Conference

"Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow"

I loved President Monson's Conference talk. And Elder Uchtdorf's. And Elder Holland's. And Elder Bednar's. And, well, all of them really. The ones I heard at least. 

Saturday was crazy. Awhile ago, Aaron and I decided that we want our kids to be in the room during Conference. We want them to know that it's important to us. So we try to set out toys, and let them play quietly while we listen. But sometimes, and especially Saturday for some reason, they fight over the toys, and over who gets to sit where, and about who's breathing who's air, or looking meanly in their general direction. And with all that fuss and racket, it makes it REALLY hard for me to concentrate or hear, which makes me grumpy (understatement of the year!), and when I'm grumpy it's hard to feel the Spirit of the words that are being said. 

Saturday evening I was ready to kill someone. All my kids went to bed early. And that night I prayed for a solution, because I felt like I needed to hear Conference, and it just was not happening. Sunday morning while I was in the shower, and idea just popped into my head. There was nothing there, and then suddenly this was there, and it was brilliant. That's how I know it wasn't my idea. :) 

So this is how Conference went down at our house on Sunday:

Everyone had to stay on their respective blankets. Toys were rotated every three speakers. It worked! And it was glorious! And Conference was glorious! It was the spiritual boost I needed. I'm so grateful for the words of the prophets. I'm thankful to be able to feel my Heavenly Father's love and His awareness of me, through the words of these great men. And I am looking forward to re-reading the talks, I know that's my goal after every Conference, but this time I feel an excitement about it, more-so than I usually do. And I'm glad. The World is crazy, and these are the words that will bring peace to my heart and to my home. 

One of the things my boys chose to do during Conference was make books. I think I have mentioned before that Lincoln has been obsessed with book making lately. He thinks he's going to sell them and make money. :) And Ivan is following his lead. Anyways, the boys both made books about Conference. I did not help them, except to get them more paper when they asked it. 

Here's Ivan's book, translations are provided underneath each page:

 (This is the book about Conference)

 (First we sit and sit and sit. Thomas S. Monson)

 (And then we have Sacrament)

 (After the bread is the water)

(Then we sit and sit and sit)

And here is Lincoln's book:

 (This is a book about Conference)

 (This is President Monson speaking in the speaker)

 (The church is so important to us.)

 (We listen to the person who is speaking.)

 (Then we go to Primary and then we go to class.)

(Then we go home.)

I think somewhere in the middle of writing their books the got confused between what we do at Conference and what we do at church, but hey, I was pretty darn impressed with the books. Especially Ivan's. No that Lincoln's wasn't awesome too, but I've seen him make books before. This is Ivan's first book, and really his first major attempt at writing words all by himself. And even though his spelling is a little tricky to decode, you can decode it.  I was super proud of him. 

Anyways, yay for Conference! And yay for my kids! It was a good weekend.