If a picture speaks louder than words, than this one sums up our weekend!

I love General Conference so much.

But at this current juncture in our family’s life – we  are doing our best to survive it.

I know it will get better over time. But right now if it were a mathematical equation this is how it would look:

one year old + eight hours of church = YIKES!

I’ve got to give a shout out to my Mills. She was really great. She is the one who gives me hope of a more spiritual tomorrow. I think for the first time ever she got a little something out of conference. At one point Elder Nelson quoted the scripture “Knock and it shall be opened unto you” the very scripture we’d read the night before during family scripture study and Millie recognized it. Then Elder Nelson mentioned it once more and she said, “AGAIN?!”

If you care to read on, here are some highlights of our Conference Weekend.

Saturday Session:

We carried on with our tradition of ordering pizza and eating it during the first session.

Good times.

I’d read on some Mormon Mommy Blog that a family put up a tent for their kids – you know, like the people who turned their tents towards the temple to hear the prophet speak in BOM times? Sounded fun to me, so we did this for Millie. And set up the tent in our little room right off the kitchen.

She also got some treats of her choosing.

This gig lasted about 15 minutes and then she wanted me to come into the tent. We strung her along for as long as we could and then eventually turned on Sesame Street.

Meanwhile, back in the living room…

Clara decided for the first time ever that she would scale the TV cabinet.

Lovely.

Sunday Session:

The light was pretty so we decided to take a family portrait.

If you want to keep the Spirit in your home, DON’T take a family portrait. That is all I am saying.

This picture sums it up, nicely. Just look at the expression on all the females’ faces. Are you thinking what I am thinking? “POOR JAN! He has to live with those grumpy broads!”

The saddest thing of all (next to how AWFUL my bangs looked) is that we didn’t actually get one decent photo, despite the fact that we took around 75 and drove the Spirit from our home in the process.

A few of the out takes that turned out to be kinda cute:

(I just love little Clara’s expression in the photo on the left.)

After the family portrait session was over conference began.

Tactics for keeping them listening and engaged. (ALL Jan! How I love him.)

That’s right, Conference BINGO! Yeah!

Too young for bingo, but never too young to be causing trouble…

We had planned for a picnic in the park, but Clara’s need for a nap trumped the original plan.  So, instead we had a picnic on the deck –

By the time the second Sunday session came around we just couldn’t face forcing our kids through the process. So we decided to go for a walk and get a little fresh air, with the promise to watch the recorded final session over the next few days.

I cut myself some slightly better looking bangs, at least they are a bit shorter:

We put the girls to bed.

Jan went home teaching.

I wrote this here post.

Had a long talk with a dear friend.

We watched Elder Holland’s talk. WOW! INCREDIBLE!

Like most days, these days, when I am in the middle of it I always wonder to myself, “Am I going to make it through this with my sanity intact?” The answer, thus far, is that yes I will, and yes, I do make it through. And then when I look back so much of what was hard fades away and what remains is a feeling of goodness and love. And so it goes with Conference Weekend.

To hear from the Lord’s anointed, even if there are constant interruptions – is a gift beyond measure. A pearl without price. And best of all, I can have all those talks on my iPod to carry around with me wherever I go and to revisit whenever I get the opportunity. And when those opportunities do come I know that I will be nourished, once again, by the “good word”.