I woke up at 10:05, rushed to the living room, turned on the TV to watch conference.  Conference wasn't always such a great thing in my mind.  Like probably most kids, I had a hard time sitting and listening for two hours, then another two, then to repeat it on Sunday.  However, the past week or two has been really hard for various reasons, so I was quite looking forward to the spirit conference brings.

The themes I noticed from Saturday morning's session were learning to hear, recognize, and follow the Spirit.  I also know I should be reading my scriptures.  Gotta start doing that :)  I liked that Elder Scott said we can learn to be consistently guided by the Spririt.  Not only can we, but I really think we need to.  Some may have a disposition to listen and follow more easily than others, but I still think there needs to be effort on our part.

I also found some teaching points - what we should be doing with our primary class that we aren't. 

Something else that stood out to me from L. Whitney Clayton's talk was this: Burdens become Blessings.  Maybe it's because of the alliteration, but I kind of want to make a cute sign to put in my house that says that.  Love is the other major theme that was witnessed in the Saturday morning session.  I also liked that he said the Plan of Salvation is for our own growth.

We also need to have confidence in others, and of course, love.  Learning and teaching aren't optional.

I really like Elder Bednar's talks.  He always seems to spell things out very simply.  This conference was no different.  He talked about being more diligent and concerned at home by 1) expressing love and showing it.  When he said to never assume they know how much we love them, it made me think of Jeff Dunham and Walter, (is that horrible?) and how Jeff asks Walter if he's told his wife lately that he loves her.  Walter of course says no, because she knows it.  Jeff asks how.  Walter replies, "Because I smile a lot."  LOL For those of you who are completely lost, you must now go find this clip on youtube.

Ok, so I found it for you.  For this part only, scroll over to 2:23:


Right, point 2) Bear testimony and live it.  It shouldn't come as a surprise to your family what you bear testimony of on fast Sunday because they should hear it and see examples of it often.  And 3) Be consistent!  If you're a poor example, your kids won't learn well.  If you're a hypocrit, it's destructive.  It's important to be consistent in the seemingly small things.

I love President Uchtdorf, too.  He was the general authority who came to our stake conference right before he became an apostle.  He talked about love.  "Love should be our walk and our talk."  With love, obedience becomes our joy, not a burden.  He also pointed out that God doesn't need us to love Him, but we need to love God because what we love becomes our focus.  Love is the measure of our faith and motivation for our obedience.  He talked about how love is the defining characteristic of a true disciple of Christ.  If we are to become true disciples, then we must keep the commandments.  We need to prioritize.  The first commandment is to love God, and the second is to love thy neighbor.

I told you my fall background would be short-lived.  In fact, with a holiday each month, all of these will be relatively short-lived.  However, since it is officially October, I can put up my Halloween background and header! Aren't they adorable? The jack-o-lantern is another I made myself.  I think he's fun :)  My house is almost decorated as well... perhaps when I'm done I'll post some pictures.

By way of updates - I can't remember if I mentioned we put an offer on a house.  I know it's on FB... anyway.  Townhome in PG, short sale, listed at 107K.  We offered 90K, and we know the seller doesn't want to let it go for that.  However, the punk hasn't countered anything....so we're left waiting. It's so annoying.  Anyway.  At the moment, it's looking like we won't get it.  If the seller changes his mind, I guaranty it won't happen and get through the bank and everything before the November 30th deadline for the tax credit.  Where does that leave us?  Not looking at houses again until we can pay off a couple cars.  Yay for our cheap one bedroom apartment for the next 5 years! woot! (If you don't know me well enough - that last bit is dripping in sarcasm...)  Don't get me wrong - our apartment is great.  And CHEAP!  But still..... We've been here a little over two years . . . and I'm looking at another five? (assuming no kids come into the picture...) Sigh.

Matt and I haven't been out on a date in a while (probably since our anniversary trip). Well, Matt had no plans tonight (and no side-kick - thank goodness!) and I had no appointments.  We decided to go to Pirate Island where the University Mall Theatre used to be.  IT ROCKS!

I'd heard good things about it from people at work, and apparently so had Matt.  We had about a half hour wait, so we checked out the arcade and then the gift shop.  The gift shop guy was kind of cool. (He reminded me of you, Andrew - the timbre of his voice... and he looked like you a little bit.  Not quite as charismatic, though.)  Anyway, they sell knives, so he pulled out a (fake)jewel-encrusted dirk for me to look at.  Then we wandered to the other counter, and he knew I was interested in the rings, so he pulled them out too.  After that, we went back to the arcade. 

Matt got us $10 worth of pirate coins.  We first shot targets with shot guns.  They had a cute setup.   Matt shot some hoops, then we played some other shooting game...Matt died first. We played quite a few games and ended up with 250 tickets.  Sadly, someone was always at Deal or No Deal.  I really wanted to play that!  For our 250 tickets, we got a pirate ball.  It has the clear ball around it, so the image always faces up.  Then when it hits something hard, it lights up.  (Matt's pick.)  At that point, it was time for us to be seated. 

Our waiter, Jarom, was awesome!  He had the most authentic costume and did Captain Sparrow too well :)  He was amazing.  Matt said next time we should ask for him lol.  Let's just say he was well-tipped.  Matt got a steak and I had pizza.  Oh! and we also got Sea Biscuits (breadsticks) with marinara sauce as an appetizer.  It was the best date night ever!  At least in a very long time.  We definitely intend on going back - and soon!  I highly urge you to try it!

So I should have gone, showered, and got ready for bed. Instead, I decided I should actually make some scrapbook pages with my new found skillz. (You know, instead of blog backgrounds, headers, and cute desktop backgrounds...)  I wasn't feeling up to something as large as our wedding, so I went with my pictures from last Halloween.  Here I post them for your viewing pleasure.

For how much my husband harrasses me and teases me, he just gave me a great compliment! He just teased me about my degree (psychology), and I countered by saying I've found an application in our business for it.  He said, "Ya, you're doing quite well, actually." Then he beat on himself a little, while sad, a little true - and implying I'm doing more of the this than he is (true), but that he knew it and admitted it! It just made me happy enough to blog about it. I wanted to remember the happiness :D

I'm a couple days early according to the calendars, but I wanted to get some use in of my first fall background and header before I switch it to the Halloween stuff I just designed :) I love making blog backgrounds and headers! I have some cute ones that I really need to rotate through as well.  Maybe if any of my blogging friends want, I could design you a cute background too! (There's no way I'll be able to use all of mine at the rate I'm going.)

Tomorrow's the primary program - wish us luck! Oh! and we have sharing time next week - ideas much appreciated! (Junior primary...)

It seems to be all the rage to either have a dedicated "book blog," or to at least ocassionally blog about a recent read.  This isn't exactly the reason for this post, but it does seem to fit the trend :)

A few weeks ago, I was bored and needed to stay up north for some reason or another. (I probably just had a meeting in Lindon and didn't want to drive all the way home for an hour or two after getting off of work.) So naturally, I did a little shopping.  (My gas saving efforts thwarted by the $ spent elsewhere...)  Anyway, I didn't even want to drive to downtown Provo to go to my beloved Waldenbooks, so I stopped in at Barnes & Noble. (This is what happens when I take my other current read out of my bag the night before...oops!)  Naturally, I head straight over to the Sci Fi/Fantasy section.  I perused the selections and picked up one or two.  I found Paul of Dune was out in paperback, which I had not been aware of.  However, I knew that wasn't what I wanted to read.  (I need to refresh myself on the series first.)  So I continued to peruse.  I paused at the Orson Scott Card selection.  I really enjoyed Ender's Game.  I even bought Speaker for the Dead, but never really got into it.  Then, next to the Ender's and Ender's Shadow series, there was Enchantment.



Now, it has been ages since I picked up a random book to read, much less to buy to read.  So I read the first few pages, and decided to go ahead and buy it. I finished it a week or so ago, but I must say, it was really good!  I usually like the more Sci Fi side, but this was more of the Fantasy realm.  I liked the fresh take, as well.  Anyway, I would highly recommend reading it. :)

**To purchase, click the picture.**