General Conference

I loved conference--it was inspiring and uplifting and spiritually fed me in every way I was hoping for. I look forward to it every six months, not just for motivational words, but for the memories it evokes of cool fall days cleaning out closets as it blasts through the house, of lounging on the couch half awake as our family listened together, of the smell of shoe polish as my dad polished evey pair of shoes in the house, of the girls gathering together while the boys attended priesthood. And espeically, of Sunday brunch at grandmas with monkey bread and orange juice slush and eating so much that I didn't need to eat again for the entire day.

When we first moved away, times like this made me sad and really miss my family. I didn't want my kids to miss out on these fun traditions, so we have been making our own. On Saturday night, I invite all the girls in the neighborhood to the park and we eat cheap pizza and pass the time. We also started our own Sunday brunch tradition long ago with people who don't have family around...now most of them are gone, so we've filled in the spots, but I always miss the Paynes, Eardleys and Kanenwishers the most at conference time.

I make lots of monkey bread and slush and everyone else brings delicious brunch items and we eat and eat and eat until the second session of conference starts. It ALMOST feels like home.