An Easter/General Conference/Hairstyling Weekend

March was a bit of a whirlwind, but April hasn't been without its busy days. The school play is this weekend(!), for example, and that promises to be lots of fun (and lots of work). But for much of the month so far, we have been laying low a bit and preparing for the busy-ness to come.

Our Easter weekend, however, was a whee bit whirlwind...but in a very good way. This year, Easter was a confluence of happy events; the holiday that celebrates Christ's resurrection, as well as the semi-annual General Conference of the LDS Church. General Conference is always a special weekend; it's a time for relaxing at home and being both spiritually and physically fed. Spiritually fed by the words of our living prophets, and physically fed by all the delicious food we usually stockpile for conference weekends. And since Easter fell on the same weekend, we had a big ham dinner to look forward to on top of everything else! Yum...

But before conference weekend was upon us, we had a Good Friday picnic to do. For many years now, our family has taken a picnic lunch (or dinner) up into nearby Madera Canyon. It's a good opportunity for family bonding and for cavorting through nature. We managed to do a little of both!

It was perfect picnic weather; however, the girls were so excited to run around the picnic area they didn't eat much.

And our visit was early enough in the year that there was still some running water in the canyon, from the winter moisture:

 

 

 

We spent most of our time near the tiny creek, getting our feet wet and crawling across a variety of fallen logs and large boulders. It was fun!

We had a later start than usual due to Nathan's work schedule, so for this Madera Canyon visit we only managed dinner and a short hike. But we will definitely return again soon.

The next day, General Conference began...as did our hours of sitting in front of the television. I love General Conference, but it can run on a bit, and sometimes it is hard to stay awake and alert for the whole thing. Some of our church leaders have such peaceful, soothing voices that their talks act like lullabies! For the children, long hours of conference television can be a bit tiresome as well. We have been trying our hardest to provide print-outs, games, and other quiet activities to keep them nearby and reverent while conference is on the television.

For most general conferences, I spend much of the time cooking, and this weekend was no exception (CostCo muffins & hash-brown casserole on Saturday morning, cinnamon rolls and sausage-egg casserole Sunday morning, and of course Easter ham and trimmings on Sunday afternoon). However, I've been trying another trick to keep me awake during conference sessions: braiding my daughters' hair.

I am not super-skilled in beauty or fashion matters, but my girls have insisted on growing their hair out really long in recent months. So, I reasoned, why not learn to do something with all that hair? I have never been too good at braiding hair, so much of this was new territory for me. But I had the time, and I had the desire, so anything was possible!

Interestingly enough, one of the first things Lorelai asked me to do was give her an "Elsa braid" (as in, Queen Elsa from Disney's Frozen). I gave it my best shot, then gave Celeste an "Anna braided pigtails" look to match...

The girls were pretty happy with my work! Whew. To be fair, Elsa's braid isn't too tough to do...it's mostly a loose, tousled side-French braid.

The next day, I got a bit more ambitious and tried out a few crown braid designs.

 

 

Some worked better than others, but they were all good practice. In fact, I ended up doing a crown braid for each of the girls the following week on a school day.

In between all the hair-braiding and General Conference-watching, Celeste and I found time to sneak out to a fun spring picnic/Easter-egg hunt with her Girl Scout troop:

They even got to hit a pinata shaped like a sun hat! It was a perfect party for little girls.

Of course, we had our family Easter-egg hunt the following morning, before the Sunday sessions of General Conference began. Since there was a lot of running around, I don't have more than this one blurry picture of the great egg hunt:

Nathan, as is tradition, was tasked with hiding all the eggs. I made sure to count them all this time before he hid them. And we still didn't find them all! Nathan is getting too good at this job. Over the next few days, we'd find most of the unaccounted-for eggs, but as of this writing, one more still lurks out there...somewhere. Hopefully we'll find it before the ants do!

The Sunday morning conference session was very emotional for me. For one thing, my dear friend Amber Perry (who will soon be moving to Colorado) came over to watch with us; our time spent together has become bittersweet, and I will cherish these last few get-togethers we'll have. For another thing, there were many powerful talks in that session: about having patience with those who have abandoned faith; about never taking for granted the gospel knowledge we have; about the balance of justice and mercy in the Lord's Atonement; and in the sublime gift of grace. I confess that I spent many minutes of this session wiping away tears. Some of these messages were words I desperately needed at this time in my life.

Other things made me a little sorrowful this Conference season, too. I was mostly saddened by the frail state of President Monson and several of the Apostles (particularly Elders Packer and Hales). They are great men who have lived long, meaningful lives; all the same, it is hard to see them wear down and grow ill. I have a feeling their time on earth is short, but I know the church will be in good hands even upon their passing. I hope they can find physical and emotional comfort in their time remaining.

After a short walk around the neighborhood to stretch our legs, we welcomed Grandma Barrett into our home for Easter dinner. That night, we also bought tickets for the whole family to see the Broadway musical Wicked this fall in Tempe. Hooray! But more on that later.

I am always grateful for General Conference weekend; it is a great time to rest a little and learn more about the gospel. I am also grateful that we had a spiritual "double-dose" this weekend with the arrival of Easter. I have many failings and imperfections, but I am happy to have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ to inspire me to become better than I am. This gospel gives me hope that my future can be bright, and I can be more. I hope this "recharging" of my spiritual "batteries" will stay with me until the next General Conference!