All the talks were great! Afterward, my parents came over for homemade pizza and our friends, the Greenes, brought us the most delicious lime pound cake with raspberry sauce. It was soooo good!
What were your favorite talks?