General Conference

Katie and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend General Conference over the weekend. We headed up to Utah on Thursday night and drove down on Monday. I thought I would share a few of the highlights:

Lunch with Matt: When we arrived in Provo Friday afternoon, we took my brother Matt out to lunch at the Macoroni Grill where they have paper table covers and crayons you can color and write on. Well, we get there and we have the cutest waitress, and I started thinking, "Hmmm, I wouldn't mind having her as a sister-in-law." So, we started writing little messages on the table to try and hook these two up...things like: "His name is Matt" and "Yes, he's single". At first I think she thought it was kind of cute, but she soon got embarrassed because by the end of the meal she wouldn't even make eye contact with my brother....poor thing, it's not his fault he's so hideous.

Leighton and Mauri: We spent Friday and Saturday night with my old college roommate and his wife in their apartment. The only thing I can say about their apartment is that it was exquisite and made our already old, cruddy apartment look even worse. We had a great time visiting and just talking about old times. On Friday, we went to see the movie "Hitch". I went with absolutely no expectations, and left very impressed. It was a very good, funny movie that I highly recommend to everyone. Anyway, we had a blast staying with these two and it was very difficult to say goodbye.

General Conference: We went to the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning sesson. I also went to the Priesthood session on Saturday night while Katie went shopping. Needless to say, it was a very special and memorable experience for us both. Katie had never been to General Conference and had only seen the prophet from far away once in Palm Springs about 8 years earlier. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the prophet. IT is amazing the spirit that is with him and the reverence church memebers show for him. The Conference Center is filled with conversation until he enters the room. Then everyone stands and not a sound can be heard. It is an incredible experience that I hope everyone gets to do at least once in their lives.

The Pendleton Family: Our last night was spent with Katie's sister Tam and her family. I also got to meet her brother Chris for the first time and most of his kids. It didn't even occur to me until I was up there that I am an uncle and that I have a buttload of nieces and nephews. We had a wonderful time visiting with the entire family and were also very sad that we had to leave as soon as we did.