General Conference Weekend

I think we need a General Conference weekend do-over.  I absolutely LOVE GC weekend, which happens twice a year.  It's not that we sit around and relax the whole time, because I actually love to keep the kids involved in the Conference by engaging them in many activities, and I do a lot of cooking.  But these are the things I love to do, and GC weekend is a great excuse to ignore anything else going on in the world and spend time together as a family, being spiritually uplifted by the amazing leaders of our church.  Instead, we had to spend most of the weekend doing yardwork.  And not even the fun kind of yardwork.  We shoveled dirt, collected rocks in wheelbarrows, dug trenches, weeded flowerbeds, installed drainage pipes, and moved wheelbarrows-full of gravel to various areas.  It was back-breaking, exhausting, dirty work, and I spent most of the time grumbling about the fact that I was outside (even though it was great weather) instead of in the house, watching the Prophet and Apostles speak on TV.  On the bright side, we got a lot accomplished.  We felt rushed to get the work done, since a bad storm was coming through town on Sunday night, and we are still trying to ensure that the retaining wall stays put.  The kids were praised  by our neighbors as they watched the kids work hard, but we did let them take breaks and play.  They are loving the woods behind our house that hold many adventures!

I didn't forgo the yummy food over the weekend, so I just kept extra busy.  I made these breadsticks to take over to Christine's house, since we had dinner together while our husbands and oldest sons were at the Priesthood Session on Saturday night.  I've been on a serious cooking binge lately, whipping up all sorts of delicious meals.  Some of the latest experiments include:  Thai-marinated Fried Chicken (pictured), Cranberry Pork Roast, Apricot Chicken and Taco Soup, plus some of the usual yummies like Apple Crisp and Reese's Pieces brownies.  I was pretty darn proud of these new breadsticks I learned to make, because me and yeast do not usually have a good relationship.

And then the Sunday night storm came to town, and we were left with some of the largest hail we've seen.  Gotta love springtime in Missouri!  I ran around giggling while the hail slammed our house (the worse the storm, the happier I am), while my girls were so scared they hid in a blanket.  It's a good thing we got the drainage system by the retaining wall installed over the weekend, because I'm not sure it could have handled this whopper of a storm.

Yes, that's a golf-ball-sized piece of hail!  Ryan and I stayed up late watching some of the Conference talks we had missed.  So many good ones that I will watch over and over for the next 6 months!