Twenty-one Beautiful Years

We love October General Conference weekend! In fact, we love it so much, we got married on it twenty-one years ago, even shamelessly stealing Lia's younger sister's birthday so we could have all the festivities out of the way and just settle in and listen to the prophets by ourselves. 

This General Conference was especially exciting for many reasons. Way back in August, the Sunday after Miriam was born, Gwyndelin began rehearsing to be in the children's choir singing during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. 2,488 children auditioned and Gwyn was one of the 350 or so selected to actually sing. Justin and Abdiel accompanied Gwyn to Salt Lake Saturday morning so she could be to her 10 am rehearsal. They then headed to Beau's apartment to watch conference, since--come to find out just that morning--Beau now lives in the shadow of the Salt Lake temple. Afterwards Beau let them in on the best kept secret in Utah: California's Burgers. Abdiel pronounced that bacon covered California Burger, delicious, "even with all the vegetables." By that we assume he meant the onions, because can't really see past that pile of protein there. Meanwhile, Lia and everyone else watched the sessions at home until Elisabeth and Katharine went eco-friendlily on the train to meet Justin and Abdiel and cheer Gwyn on all together. Lia then took the three littles with her to the funeral of our neighbor, Jeanette Ostler. They ended up mostly listening from the nursery.

Abdiel was excited to take the train back with them, putting his BYU ID to its first use since its acquisition three years ago. Gwyn and Justin were excited to head to California Burgers again before viewing the Saturday evening session of conference. 

This was noteworthy because Justin was invited as a guest of Elder Gong, who referred during his talk to a story Justin had shared, along with stories of many others. Kind Elder Gong invited Justin and the others to a small reception which turned out to be "a beautiful meeting. Basically a testimony meeting," Justin reported, in which all shared further details about the experiences Elder Gong had referenced. Gwyndelin got to be Justin's guest since Lia was home with Miriam, but the Gongs sent him home with a generous doggie bag: Elder Gong piled up a plate of cookies, and Sister Gong gave him a sweater she had knitted for Miriam after hearing about her arrival during a football game earlier in the year. We are astounded by the way the General Authorities minister to the one, and are grateful that Justin's current position sometimes allows his orbit and their orbit to intersect so that we can feel that love. We are truly led by remarkable people.

Justin and Gwyn returned home around 10 pm, just after Elisabeth and Katharine returned from a shopping spree to Old Navy. Their fun in the dressing room left Lia wondering if she will ever let them be shopping partners again. The Sunday sessions of conference were much less eventful but breathtakingly inspiring. We are excited to put into action the marching orders we've received for the next six months. After all the sessions were concluded, Justin took the kids up to Dry Canyon to try to get some energy out and Lia fed Miriam and put the finishing touches on the white chicken chili and cinnamon rolls we'd be serving to Elisabeth, her roommates, and our old friend, Madi Thompson, all BYU Freshmen. They are all impressive young women and we're grateful Elisabeth gets to associate with them. 

Highlights during the week leading up to conference: Justin's gift to Lia was a few hours each day to have some time to herself. On Monday, she got her hair cut in a more manageable style for a mother of eight; on Tuesday she talked to Julia while working on a top secret project, and she gained entrance to the Cool Moms Club by buying herself a shirt at Old Navy, among other articles of clothing that actually fit; on Wednesday, anniversary day itself, Lia took Gabriel and Miriam to Justin's class in the morning with some breakfast birthday cupcakes (muffins) and apple cider; she then totally surprised Justin by sending him two original songs she had written for him, "'Til I Found You" and "Hector." Since he has written a sonnet on every anniversary since they met--plus a few birthday and Mother's Day ones besides--with nary a line of poetry in return, he was utterly shocked, but in the best way. Maybe it will become a tradition. 

Thursday Justin had to attend a dinner, plus Lia was still recovering from writing all that poetry, but Friday they headed to Los Hermanos for a romantic anniversary date. Except that Miriam insisted on coming, and also insisted on their not staying too long, so they ended up getting it to-go and eating at home. Since there was a baby just about this age present at their first anniversary as well, this felt just right.