Conference weekend...

Conference weekend came in April,and it is always welcomed! It's another event where I have these grand plans to make a great spread of food, and great activities for the kids to do to pay attention and get something out of conference, but I usually just end up getting easy junk food, and eventually banishing them to another room so I can pay attention to conference! :) haha

I just did what I could this year, and Taylor was happy and content with her crayons and drawing utensils and paper, Jackson was content with some treats and Tucker was content with the Kindle on the couch practicing his cursive. And we all just kind of relaxed and watched it, and I think I liked it that way the best. Where it wasn't a big production, I wasn't stressed about my kids taking in every single word. I was just happy that they were there listening with me and hopefully getting some messages out of it.

 

 

 And, as usual, it was a great conference. I love the time just spending with my family, listening to prophets, and hoping that my kids feel love and inspiration and the spirit. I'm always a little torn, like how much to force on them. I want them to enjoy it and learn to love the prophets and apostles like I do, but I don't want them to go crazy having to sit and listen and then learn to hate it, ya know. I guess I just have to let it happen naturally.

I also had to screen shot this picture of Nancy and Minor Rodriguez. Nancy was a girl that I taught and was baptized when I was a missionary. One of the reasons I love facebook is to be able to be able to keep in touch with people like Nancy and see how far they have come. Nancy and Minor were sealed in the Chicago Temple and have 4 kids together. They went to Utah for conference this session,and she posted this and it just made my day. I had to screen shot it because I wanted to remember the amazing feeling I have knowing that I was a part of her conversion to the gospel and the life that she has now built. I love Nancy and Minor so much. They have an amazing story. Minor's family is a strong LDS family in the Chicago 3rd ward. Minor wasn't always a good boy growing up and had some rebelliousness to him. Him and Nancy dated a while, and actually, I'm not sure if they dated, or just had a little fling for a few times or what. But whatever it was, it didn't last long. After their fling, Nancy found out she was pregnant. But her and Minor were over with, and she never told him. He cleaned up his act, and went on to serve a mission, totally unaware that he had a child.  He was actually on his mission when I got to the 3rd ward. But since I was there in that ward for so long, he came home sometime during that time and was a good RM and living with his parents in Chicago while he figured out what to do with his life. Not long after he got home from his mission, he was riding the L train downtown, and he happened to run into Nancy. They were re-acquainted and chatted for a bit and exchanged phone numbers. Nancy realized it wasn't a chance meeting and decided that Minor needed to know that he had a 4 year old daughter named Crystal. So, obviously, I'm unaware of the details of how she told him, and what not, but she did and they started dating, and he started to get to know his daughter. Nancy became interested in learning more about the gospel, so Hermana Bytheway and I started teaching her and within a few months, she got baptized. She was baptized by her future father in law.

 

Hna. Bytheway, me, Hna. Rodriguez, Minor, Nancy, Hno. Rodriguez and Crystal on Nancy's baptism day. They were later married in the chapel while I was still in the area, and then right after I got home from my mission, I got their invite to their sealing in the Chicago Temple. I wish more than anything I could have been there for that! But I sure do love these people!