General Conference Oct 2013

I've only been to General Conference once (well, twice now) and that was back when Wyatt was Weston size. It's hard to go and plan those kinds of trips with small children (heck, it's hard to watch at home with small children) so we had never gone again. A while back we happened to be talking to our ward's 1st counselor when the bishop walked up to ask him if he knew of anyone wanting conference tickets. At the end of the conversation, we ended up with 3 tickets to the Saturday morning session and 2 to the priesthood session. We figured I could go with Wyatt and Owen that morning and Jason would take Wyatt to the priesthood session that night. It worked out great and I think the boys had a good experience.
Thoughts on conference:

• I retain SO much more when I'm actually there and can focus just on the speakers! Wowzers! So wonderful! I can still tell you every speaker that morning, what they talked about, stories they told, and music that was sung. Can I say that about the other sessions? No mam!
• When I watch from home, one of my very favorite things is to listen to the choir sing and when the congregational hymn is sung is when I usually take a bathroom break. At conference, I still love the choir but the congregational hymn is AMAZING! With that many people singing all together, all around you, it's so powerful. I mean, where else does such a large group of people sing together like that? You've got to experience it to know what I mean.
• In front of me, an old lady was texting away on her fancy phone before conference started. I noticed her because she was texting and flipping around on her phone like a pro for such a 'mature' lady. She was taking pictures of her family next to her and sending them with messages like, "Waiting for conference to start. So excited!" (I'm nosy. I know.) I got in a conversation with a lady behind me from California who was at conference for the first time and said she was so excited, too. Once conference started and right after President Monson spoke, I glanced around and noticed the old lady in front of me and the lady behind me that had been 'so excited' were dead asleep! Looking around a little more I was amazed to see just how many people were asleep. Most of them slept through the majority of it. The husband of the woman in front kept nudging her to wake her up, which she would for about a minute and then go right back out. It was kind of funny......and kind of sad. Oh well.
• Outside the conference center afterward, there was a large group of protesters holding up one finger (no, not that finger) indicating the number one. They were yelling and had signs saying things like, "There is only ONE God". They were protesting (very strongly) our belief that we can be like God someday, become Gods and Goddesses. I was tempted to hold up my finger too and say, "I totally agree with you! There is only one God! BUT, why is it so hard for you to accept that we believe we can become like Him someday." I wanted to ask them if  they believed they were children of God, if they believed that our Heavenly Father loves us all very much. The only love I can really compare His love for us is my own love for my children and as a loving parent, I want my children to have every single good thing I have ever had in my life and more. Why then would God, as our loving Father, not want the same for us? To become like Him. To have what he has. Not to become THE God but to become gods and goddesses ourselves. It makes total and complete sense to me so why is it so hard for them to understand? We are asked not to try to get into confrontations with the protesters so I didn't say anything but I wanted to. Oh, I wanted to.
• It was sad to see people from our own church protesting at the priesthood session. Felt almost like a literal slap in the face. So sad. I don't pretend to know or understand everything but I do know one thing, you don't protest against your own church.

I was worried about how the boys might react to the protesters around temple square during conference. I remembered there being SO many when I went years ago so I tried to prep them a little. There were NONE Saturday morning when we got there. I guess protesters don't get up early. There were a few when we left, though. The boys were very polite to them and even said "no thank you" when offered a "Conference Issue" of the newspaper (wolf in sheep's clothing) that everyone else was taking. Proud of my big boys.

I got to visit my good friend Tifani who lives in Spanish Fork on Sunday. Tifani and I were friends in High school, roommates in college, and married roommates on the same day. We've kept in touch but hadn't seen each other in a long time. Jeff and her now have 4 kids. Aiden 10, Bryson 8, Caleb 5, and Dani 3 (ABCD haha). I LOVE their family and our kids get along so great!