conference...

guess who went to conference this year? this kid! it was awesome. we had plans to stay longer, but i got a new, full-time job (that i love) but that definitely threw a little wrench in our plans. we left thursday (after work) and drove half-way to page. we spent the night there then did the second half of the trip after breakfast on friday. it really is a much easier drive that way... 6 hours at a time is quite a bit more bearable than 12 hours. lol. after we got to provo, our little traveling group split up to do different stuff... i went to the byu campus and met up with kels who was busy working in the rmyl. we walked back to her apartment together and then went down to our cousin's house. we had pizza and watched a movie with jason and laurel and their adorable daughters. i love being able to see and hang out with them! they are so funny!

the trees outside kelsey's apartment... they are so dang pretty, but stink so dang bad!

the next day was beautiful... it was in the 70s with the sun shining. we went the saturday morning session of general conference, had lunch, then went to the new city creek center (a big new mall) right across from temple square. it was really neat... but there were so many freaking people walking around. and danielle got to come hang out with us all day too... it was fantastic! i really wish we could have stayed longer... just so i could have hung out even more with the people i love!

our group: mike, nikki, mason, hank, danielle & kelsey

and yes. that is correct... we were there puh-lenty early. haha...

a storm blew in that night and it was cold and snowy sunday morning. i have never been to an april conference where it hasn't snowed. i wasn't really surprised... just cold. i did get to wear my leather jacket... that will definitely be the last time for that till winter. haha. we left to come home right after attending the morning session.  it definitely was a fast trip... one with very little sleep and lots of driving, but it was worth it.

btdubs... we had wicked good seats both sessions. winner.

the drive home: yep. that's snow everywhere. and apparently i slept through the worst of it... it's probably a good thing. driving through snow stresses me out something fierce.

apparently i was too busy to take any more pictures than that. sorry. lol.

utah... and easter $

so im apparently a terrible blogger now. haha sorry.... anyway. last thursday, nicole and i [along with a friend we picked up in thatcher] drove to provo for conference and easter weekend. im not gonna lie... it was a long pooping day, but it was well worth it! nicole and i spent the night in the dorms with kelsey and her roomie tiffany [and can i just say how stinking funny kelsey's friends are?! they even made a rap about nicole and i! ba ha ha!].

friday... kelsey had class, so nicole and i just kinda hung out and then after kelseys class was done we went to paula's office and chatted with her for a bit. we got to eat lunch in the cannon, go shopping with danielle and then got pizza delivered to the dorms! it was cool! zac flew in a few hours later, then we all spent the night at paula's house [thanks again paula & kevin! we sure do love you!]

the next morning, we drove to salt lake city for conference. we had gotten tickets for the saturday morning session [and erik, our cousin, and his fiance were able to make it too!] it was killer sweet time. but it was so pooping windy and cold. i wish i could say that i miss provo, but the weather just doesnt quite do it for me. ive absolutely loved wearing flip flops all winter long here in arizona! oh and also... kelsey wore the wrong shoes.... and we parked farther away than we were planning on... about a third of the way to the conference center kelsey said her feet were killing her and her ankles were about to break, so me and nicole and kelsey rotated shoes and then periodically would switch again. this happened back to the parking garage too afterwards... killer uncomfortable, but stinking funny! we saw our family from queen creek at temple square [they were up in utah for conference too]. we also met up with a friend from tucson [and his friends... who, by the way, didnt think we were as funny as we think we are. lol. one of them sang in the mo tab. we gave him a ride back to his car, and we kept trying to inconspicuously get pictures of his music folder thing. needless to say, it didnt work. ba ha ha!] and went to chipotle for lunch. after that we went to the provo temple for a bit. then we said goodbye to paula and headed down to jason & laurel's.

sunday... the easter bunny found us [even under 6 inches of fresh snow! bleck.] we had a delicious breakfast, watched the last 2 sessions of conference and had an amazing easter dinner. erik and his fiance, caralee, were there too. it sure was fun! and it is so crazy to me how big isabel is getting! we played in the snow and hung out with everybody the rest of the day. [thanks again, jason & laurel, for everything! we love you guys so much!]

we woke up in the middle of the night [quite literally, hehe...] to get packed up and head back to arizona. we packed up some of kelsey's stuff to take home too. it was a quick but very fun trip! i loved every moment of it! and just think.... 15 days until kelsey is done with school and back home for the summer! woot woot!

ps... the pictures are compliments of the zac. high five and thank you to him!! :)

{conference...}

erik [the cousin] called me friday night to see if i wanted to go to conference with him... and of course i said yes!! we left all types of early on saturday morning and stopped at this cute little restaurant in slc called "coachmen's" - i had the french toast and erik had strawberry waffles. delicious! [thanks agian erik!]

we didnt have tickets or anything, so we did the whole stand-by thing... and it was snowing and cold! lol... thank goodness for a huge warm jacket! i stayed pretty warm except for my toes... you would think that i would own a pair of pantyhose by now... but i sure dont. [i do have a pair of black tights... but i was wearing brown... so i couldnt wear them.] we stood in line for a good hour and a half... maybe two- it was a while... the snow wasnt sticking, so thats good right? lol... the guest services men kept telling us all that they were full and that we should go to the tabernacle or whatever whatever... but we were pretty close to the front of the line by the end.... and we kept hearing the men saying that there might be enough seats for a few of us... so we decided to stick it out and see if we could get in... and at 9:57 or something like that they let all of us who were still in the line go in! and i started walking and couldnt quite feel my feet. it was funny! my feet were so dang cold! it felt like they were asleep! lol!! but we got in and sat down all before the opening prayer! phew! it was a close call... but we got in! and it was great! i had so much fun with erik! it really was a blast.

...then i might or might not have fallen asleep during the second session...

[oh and his car has seat warmers.... and i realized im definitely a fan of those! if i ever end up living anywhere cold... im totally getting a car with seat warmers! :) ]

::

brooke had invited me a couple weeks ago to go to sunday morning conference with her... she got a couple tickets from the bishop. so me and her and one other girl from our ward all drove up together. it was really fun though! i drove... and it was sunnier and not quite so ridiculously cold... no snow is always a good thing! brooke almost didnt get let in cause she had a brass knuckle belt buckle in her purse [it was a friend of hers... but still! lol... i thought it was amusing, i definitely laughed] but it was still really cool... and we got to be there in time for the music and the spoken word, id never seen that before... i think- maybe i did, lol... but either way i loved it! oh and we were on the 1st terrace! ive only ever been on terrace 2- so this was fun! :)

[the blue circle is where me and my family sat last october for conference]

we drove home, i changed clothes and went and watched the afternoon session with paula and family [and i was looking around and listening to everybody talk and laugh... and i really am going to miss them! im finally feeling really really comfortable there and im leaving. sigh.] and of course they had delicous food there too... they take such good care of me!

overall it was a very good, very uplifting weekend.

i was watching the news last night for a minute and again this morning [that's the only good channel we get. dan took her tv back... and this guy is letting us use his extra one, but it only gets basic cable.... kinda lame, but better than nothing... or something. lol...] anyway, so i was watching the news and they talked about conference and stuff... and the overall message of it... and the new apostle that got put in... but they never once mentioned the picketers outside of temples square. they never talked about the opposition or anything like that. those men are standing outside all weekend screaming and yelling and yet, they get no attention paid to them... i thought it was an interesting observation.

it was still a great weekend! :)

busy busy busy...

okay...so- wow!!

this weekend was so crazy fun!! crazy crazy busy though!! lol... it was absolutely a blast!!

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friday, the family got here... they came up and saw me in the rmyl... this is the picture from that...

afterwards (they went to kelsey's little tour thing and i stayed and work, youll have to check out kelsey's blog for more details on that...)

we went to smokehouse after we were done. it was me mom dad kelsey austin devin danielle and jared... the nate swiss's and tyler swiss (friends from tucson) and riley bushman (another kid from tucson... just graduated in may, the son of my family's hometeacher...) all came!! and it was really fun dinner! lots of fun!

this was us... waiting for everyone else to get there.

we went back to paulas and then over to my apartment... played mario party for awhile then went to bed. (oh and i won!! go peach!!! hahaaha...)

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saturday morning, we got up early to go to general conference!! we had tickets for the morning session. we actually had two extra tickets so dad gave them to riley, and he brought this cute girl on a little date i guess. we actually caravaned with him... it was me and jared and danielle and austin in one car, then riley plus girl and devin and kelsey in the other, they were following us. mom and dad went early to photo copy a german book for grandma i guess, so we met up with them at the conference center. ooh! and this older elder stopped austin and told us we had to check his backpack... austin wasnt very happy, he only had umbrellas and paper and colored pencils, but we had to check check it and pick it up afterwards. bummer, i know. anyway we got in the conference center and we had some crazy way out there seats... we were on the third balcony on the very left... very very left. it was kind of dizzying being that high up. but! conference was amazing!! as it always is! we did have some sleepy people though. that girl that riley brought seriously slept the whole entire time... a little weird but whatev. danielle and jared were asleep for a good part of it, as was austin... dad was nodding... as usual, mom was too. i kinda dozed off for a second there in the beginning, but then i was good for the rest of it. after conference, mom and dad had a little more photo-copying to do, so we (the kids... me kels tino dani jared and dev) walked around and saw the temple took a picture or two... oh we got austins backpack.... then went and met up with mom and dad in the family history center. but it really was cold and rainy. we were all wet... and hungry, so we went to the lion house pantry...which is delicious! after that we split up, although not very evenly, to drive home. it was me devin and kelsey in the backseat of mom and dads camry... and austin was laying across us. hahah.... it was funny. but 45 minutes is a little long to do that... kelsey could feel the air being blown out of his nose, and it was grossing her out... and austin farted on me a couple times... not so cute. but we made it back to provo... and changed clothes then went to paulas and watched a movie and stuff. then it was the priesthood session... and the boys left and me and mom and kels went shopping. mom (with the help of grandma and grandpa farr) bought me a stinking cute winter coat. it is one of those cool down ones. it goes to my knees, its brown, and! has a hood with fur on it!! it is stinking cute, and is so warm! so yay!! and thanks!! :) haha after that we watched another movie... and then went home. kelsey and i went home and made a caramel nut ring... or monkey bread... i forget what it was called.

the view from our seats!! haha... pretty cool! :)

according to kelsey this is my artsy fartsy picture... lol.
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sunday we went back over to paulas... and had this amazing breakfast with her and her son noah's inlaws. and dude. we went over there (just wearing normal day clothes, which by the way is an improvement from what we normally wear to watch conference... pajamas... haha) and all of the in-law family was in church clothes!! i kinda felt like a little heathen. but, i was comfortable... whatev. haha. then we went down to the basement... our tummies were full, there was a fire- so it was nice and warm, and watched...well basically slept through... conference. haha so...yeah. lol. then... we went over to jason and laurels.... we watched the fourth session there... but we were all playing with isabel and having a hard time concentrating (actually, erik went into the kitchen to watch... apparently we are heathens. haha... sorry!) then had a delicious dinner and sat around talking about saturday night live and then politics and then the marriage proposition and then crazy drivers and then hitting animals with cars and then dead deer and dead dogs and then crazy cats named thor and then back to dead animals like bunnies and roosters. and it was seriously funny!! i havent really laughed that hard in a long time! :)

and now my family is gone.

and i miss them even more.

...but it was a fun weekend! (although it would have been perfect with adrian and dustin!!)