General Conference

Saturday morning we woke up to a special visitor!

We had been told about the moose in this area several times, so I was disappointed last fall when I never saw one.  That all changed this last weekend. 

The kids loved watching the moose, but they were equally impressed with the other wildlife in the yard that morning.

The boys named this little guy Fred.

All our company left in time for us to focus our attention on General Conference.  Brandan had a track meet that morning, but the rest of us enjoyed listening to the speakers.  The older boys were really dedicated to filling out their General Conference worksheets this year and I was impressed with how long they stuck to it. Not that they paid full attention or were close to quiet (I think our tv volume was only a couple notches down from full blast), but they did a good job.

On Sunday, the boys asked if they could set up tents to sit in during Conference, sort of like a King Benjamin and the Nephites scenario.  Except our tower is a cedar chest (treasure chest as Sport calls it) with a 19 inch television on top.  

Yesterday we had our bi-annual General Conference Report Family Home Evening (before watching the NCAA championship game, which we did before we all went to bed in tears because a) it was really late and b) Kentucky lost).  

We held our FHE lesson during dinner and it went like this:

Dad: Welcome to Family Home Evening.  Glad you could all make it.  We'll turn the time over to our Mother.  (that's how we always start)

Me: We are going to tell each other what we learned from Conference.  (Sis is busy throwing food on the floor, so I skipped straight to Sport).  Sport, what did you learn during Conference?

Sport : Nofing.

Me: Alright. But did you see the prophet and hear him speak?

Sport: Nofing.

Me: What about the songs? Did you hear any of the songs during Conference?

Sport: Nofing.

Me: Okay.  Thanks for sharing.  Colt, what did you learn from Conference?

Colt: I learned that crosswinds can be really dangerous.  

Me: Crosswinds?

Colt: Yeah, you know, like tornadoes.  They can do damage.  (This comes from Saturday morning session when two of the speakers talked about tornadoes.  Colt is really scared of "big wind".)

Me: And the people in those storms prayed and Heavenly Father kept them safe, right?

Colt: Ummm...sure.

Me: Okay, Dash what did you learn? 

Sport: Hey! Me want a turn!

Me: Oh, well, what did you learn Sport?

Sport: (rolls his eyes back in his head and thinks) Me don't know.

Me: (Sigh) Alright, Dash.

Dash: I learned about how that guy had to put a heavy load in his truck to get it out of the snow.

Me: Right! Sometimes Heavenly Father gives us heavy loads to carry to help us be better, stronger people.

Colt: Like rocks?

(Sissy dumps her bowl on the floor)

Brandan: Great job everyone!

For the record, Brandan learned from Conference that the way we spend our time determines who we become and I really loved President Utchdorf's talk on gratitude and Elder Bednar's talk on the grace of the Savior.