2 of My Favorite Things

Two of my favorite things are General Conference and Easter. How cool is it that they happened together this weekend?

I'm pretty sure you all know what Easter is, but maybe not General Conference. In a nutshell: twice per year the leaders of our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints..."The Mormons") broadcast meetings over a 2 day period (the first Saturday and Sunday in April and October). Each day there are 2 general meetings that last 2 hours each. I love them!

I feel filled with happiness and remembrance of what is most important in life as I listen to these wonderful leaders share their testimonies of their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, as they give us wise counsel, and as they tell us the things we need to know. If you go here, you can see a brief description of what General Conference is. If you go here, you can view some of the talks from yesterday. My very favorite was a talk on the difference between love and lust given by Elder Jeffrey. R. Holland. You can scroll through the speakers and listen to him if you'd like. On Saturday night, there is also a meeting for the men (12 and up) called General Priesthood Meeting. The guys all get dressed up in their suits and ties and go to our local church building to see the satellite broadcast of this meeting. That means 2 full hours of a house void of testosterone. Woo hoo! Not that I don't love testosterone, but a break every now and then is nice! I decided to fill my home with as much estrogen as possible during those two hours. I invited my daughter, Kori and granddaughter, Daci (see photo. Unfortunately I got so busy when everyone arrived I forgot to take pictures. Darn!), Easton's girlfriend, Daysha, my sister-in-law, Cindy and her two daughters, Paige and Katie over for a girls dinner and evening of fun.

You can see a photo here of one of the place settings at the table. I had fun making and decorating a sugar cookie for each of my guests, and also gave each of them a little notebook to use to take notes during General Conference. I thought it turned out nicely.

We started out with a delicious "girls' food" dinner of Chicken/Broccoli soup, green salad and breadsticks. As the food settled we played a little game. I had each of the attendees let me know something that no one at the gathering would know about them ahead of time. I turned it in to a matching game and we had fun laughing and telling stories as we figure out which thing fit which person. Here were the 'adventures' on the list:

• Over 100 people have seen my bare tush.
• I won a best legs contest
• I broke into a baseball field at 4 am with my friends.
• When I was a little girl I secretly brought home a stray cat and kept him in my dresser drawer for months with no one knowing.
• In high school, I beat our quarterback in a push up contest in front of the whole school.
• I have a recurring dream of being the pink Power Ranger.

Hilarious! After guessing the 'culprits' we finished with a scrumptious eclair cake. It was a fun evening. The boys came home just in time to help with the dishes. Perfect!

Today, as we celebrate Easter, I am especially grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and the gift of His infinite atonement. I know that He has felt my pains, sorrows, and sins. I know He loves me in spite of my short comings. I am grateful for this knowledge and try to live my life according to it. The painting of Jesus Christ that you see here today is a favorite of mine by Simon Dewey (you can see lots of his gorgeous paintings and purchase prints here). Happy Easter, everyone!