We spent this weekend at my parents’ house watching General Conference. Nice and relaxing . . . . just like Conference weekend should be. Last night, Dan went to Priesthood Session with all the other men folk in my family. After the session, it’s tradition that my grandpa takes them all out to dinner. I love when we’re here and Dan can join them in this. The girls all decided to go out to dinner too . . . . so we braved Fresh Choice with all the kids:) Me, Steph, Katherine, Beth, my mom, grandma, and 12 kids. It was fun, and the kids loved it, of course.
Amazing talks were given, like always . . . . and I loved hearing things that I especially needed to hear. I particularly enjoyed seeing Sister Cheryl A. Esplin (second counselor in the general primary presidency) give a talk this go around. She was the one who came and visited our primary back on March 4. It was such a neat experience. She came with Sister Elaine S. Dalton (general YW president) and Sister Barbara Thompson (just released as the second counselor in the RS general presidency) to give a special fireside for all the women in our Reno area on Saturday evening, March 3rd. It was an amazing meeting. The chapel and overflows were packed. My friends and I had good seats, but that’s only because we had laid down some of our belongings on a bench earlier in the day when we were at the stake center for a baptism. All three of the sisters gave amazing talks. The spirit was so strong. Everyone was going up to meet them afterwards. I gave Sister Thompson a hug and thanked her for coming. She thanked me for coming. I got teary eyed for some reason. She was so nice. Sister Dalton had a huge line of women waiting to meet her, and I’d meet Sister Esplin the next morning, so I left with my friends. The most important thing I took with me from that meeting: I want to be like those women. I want to live my life like they live theirs.
I’m not too sure how Sister Esplin ended up in our ward on Sunday morning. There are 3 stakes in Reno, and 9 wards in our stake, and we were the lucky ones:) She spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and then sat in with one of the primary classes for the second hour. She snuck into Junior Primary for the last few minutes, and then stayed for all of Senior Primary. I was so nervous. It was literally my 3rd week of being the music leader, and I completely messed up our opening song, which was the new primary song we are learning this year, “As a Child of God,” and my primary president thought we should sing it for her. I started singing the 3rd verse instead of the 2nd verse, and of course the kids started to follow me, but then everyone stopped singing because they knew it was wrong, and we had to start over. It was quite embarrassing, for me, as a newbie. The stake president was in there too. My 20 minutes of singing time went great though, and afterward when I went up to Sister Esplin to apologize for messing up the new song, she couldn’t have been nicer. She told me that I did a great job, and she thanked me for making singing fun for the kids and for bringing the spirit into primary through singing. She said I was “adorable”, and let’s face it, anyone who calls me adorable at my age of 32 . . . . well, how can I not love her? Yep, she’s my new favorite:) She was so complimentary to everyone, and I’m sure she says this to every ward she visits, but she told us, “I wish every child could be in your primary!” We all went home feeling pretty good that Sunday. So, it was fun seeing her speak in conference.
And one last thing . . . . you better believe I took a picture of these bad boys I whipped up this morning:
It was my first time EVER making homemade cinnamon rolls (I know, I know, I’m a little behind on some things) and they were so good. Amy Redford gave me her recipe when we were visiting them in January. Amy is an amazing baker, and in fact when I asked her for her recipe, she said, “Let’s make some right now!” So I wanted to try them on my own not too long after having watched her make them. And they were definitely a success! My mom was hilarious how excited she was about them. She kept saying, “These are the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had!” Even just cutting into them, she couldn’t believe how soft and perfect they were! Moms are always great for a little ego boost:)
Well, Dan flew back home to Reno tonight . . . . the kids and I are staying here at my parents’ for awhile. We might as well, since Annie is off of school. Dan will fly back here on Friday night to spend Easter weekend with us, then he flies back to Reno Sunday night so he can work Monday and Tuesday. And then he flies back to California on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning Dan and I fly to New York while my mom watches the kids for us for 5 days. We are so excited! So it will be a fun 2 weeks! And a lot of flying for Dan. He’s such a great sport about it all. And Kristen is coming tonight with baby Jacob to spend the week here as well, so it’s going to be a party!
