General Conference - Sunday

For the Sunday morning session of conference we went to the church.  It seemed like the right thing to do, since Tyler is the Branch President...although Jammie's are always a nicer way to enjoy conference.  We were prepared for this one too with lots of non-messy, non-noisy snacks - I made the mistake one time at a fireside of bringing veggie straws and had to shush the kids a thousand times as they crunch-crunch-crunched on those things...lesson learned - coloring activities, quiet toys, and a loot bag for each.  Since Saturday's treats were such a hit, I decided to make baggies that held snacks of varying types labelled with key listening words on them.  It worked out well again.  

We zipped home to Skype with Grandma and Papa and Sarah and Tyson and to quiz them about conference.  Lucy and Max enjoyed coming up with sneaky quiz questions, such as: 

- what color was the prophet's tie

- how many keyboards on the organ

- what type of flowers were on the pulpit, etc

I was quickly trying to throw together Japanese chicken wings for dinner.  A favorite of Lucy and Tyler's that I hadn't attempted to make yet.  

The afternoon session had us cozied up in the basement again with a few light snacks, coloring and play-doh, and fruit loop candy necklaces.  

Our Japanese chicken wing dinner was a huge hit, with enough leftovers for another meal.  

It was so fantastic to listen to the leadership of the church.  Talks on family are always the most keen for me.  I also enjoyed listening to priesthood session over the internet on Saturday night while running on the treadmill.  It was a good wind-down to the day.  

I can't believe it's done for another six months.  We'll need that long to recover from all the treats, and hopefully we'll be able to bear in mind our prophets' council during that time as well.  

There has been a lot of talk about women and the priesthood this conference, with a group of women trying to get into priesthood session on Saturday night.  It's all over the internet, especially Facebook.  I had the opportunity to comment on an article my cousin posted last week and thought if share that comment here.  Of course, all differences of opinion should always be treated with kindness and love.  These are not issue that are worth losing our tempers or testimonies over.  I appreciated the number of leaders who spoke of the power of the priesthood this conference and the benefit it is to everyone, not just men.  I also appreciated Elder Christofferson's remarks on the choice of stay-at-home mom as a career is a noble and important one.  

My comment: 

This is a good article.  I was sad to hear this was happening.  The biggest issue to me is not whether woman have the priesthood or not.  If The Lord reveals it, then I will support it.  But I don't seek it.  What I do seek are the blessings that are available from the priesthood...and they're available to all.  The true church was restored because many people (throughout the apostasy) were urgently seeking God and his blessings and knowledge.  Those who were (and are) seeking power have always damned their progression.  Joseph Smith was not the chosen prophet of the restoration because he was seeking the power of God, but because he was seeking knowledge, light, and truth.  

The priesthood is the Power of God on the earth.  His name is Heavenly Father, because his greatest power is that of his parenthood and potential for parenthood/creation/continuance.  And I have that power.  He has given me the power to create life and I do not take that power lightly.  

Our goal is to become like him.  So if I am to be more nurturing, or gentle, or assert leadership qualities, it is not because I am a man or a woman...it's because I'm a child of God and those are godlike qualities.  Fathers can be nurturing and woman can be great leaders and it has nothing to do with bearing the priesthood, but instead to responding to the influence of priesthood power...whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  

It has been a great blessing to me to witness my husband grow as he tends to his priesthood duties and fatherhood duties, and his duties as a provider for our family. And in the same way, I know I have grown through our 10 years of marriage because of my diligence in tending to my roles as mother, teacher, counsellor, pianist, or wherever The Lord would have me serve.  I have stewardship over 5 young woman, and I receive revelation on how to run my program and on their needs.  I have not been denied any ability in the magnifying of any of my callings.  

Heavenly Father wants so desperately for us to be like Him and experience the joy that He has that I cannot entertain feelings of scorn or selfishness in not have the authority of the priesthood, when I know His plan for me is to inherit all that the Father has.  I'm just working really hard on being prepared to receive it.

Kid Wars

This is what Tyler and the kids do when I'm at Young Women's...they're too awesome.

General Conference - My Vital Breath

General Conference is just fantastic.  I look forward to it for 6-months.  We have some fairly typical traditions that we always try to incorporate, and try to add new and exciting things each time.  

Two weeks ago Tyler spoke in sacrament meeting about preparing for General Conference.  I am amazed every Sunday when I see him work and speak with the mantle of the calling he holds as Branch President. He's pretty fantastic all the time, and always has been (just ask my mother...she's his biggest fan), but when I see him in that capacity I literally feel like I'm seeing him as his Spirit self...the man that I will know throughout eternity.  I saw that man once before, as I knelt across from him at the alter of the temple.  I felt a glimpse of eternity in that moment and felt the Holy Spirit in such force that I have never doubted our covenants.  Now that I see him as Branch President, I get to experience that again and again.  It's definitely one of the greatest blessings our marriage has received as a result of our willingness to accept this calling.  

Anyway, side track!  My point was that he spoke to the congregation about preparing for conference.  Urging them to go to conference with prayerful questions in their mind and heart.  He also spoke about making ourselves available for the sessions and preparing our children so they can enjoy conference too.  We have always tried to make conference a family event, and included our children.  We tried extra hard this year.  Keeping 3 kids of varying ages reverent, attentive and engaged through '10+ hours of conference' (as Pres. Uchtdorf put it) takes some forethought.  So I've been planning food and activities over the last two weeks.  I've also been reading the Ensign from April conference to help prepare myself.  

The kids greatly anticipate conference because of the effort we put into it and the traditions they rely on.  I love hearing them say, 'I'm so excited for general conference!' 

We started out the Saturday AM session by reading Mosiah 2:1-6 about King Benjamin addressing his people.  They pitched their tents towards the temple in family groups.  So we made our family room look like a tent and the kids even dressed up in Nephite costumes.  Now that we're out East conference runs over meal times (12-2 and 4-6), so we also had a Nephite picnic which consisted of lots of cut up fruits and vegetables, crackers, cheese, pittas, hummus, juice, and pepperoni sticks.  

For the afternoon session, we sang 'Follow the Prophet' and talked about how listening to the prophets and apostles will lead us back to Heavenly Father.  We had bowls of treats labeled with different key words, and every time they heard that word, they we're allowed to take a treat from the corresponding bowl to make their own 'Follow the Prophet Trail Mix.'  They loved it!  It was awesome to hear Logan (age 3) shout out, 'I heard scriptures again!' Over and over.  They all listened so well.  And we switched up the words with each talk so we could cover all topics.  This has probably been the most successful conference attention activity we've ever done.  

Needless to say, we were all so stuffed from following the prophet that our dinner was very meager at best.  Logan told us he was so full he had two babies in his belly: 'Tyson and Lucy'.  Love that boy.  

My biggest question as of late has been 'How do I ensure my children remain on the straight and narrow?' I feel nervous bouts of choking anxiety at times when I think about this question.  Sleepless nights as I see some of the most valiant youth I have known slip away.  It presses on my mind and heart constantly.  I was so grateful to hear Elder Hales words that listening to General Conference (and the words of the prophet) will protect our children.  Exclamation Point!! 

I enjoyed so many of the words today.  The simple guidance on finances we received from Elder Bednar's talk on tithing; the powerful reassurance on my career as stay at home mother from Elder Christofferson; Sister Stephens timely talk on priesthood; and Brother Soares piercing talk on meekness and controlling our tempers.  I love it all.  

Looking forward to more traditions and uplifting words tomorrow. 

'Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.' - President Uchtdorf

Friday Night Lights

Since Tyler has been called to be the Branch President, I have has to become creative with how to entertain the kids on my own at times.  Typically, a Friday night would equal pizza and a movie at this house, but with no dad, we had to improvise.

Instead we:

- Flew Max's kite that he's had since March.  Turns out this kite requires gale force winds!  But we got a couple of runs out of it.

- Built a tent in the living room

- Ate grilled cheese in our tent

- Played Disney Yahtzee - championship goes to Logan

- colored in our tent

- Ate round 2 of grilled cheese sandwiches in our tent

- Started reading our new book: Nicholas St North and the Battle of the Nightmare King 

- Bathing

- and we finished the night by finishing Deuteronomy (5 Books of Moses down!) and a sock bomb war.  Fortunately dad was home in time for that part.  

I think I did pretty good on my own.  Who am I kidding...I've been doing this for years! 

The End of Summer

I really detest the end of August.  Which is really sad, because at one point, it was the happiest time of my life.  Everything I had worked towards was being realized on August 29th, 2003.  Married.  Forever.  To Tyler.  But now that we're ten years into it and have 3 awesome kids, the end of summer means the start of school.  And I've never liked it.

Oh trust me.  My kids drive me bonkers sometimes.  And having them out of the house is often glorious.  I walk to the school every morning in one mood, and come home in a much different, lighter mood.  And it gives me more time to focus on a structured life for Logan, which he desperately needs.  And my house gets cleaned and stays clean for more than 10 minutes...but there's this over-prevailing stress in it all.  There's this feeling of being held down...under someone's thumb.  It's the feeling of not being the master of my own schedule.  And if anyone knows me, they know that I am BIG on schedules.

Knowing that about me, you'd think that the familiarity and structure of a school day would play well into that.  But it doesn't.  It means that my kids have to be up at a certain time, so they have time to get ready (which requires me to nag them approximately 1 million times to get dressed, brush their teeth and go to the bathroom.  One. Million. Times.)  They have to do these things so they have time to eat breakfast.  They have to do this so they can have energy and be healthy and so their little brains work the way their little brains are supposed to.  They have to eat breakfast so we can get out the door by a certain time, so we have enough time to bike or walk to school and not be late.  And this requires me reminding them Five Hundred Thousand times to get their lunches, their shoes, coats, backpacks, helmets, bikes, bike locks, etc, etc, etc, and so forth, so we can get out the door.  And then I have to remind them two-hundred and fifty thousand times between our house and the school to 'hurry up'.

This is a lot of nagging before 9:15am.  And then the day is glorious and beautiful and almost completely my own, except for this chunky 3 year old who wants to eat peanut butter and play xbox or cars ALL DAY LONG.  Having the older 2 in school also means that I have sole responsibility of entertaining the chunky 3-year-old.

But, at 3:15pm, I have to nag at the chunky 3-year-old to go to the bathroom and get his shoes on so we can make the trip back to the school.  And for a brief few moments, we talk about their day and maybe play at the park...but the thumb comes back quickly and pushes me back into my place as drill-sargeant.  Dinner has to be made, so bathing can happen and bedtimes can happen because if they're going to get the 12 hours of sleep that they so desperately need, and that I so desperately need them to get, they have to be in bed and asleep by 7:45pm.  And out comes the nagging and reminding ONE MILLION TIMES to get dressed, brush their teeth and go to the bathroom, just so they can get to bed and to sleep in time for another day.

And once they're asleep...I have to make lunches.  Blerg.

So, although I'm all for schedules and timeliness...I much prefer the ease of my OWN schedule.  The schedule that allows for some wiggle room.  If they're not in bed until 8:15pm, it's no big deal, because they can sleep in till 8:15 tomorrow without any consequences...except there are consequences.  And on the night before the first day of school I felt the familiar squeezing sensation in my chest as my schedule flew out the window and I submitted myself to 4 months of living in "The Man's" schedule.  And "The Man" is the school, in this case.  Sometimes, I'd like to just stick it to "the man".  But that's a different level of crazy that I'm unwilling to venture into.  Homeschool.  My kids would be dumb and I'd be ok with that...so I send them to school so they're not dumb.    They're not dumb, and I have to remind myself to take deep breaths every once in a while.

So here's to the first day of school.

They sure are cute.  

We Live for Summer! Month 2.

And here's August!

Ottawa: Saunder's Farm:

Ottawa: Museum of Science and Tech.  Logan's favorite part was a virtual snow-mobile ride.  We spent most of our time here.

Ottawa: Valley View Animal Farm:

Poker boat races.  

Splash parks and tree climbing:

Camping on Wolffe Island:

Whatever this is:

Practicing testimonies at the church.  Lucy bore her testimony for the first time on Sunday after a month of practicing.  

Most of our summer was spent with the Larocques':

The beach!

Lots of giggling.  Practicing Headstands:  

Painting Projects: 

A Surprise Anniversary trip to the states.  Olive Garden is the best restaurant in the world!

More painting projects: 

Icecream truck:

The biggest news for our family this summer came when Tyler was called to be the Branch President.  We have a lot of support out here and he's filling out the role nicely already.  It's exhausting though, and most Sundays he falls into a heavy state of meditation after getting home.  

I love summer.  I have always said that Autumn is my favorite season because of the smells and colours and halloween and my birthday...but really, you can't beat summer.