Easter/General Conference Top 10

10. The Jazz beating the Timberwolves and sliding right into sixth place as the playoff lineup shapes up. What if we can hold onto sixth, and Portland holds third, so we play each other in the first round? That would definitely bring some family drama....and fun!

9. Explaining in 30 seconds what General Conference is to the cashier at Chevron. Saturday evening, Amanda and I raced into Chevron to grab Diet Cokes, just minutes before the Priesthood session, where Eli was singing in the choir.

     Gas station guy: "You in a hurry?"
     Me: "Yes! Our church on TV starts in five minutes!"

8.  Amanda's family stopping by Easter evening. We don't have any extended family in Utah, and I always dream of a big family for holiday gatherings. So this year, Amanda's brother and his wife and daughter stopped by, along with Amanda's sister and her son, and her grandma. We had a houseful, and I loved it.

7. Study sessions! Eli is sitting for the Praxis exam tomorrow and Tuesday, the final step before his student teaching in the fall. Gerald and Amanda are helping him study.

  
6. Three of our five kids here to watch Conference with us. Shulamith, Seth, and Eli were all here for Conference. It was so great.

Seth, eating some General Conference Taco Bell

Shulamith and her baby, Theodore

Shulamith's daughter, Kennedy, getting her hair and makeup done by sweet Amanda!

Sunday afternoon session
  
5.  Isaiah bounding through the door in time for Easter dinner. I love it when he's here.

4. ...which made this possible:

Ooooh, look at these cute babies, four of my five home for Easter dinner! I love them so much. Shulamith looks short when I'm not in the picture.

3. Easter egg hunts. Fairly certain he won't be with us the next two Easters as his mission papers are about ready to submit, Seth was determined to find all the eggs. I think Eli found five, but Seth got the other 31.

2. Watching Eli sing in the choir for the Priesthood session of Conference. How many moms get to see not one, but two, of their children sing in General Conference? Not that many, I don't think. Back in October, Seth sang in a youth choir for Conference, and this time, Eli sang in a men's choir from BYU-Idaho. He was so excited. Can you blame him?

Headed downtown!

Amanda and Shulamith and I were cheering so loud every time we saw him on TV that we scared Shulamith's poor baby, Theodore. Gerald got to attend in person in the conference center, like I did last time when Seth sang. What an incredible opportunity!

1. Sustaining a new prophet, President Russell M. Nelson and two new apostles, Elder Gerrit W. Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares, the first-ever Chinese-American and Latin American apostles, respectively. We each stood up in front of the TV when our respective group was called Saturday morning to join in the sustaining vote. It was truly amazing.

The semiannual General Conference of our church occurs the first weekend of every April and October. Occasionally, Easter (whose date changes with the moon) happens that same weekend. I really love those years. While most talks in General Conference focus on the savior, when Easter coincides with Conference weekend, the talks naturally focus even more completely on the atonement and resurrection. This time was no exception. Intertwined with these beautiful, Christ-centered messages from our leaders, our newly sustained prophet, President Nelson, announced two major program adjustments and several new temples is various areas of the world, as he moves the Church forward under the Lord's direction.

I am ever grateful to be part of it.