Usually we buy tons of candy and print a few packets and Conference Bingo cards to engage the kids' attention throughout the 8-10 hours of talks, hymns, and prayers. Usually by the Sunday afternoon session I'm ready to pull my hair out with cabin fever and sugared up, fighting children.
This year we left out the candy. It's not something we did on purpose, we just didn't think of it. We also forewent the pajamas for ALL the sessions. Again, not on purpose. We had a building cleaning assignment Saturday morning and we (I) decided that we would go to the Stake Center to watch the Sunday morning session.
The kids found their own activities, got along, and LISTENED - even without candy. Actually, even better without candy! Shocker, I know. And Elizabeth still was able to play Conference Bingo...with pennies.
The family all say that they could go without having to dress up for the Sunday morning session but I think it made a difference. At least it did for me, and I'm glad they are willing to support me even if it's inconvenient to them. I needed the break from sitting in the same room. I liked getting dressed and keeping a good portion of our Sabbath routine. I liked standing with the other members who went to sing the hymns. I liked coming home to a yummy smelling slow cooker meal. In short, it was refreshing and comforting to me. I hope we continue to do it every Conference.
During the Sunday afternoon session I was overwhelmed by how sweet my family looked as they made cookies, drew, folded origami (that seems redundant), and placed pennies. All while listening to living prophets. I jumped up and took a few snapshots. Sam got a few 'lovely' ones of me and my post-naptime hair. Then while going through them, seeing this one of Chris, I just couldn't resist making this:
I hope your weekend was just as wonderful!
