General Conference April 2017

April 2017

General Conference happens the first weekends of April and October. This special conference is when all the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathers to hear the prophet of God speak; all the twelve apostles and other general leadership of the church including the women leaders also speak. It's a two-day event and is broadcast worldwide so that we don't have to all travel to Salt Lake City as it would be quite difficult for 15 million people to all gather in the same spot anyway. We look forward to this conference each time and try to make it special as well as entertaining for the kids so that we can hopefully pay attention. It is ten hours of conference broken into five sessions so it gets a bit hard for young kids but it's so good! We hate to miss any of it! So I put together some cute activities for Abi and prepared some yummy food to help celebrate the event.

Since we live in NJ, we're two hours ahead of Utah so for us the conference doesn't start until noon on Saturday. So we started our day by walking to the park to get some energy out. There was another little kid there who had a stuffed bear that Abi took an immediate liking to (the bear, not the kid). She "shared" it meaning that she took it and started to play with it. The other kid was quite concerned but the mom calmed him down explaining she was just playing and would give it back. Well, Abi played for a few minutes, then knew that she would have to give the bear back, she got up and ran to the stroller and got in with the bear behind her to hide it. Haha! How do these kids come up with these ideas? I was finally able to coax her into giving it back but it took a while. Super funny moment where as a parent, I'm trying to look stern and not laugh.

Stealing a bear is risky business

We went to the library and got some new puzzles for Abi to do while she watched conference. She is really beginning to enjoy puzzles though she is still learning.

Doing a puzzle

I was so very excited to see the conference this time because I hadn't seen as much of the last three! October 2015 was our first weekend with Juli our foreign exchange student; this also happened to be her birthday and we just didn't feel like we could say, "Sorry, we know you just came to this foreign country and you're super homesick and it's your birthday, but we're going to sit in front of the TV all weekend and ignore you..." Which of course wouldn't be what we said verbally but our actions might seem to say that... So we took her to NYC instead and listened to the recording of conference later that week. Then, the April 2016 conference I was pregnant and sick and sleepy and I think I slept through some of it unfortunately. Not the best way to show respect to the prophet but I was doing my best. :) Then during the October conference, I was SO, SO pregnant and even a bit sick with pregnancy sicknesses and I am sure I slept through much of that one... Life is hard, isn't it? It's a good thing God is merciful. So finally now, I'm still totally exhausted and I think I probably fell asleep again! BUT I try so hard! Anyway, here I am, so excited and taking care of a baby in my usual spot, as always. :) Being a mom rocks!

Mommy and Audrianne

Daddy, Abi and Hyrum

Mommy and Hyrum

James has been so good to help get meals and take care of the house since I've been so busy and never have a moment to spare.

Daddy and Hyrum making dinner

Such adorable chefs

He made yummy sloppy joes, mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes, and honeydew.

Delicious meal

Daddy and Audrianne

This was a great activity I found on Pinterest or somewhere. It was a paper towel roll that I wrote all the letters on with marker. Then I gave her letter stickers to match and attach. It was great fun I thought but she only made it about halfway through the activity... Oh well! Like I said, I try so hard! :)

Abi doing her alphabet activity