Conference Weekend & Canadian Thanksgiving

This past weekend was the General Conference for our Church (a world-wide broadcast from Salt Lake City, UT for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We LOVE Conference weekend! We love listening to our prophet & leaders of our church, and the uplifting, encouraging talks that are given. Our family has a tradition, where every General Conference, we have a picnic lunch & play at a park between conference sessions on Saturday, and then we have a big turkey dinner on Sunday. So, not only do we look forward to listening to many great talks, and enjoying fun family time, but also a delicious turkey dinner.

Well, now that we are in Canada, our October Conference weekend also coincides with the Canadian Thanksgiving. So, we had our turkey dinner that covered both! :) We decided to change things around a bit this year. The kids had Friday off, for a teacher prep day, and then we all had Monday off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Friday, the kids did some work around the house in the morning, and then Jonah & Clay had a play date with some friends, and PJ & Tessa went for a bike ride. After everyone was home, we did some yard work--I trimmed all the bushes & shrubs, PJ & Tessa mowed the front & back yard, and Jonah & Clay helped rake some leaves & sweep the driveway, and then we finished the day off with some ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

On Saturday morning, we got up & headed to our church building to help clean it (everyone is assigned a week to help clean the building). After cleaning the church, we took Tessa, Jonah, & Clay to their music lessons (clarinet, drums, & piano), then headed home, had some lunch & got comfortable in front of our computer to watch General Conference.

It was such a GREAT session, with so many good talks! During the break between sessions, the kids went outside to ride bikes, scooters, and rip-sticks, while Neil & I started getting things ready for our turkey dinner after the 2nd session. After the 2nd session ended, our friends came to join us for our big dinner, and brought some delicious homemade pie for dessert (pumpkin & apple). It was so yummy!

After dinner, the guys headed out to the Priesthood session at the church, while I got the little boys into bed & then us girls talked for a while longer.

On Sunday morning, we got up & drove 3 hours to Palmyra, New York (where there are some church history sites from our church). We took stuff with us, for our picnic lunch there (at a stake center right behind our hotel). After we ate, the kids had fun running around in the field & rolling down the hills. Then we headed to our hotel, got checked in, & settled in for some more great General Conference talks. Jonah & Clay had some conference packets to keep them entertained while they listened, and the kids had fun snacking on goodies, drawing, relaxing, & lounging around.

Between sessions, we went & walked around the Palmyra Temple, and through the Sacred Grove. It is so beautiful & peaceful there---We love that place! Then we headed back to the hotel for the last session of Conference.

On Monday morning, we got up & had breakfast at the hotel, then headed over to the Hill Cumorah & visitor's center. We walked up to the monument, enjoyed some videos & interactive things at the visitor's center, and then went back to the Sacred Grove one more time, before heading back home.

On the way home, we just HAD to stop in Rochester, NY for lunch at PF Changs! We SO miss that place---YUMMM! It was a GREAT weekend!!

(Clay brought his "Flat Stanley" on the trip with us, and even he loved PF Changs!) :)