Oct General Conference with Kate and Morgan

 Morgan's favorite piece of art in the Conference Center--

a bronze statue of the First Vision with the Father's arm

around the Son. So beautiful and moving. It is
located on the balcony level just as you enter the
 J section foyer. Morgan learned about it when
her family toured the Conference Center previously
and she couldn't wait to show it to us. This is how I envision
the Son being introduced by the Father. The photo does
not do it justice.  You have to look behind
the statue to get the full impact of this beautiful piece of
artwork.

A sister missionary took this picture of the three of us
               in front of the statue of Christ.               

 

           Just a breathtaking view from the 10th floor

 of the Joseph Smith Building. Such a great opportunity

to speak to our precious granddaughters of the joy of

      being sealed for time and eternity in the temple.

 The reflection of the Salt Lake Temple in the reflecting pool

is so beautiful! The light was just right to catch this shot.

Outside the Conference Center waiting to get into the 

Saturday morning session. We were there at 8:00 am

and you can't get in until 8:30. These little dolls turned

heads wherever we walked. So many people stopped

to talk to them and ask them if they were sisters. I think

they liked that!

             Our little jewels outside the  Conference Center

           Kate and Morgan in the Hall of the Prophets

      Yikes! Looking from the Balcony all the way down!

     The escalators are a definite favorite!

 Watching Conference from their own little bed in their 

                   own little room in the suite!

              Coloring mosaics at the Art Museum!

             Listening to Jericho Road at Deseret Book

  A picture at the Joseph Smith statue is a

                              must!

         Joseph Smith Building Mezzanine

 The flowers were still gorgeous. These were 

on the plaza and the girls loved them (and

            each other as you can see!)

 There is something about those "behind" shots!

 Getting acquainted with the sister missionaries!

 How Grandpa loves his girls (and vice versa!)

 Cutout view of the Salt Lake Temple which is
         located in the South Visitor's Center.

 

       They LOVED the revolving doors at the JSMB

 

             On the balcony in the Conference Center!  Oh, so 

             many people!

 Yes, we really were at General Conference! What a thrill!
And what wonderful girls Kate and Morgan are! They enjoyed listening
and taking notes...and especially loved watching the Prophet
walk in and signal everyone to sit down. You can hear a pin
drop when he walks in. How we love President Monson. He
certainly is the prophet for our time! I enjoyed his messages
so much as well as all of those who spoke. I am looking forward
to listening to all the talks again via the internet before the Ensign
comes out. It will be interesting to see if the impressions I wrote
in my notes are what I hear upon listening again.  My own over-all
impressions this time in a nutshell were:  FAMILY and FAITH! I
loved every minute of Conference; I loved being with my eternal
sweetheart and with these two precious little granddaughters
who are exceptional in all ways for their ages! They are being
raised in amazing homes with very dedicated and loving parents
who teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ on an hourly basis through
example and word! Thank you for allowing us this time with these two
precious little girls.

It's Great to be 8!

Pictures of Kate on General Conference Weekend

Isn't she a doll?

A beautiful girl in a beautiful dress in front of a beautiful painting!

Riding Trax - a favorite!

"Open the Gates of the Temple!"

A picture of the Salt Lake Temple from this vantage point is a tradition now!

She loves the story of John Rowe Moyle who carved "Holiness to the Lord
The House of the Lord" (etc.)
on the temple at GREAT sacrifice so she took a close-up picture of it.

We had a great visit with three of the sister missionaries on temple square!
They challenged HER to go on a mission!

The Easter bunny brought her a little replica of himself. She loved teasing Grandpa with her little furry "Niblet"!

Little "Katie Bug" as we have always called her is our newest little 8-year-old grandchild and with that milestone birthday comes the opportunity to attend General Conference with Grandma and Grandpa. We thank Lori and Brad for sharing her with us for the weekend. She was an angel and we had a most wonderful time with her. She was completely enthralled and in awe of the Conference Center and wanted to see it all before Conference started. We, of course, did not have time to tour all of it, but thanks to Grandpa saving seats, we saw quite a bit. You will see pictures of her at several of her favorite spots. We looked at all of the Arnold Frieberg Book of Mormon paintings on display there and without hesitation, Kate could tell me the story behind each one. It was impressive to say the least. For the sessions themselves we were blessed to have seats on the Plaza (first) level and only about 12 rows from the front and in the section left of the pulpit. She was thrilled to be so close and enjoyed counting the organ pipes as well as seeing President Monson and the 12 Apostles that near to us. She seemed to enjoy conference which was aided by the Conference packet her mom had prepared for her from lds.org.
Grandpa, Kate and I also spent some time in the brand new flagship Deseret Book directly south of Temple Square before he headed to the Priesthood Session. I think she may have a little claustrophia like her Grandpa because a little of that went a long way! It is an amazing store, however! But it was VERY crowded as you can imagine! During Priesthood Meeting, Kate and I spent time in the Joseph Smith Building even enjoying some yummy Chocolate Cinnamon Cake at the Garden Room. The Joseph Smith Statue, looking out at the temple from the 10th floor, and looking at the gorgeous chandelier from the mezzanine were some of her favorites there.
Adventures on the Plaza and Temple Square included the reflecting pool, enjoying the gorgeous spring flowers, the fountain south of the Church Office Building, visiting with three of the sister missionaries, and spending lots of time in the North Visitors Center where we visited the Christus statue, watched the Testaments movie, and enjoyed all the dioramas and interactive scripture story displays. She was a bundle of energy and just a delight.
Oh, another thing Kate thoroughly enjoyed during the weekend was eating two meals at Sizzler! We found out this little girl absolutely LOVES watermelon and chicken wings...but especially watermelon! She could have made a meal on just that!
Greg and I are so blessed to have this opportunity to attend Conference in Salt Lake and to take our little grandkids with us. We will enjoy this privilege as long as it is available to us and take as many of our little ones as we can.

Things we love about Kate in no particular order:

• beautiful red hair and a constant reminder to us of her mom as a little girl
  
• contagious smile and sweet attitude
  
• boundless energy
• love of good food - especially watermelon!
  
• love of stuffed animals
• love of the scriptures
• love of her parents
• love of her brothers
• her willingness to forgo one session of conference so we could go out and visit my brother, Craig.
• her complete honesty
• her sense of humor
• She'll still hold my hand
  
• her good attitude about a not so wonderful hotel room!
• She loves Grandma and Grandpa and lets us know it!

Love you tons, Kate! Thanks for spending special time with Grandma and Grandpa on Easter Sunday!

The Spirit of God Like a Fire...Part 3

How could anyone listen to General Conference and not be motivated to be a better person? How I wish that every wavering soul, every person out there searching for some hope could or would listen to modern-day prophets, seers, and revelators speak Heavenly Father's will to His children! Wow, all I can say is "wow!!! The spirit truly DID burn within this heart! Greg and I wrote down many impressions each of us had and then talked about them at length on our way home from Salt Lake after his business conference. But the challenge is not to just talk about them but to actually make some changes! It drives me nuts how I can make resolutions and then let them go by the wayside so quickly...maybe not totally, but let a day slip by here or there without keeping those commitments. I am doing better than before conference, so that is good...I just need to kick the ol' "deceiver" behind me! I love the Atonement more each day because every day I realize a little more how much I need it! Some of my favorite talks and what I personally learned:

• Elder David Bednar: "What we know is not always manifested in what we do." (That one speaks for itself!)
• Elder Dallin Oaks: "Heavenly Father's choicest blessings are reserved for those who keep His commandments...mercy cannot rob justice. God will not forestall the agency of ANY of us." (So I have my agency to choose, but in making wrong choices, I deny myself choice blessings that Heavenly Father would give me if I had chosen better.)
• Elder Neil Anderson: "Come Unto Him and be spiritually wrapped in His arms of mercy, safety and love." Through repentance we replace guilt with joy. Repentance is a journey like running into the wind." (I love that! Yes, that is exactly what it is like!)
  
• Pres. Henry B. Eyring: "Some of us mistakenly believe we're good enough"! (We are not!) We need to be optimistic about who we can become and take hope in the invitation to be like Him. (It is a commandment to be perfect but it will not happen in this life. That, however, does not excuse me from repenting every day and trying to make a little progress.)
• President Thomas S. Monson: "What did you do for someone today?" (Have I done any good in the world today? Be sure I do something for someone in need every day) I loved this talk...just further evidence that his is a very personal ministry and he is our prophet today to teach us this concept.
• Elder Jeffrey Holland: One of the greatest calamities of our day is even those of the covenant , the very elect, will and are being deceived by the enemy of truth. The Book of Mormon is the counter-offensive against Satan's attack. Elder Holland bore the most powerful witness of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph that I have EVER heard. (The spirit burned in my soul and I could not deny what I felt. I have listened to this talk 3 times since and feel the fire of his testimony. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God!)
• Elder Dale Renlund: "We become casual at our own peril...if we have experienced a change of heart, can we feel so now?" We must do the basic daily things we have been commanded to do in order not to become casual. We might ask ourselves the many questions in Alma 5 as a biopsy of our spiritually changed hearts. (I loved this idea! I'm going to do that.) This was a great talk worthy of studying again and again.)

There were many more...these were just the highlights for me.

My General Conference Goals: ( I am writing them here so I am committed!)

1. DAILY personal study and prayer. Read out of the Book of Mormon daily.
   
2. Be a better Sunday School teacher by contacting each child not there by the end of Sunday and trusting the spirit to take the lesson where it needs to go.
3. Be more diligent and concerned at home.
4. Be sure I do something of service for someone every day.
5. Once per month ask myself the questions in Alma 5.
6. Study Preach My Gospel and answer the journal questions to help me be a better missionary
7. Pray that "walls" will come down both in our stake and around the world for missionary work.

Now, we'll see how I do.

The Spirit of God Like a Fire...Part 2

It took me awhile to get back to writing about our trip to General Conference...hence the "part 2". Having Todd with us was a joy as we knew it would be. We played travel games on the way down and broke up the trip by stopping to eat midway down to Salt Lake. We stayed at the Hilton Airport and enjoyed Saturday morning conference in our room. The afternoon session we watched "live" in the balcony of the Conference Center where there is no bad seat. That building is still such an architectural amazement to me! Three levels of seating and not one support beam...and the acoustics are perfect! Do you think there might have been a little divine direction in those plans? We were so thrilled to hear of five new temples in planning stages and one of them in Brigham City! Who would have ever thought? And another temple in Florida...we were, of course, thrilled to hear that. We were so interested to hear Pres. Monson say that 83% of the members of the church live within 200 miles of a temple now and that percentage will just continue to increase over the years as more temples are planned and built. This was just another reminder to us that the temple IS at the center of all of our worship.

We ate dinner at JB's before Greg took off to the Priesthood session and then Todd and I thoroughly enjoyed each other, temple square, and the Joseph Smith Building during that time. We went to all of our usual "haunts" in the JS Building as the pictures indicate but really loved the statues in the foyer outside the Legacy Theater that one of the guides told us about. The much larger than life statue of Joseph Smith reading from James 1:5 is amazing. You can see the knitted ribbing in his socks and read the words in the bible. We just loved it. There was also a great statue of Joseph and Hyrum that I had not seen before. We enjoyed the reflecting pool and while there got a phone call from Sara telling us that Luke had something exciting to tell me. So Luke got on and told me about his catching two ground balls and tagging out the runners for two outs in a row in his ball game! That was so exciting! Thanks, Sara, for calling because those little achievements are so fun for us to hear about. We love to hear about all the things our little grandkids are up to!

Anyway, we then headed to temple square where we enjoyed the beautiful landscaping still very much in evidence, I might say! Todd noticed that they had already started stringing Christmas lights in some of the trees. We were lucky enough to get in toward the beginning of the film "Joseph Smith and the Restoration" showing at the North Visitors Center. I hadn't seen it for awhile and, of course, shed buckets of tears. That movie is such a testimony to me of the reality of the First Vision and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith. Todd loved seeing it again and felt the spirit as we enjoyed it together. We took a picture by the Christus upstairs and then headed over to wait for Greg. Todd really noticed the protesters this time and asked more than once why they continue to stand there and shout when no one pays any attention to them. His grandpa told him that sadly, many of them are paid to be disruptive. We talked about the difference in the spirit felt from them and that which we felt during conference and listening to those who were singing hymns along the temple block...such a stark contrast!

Sunday morning we met Brad, his sister Michelle and her husband George at Denny's for breakfast at 7:15. We were so excited that he had been able to get three tickets for the Sunday morning session and we were all able to sit together. It was a joy to have him there with us and it was an extra bonus for Todd! As Greg had a business conference Monday and Tuesday after Conference, it worked out well because Brad was able to take Todd on home and we were able to get checked into Little America in time to watch the Saturday afternoon session.

Some things we love about Todd:

1. His manners - he opened every hotel, store and car door for me all weekend! What a little gentleman! (Lori and Brad, thank-you for teaching him these important courtesies!). We were duly impressed!
   
2. His desire to please and obey. His mom had told him not to be an "ipodaholic" while he was with us and he made sure he was not. I'm sure that being with a couple of old fogies made it tempting to use it much more often than he did, but he resisted!
   
3. His intelligence and interest in all kinds of things. His understanding of technology leaves Grandpa and me behind in the dust!
4. His desire to look sharp and like a missionary while at Conference. We and he loved his new suit, tie, and belt! Even though it was probably not too comfortable to stay in his dress clothes until 8:30 at night, he did so willingly and turned many a head in the process.
5. His love of school and desire to excel. We hope he always cares about his grades as he does now!
6. His love of scouting and desire to continue to progress. It is hard to believe he will soon be an 11-year-old scout!
   
7. His love of music. We love that he loves many different kinds of music and also wants to play the piano.
   
8. That he will try most any good thing at least once.
9. He is a GREAT swimmer!
   
10. Todd loves his family so much and cares about each one of them. We love to see him play with Kate and Jack and be perfectly happy doing so. He is very proud of his Mom and Dad and his siblings.
11. We were proud that he paid such good attention to the speakers during Conference. Even he commented that the time went very, very fast because he really tried to listen and learn.
12. He is who he is and is comfortable in his own skin.
    

Todd, you will always be a leader for good if you remember who you really are! Don't let anyone change you because we love you just the way you are! Thanks for spending time with Grandma and Grandpa!

The Spirit of God Like a Fire ...

Buds!

These ducks crossed the road single file almost in the cross walk as
Todd and I were driving towards our hotel Saturday morning. We
just couldn't get stopped and the camera out in time to catch them!
It was hilarious!

Watching the Saturday morning session

Taking notes in his Conference Journal

In the Conference Center plenty early (Grandpa's famous "lead time") for
the Saturday afternoon session

See? I'm really here!

Gregory Guy Rose with his grandson Todd Gregory Wilson
outside the Conference Center!

What a happy time! Isn't he handsome?

The tour guide kept commenting that Todd looked like a missionary!

Another fun picture tradition from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Building!

Todd and I loved this statue of Joseph Smith reading James 1:5
by the Legacy Theater. It is much bigger than it looks in this picture!

The reflecting pool.

The Christus was our last stop before meeting Grandpa after the Priesthood Session!

I wanted to get these pictures posted. I will write about General Conference and our wonderful time with Todd when I have a little more time.