This Week

This has been quite a week. Ethan's Parent/Teacher conference went really well. No one yelled at me (No one ever has, so I don't know where the fear of that comes from, but truly, it's there) They pointed out how much Ethan has improved, (A LOT of things) and what we still need to work on (not as much), and they each told me a couple of cute stories about Ethan. They also each separately pointed out how loving and compassionate Ethan is to the other kids and teachers. That is something that is very important to me, so I'm glad that he has that beautiful heart. He was very good at school most of the week, which meant really NOT good at home, and made for several exciting experiences, (On Friday I went to Kearns to do a presentation at a MK function. I wasn't gone very long, but when I called Troy to tell him I was on my way home he answered the phone with "HELP!" I hope he knew it was me, and not just answering every call like that:)but all in all it's been a fun week as far as kids go. I am so glad that the weather is getting a little warmer so we can ride bikes to the park, swim in the back yard, and barbecue outside. It makes life so much easier when you aren't cooped up in the house all the time.

Now for the sad news, after a long fight in the hospital, Grandma Fawn died early Saturday morning. We miss her already. The kids handled the death really well. We had been talking about it a lot the last week and a half. They think it's really neat that she gets to "Live at Jesus' house" and that she will be able to listen when we pray, and see the things we do, and she will be so proud of us. (I hope:) Troy and I spent the day at her house, trying to help, but mostly staying out of the way. (Thank you Mariah for watching the kids ALL DAY LONG!) It was a stressful day, but at one point everyone just sat down and started talking about all of the good memories that we had with Grandma Fawn. She was so funny, and had a million stories to tell. It was interesting how many different sides of her there were. There were stories about her joking around, about spiritual experiences that she had with her family, about adventures she had gone on, about her successful career as a nurse, about her as a loving, compassionate friend,... the list goes on. It was really neat to hear about how she touched the lives of those around her. For me, the thing that I will always remember is the way she excepted me with open arms into her family. When many other people in the family didn't, she pulled me close, and made me feel like I belonged. She did the same things with my children, again when many in the family didn't, and I always knew that we were important to her, and that she thought of us often. I will also always remember her Dallin H. Oaks stories. She went out with Dallin H. Oaks (a leader in the LDS Church) a little bit growing up. She said that she had to keep it a secret from her dad because he would always tell her, "You stay away from that Oaks boy, he's a ruffian!" That makes me giggle every time I see Elder Oaks speaking as a religious leader, with his commanding presence, and deeply spiritual messages:) I love Grandma Fawn for touching my life, and will greatly miss her.

Yesterday was General Conference for our church. I LOVE Conference weekends, I anxiously wait for 6 months for the next one when I have the opportunity to learn at the feet of prophets and spiritual giants. We missed the Saturday sessions as we were in Salt Lake with Troy's family, but I loved watching yesterday. (Even though the kids made it difficult to get much out of many of the talks.) It was so interesting to me that our new prophet, President Monson took on so many traits of President Hinkley. I had never noticed them being so much alike before, but I noticed a lot of things as he spoke that reminded me of our dear President Hinkley. I especially loved how he added a touch of humor to everything. That is one thing I was really going to miss about President Hinkley, and while I'm sure I still will miss him greatly, I am very excited to learn from our new prophet, and am so excited for my kids to get to know him. When he spoke in the morning session I told the kids that this was our prophet, and how special he was, and explained a little about him. I was very impressed that they quieted right down ( for the first time all day) and listened to him for his entire talk. Then in the afternoon session when he got up to speak at the end I was just about to tell them that he was speaking again, when Ethan yelled out "Look there's my favorite prophet again! Let's listen to what Heavenly Father wants him to tell us." (I had explained that that was part of the prophet's job earlier) I am so blessed. That's all I can say.