General Conference 2024

Monday started, maybe Sunday never ended? Justin spent the entire night with the barfs. He is not a quiet barber, you can hear him behind several closed doors. Poor guy puked his guts out off and on all night. He had jury duty at 9 am so it was quite exhausting for him. I stayed home to take care of Everett, Evelyn, and Josie plus myself who also caught the virus. We were a very sorry group. Justin parked himself in the couch after duty and did not move for 5 hours. I was grateful to be home just to catch up on sending out hundreds of emails regarding MCOs attire checks for corrections. It took me 7 hours to send out all the emails. There has got to be a better way to accomplish attire checks without so many steps. Probably the most annoying part is the amount of singers that show up in regular clothes, over 50% were not in their attire. I had several ideas while stewing for the day:

• make an electronic form that attire checkers fill out, when a space is blank the system triggers an automatic email
• Allow waivers for those who have their attire and are seasoned MCO participants
• Make a video or slideshow parents can watch as part of an orientation package so there are no surprises.

I had more ideas but those are the main ones. I called up Jen Spackman to discuss my thoughts then made an appointment to speak with the central attire lady Krista Baker. We had a good discussion about the current MCO procedures and possible adjustments. Well, at least most of that work is off my plate now. Everyday I open my email to 10-30 responses and spend a few minutes before or after school updating the spreadsheets. 

We had crazy weather this week. Started off with 80 degrees on Monday! Ended with snow and rain the rest of the week. Wednesday I was at Nina's in the van when hail pummeled the van. Crazy.

The only other exciting happening was the MCO combined rehearsal. It was Thursday at Summitvue Middle School in Caldwell. It rained and rained and rained all day long, we had indoor recess (blech). The 5th graders were terrible, so I blew my whistle, turned off the movie, and turned on my drill sergeant hat. Made those maggots do jumping jacks, sit ups, run in place, and stretch. It was still raining afterschool. We enjoyed a later departure time at 4:45 instead of 3:45. I was a floater volunteer, going where I could help. Bouncer Dad was guarding the foyer, but the Summitvue teens were not listening to him. I got to be bouncer Mom for a moment, moved those teens into an adjoining foyer while they waited for parents to pick them up. I directed traffic, sold hair bows, directed traffic at dismissal, and enjoyed sitting inside for rehearsal. I am thrilled to report a percussionist will play the coconuts during Paul Revere’s Ride. It was a very Monty Python moment. Justin picked up the little girls at 7:30ish. I stayed until the youth were dismissed. All the songs are so inspiring. 

General Conference weekend was amazing. Phillip made a Lego corner before the first session. Most of the kids spent the weekend playing with Legos while listening. I was not sure they were listening until we had a family devotional on what we gleaned from Conference. Josie piped up, “I learned even little waves can turn over your kayak! You need to stay in your boat and follow the guide.” We heard a lot of “Think Celestial” and temple themes. I had to laugh, Jana posted an article saying this would be a historical conference because for the first time a child would give a talk….it was posted on 01 April. Did not catch that until Sunday afternoon! I loved President Monson’s talk especially when he taught: “When we don’t know how or exactly for what to pray, we should begin, and continue, until the Holy Spirit guides us into the prayer we should be offering.” Sunday I made orange rolls, peach cobbler rolls, biscoff, and cinnamon rolls. All were very delicious. Justin worked on our taxes. Not sure why he chose Sunday except that he is incredibly busy. After Conference I finally got my temple wall put up. I love it!