General Conference full of joy!

This April General Conference was amazing!  We celebrated Dave's birthday in between sessions on Saturday and Sunday, we snuggled up our two new hammocks (we got one for Dave for his birthday and he won the other as part of a door prize at his Montana Health Association convention) and ate lots of snacks (can you say Jelly bean bingo!? ) and filled out packets and made President Nelson bag puppets while watching.  The messages were full of joy and some sessions were better than others for me and/or the kids.  I do have to admit, some of the sessions I was being more a Mary than a Martha, worried about other things that had to be done rather than sitting and letting the words sink deep into my soul.  But as I "[chose] the good part", which "shall not be taken away from [me]", I found great joy (Luke 10: 42)!  I just love General Conference.  Here are some of my notes.

Elder Soares - A deepened conversion helps us keep covenants.  Make Jesus Christ the center of our lives in order to have the Spirit.  Just love, embrace, play, seek the Lord's will in our families.  Rear in love and righteousness.  Teach in every family setting.  Bring the Gospel to life.  Make the home the center of spiritual learning.  Guide children.

Sister Kraven - Happiness cannot be bought  Following the Savior - do it happily.  Don't be casual in covenants, be careful and exact.  Always hold to the rod.  Are we careful or casual in our commitment?  The Strength of youth applies to all.  Use it.  Share it.

Elder Brook T. Hales - Heavenly Father blesses us perfectly as He knows us best.  Heavenly Father and Jesus always know best.

Elder Uchtdorf - Help others claim the blessings of Christ.  How can I?  Have a heart and a willing mind.  It's all that we need to share the gospel.  Love God, love others.  Be confident.  Let your light so shine.  Make it a natural thing to share.  Share Come, Follow Me, Strength of Youth, invite to church or another event.  Talk about anything.  Pray daily to find those who will come and see.  Help and stay.

Bishop Waddell- Ministering isn't convenient.  We are serving the Lord when we minister.  We might feel inadequate but it's the small and simple things.  I can do this!

President Eyring - The Gospel brings peace.  Don't be prideful.  Share.  Be humble.  Have faith.  Love others.  Repent.  Lead family to the spiritual place you want for them.  Teach of Jesus.  Live humbly.  Build faith, don't diminish it. Help family and others grow in faith.  Pray for each member of the family in public and private.  Make the temple a center point and the Savior at the head.  Show who you want them to be.

Elder Ballard - Seek purposes for changes.  Love God, love fellow men.  Peace and joy and happiness.  We will find more time to serve as we live the Gospel.  Greet everyone at church.  Sabbath Day observance brings a smile.  Keep ministering simple.  Bingo!

Elder Held - Precious truths are building blocks of who He wants us to become.

Elder Anderson - Truth comes only through Jesus Christ.  See through the eye of faith. "Listen with the intent to obey." -Pres. Nelson  Have patience, faith and diligence in serving Him.

Elder Wada - Feasting upon the word of Christ brings joy.  Need it for survival and for the guidance of the Spirit.  Helps us to know who we are and give us strength beyond our own.  Leads us and friends to Christ and everlasting life.  Listen to His voice. It takes a life long to learn it.

Jeffry R. Holland - Unblemished lamb, Passover lamb, lamb of God, first born lamb. Offer up a broken heart and a contrite Spirit.  We can do this on the Sabbath and always.  Make time for Gospel learning on Sundays.  Christ died from a heart broken. This demands our respect.  This is why we take the sacrament humbly, repentantly, respectfully, reverently.  It is THE sacred ordinance.  Sunday best always.  Reduction of clutter.  Offer crusts of compassion.  We are all brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Always remember Him by lifting others burdens.  Be a devoted disciple!

Elder Renlund - Blessings are conditioned on our asking, faith and obedience.  Inferno of faith!  Love it!  Strike a match.  Move before we get full answers.  Oxygen is needed too.  Abound in blessings.

Sister Eubank - Stay connected to the source of light- Jesus Christ.  There is light in our darkness.  His scarlet blood turns us to white purity.  Help each other keep their lights on.

Elder Cook - Missionary work - love.  Make simple initiatives.  Temple work and family history work will strengthen us.  Watch media use.  Make it a servant rather than a master. Make media consumption appropriate.  Joy, love, learning, beauty in the home.

Edler Christofferson - Ministering to temporal needs is necessary.  Prepare the world for the second coming of Christ.  Build up Zion in these hard times.  "We want to know about the Lord and we want to know the Lord".

Tad R. Callister - Only crash landings result without the Savior.  He overcame death, weakness and imperfection, sin.  Use the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

President Nelson - Miracles are happening.  "I need to feed my spirit."  Covenants, ordinances, obedience, faith, love.  The most important things.  "Where is my family?"  "Salvation is an individual matter.  Exaltation is a family matter"  Really study. Fervent prayer.  Pay the price to teach families.  Do the spiritual work ourselves.  Repent! "And please do it now.  Time is running out."  JOY!!  I love this prophet of ours and am thankful to get to sustain him!

Elder McKay - Sometimes blessings come immediately, sometimes later.  But they always come.  Immediately goodness of God.

Elder Tasband - Christ centered homes are fortresses against the evils of the world.  Live with devotion. Invite peace.  Live worthy.  Our homes are only as powerful as the Spirit within all of us. Fortify with obedience, sacrament, sabbath day, testimony, witness of the Savior's love.

President Nelson - Perfectly orchestrated conference.  Though no topics are assigned, they always fit so well together.  Make of our home a sanctuary.  Let there be no contention.  Make it a heavenly place.  Be a disciple.  Live covenants.   162 temples now.  9 more will be added.  Be a true disciple.

The other part of my notes will have to wait. Little Sydnie stinker kept ripping them up...Silly girl.  They're in pieces and I am missing half of one of my note cards.  So when I find it, I'll add it. At the end of conference, when President Nelson was waving to everyone, Cov ran up to the TV and was enthusiastically waving back.  Though they are somewhat young, I hope they'll feel the joy that comes from listening to and following the prophet. We are thankful for General Conference and the joy it brings!

April Fools!!

April Fools was a pretty uneventful day but we had a few pranks around here.  :)  We started the day out by feeding the kids sunny side up "eggs", which was actually yogurt and peaches.  Cal and Cov weren't too amused but I made regular eggs too.  I also packed a "moldy" sandwich for them in their lunches.  At work, Dave almost gave some of his fellow hospital workers a heart attack when he announced the survey would be there that day.  He got them good!  The kids said nothing really happened at school.  The only thing done was the lunch ladies writing the menu backwards in the lunchroom.  It was a busy day with lots going on.  Lucy asked for an April Fools do-over the next day.  She dyed the water in the toilet in our bathroom funny colors and left a silly note.  She got a kick out of that.  Cov kept tooting and then he'd giggle and say "April fools!"  Sydnie is always a joke and making messes all day.  The real joke was on Emma though, who got her impression kit and is going to start wearing Invisalign here.  We did lots of research on these new "invisible braces" and visited a few orthodontists and felt this would be a good choice for Em.  She is excited though. It was a silly couple of days and we are glad April is finally here!

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” 

--William Shakespeare, (Sonnet XCVIII)

St. Patrick's SunDay

"I arise today 
Through the strength of heaven: 
Light of sun, 
Radiance of moon, 
Splendour of fire, 
Speed of lightning, 
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea, 
Stability of rock." (Irish prayer) 

We got to celebrate two days this year!  On Saturday, we made some lucky charm pancakes for breakfast and then went to Billings for the St. Patrick's Day parade and Celtic festival.  Lucy's friend Lauren stayed over the night before and she came to spend the day with us which was fun. We saw some Irish dancing, which Lucy especially loved, fed some alpacas, enjoyed the parade, listened to some bagpipes, tried some brisket sandwiches and fries. It was a little chilly but we all enjoyed ourselves. Then Dave took the olders to see Captain Marvel while I took the young ones to the park, the mall, and Scheels to ride the Ferris wheel.  It was great day to be together! Saturday night, we worked on our leprechaun traps of course.  Cal made one out of dominoes and Emma, Lucy and Cov made a big one that was quite fun.  

On Sunday morning, they didn't find a leprechaun, but they did find a bunch of green toys and objects from around the house it appears the leprechaun was playing with and some shamrock dollar bill origami for them which they were pretty jazzed about.  We got ready for church, wearing what little green we had.  For some of us, it was socks or underwear or a necklace that had some green.  Apparently, we don't have much in our Sunday best wardrobes that are green.  ;)  For Primary, I had a little scavenger hunt set up as we learned our new song.  The kids liked that.  After church, we didn't do many St. Patrick's themed things.  Usually I have a bunch of things planned out but this year, we just played and laughed together.  Sometimes less is more. We had our "Come, Follow Me" lesson by Cov and Daddy and talked about the parable of the sower. We thought of our blessings together.  We played a little Irish music and Sydnie got a kick out of blowing into my Irish penny whistle.  That night, we had Irish beef stew over mashed potatoes, green jello, Irish soda bread and Emma made homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.  It was very yummy!  We had a dance party and did some wrestling and finished the night off making forts downstairs, which Cal and Lucy slept in as Monday there was no school.  I am thankful to the Lord, who gives all strength to carry on each day. It was kind of fun having St. Patrick's day on Sunday this year. I am thankful for the Sabbath, a day or rest and refuge and stability.