OCTOBER 7, 2012 -- GENERAL CONFERENCE

GENERAL CONFERENCE 2012

October 7, 2012

What a fantastic weekend we had watching all the sessions of General  Conference.  This year was the best we have had in a long time!  We cleared our schedules so that we were home Saturday as well as Sunday and we just soaked it in!  The kids were excited, we had some fun treats, and we had quite the peaceful weekend.  A bit of heaven!

Early on Sunday morning, we made "Stuffed Bell Peppers" for our lunch.  

These are large peppers from our garden!  Aren't they beautiful?

They were delicious, too!

When I was a kid, I remember refusing to eat these -- I would eat the filling, but not the bell pepper.  So, this was actually my first stuffed bell pepper.

When you grow it, you have to eat it!!! 

We also had Swiss Chard from the garden!

 This year we went all out and tried a new idea from Pinterest.

Here is the link: http://www.jonlund.com/blog/Lunds/Jens_Blog/Entries/2011/10/1_Great_Conference,_Great_Week!.html

We had 15 different snacks that each had a picture of one of the Apostles or First Presidency on it.   When that person spoke, we had the matching treat.  Some of our treats were:  popcorn, M&M's, pretzals, grapes, carrot sticks, bottle of water, cookies, bugles, apples, stick of gum, etc.  Not big stuff and we used small ziploc baggies or just passed them out.  It was a fun tradition to add.  It helped keep the kids motivated to participate in the all the sessions because they didn't want to miss out on the next treat!  It also helped them be more familiar with who our 12 apostles and First Presidency are!  It was great fun -- just look at Rebecca!  We also stood for all the intermediate hymns and marched for several of them!

During the last session of conference, we played our traditional 

"Conference Bingo."  Our laminated BINGO cards are hiding somewhere, so the kids made their own!  I love our flexible kiddos!

Here is Mason and his BINGO card -- on this day he didn't like the camera.  

He said he was afraid of the flash.  :)

Joseph had all-region choir auditions during Saturday morning, but Dad ran and picked him up from Siloam Springs during the break so he could join us for Saturday afternoon.  Joseph said he really enjoyed the priesthood session this year and liked the talk about "being a man."

 This is Joseph's "really mom?" pose.  :)   I know that it translates to 

"I love the attention but I have to pretend I don't because I am 

a 17 year old young man!  :)

Benjamin and Bethany made us proud. When we arrived home from the FHS football game on Friday evening, they informed us that they had decided that they didn't want to miss conference on Saturday because of Beauty and the Beast Rehearsal.  They, on their own, called the director and told her that they couldn't be to rehearsal on Saturday because we had General  Conference and it is important for us to be together as a family and watch.  We were quite touched at their faith and commitment.   

We are blessed with amazing children.

Matthew is learning to play Solitaire

Happy kids!

David

This is Joseph's "Ok mom, that is enough pictures" pose. :)

Mason enjoyed conference Bingo, too!  He did put an M&M on each square and then ate them and then asked for more!  He is such a cute little boy!

Sunday night, Dad and I sat and had a conference with Joseph.

He is growing up to be a fine young man.

With the change in mission age, we as parents feel like we lost 

a year with our boys and a couple of years with our girls!

Mostly, we feel that a strong message from conference was that it is time

to step up another notch.  We need to not necessarily "do" more, but rather be more and focus more!  It was an inspiring conference!

As Joseph waited for his chat with Dad and Mom, he read to Mason and this was just too cute to pass up.