General Conference is this weekend, which is really exciting. I love watching it because the talks are all so inspiring and I always know of ways I can improve once it is done. I also love how we get to watch it on TV while sitting on the couch. That is awesome! That is one cool thing about living in Utah.
Last Saturday I went with three friends (Candice, Rachel, and Stephanie) to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City to attend the Relief Society General Meeting. It is always wonderful being there! The talks were wonderful. I enjoyed Sister Beck's talk and President Uchtdorf's talk the most.
Sister Beck talked about the purpose of Relief Society and I loved what she said about Visiting Teaching. She said that it is to reflect Christ's ministry and that we should be ministering to the sisters as He would. She said that how we treat this assignment reflects how we're keeping our covenants and our commitment to Christ. President Uchtdorf talked about 5 things we shouldn't forget: (1) forget not to be patient with yourself; (2) forget not the difference between a foolish sacrifice and a good sacrifice; (3) forget not to be happy now; (4) forget not the "why" of the gospel; (5) forget not that the Lord loves you. It was wonderful.
I took this photo last weekend of Thomas sitting with Rob watching General Conference. I just thought it was so cute to see Thomas watching the conference, although it didn't last for too long.
I was sitting on the other side of Thomas but got up to take the picture. Little Luke was still napping.
It is amazing to see Thomas and Luke progressing. They are each trying to stand as much as possible, although Thomas doesn't get that he has to hold on all the time if he doesn't want to fall over backwards.
A few weeks ago I went into the boys' room where they were playing and Thomas was holding a soft fluffy yellow duck (which Jacqueline du Plessis gave them before they were born) and I said, "duck!" after which he said "dud." I was so shocked because it sounded like "duck." So, I sat down next to Thomas and, pointing to the duck, I said, "Say duck!" He said, "dud." I tried this several times, with the same results. Incredible. Turned out Rob had been saying "duck" to them over and over again over the previous few days. A while later, Luke said "dud" as well. This morning when I went into their room to get them up for breakfast, Luke had a poopy diaper and so I lay him down to change him. He always tries to crawl away and so I gave him the duck to hold. He said, "dud" without me first saying, "Say duck!" These kids are so smart.
Remember "good" was Thomas' first word? This morning I put them in their bumbo chairs and gave Thomas his first spoon of oatmeal for breakfast. He then said, "Mmmm, good!" I was blown away by that! Yesterday Thomas said "yum" when I gave him his breakfast and Luke says "yessssssss" every now and then, as well as shaking his head in a disapproving way for "no."
I took Thomas down the slide at the playground (in our quad) and he loved it. Luke also went down, but didn't care for it at all. Thomas loves to catch and throw the ball.
In other news, Rob and I have been approved for a mortgage and so we have been house hunting. The first two houses we went to, neither of us felt very good about, although I felt better about the first house than the second. Then, Thursday night I found another house online and we went to view it yesterday. It is perfect for us. It is a bit of a fixer-upper, but Rob is up to the challenge. Last night we were talking about how we're going to fix it up. It is going to be awesome. We're putting in an offer tomorrow, so we'll see if we get it. We like that the property is 1/3 of an acre.
Thursday we didn't go to the Planetarium, because apparently there are only shows on Friday nights. But, this past Friday we went to my mission reunion. It was cool to see people from the mission and the Wheelwrights. This is Rob's third year in a row that he has come to my mission reunion and met the Wheelwrights and each year they ask who he is. He thought that maybe they would remember him by now.
This weekend is General Conference and they have been some great talks so far. It's been pretty awesome!
General Conference this last weekend was wonderful. I must say it is kind of cool being able to watch while sitting on your own couch! My favorite talk was Elder Uchdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most."
I think I really enjoyed this talk because it pertains to things I have been thinking about lately. He urged us to focus on things that matter most and that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. So many times we get distracted by things that don't really matter, but we need to slow down and focus on the significant things in life, such as family and our relationship with God. He said that diligently doing the things that matter most lead us to the Savior and this is the more excellent way.
I thought about how I need to focus more on being a mother and not worry about trying to be busy and doing things that the world views as significant because the thing that matters the most right now is my (1) my relationship with my Heavenly Father; (2) my relationship with Rob; and (3) my nurturing of Luke and Thomas. So, I need to focus on doing those things that make each of these three things successful. I also know how important it is for me to begin teaching my boys about Jesus Christ, even at this young age. I realized that I had a bunch of little cards with various pictures of the Savior so I punch a whole in each of them and put them on a ring. Now I can flip through them with my boys and tell them stories of Jesus. I have also been reading to them each day from the Book of Mormon. Even though they don't understand yet, one day they will. It is interesting how they just sit there and peacefully listen though.
This past weekend was great! The best part of the weekend was that Rob flew out to Utah. On Friday we hung out at my apartment a bit and then drove to SLC. We met up with some of my mission friends and went out to dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse. I stayed at Vicky Hill's mom's house that weekend in Sugarhouse, while Rob stayed with some friends on Capitol Hill. We also stopped by American Fork to see my trainer, Carie Jackson (Sister Soderquist) whom I haven't seen in many years. Otherwise, we watched conference the whole weekend and just sat and talked. I felt so sad saying goodbye knowing I wouldn't see him for four weeks.
Rob and I at the restaurant
Vicky (we served in London for 7 weeks) and I at the restaurant
Kacy (we served in Norwich for 5 weeks) and her husband Brett at the restaurant
Rob and I after the reunion
President and Sister Wheelwright, me and Candice
Vicky, me, Kacy, Candice, and Kristen
Carie and I (we served in Cambridge for nearly 4 months)
The talks today were again excellent! I found the links between President Eyring's talk and Elder Hales' talk insteresting...don't judge wrongfully (talking of unity & gathering again)... and acting in a Christlike way at all times, seeking inspiration for each encounter in order to act as Jesus would, and always seeking the welfare of others before our own.
I liked Sister Dalton's statement: "In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things!"
President Monson's talk on dealing with change and enjoying life was great. He said that throughout our lives we will have to deal with change, but we need to enjoy life NOW! Don't focus on what is missiong, but on what is present. Quoting the apostle Paul in 1 Thes. 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God."
Today I attended the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. It was incredible. Kristin and I parked quite far away so we had to run to the Conference Center. By the time we arrived there, we were both quite sweaty - so we took this picture. :)
I must just say that being there is just SO much better than watching it as a broadcast!!!
I loved the talks - they gave me a lot to think about. Elder Holland talked about angels (seen and unseen) being near. I thought it was interesting that he said that their role was primarily to comfort. I hadn't thought that previously. A long time ago I made a study of angels from the scriptures and so I thought a lot about the things I learned from that and how it fitted in with what Elder Holland spoke about.
Elder Causse spoke a bit about knowledge. He quoted Joseph Smith who said, "the principle of knowledge is the principle of salvation." I heard that quote for the first time about 3 weeks ago during Relief Society and I have thought about its meaning quite a bit. I think that the scriptures he used were good examples: D&C131:6 (no man can be saved in ignorance) and John 17:3 (knowing God means eternal life). I liked Elder Corbridge's statement that life is hard; not the gospel. Jesus said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
Elder Christofferson talked about Zion. I thought a lot about a study I did on my mission about Zion. His use of D&C 115:5-6 struck me. It first declares to be a light unto the nations (as Jesus admonished in the sermon on the mount) and then speaks about the gathering (from Babylon) to Zion. Zion has three characteristics: unity, purity & equality.
