Skookie and Conference Anyone?

Can I just say I LOVE CONFERENCE? I love the fact that you get to sleep in, relax all day, eat whatever you want, stay in your pajamas until noon (or longer), and just sit back and enjoy hearing all of the wonderful talks...and then ponder on how you can be just a little better!

After hearing all of the talks, my goal is to do like President Monson suggested, focus more on the things I have to be grateful for and less on the negative things in my life. Somedays that will be a challenge, but one that I look forward to. I also loved this thought that he shared...

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

The boys loved the weekend too! Their favorite part had to be playing Conference Bingo with whatever candy we could find...and then they'd eat more of the candy than they ever used on their cards! We started out using mini marshmellows because that's all I had, but then after they ate a whole bag of those during just one session, we had to find something else! We ended up going to the store between sessions so I got some Skittles for their game, but I made them ration those out so that they'd last until the end of conference on Sunday.

Usually Rod's favorite part of conference is going to the Priesthood session on Saturday night and then out to eat with one or more of the boys...and since we have 5 boys, that should be an easy thing to do, right? Not so! This year, even with the promise of dinner, he couldn't get one taker! He almost got Jon to go with him but only because he and Brittney got in a car accident on Saturday afternoon and he was excused from work. Luckily, they weren't hurt but they were both sore and when it came time to go to Priesthood, Jon wasn't feeling all that great, so he didn't go after all. Rod still went but he had to eat dinner at home and I think he was a little sad that he didn't get to share the night with one of his boys. In only 3 years, Hayden will be old enough to go with him and then he won't be alone anymore for a long time.

While Rod was gone to his meeting, the boys and I decided to make a Skookie. What exactly is a skookie? It is a chocolate chip cookie baked in a small skillet! We waited to bake them until it was time for Rod to come home so we could eat them hot out of the oven with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce as soon as he got home...and then he was late coming home! He had been invited to go out for ice cream with the bishop and his son after the meeting, so when he didn't come, we just ate our skookie without him! It was yummy!

This is a SKOOKIE!

Can we start eating?

Sunday was equally as fun. The boys played Bingo, I worked on my scrapbook and Rod...well he just hung out more than he usually hangs out and enjoyed conference along with the rest of us. Afterwards we were invited to Rod's parents house for dinner with the little boys and Jon and Brittney. It was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend!