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General Conference weekend

Me, Becki, Aimee, and Carol (last year in Salt Lake City)
Becki, Aimee, and Carol
This photo of fresh flowers in a springtime arrangement was taken last year during General Conference weekend from Temple Square in the foyer of the building where the Joseph Smith movie is shown. I went out there a year ago to a reunion with my former mission companion, Carol, who lives here in Austin, while our mission president and wife, Marvin and Sandy van Dam, were home briefly from Russia, where he works for the Church. It was so fun to go there with Carol (and met up with my dear friends Becki and Aimee) and stay downtown at Little America and attend a session of conference in the conference center.

This year was just as much fun, as I stayed home the entire weekend, relaxing with the family and just watching movies and all four sessions of conference from Saturday to Sunday. In the meantime, Lindsey and I watched four movies, starting on Friday night. (Kelly and Christopher joined us for one, but played computer games in the meantime.) Conference was much better than the movies, by the way! I also did some cutting for Tuesday's card camp to keep from falling asleep. It's so cozy watching the speakers at home, that it's easy to find myself dozing off. But keeping busy doing brainless activities was a way to multi-task and feast on the wonderful words of our apostles and beloved prophet. If I were to choose the one talk which stood out in my mind the most, it would be that of President Faust, in the Sunday morning session, as he spoke about immediate forgiveness, and referenced the Amish community from the tragedy that happened last year, and gave a few other examples. I look forward to getting my Ensign to read all the talks again during the next six months.

For dinner tonight, I cooked a turkey, seasoning it with a peppercorn and garlic rub, and it turned out so delicious. Now I'll be making turkey meals this week with the rest of the 12-pounder!
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Comments

Heidi said…
Kelly that was a very powerful talk by Faust. I know I could use more forgiveness in my relationships with others. In college I would always go to sessions at the conference center but I agree it's also nice to watch from home with loved ones!
April 02, 2007 11:47 AM
Anonymous said…
Amen! I just said that to Heidi and Conni too. He is a fav of mine and Josh's. It was a tear-jerker and such a tender message. Loved it!!!

What movies did y'all watch?
April 02, 2007 11:56 AM
Kelly said…
We rented the following movies to watch this weekend:

Flicka
Family Plan
Church Ball
Marie Antoinette
The Holiday

I haven't rented movies in a long time and made up for it this weekend. Lindsey loved the first two. I watched Marie Antoinette by myself. The coolest part of that movie was the dvd cover. The boys thought Church Ball was funny.
April 02, 2007 1:28 PM
Bobbi said…
Conference was great, I agree. I loved the whole Saturday morning and the Sunday aternoon sessions the best. Besides Pres. Faust, I loved Elder Scott's and Elder Eyring's talks. Sherm and I watched them from St. George. It's the only week-end he can miss Sunday without feeling absent from his flock, so the only time we can come down here for a whole week-end. We golfed in between.
In Marie Antoinette, did you notice the Converse tennies when they were showing all of her shoes? Pretty funny. I loved all the footage of the clothing and Versailles.
April 05, 2007 12:27 AM
Kelly said…
No, Bobbi. I did not notice the tennies in Marie Antoinette...and I returned the movies about an hour ago, or I'd try to check it out. The costume and set designers did a marvelous job on that movie.

I agree with you on Henry B. Eyring's conference talk. I absolutely adore him. He is my favorite. And I love listening to the awesome "MoTab." They are so amazing. I love it when they sing "High on the Mountain Top" especially. What always comes to mind is the Dutch version of that and it melts my heart.

Actually, as many years as it has been since I lived in The Netherlands or Belgium, the hymns always remain special to me in Dutch. Sometimes at church, I'll even quietly sing certain parts in Dutch, while people around me are probably thinking I forgot the words to the hymns in English because my lips are moving completely incorrectly. It's probably like watching a dubbed movie, seeing my lips move to the wrong sounds.

Boy, this was a long comment, to your comment!
April 05, 2007 12:48 AM
Bobbi said…
Kelly, i know just what you mean about the hymns in Dutch. We feel that way about them in German. Even though we attended the American military ward (in English), we would see "'Til We aMeet" in German when a family moved back to the States. And we attended German wards occasionally when we traveled. And Sherm taught us some of the hymns that he remembered in German from his mission. Our family favorite is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and we were so happy to hear the MoTab open Conference with that on Saturday. I love that you sing along in Dutch--I do bet your "neighbors" on the pew wonder what is wrong with you! PS We only golfed in between on Saturday--as I re-read my comment it sounded like we did it both days, which of course we didn't! I am so grateful for the sweet spirit and strength that come from those meetings, and for the testimonies of others that loved them, too. Thanks for sharing.
April 06, 2007 12:37 AM
Becki Brenchley said…
Kelly I loved Flicka and The Holiday. I just saw Marie Antoinette last week and it was good but kind of wierd. My mom told me the rest of the history...Marie and her children were imprisioned and she could hear her son crying from the cell below. The french eventually beheaded her. SAD!!!
April 16, 2007 5:31 PM
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