General Conference Weekend

What a weekend. Besides the stress of changing my plans to accommodate someone and having him change back at the last minute, this was the perfect weekend.

Friday

I drove down to SLC with my sister in law, Jolynda. We got to their apartment where we met my brother and my parents. Yes, my parents came! We went out to dinner where I experienced my first ever Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I'm not sure why it has taken me 23 years to try one, but I was not disappointed at all.

From there, Anya picked me up and we drove up to the mission reunion at the Christensen's home. This was my first ever real mission reunion. I was so excited to go and was so happy to see so many people that I hadn't seen in over a year. The  majority of people in this picture here were last seen all the way back in Russia. Anya and I laughed so hard that we couldn't ever catch our breath, while everyone just stared. I would say it was a successful night.

Aren't we just the greatest bunch of people? Seriously, obsessed with my mission friends.

Saturday

We woke up and ate breakfast. Of course I didn't sleep well because I had the option of sleeping on a tiny couch or the tile floor. I spent half the night on each. We got ready and went out the door. My parents were only in town for 24 hours, so we had to cram in as much as possible. We went and walked around the University of Utah campus instead of watching conference. Oops. We bought matching sweatshirts. 

Then, we headed on over to City Creek Mall and ate at The Cheesecake Factory. Obviously that is never disappointing. We stuffed our faces with food and cheesecake. We called it Zack's birthday lunch.

After lunch, we went on over to the Conference Center. I had a ticket that wasn't with my parents. They were all together in the very upper section and I was supposed to sit down in the lower section. But we asked if I could just sit up high with my family and they said yes. A man came and sat next to us. He said he was from Canada and had traveled to Utah with 6 of the priests from his ward to come see conference live for the very first time. He was sitting by himself and the priests were all scattered. I was able to give him my ticket to sit in the lower section. I thought that was just so cool.

It was awesome to be in the Conference Center as we sustained three new members of the quorum of the twelve apostles. I will never forget that. Plus just being in the conference center is so special every time.

"None of us marry perfection, we marry potential" and none of us marry at all. #foreverfifthwheeling

After the session, we were walking back to the car and passed by a news camera interviewing some people. Immediately on of my companions texted me telling me she just saw my dad and I on TV. So of course we had to get our hands on that footage. It took us a day, but we finally found it and were able to watch our claim to fame.

When my parents left, they told us to go do something fun that night. We went bowling and then got drinks and mozzarella sticks at Sonic. That night I got food poisoning and blacked out.

Sunday

We woke up, watched conference, watched baseball, and watched conference. We didn't leave the house until it was time to drive back home to Idaho. So we drove back. The end.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to listen to the voice of the prophets. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to see them in the flesh and feel the spirit so strong. It never gets old. Oh and I love my family.