Conference weekend

There were a couple of really great moments, for me, during conference this weekend. Usually my great moments come from a talk that is given or an impression that I get while I am listening to a talk.  I thought the talks were great and very up-lifting, but I didn't have anything really stand out to me this time.  My great moments had to do with my kids.

It's been a tradition for Shawn and I that after he goes to priesthood meeting he comes home and shares with me who talked and what they said.  Caden got to go with Shawn for the first time this year, so we included him in the tradition.  We dished up big bowls of ice cream and Shawn would tell about one speaker and then ask Caden if he had anything to add that he had forgotten.  Caden had picked up on totally different, but good things.  Then Caden would tell about the next speaker and Shawn would add to that.  That was one of my great moments- watching Caden and seeing how seriously he took everything and what he had learned and noticing how sharp he looked in his suit.

This year we pulled conference up on the internet, (we have a T.V. that is only for watching movies at our house but isn't hooked up for anything else) rearranged all the furniture so that everyone could see, and settled in to listen.  And everyone seemed to listen pretty well - all except for Abram and Nolan who were having WAY too much LOUD fun in the "nest" of blankets that they had built on the ottoman.

I got my best listening in when Abram went down for his 11:00 naps.  Conference was once again amazing and I can't wait to re-read all the talks so that everything can sink in better and I can see what I missed during the Nolan/Abram riots.

During the Sunday sessions the girls started showering Shawn and I with notes and works of art. Here are the works of art:

A hat made by Isabelle  - very jaunty, don't you think?  And a picture of Shawn drawn by Kami - kind-of hard to see.

Every Sunday afternoon all of the Gee family members, who live close, go to either grandma Shirley's or my in-laws around the same time, and we have treats and catch up with each other for the week.  We refer to it as "going visiting." Yesterday we did the same thing, only we also had a pot-luck dinner.  My next great conference moment was walking into the kitchen and hearing Maddie and her cousins Abby and Ali rehashing conference.  They were re-telling the conference stories to each other.  I listened as they told one, with each contributing a different detail.  Then Abby said, "Were there any other good stories that I missed?  I'm not sure that I heard everything."  This brought on another story and they went on talking and enjoying what they had heard in conference! 

I was telling Shawn about it later and we were being amazed that they are so much further ahead than we were at that age.  I remember really listening to conference, and feeling the spirit, and getting something out of it for the first time when I was twelve.  I remember driving with my family one Saturday for the half hour that it took to get to our church to watch conference in the chapel.  When we got there my siblings and I sat through a couple of talks and then we went and pulled our roller skates out of the car and roller skated around the church for the rest of the time.  (A real treat because we grew up out in the country where there was no good concrete to roller skate on!) These kids are amazing!