Thoughts on General Conference

General Conference was amazing, as usual. As I was listening and bawling during the announcement that the missionary ages have been changed to 18 for young men (instead of 19) and 19 for young women (instead of 21), it was reaffirmed once again to me that we have a Prophet on earth today, and that Thomas S. Monson is that man. I am thrilled at how many lives this announcement will change, not only the young men and women who choose to serve, but also the people they will meet. Having more missionaries means more people being able to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was also amazed at the difference that one year will make. Last October, Dean was colicky and we were so tired that John and I basically took turns sleeping during conference, gleaning little during our "awake" moments. When I was "awake" (I put that in quotes because, really, who is 100% awake while they have a 1 month old baby? NOBODY) I was either feeding Dean, or trying so hard to get anything from conference. I do remember loving Elder Andersen's talk entitled Children, but I think it was because I felt how important it was to care for that screaming one-month old. I literally remember nothing else.

This time, I only fell asleep for one talk (President Packer). I think that is a life-time record. I always, ALWAYS fall asleep during Elder Scott's talk (and then some). He is almost always in the afternoon, and even if he weren't, I'd still fall asleep. His voice is sooooo soothing. BUT this is the first year probably in my entire life that I haven't fallen asleep during his talk. I will say it is because I was busy watching Dean play on the ground and acknowledging as he was holding up toys or bringing them to me, but thanks to Dean, I DID IT!! John has already made an MP3 cd for each of our cars and we are already reviewing the talks as we are driving around doing our daily duties.

Dean is getting so close to walking. He will be brave and walk short distances between things. Once he makes the decision that it's "go" time, he'll be just fine. He always catches himself with his hands when he falls, a trait I know he did not get from me. Dean does now have 5 teeth, with at least 3 more on their way. He is such a sweet boy and we love him dearly. Today he stole his boogie wipe (it's a real thing) from my hand after I was done wiping his runny nose. He took it and then proceeded to wipe my nose. Some might thing that's gross, and really, it is, but he is always so sweet and tries to take care of us as we are taking care of him. He will often grab the kitchen towel and wipe spills off of the floor or "wipe" down the oven while I'm cooking. He is a great little helper already.