lds general conference {october 2015}

We had such a great weekend.  It was really simple and low-key, we had great weather, went to the farmers' market which has become a beloved tradition for us during conference weekend, played outside a lot, spent time together as a family, took naps, and were able to listen and be inspired by our prophet and church leaders whose words I know are inspired by God.

We got up early Saturday morning and headed downtown to the farmers' market.  Mike's boss's dad has a booth each weekend with yummy veggies and the most beautiful sunflowers.  Every time we go, he lets the kids pick out a sunflower and this year we tried to buy a beautiful bouquet but he refused to let us pay for it!  I am loving these gorgeous flowers on our table!  We also got a few eggplants...the kids have been pointing them out every time we go to the store but I never get any...so we decided to let them try them out.  Drew bought a pumpkin and I grabbed a bunch of purple green beans...I didn't even know those existed!

And for the record, we are member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...not The Rock church...Drew participated in their soccer program last springs...they are great, no playing on Sundays and they always have spiritual thoughts and activities during half time ;)

Drew was totally pouting because I took Susanna's picture before he got to the steps.  He cried about it for like 10 minutes...

We got to watch so much of conference this time, usually it is so hard to watch them all in real time so that was really nice.

Once we got home, we played outside, grilled hot dogs and watched the first 2 session of conference while the kids played.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes.

Today we woke up and had breakfast and were able to hang out together all morning.  We got things ready for lunch, Jillian went down for a nap and we watched the Sunday morning session with Drew and Susanna.   This is the third conference that we've played the "conference game".  I put together these buckets with little treats and every time the kids heard someone mention the word on the picture, they got to get one piece of candy from that bucket.  They both have come to look forward to this.  We only do it for the Sunday morning session and while Mike and I watch the other 4, we don't expect the kids to sit through it all just yet!  I also made some little activities for them to color and decorate as they hear certain topics being spoken about.  I was surprised at just how attentive they were this time...

We ran out of candy in the "Jesus" bucket first and then the "prayer" bucket next.  And as I sat there listening, and thinking about that, I thought about just how appropriate it was so we stopped and talked about it for a minute.  I asked the kids what they thought this might mean and Drew said "it means that Jesus was talked about the most!"  It was such a testament to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel and just how inspired the speakers are.  Of course that bucket should have run out of candy first...the Savior should be the most important thing to all of us and it was evident within just the first few talks of this morning's session of just how true that is.  Then prayer, how we communicate with God, should be next.  I absolutely loved the spirit we felt as we came to that realization together.  It was just so neat!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes...

pretty comforting to me as a mother!

My parents came to visit on their way home from a weekend in New Orleans and it was nice to visit with them for a while.  My mom's birthday was yesterday and we got to see her on Friday too, which was so great!

For dinner, I cooked those purple green beans...I was so excited thinking about how pretty that splash of color would be on our dinner plates but when I checked on them a few minutes later, they had turned completely green!  I was kind of disappointed but I showed the kids how funny it was and they were yummy anyway...but really, I had never even heard of them being purple...worth documenting, right?  But it really was such a bummer!

As we sat down tonight after brushing teeth and went about our nighttime routine with our kids, I was so overcome with gratitude for my life and for this church I love so much.  I am forever indebted to my Savior, Jesus Christ and God, my Father in Heaven.  I know he loves me and I know that as I work hard to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and disciple of Christ, I will be successful because He promises me that I will be.