Oscar Stew

This weekend was General Conference. If you don’t know what that is, you can learn about it HERE or watch it HERE.

We aren’t cool enough to get conference via cable TV, but Ryan figured out how to hook up the computer to his stereo and BOOM! It sounded like we had front row seats!

We took advantage of all the down time and got busy in the kitchen. I just love hanging out at home all weekend, it’s so relaxing- no where to go, no one to see. Just being, playing with the kids, watching dough rise and listening to our church leaders. We started the weekend off with some yummy cinnamon rolls. Thanks for the recipe Kari!

To keep the kids semi-focused we printed out some conference worksheets for them. They had to color the tie of every Apostle or First Presidency member they saw.

Rowan dozed in and out of consciousness throughout conference. She said she already heard all of this in the pre-existence and it was a total snore to hear it all over again. What a know-it-all!

Day 2. Check out those tie charts. Looking pretty good!

Between sessions we made some yummy bread while Chef Rowan supervised. Watch out for the spatula!

Fresh warm bread + butter & jam = total happiness. Thanks Kels for the yummy recipe!

At one point there was a long stretch of Mo-Tab singing and non-apostles talking, so we played a word game. The kids had to listen for words like sacrament, missionary, testimony, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc…in order to score a snack. It’s amazing how much they hear when there are treats involved.

Aerial view of the action. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but the kids learned pretty quickly that listening and coloring were their only options.

It was wonderful to be able to watch conference at home. It’s always great to hear the words of the Prophet and General Authorities and be inspired to do more & be better.

Of our mountain adventure…

One last try at a fall picture. Oh sure, take Mommy & Daddy out of the picture and we get total cooperation. nice!

We only had a few minutes to snarf our carefully planned picnic. It was a free-for-all fend for yourself kind of deal.

I’m not sure what up with Drew’s sandwich. Maybe he was too afraid to beg the Condiment Nazi for tomatoes, mustard, or even another slice of bread.  In his defense, he had already eaten his turkey.

Brinley added extra protein to her meal with a little help from the woods. Crunchy!

The snake can swallow its prey whole. So can Brinley.

Looks like we got what we came for! I think?

We drove up to the mountains last weekend hoping to see the beautiful fall colors. We make the trip every year to the same sweet spots, and I won’t mention any names, but someone got us lost twice! TWICE!

The trip ended up being a total bust. We spent 3 hours in the car and a half hour in the mountains. By the time we got there the sun was setting and it was getting chilly. I have to give props to Ryan, he was man enough to pull over and ask some very nice firemen for directions. It didn’t help that during this whole adventure we made 645 stops to let the kids go potty; that’s no exaggeration. It was one of those trips when you wonder why you thought this was such a great idea in the first place. We even missed the timing of the leaves, they were more neon yellow/green than the nice deep orange/yellow/red. 

Every year we to try to take a family picture by balancing the camera on a mound of dirt. The kids think its funny to watch me run back and forth trying to beat the timer. The first few frames look like this, the camera slipping down the mount of dirt while I awkwardly try to throw myself into the picture. And look at my dirty jeans, all in the name of a good picture, right?

Brinley had a knack for looking away just as the picture was taken. And Ryan is 9 feet tall.

Nice canned smile I have there.

Drew’s got the picture takin’ thing down to a science, but he had to take a turn looking away.

Trying to keep the kids interested, but still can’t get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

I think this is the closest we are going to get even though I look like I’m trying to make a quick get-a-way. Maybe I was?

This one would have been perfect, but it was Rowan’s turn for a meltdown. If only my photoshop skillz were up to par, I could do a headswap. Nah, I like the imperfections. It’s our life, and 10 years from now the “outtakes” will mean more than any perfectly posed picture.

I think we will be going back this weekend for another try. And this time Ryan will be taking a map!