Conference Recap

Oh Calder! Thinking so much about you this weekend. I can't wait to hear all your thoughts about conference! You were MISSED! Is it ok to make the realization that there's only one more general conference until your home? Yay! Here's the recap of the week.... Monday was a full day. Remember how everyone hates Mondays? Piano. Laundry. Getting on top of everything after the weekend. Well, it was all that and more. That evening was the Draper Elementary School "Fun Run" that is nothing like the good ol' 5K that we used to have. Now it's like a 100 meter dash. Anyway, Jane just wanted to go and watch her friends race and I was like "no, we are only going if you run," which she agreed to and then it turned into all sorts of tears and crazy behavior at the starting line because she wasn't going to win, and I was like "I don't even care if you win, just go have fun" and anxiety reared its head and we walked to the car with her screaming. Total proud moment. Honestly...I'm not even sure what happened. It was like whiplash. So, I told her that she was going to bed when we get home if she was going to act like that, which really helped to elevate the screaming and crying until she decided she'd just run with the 2nd graders (she missed the 1st grade run because of her fit) if she didn't have to go home to bed. Luckily Henry was there and ran by her side and she did it. And she was proud of herself. And she came in last. And it was no big deal. And I was worn out for the rest of the night and seriously wondering how we are ever going to raise her to adulthood. Henry got a new jog on Tuesday that he's super excited about. No more Lashbrook for him. I hope this job is as wonderful as he thinks it is going to be. I just told him to text you about it. I went to lunch on Wednesday with some of the old D6th women and Sherri Nash comes every now and then. She told me that Isaac is officially home and he's dating a sister from his mission! He literally just got home. So that was a huge surprise that I thought you'd be interested in. I had the opportunity to go to Christine’s house on Thursday and spend the afternoon with her. That lady has so much going on! It was really great to catch up with her. James and Erin flew in to surprise Clark this weekend. Christine was busy preparing for their arrival as well as Clark's parents. James and Erin seem to be doing super well. They are settling into Boston and really enjoying it. Paige is also doing ok. I get the feeling that she's not super enthused about the BYU culture and suffers a little with some mental health things. Overall, she's ok. It's just a tough world we live in! John is killing it in the Provo MTC. He leaves on Tuesday for his reassignment to Tempe AZ. He doesn't have his visa yet but hopes to get to his original assignment soon. Are you on his email list? I'll make sure you get them if not. He's pretty funny. Friday I had a surprise lunch opportunity with Gwen, who is just pure gold. She's doing so well. We talked about a lot of great things together as we ate In and Out. It so reminded me of the days with all you boys at that age at In and Out (4x4s). Those are such great times. And I cherished those memories. THank goodness for emergency braces fixes...that's what brought us together. I also had a lot of great one on one time with McKay on Friday and Saturday! We left for his 4th mountain bike race in Price Friday afternoon and stayed over. Honestly, I loved all the sleep and relaxation I got on the trip. But I especially loved just talking to McKay. He's a great kid. One real plus is that McKay wants to go to bed early and he's so low key that I felt like I had some great time to rest and relax while Dad wrangled the kids at home. SIgn me up for the next overnighter race! Saturday started early with race prep. McKay was ready and calm. His body is tired and he's struggling even wanting to ride right now. McKay did great though. The course had a really tough climb and switch backs - so probably I should describe it as technical - and he held strong but just faded towards the end. He finished in 14th place and I was so proud of him. I was feeling all the feels as he started the race...knowing how hard he has worked and that he only has a couple of races left. It makes me sad. Mountain biking has been so good to our family and I love race days! It's sad to see them come to an end. Unfortunately, I missed tons of conferences with the race and driving home. We had Caleb join us on the ride home, which was really fun but I still haven't listened to Clark's talk. I heard it was amazing from so many people. I loved the conference so much. How blessed we are to have it twice a year. How blessed we are to be led by a prophet of God! We did a twist on our usual conference traditions. Instead of rushing out early in the morning for conference breakfast in Provo, we watched the first session at our house and ate the big conference breakfast at 1pm in Provo and watched the second session together. The Gilbert's didn't join us this year but the Simmons, Calders, Gma and Gpa and CARSTON came. Carston started up at BYU-I on Sept 13th. He seems to be doing really well. I am proud of him. As we drove him to the shuttle tonight, he told us how difficult his senior year was. He said nothing could ever be as bad as his senior year was. He was super lonely and I think he got a little depressed. He's doing so much better now. His roommates are all RM and super social....to the point that they come in at 3am, which he really hates. But he likes them and is learning so many good lessons that will help him prepare for his mission! Something funny....he told us that when his parents dropped him off and had Hadley with them, his roommates thought that she was his baby for the first few weeks until they asked him about it. I found that pretty funny. Highlights from Sunday session of conference for me: - TWELVE TEMPLES! WOW! I loved it! - Pres Nelson's talk about Temples and a firm foundation...I seriously thought he was going to make a big announcement! - Elder Renlunds talk about the Finnish Temple and allowing the Russian saints to take out their endowments first. -Vi Sikahemma's talk about sequential parts of the gospel .....and so much more! Those are just the first few off the top of my head. Anyway, I hope you were fed spiritually and experienced a rejuvination from the conference weekend that I know you need as a missionary! I found that I wouldn't really know it, but when the conference came around it was so nice to finally feast on the words spoken instead of always giving others something to feast on. We are so proud of you and thought about you as they spoke about missionaries throughout the conference. I pray for you and Elder Craine and I've been adding extra prayers for the Lviv branch this week as well as all those who are so close to baptism. Keep up the great work. Have faith and know how proud I am of all you are doing for those you are serving with, those you are serving and for our family at home. We can see and feel the blessings that are coming to us because of your obedient and dedicated service. Thank you for your example and love. Have a wonderful day and week. You're changing lives...mine included. Love you tons! Mom Pics 1 & 2: Jane at the fun run and in her new white dress Pic 3- 8: Race day Pic 9: All those in attendance at the Saturday morning conference session that Clark spoke in. Pic 10: my half eaten rubber egg Pic 11: Conference breakfast Pic 12: Me and Carston Pic 13: A super nice note that we got with tons of treats from the girl's family that McKay went with as a quick stand in date for HOCO when her date had covid. Thought I'd share.