Conference weekend

 General Conference weekends are some of my favorite.  I love the cozy feeling of us gathering together to hear from our leaders.  I love the peace and affirmation I feel.  I love feeling encouraged to do more and be better.

At times this conference made me feel a little stressed, as in, am I up to this?  On my own, I would say no.  With faith and prayer and inspired leaders to follow, I feel more confident.

Emma came for the weekend and Braeden and Anna joined us for Sunday morning session.  We all coincidentally wore a uniform so we took a picture.  I'm holding Desmond, who is Braeden and Anna's practice child I guess.  It suffices until I get actual grandchildren.  I love how the clock creates a halo for Emma. She's angelic.

A while ago, Braeden said he wouldn't come over unless we wore masks so when he comes, we wear masks.  

Seeing tall boy Braeden in this picture reminds me of something that happened in my classroom last week.  Anna's wonderful sister Natalie, elementary teacher in training, has started coming a few times a week to volunteer.  She is super helpful and kneels right down next to students and helps them with math.  I've explained to my class my relationship to Natalie but it's hard to understand and keep straight.

On Friday they asked if my "sister" was coming.  Now, let me just say I was super flattered that they would think Natalie is my sister.  At the same time, I know they have little concept of age so I won't let it go too much to my head.

I said she wasn't coming that day.  They said, "Now how is she related to you?"  I explained and they said, "How old is your son that is married?!?"

I said, "23."

It was shocking.  One girl asked, "Is he six feet tall?"  (Apparently height and age are correlated.)

I said, "He's taller."

A boy said, "Damn!"

It is not always terrible to have a mask.  Sometimes I need it to hide my expression and cover my laugh when I can't let them know how much they are cracking me up.

We had lunch together, Braeden and Anna went back to Provo, and the rest of us enjoyed the last session of conference together.  We were pretty thrilled when President Nelson announced six new temples.  We thought happily of Timeon and Clarissa when he announced the one in Kiribati.  So much joy.  We are also really happy about a new temple in Lindon.  Will it be closer than Mt. Timpanogos which is a little over ten minutes away?  I said that people who live somewhere without a close temple who are familiar with Utah County geography must feel discouraged by the announcement.  Emma said, "Except maybe temples in Kiribati and Vanuatu gave them hope."

It's an exciting time to be alive.  We just need the virus to GO AWAY so we can go back to the temple!