Aaaah, Conference Weekend!

Have you ever wondered what God would tell us if He had a prophet who could speak to the people on earth today?  Here are some of my highlight takeaways from the words of LDS Prophet Thomas S. Monson:

Thomas S. Monson
LDS Prophet

• We are responsible for our own actions
• The laws of God will not change and there is nothing which can bring more joy to our lives or peace to our souls than following those laws
• We must be vigilant and reject anything that does not conform to our standards
• Work towards the goal of communicating with God daily in prayer and receiving His inspiration and guidance, so we can recognize, trust, and follow the personal revelation we will receive
• Show increased kindness--ever be found doing the work of the Lord
• Fear not, for God is with us!

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we feast upon the words of God's prophets and apostles twice a year at "General Conference."  Yes, God loves us just as much as He loved the people of biblical times, and He speaks to us through the modern-day prophets and apostles He has called!  The great news is that this revelation is available here! (http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/10?lang=eng)

This year, we've reached a real landmark in General Conference listening--we all took notes!  Now the challenge is to make opportunities to go back to those notes and figure out, personally, and as a family, what we can do to implement what we have heard and learned this weekend, into our lives!

Tess, Luke, and Levi all set to watch Sunday morning
session of General Conference!

Mark, who really did take notes
during most of Conference

We love Conference weekends.  Even though our Saturday was jam-packed with soccer and water polo games and birthday parties and general household chores, we did get to watch some of the conference sessions.  And today, we incorporated our tradition of Kugen for breakfast with doodling, crocheting, snuggling under blankets on a cool autumn day, and listening to Conference.  We missed Eliza, and trust she was listening to Conference in Utah!

Of course, after all those hours of listening, a Sunday dinner (which doesn't happen every week around here), and games (ping pong, bocce, and "pajamas") were in order!  I think some of the kids never did change from their pajamas.  We don't get many of those days, so it's a welcome break from the cares and schedules of the world!  

Other news from the past couple of weeks:

The two bushels of apples from our
very own tree. . .and part of
the pumpkin and corn stalk ensemble
Marta and Tess created
on the front porch to welcome autumn!  

• We won some exciting items at an auction from a bakery that closed--among many things, a butcher block table, 50 pounds of honey bran muffin mix, and 20 pounds of cinnamon!  With the additions to our pantry, Marta has declared that breakfasts on Mondays will have to change from hot cereal (which she does not fully appreciate) to muffins!
• In the last six days, Marta and Tess have played in a total of 13 water polo games.  We've watched most of them.  And the girls even scored some goals--a great accomplishment for our family.
• Levi scored a goal in soccer!
• Luke's been quoted in the paper.  At least once or twice.  Nothing contentious though.
• Mom hosted "ladies lunches" twice  The house was clean for both.  Woohoo! 
• We picked two bushels of apples from our tree out front.  We'd better start eating!  And Marta and Tess had fun playing Martha Stewart with the pumpkins we picked up in the Valley and the corn stalks from our garden.
• We're gearing up for the water polo fundraiser dinner. 

Levi playing soccer on a beautiful
Saturday morning

Fun watching water polo?!  Go Cats!
(Pictured here, the coaches and bench of the Girls'
Varsity Team--Marta's in the water--maybe the one
with the hand up near the ball!)

Denise