I would love to say that this weekend was everything that we so excitedly looked forward to. That we gathered in the living room surrounding the computer watching General Conference while the spirit filled our home with peace and love. That the boys sweetly and happily played in the backyard and picked up leaves in the front yard as I watched the morning session of conference on Saturday while contentedly beading beautiful bracelets. That we enjoyed the afternoon sessions while all three boys simultaneously slept. That we decorated our home with fun Halloween decorations between sessions. That we made yummy homemade donuts and enjoyed them with chocolate milk while Daddy told us all about the Priesthood session talks. That the lasting effects of watching conference left us all feeling happy and contented and treating each other with sweet kindness while love filled our happy home after a nice, relaxing weekend of conference. At least that is what I foresaw as I looked forward to this weekend.
As I was "watching" conference this weekend I thought back to 6 years ago this October conference-it was that Sunday night that we found out that we were pregnant with Nathan. I am sure that in our minds that weekend we thought "maybe, just maybe, next year we will have a sweet little baby with us next year when we watch conference." And then things spiraled out of control and 5 years later we can't even sit peacefully and hear what is being said. At one point this morning Josh and I looked at each other and said "why are we even bothering to try?" And then when President Monson spoke about houses strewn with piles of toys and laundry piling up we looked at each other and wondered if he was at that moment having a vision of our home. We appreciate the words he spoke-about finding joy in the journey and loving the piles of toys (although I admit-loving them may be a struggle for me, I can at least appreciate that someday I will miss the trains all over the floor, the crayon marks on my carpet and Jack's little voice that at this moment I am hearing loud and clear even though he was told 20 minutes ago to lay down and go to sleep.) I do enjoy the journey and I did enjoy this weekend, in spite of the less than idyllic circumstances.
Yes, we did watch conference, yes the boys did listen to President Monson speak and did in fact act as though they felt the spirit, yes the boys did go outside and clean up the yard while I watched and made bracelets (they were earning money to use at the school bookfair this week), yes we did make donuts and drink chocolate milk, its just that none of it went as smoothly as I would have hoped. During our donut making there was fighting, Dallen's head hitting the tile floor, cinnamon sugar all over the floor, Jack licking sugar off of the donuts, arguing over who gets to help with what part of the process, tired Dallen continuing to cry and want to be held while I tried to flip donuts in hot oil. But I hope that the boys will remember the good moments-the traditions of making donuts with mommy and decorating for Halloween. That mommy and daddy cared enough about General Conference to do their best to listen in spite of it all, and that we have love in our home, even when they do color on the carpet.
Ah geese . . . great moments to remember. Props to you for all the fun things you tried! The boys will most definitely cherish those traditions. They'll be calling you from their BYU dorm asking for the recipe because for them, conference wouldn't be right without the homemade donuts!!
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