(Warning... Long post with LOTS of pictures. Read at your own risk.)
Last weekend was another fun weekend with family activities and especially with General Conference. I thought I would do a hodge-podge post of my fun few days.
Ok, this first picture is not really of the weekend, it is of Thursday April 1...and the weather played an April Fools joke on us. Doesn't this look like December weather?
I took this from the balcony of my condo. I couldn't believe it when I walked by the window and saw it! The one good thing about snow in April is that it melts fast. By the next day, the weather was still cold, but the snow was melted.
That was good for our famliy because we decided to do our annual Easter Egg Hunt/Barbeque on Friday night because of Conference. It was such a fun night. The whole family was there (18 adults and 19 children) and we had a great time.
When I first got there, my sweet 3 year old nephew Joey and I took a picutre of ourselves. It is a close-up picture because I am holding the camera, but he looks so cute I just had to put it in!
The kids were really excited and so cute together. I love that they are all such good friends! Here are a few cute pictures I got.
Josh, Jenni, Brianna and Annika in a huddle. I am not sure what they were huddling about, but I thought it was so cute!
Emma, Annika and Brianna--good friends!
When everyone got there, we decided to do the Easter egg hunt right away before it got much colder. While the adults hid the candy, Jen and me stayed in the house with the kids and talked about the real meaning of Easter and sang Primary songs. It was so cute to have all those sweet, earnest faces looking up at me as I talked to them!
When we were ready to start, the little kids went out first and we separated the rest of the kids into middle and oldest kids to make the hunt fair. The little kids got a few mintues, then the middle kids went out for a few minutes, then the oldest. Here are pictures of the last two groups (I never got one of the little kids...)
The "middle kids" waiting to go out
The "older kids" waiting to go out
Some of the kids finding candy and eggs
Karla, Stace and Tiff (some of my sis-in-laws). Aren't they cute!
After the hunt was over we had a Barbeque and sat and talked and laughed. It was really a nice night. I love spending time with my family!
Two of my brothers, Jon and Seth, manning the Grill.
My brother Mike and my Dad, chilling on the couch.
On Saturday, I had to work a clinical shift at the hospital. I was sad to miss Saturday Conference, but the shift ended up being a nice one and I got off right on time! I had some really cute kids and enjoyed the day. I love what I learn from my sweet patients! They are such an example of cheerfulness in the midst of challenges. My patients that day were so pleasant and fun to work with. It makes me want to be a better person when I see how they handle difficult situations. I can see why the Savior said to "become as a child."
I have had a really good BYU student with me the last few months, and it was her last day, so we took a picutre. I thought I would put it in because it shows me at work. I will miss working with her! She has been a great student and a great help during my busy winter shifts.
Karen and me at Peds. Don't you love the cute decorations on the windows? I work at the best place!
Sunday was a wonderful day! I love General Conference so much and I love being in the Conference Center. I was able to go to both sessions, thanks to Jen. As I sat there, I thought of how blessed I was to be able to be there, to see the Prophets and Apostles and to hear the wonderful messages of hope and peace they gave.
Sunday morning I went with my nephew Josh, who was just baptized last week. I was a little worried about whether he would be able to sit through the whole thing, because we went early and it was longer than usual because of the Tabernacle Choir broadcast, but he did great!
Here is Josh on the way in to the Conference Center. He was so excited about the waterfall!
Josh and me waiting in line. He is holding his ticket. He was so excited to have his very own ticket!
We got there at 8:00 am and got good seats. As we waited for Conference to start, Josh worked on a Conference packet that Jen had made for him and we circled the pictures of the Apostles we saw.
At one point, Elder and Sister Nelson walked by and saw Josh. Elder Nelson said, "I need to shake this young man's hand." Both he and his wife shook Josh's hand (and mine, that was fun) and asked him a few questions. It was so neat! What an opportunity for him! Afterwards I talked to him about how lucky he was, that many people all over the world would love to shake the hand of a prophet. He circled the picture of Elder Nelson and wrote, "shook hand" above it. It was so cute!
During the choir broadcast he wrote down the name of every song, and then sat and listened. During "God So Loved the World" he turned to me and said, "This song makes me feel so peaceful." It was so sweet and I was amazed that he was sitting an listening so well!
During President Monson's wonderful talk on the Resurrection, Josh turned and started talking to me about the Resurrection and asking me questions. I couldn't believe at eight years old he was still paying attention after sitting there for almost four hours! It was really sweet.
After the session ended, as the First Presidency was walking out, President Monson saw him and stopped. He pointed to Josh and said, "Young man, you go on a mission!" It was so neat!
Then, as we were standing waiting to go out, Sister Lant, who was just released a Primary General President, came up to talk to him. It was such a neat day and so wonderful that our leaders took time out to notice and care about a child.
Here is Josh after Conference. He said to me, "I loved this!" and even called later that day to tell me that he had been sitting thinking about Conference and stared crying because he loved it so much. What a miracle to see how Josh has changed since his baptism and to see the Gift of the Holy Ghost work in his life.
Jen and I went to the last session together, and it was wonderful as well. She put this picture on her blog but I thought I would put it on mine as well. I thougth it was a cute picture of the two of us and we rarely get a picture together for some reason.
Well, since this post took me two hours to write, it has probably taken too long to read, so I will end. I guess since I only write once in awhile, I might as well write long posts :).
