Here were our little trick-or-treaters last night! There were so many Halloween events this year! Trunk-or-treat, a family Halloween party thrown by one of our friends, Carson’s school’s family Fall Festival, a trip to the Zoo Boo at the Houston zoo…by the time trick or treating came around last night, we thought our kids wouldn’t last! We had just enough time for a few houses before it started to rain. It was a way fun Halloween season!
When our kids get pruny fingers after baths, they call them Christmas trees.
“I have Christmas trees!”
Carson after church today: “My teacher said Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to hide our light under bushes.”
Me: “Oh, yeah. And what light are we supposed to hold up? A flashlight?”
Carson: “No, a phone light. Flashlights are only for caves and camping.”
Conversations like this are the best. For the humor, of course, but also because it’s so great to know that Carson is learning (in his four-year-old-way) about the gospel at church. I’m so grateful for his primary teachers!
It was a good day. A little crazy, but really good. In the morning we went over the story of King Benjamin’s address and set up the tent for fun. The kids got some new Conference goodies too: some new markers and crayons and candy. And we had our conference board with laminated pictures of the speakers and topics that Carson taped up when he recognized them (when he wasn’t busy coloring or playing/making loud airplane noises on the floor).
Actually, Carson got pretty excited about the Conference board. He would listen for words he recognized and look to find the picture card. Unfortunately, I had a limited number of topic cards. He ended up listening to the talks and, about every other word, asking me “Do we have a card for that?” E.g.,
Elder Oaks: “when we experience trials…”
Carson: “Trials! Do we have trials??”
Elder Oaks: “…and heartaches…”
Carson: “Hard eggs! Do we have hard eggs??”
So it wasn’t necessarily the perfect way to keep Carson occupied so that Josh and I could listen to the talks uninterrupted, but at least Carson was getting something out of it.
(We hope. At the end of the afternoon session, I asked Carson what his favorite part was. “I don’t have one,” he said. “It was way too boring to have a favorite part.”)
I know Annelise paid attention, too, at least to Elder Oaks’ talk. When he was talking about how the Savior succors us, she turned to the TV and yelled excitedly, “Sucker!”
In all seriousness though, I was proud of the kids for the way they behaved and hope that I could make General Conference memorable for them. It was neat to see them recognize songs or words they knew. Annelise loved watching the primary choir during the second session. Carson thought President Uchtdorf’s name was great and kept (trying to) repeat it (Elder Oof-dork was probably the best mispronunciation.) (I hope that wasn’t just blasphemous for me to say…You don’t the President Uchtdorf would get offended, do you? … Nah, not with his sense of humor, right?)
As for Josh and I, we somehow got some spirituality out of it, too. We both liked the talk about praying for specific ways you can progress spiritually (Elder Larry R. Lawrence), and of course I loved Elder Holland’s (as I sat listening to it with tears running down my face).
Now the kids are in bed and Josh is at the Priesthood session, and here I am painting my toes and typing up a blog post while I wait for the nail polish to dry. I could clean the kitchen, which is a mess after dinner, or the living room (which you’ve now seen – not awful, but could use a tidying up). I could prep the delicious creme-brûlée-French-toast-
It’ll all get done. :) Right now, I wanted to say how, despite all the difficulties and distractions and the time outs Josh and I had to give and the fact that Josh wasn’t feeling too well and despite the glass bowl that Annelise broke – despite all that, it was such a wonderful day. We’re so blessed to have a Prophet and apostles to lead and guide us today. We’re blessed to have three new apostles (side note: one of them is our bishop’s uncle!). I don’t know where I would be without the Lord’s guidance in my life, especially through modern-day revelation.
So here’s to another day of General Conference! I’m so glad we’re not done yet.