General Conference and Conference Crepes!!

Rick went all out for Conference Crepes this year! They were awesome!! Thanks to the St. George Marathon we had Jared, Hallie, Bryton, and Janelle in town for Conference! 

Favorite quote of the day came from two-year-old Everett. Janika and Brandon were discussing the "peacemaker talk" and Everett said, "And do you think we should be an ice maker? To help Jesus?"

😂😂😂

Little Everett is very observant and smart. When Bradley Wilcox gave his conference talk and said, "From Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Thomas, Idaho..." Everett piped up when he heard "Mongolia" and said, "That's where Jaiden is!" 

We did have some worn out kids today though!!! I didn't get any sleeping pictures of Jared and Hallie, although I am sure they slept a lot after the marathon. I did get a couple of Janelle and Bryton though!  

General Conference!!

I love General Conference! We had conference crepes this morning! And Janika also made crepes and invited Jared and Janelle to come over to their place this morning. It was nice getting the temple tour over with so that I could actually focus on General Conference! Jase and Ellen and the boys left after the first session. I made a cake last night and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jenna before they left. I couldn't find any candles, and so she blew out a random scented candle after we sang to her, ha ha! 

I especially loved the Sunday afternoon talks and was grateful that President Nelson still spoke! His talk was amazing! And then the very last temple announcement was Ulaanbaator, Mongolia! Dad and I just started cheering and I started crying! Immediately we got several texts from family members about it. I know that things take a while and so it probably won't happen during your mission, but it is still exciting! 

Some people moved in the house that is behind our back yard and so Jenna made some cookies and we went to meet them. It is the daughter of the builder and her husband and little 18 month old boy. They are renting it for a year while they build a house out near the Red Cliffs Temple. 

General Conference!!

We really enjoyed General Conference! Sunday morning we had our traditional Conference Crepes (cooked by Chef Rick) and they were delicious! We had a song practice for the song we are doing for Easter. Rick took his girls' arrangement of "Son of God" and changed it into a bell number, adding parts for the men. It is beautiful! 

Derek and Danielle were in town and stopped by with their girls, so that was fun! They watched conference with us and Jenna did the girls' hair (and added beads) and nails and Layla did Jenna's hair too, ha ha! 

After they left we had another song practice and then had eat a Passover dinner while reading the Bible about the Passover. We had Kosher Matsah, bitter herbs, romaine lettuce with a charoset paste, salt water (to dip the bitter herbs into), beitzah and wine (grape juice). 

This meal was not too filling, so we followed it up with another dinner of leftovers and sandwiches! Then Rick put on his all time favorite movie  -- "The Ten Commandments!" It is amazing that they could do a movie like this in the 50s! It really is an incredible movie! It is very long though and so we only got partway through it and will watch the rest next week. 

Happy Birthday, Jenna!!

Today is Jenna's 13th Birthday!! Click HERE to see my Facebook post for her! Today we had our traditional Conference Crepes cooked by Chef Rick and then Jenna opened up her presents. We enjoyed conference and then had ham and egg casserole for dinner (as requested by Jenna)! I can't believe that my baby is a TEENAGER!!! Actually I can believe it. She has been acting like a teenager for a while now! 

Janelle took Jenna hiking tonight to he Anasazi Petroglyphs!  

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Easter 2021

 April 2: We were looking forward to the Westras coming for Easter weekend and so we were nervous when Jenna started throwing up Thursday night! She seemed to be doing better by Friday afternoon and Westras still decided to come. Friday night I had an interpreting job and Josh had a soccer game. We didn't go to this one since it was thirty minutes away and we had other commitments. We had enjoyed going to all of his home games though! The Westras arrived later -- around 9:00. Both Jaiden and Janelle were at work. We visited and got the beds set up for the kids. 

April 3: This morning we watched General Conference and Josh refereed some games in St. George. I had received a text from Suzy's Closet in Hurricane saying that they were having a big clearance sale. Suzy's Closet in the little shop that sells prom dresses out of their home. We decided it would be fun to check it out. So me and Alicia and Adria, Rella, and Jaiden drove out and tried on dozens of dresses. Jaiden ended up buying one for only $15.00! 

We finished watching conference and the kids had a "taste test" with a variety of Easter candy that Alicia had brought. Then we ate a yummy dinner of grilled hamburgers and side dishes and then those who were available watched the Priesthood Session.  

April 4: This morning we did Easter baskets and had our traditional Conference Crepes (cooked by Rick)! Jase and Ellen and Jared came for the Crepes. 

When the kids lined up I said, "Wow, can you imagine having that many kids?" Shane said, "You DO have that many kids!" "Oh, ya, I guess I do, ha ha!" Rella found this rubber shark head and made the shark center-piece with goldfish crackers on the "ocean."

In the church news there was a photo of this family all dressed in their Sunday clothes attentively watching conference. The caption said, "Send us pictures of your family watching conference." I thought, "I don't think they would want our pictures!" (No church clothes -- Jared sleeping, Jase and Ellen cuddling, the kids in their make-shift beds...) The kids played a couple rounds of croquet in between sessions. 

The kids also dyed eggs at our house today. We were going to do our annual egg bash, but had a photoshoot planned instead and so we ran out of time! The next day Jenna and Rella were invited to dye eggs with some friends the old fashioned Swiss way -- with roots, flowers, leaves, onion skin, beets, etc. This is a big tradition here in Santa Clara!  

After conference we had a lovely Easter dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, asparagus, corn, salad, Brazilian cheese rolls (thank you Alicia!), and regular rolls. Then we had strawberry shortcake for dessert! Alicia had made a regular cake and also gluten free cake! Yum! 

Sunday evening Alicia did a photoshoot of Jaiden and Janelle. We wanted to get a few more headshots of Jaiden and some more Senior shots of Janelle -- including some in her cap and gown. Photos to come! Adria came and watched and so I took a few of her and Jaiden while we were waiting...

After we got back we had an Easter Egg hunt! Jaiden and Adria hid the eggs for the rest of the kids. 

After the hunt we gathered everyone together and went around the room and let everyone share one of their favorite talks from General Conference. We had a nice discussion! 

April 5: This morning Jaiden and Adria went on a double date. They went hiking up Snow Canyon and took a bunch of pictures and then they came back here and attempted to paint one of their pictures!  It was beautiful weather! I don't have Alicia and Lane's photos from their photoshoot, but I asked Jaiden to send me the ones on her phone of her and Josh (Larkin). 

                                            This must be the picture they tried to paint...

I thought we made it through the weekend without anyone else getting sick, but unfortunately Janelle started throwing up this morning! Ugh!! She called in sick and pretty much kept sequestered to her room all day! 

Rick, Alicia, and I took Jaiden to the new Contact Climbing Gym in order to borrow their Yoga studio to record Jaiden's talent number for the Distinguished Young Women Scholarship Competition. It took about an hour and about ten takes, but we finally got a few good takes to choose from and her talent number turned out really well. I would send it to the family, but I think we are supposed to wait until after the actual showcase before having people watch it. 

Jaiden had dance tonight and the Westras went for a little hike. Tonight we watched the movie, "While You Were Sleeping." 

April 6: The kids all headed back to school (except Janelle -- she only went for her last period since she was feeling better by then) and the Westras packed up and headed back home. It was a wonderful Easter break -- I am glad that we had family to share it with!! 

Jenna's 12th Birthday and General Conference!!

Today was Jenna's birthday!! It was also General Conference! I remember watching General Conference when I was in the hospital after giving birth to Jenna. Click on the link to see my Facebook  post with pictures of Jenna through the years -- or click HERE for my blog post from the day she was born! 

Back to this weekend -- we had Jenna's friend party last night. Today was a busy day! Not only was it General Conference, but I also planned to go to Josh's soccer game this morning and Rick wanted everyone to help take down the swimming pool. Janika and Brandon called Jenna over Duo and so they were able to watch her open her presents. She opened up the Friend's Lego set with her presents from her friends last night. 

Jenna received a few surprises this morning and her new snow cone machine arrived later this afternoon! She wanted to pay for it herself and so she saved up $20.00 and then used the birthday money from both her Grandmas to pay for the rest. Later on she had her friends over for snow cones! Jared and Broden came over and they each purchased a snow cone too! (I forgot to get a picture of her cute snow cone machine! I will take a picture of her using it later, but for now I will just include the promo picture off Amazon, although it makes it look bigger than it actually is!) 

Jaiden and I went to Josh's soccer game at the middle school (nice to have one close for once!) We listened to conference on our phones during the game. Josh's team played the girls this time. I think it is weird that the boys play the girls for one of their games. Josh's team won 5-0. Josh made one goal -- and of course it was in the first ten minutes and so we missed since we were ten minutes late! I did get some of his fancy footwork on film though! We came back and everyone helped to take the pool down (it was during the conference break by this time). That took around 45 minutes. It was hot outside and it made me wish we weren't taking it down! 

We then watched the second session of conference. Jenna missed it since she had another birthday party to go to for Ella Thomas at Sunset Bowling. After the session Janelle left for work. Jaiden started her new job at Tuacahn last night and worked again tonight. So they both missed the General Women's Session. So Jenna and I watched it. Janelle invited several of her friends (who also missed it due to work) to come watch it at our house Sunday night. Josh was at a birthday pickleball party for Caden Morris and Rick was busy working on his own projects and so Jenna and I actually had some time alone! The conference meetings were SO good today!! 

General Conference October 2019

General Conference was wonderful as usual!! Saturday was exhausting though! I hurried out to Josh's soccer game and then came home for conference. While listening to conference Rick was busy painting touch up in the kitchen (he painted the kitchen this past week) and I was busy scrubbing paint off the kitchen floor that had spilled during this week's painting project! Jenna, Jaiden and I attended the Women's General meeting at the church (Janelle had to work) and then I stayed up late trying to get more cleaning done so that we could enjoy our Sabbath the next day. So I only got partial notes written for Saturday's session and will need to study all of the talks again when I can listen with a notebook and pen in hand.

Sunday we have a tradition of "Conference Crepes" for breakfast cooked by Rick. Jenna used her new birthday chalk-board to write this cute little advertisement. Sunday I took loads of notes! The messages were wonderful! I have a lot to think about, study, and pray about. We had a delicious dinner of steak, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini and squash, fruit salad,  and green salad. So we were both spiritually and physically fed today! The kids and I watched the new Book of Mormon videos and tonight Rick taught the "Come Follow Me" lesson and tied it in with the messages we received during conference. Here is the new Young Women Theme!!

Easter and General Conference!

Saturday we all slept in. This is the first year we didn't bring our kids to the city Easter egg hunt. We just had our own hunt!!  We really enjoyed General Conference today. Rick and my Dad and Jared went to the Priesthood Session at the church and then went to Carl's Jr. I think that will be a good change to combine the High Priests with the Elder's Quorum. I dropped the kids off at the park and then went to two Bridal Showers in our ward. I checked at the park after and the girls were still there having a great time. It felt so good outside! We came home and the older girls hid eggs for Josh and Jenna and Jenna's friends, Clarissa and Audrey.  

We had a nice Easter. The kids got their Easter baskets this morning and then Rick and Jared made our traditional "Conference Crepes." They were even better than usual now since Jared works at the Crepery and was able to share his knowledge. We really enjoyed conference this weekend and were touched by the amazing spirit felt during the talks and music! All of the kids took notes -- even Jenna! During the break the kids dyed Easter eggs. 

 

Tonight we had a delicious turkey dinner and then Grandma and Grandpa Westra played games with the kids while Rick and I skyped Janika and tried to figure out a time to go up North to meet Brandon's parents! I think we are going to come up this weekend and go to the Jordan River open house with them and then out to dinner. 

Attending General Conference

Rick, Janika (16), Jase (14), Jared (11), and Elder Lee left Friday at lunch time to drive up to Salt Lake in order to attend General Conference at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.  A few weeks ago Rick told me that he was able to get a few tickets for Conference and he wanted to take the older kids.  I had mentioned it to the kids and they expressed no interested whatsoever.  In fact they said they would rather watch conference on TV in their pajamas.  I told Rick about their reaction and he said that he would talk to them.  The next family home evening Rick posed the question, "How far would you go to see a prophet of God?"  The kids were quiet seeing where this was going.

He shared a couple of stories from the scriptures and then a personal experience about when he learned for himself that President Benson (the prophet at the time) was a true prophet of God.  I also had a similar touching experience when President Hinckley came to speak in our city several years ago.  The spirit was present as Rick shared his experience and the mood became more somber.  As he finished he quietly asked, "Now, who would like to come with me to hear the words of the prophet at General Conference?"  Janika, Jase, and Jared all raised their hands, as did some of the younger kids, but they were not invited on this excursion.  I hope that they were able to feel the spirit and receive a witness that we do indeed have a living prophet on the earth today.

Here are a couple pictures taken from Rick's cell phone...

They all went to Saturday's morning session and then Rick and Jase and Elder Lee came back for the Priesthood Session that night.  They made the long trek home Sunday morning and we all watched Sunday's afternoon session together down on our basement couch.  They said it was weird to think that they were actually there in that building just yesterday!  It was neat for Elder Lee.  He is from Texas and who knows when he will have this opportunity again.

Meanwhile I was home alone with the little ones trying to keep them all occupied and quiet so that I could watch the sessions.  I really relied on Janelle to be my little helper and babysitter.  After the weekend was over she said, "Boy it is tough being the oldest child!"  Janika was grateful that someone acknowledged what she has gone through for so many years!