General Conference is my FAVORITE!!!!

 Since the time I was  at least 12, perhaps earlier, my family has had a fun tradition at the time for the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  For those who aren't familiar with this, every six months in April, and in October  all of our church  in the world meets together (via satellite broadcast, Internet, TV broadcast, or for those  who can come live in the conference center in salt lake as obviously 14 Million plus people cant all be in one place at once) to hear the words of the Prophets, Apostles, and other leaders of our church. 
  So the fun tradition usually involved food. My mom said since we were having a spiritual feast, we would also have a physical feast. My earliest memories involve conference bingo with m&ms . we played bingo to listen for common words or phrases in conference, when it was over we ate the m&m markers. As I got older it evolved into everyone getting to pick their favorite food, and my mom would cook it and we would have a feast while we watched.  Over time I became more interested in what was being said, then in the food. But we always had a lot of friends over to our house to watch conference. I love this. I love being gathered with others to listen to the words of the prophet
  Now I live far from my family, and I still carry on the tradition of the double conference feast. I decided the words should be the most important part so i try to get the food out before so its not so distracting. But as I had my friends over i really enjoyed the time we spent together.  This weekend I loved listening to the talks as always, because as always it related to things that I knew me and my friends needed to hear. 
  There was a talk about single parents, especially single moms. I have a lot of friends that are single moms, and it was so neat to hear the words of support and comfort to them. I have a friend that has a 17mo old son who has a very aggressive cancer.(See http://ourbravelittlelion.org/)  there were many talks that talked about sickness, and trials and shared very similar and applicable  stories and council for those struggling like my friend with such trials.  I cried as I thought of my friend, and was grateful for the words mentioned in the talks.  There were a TON of talks about the importance of family. At least twice it was said that "Families are the most important unit in time and eternity"  As we see the break down and decay of society around us, the lack of frame work that comes from good families that love each other and work for each other is apparent.  They talked alot about Grace, Jesus Christ, and his atoneing sacrifice for us, to over come trials, sin, and also to forgive and love  others. That was another prevalent theme. My favorite talk on this subject was by President Dieter F Uchtdorf  of the first presidency of the church. His simple council was to love one another, forgive one another, and if there is hate, envy, gossip, or hurtfulness toward others simply to "Stop it". Sister Julie b Beck talked about the wonderful and amazing things that women can do if we will catch vision of what we are supposed to be. It was two days , six hours of talks and singing by the Mormon Tabernacle choir. The song Come Thou Fount  was one of my favorite sung, and filled my heart with joy.  
   I know these men and women are inspired by God, their messages, if listened to, and followed would add greater strength to families and societies all over the world if headed, by members of my church, and non members alike. If you haven't had a chance to hear any of these talks, Check it out  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/04?lang=eng.
 I know that last April the words at spoken at this conference changed my life, it made me a better, less selfish, more forgiving, more loving of my family and friends kind of person, and I hope that I will apply the words I heard this weekend to do even better.  I love you all, and am grateful that God does indeed still speak to his children and give us direction, love and truth today. And I am grateful that so many friends came over this weekend to watch, and to eat food from Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, and Poland with me. It truly was a feast in ever sense of the word.

Dear Prince Charming, You stolen my heart, then left me on the shelf. What gives?

Since I am finished writing my novel I thought I would treat you all to a little "fairy tale" of sorts. Enjoy


Once upon a time, in a land far far away lived a not so young princess, who was single and had come to the realization that her father, the king would soon die, and she would be left to reign and rule alone. Her father was a kind and goodly king, who, although he encouraged her to do so, never forced, or compelled her into some awful arranged marriage situation, as he didn't want to be responsible for having his daughter marry some great weenie, he wanted her to be responsible for that.  
  The daughter, who didn't feel like she was very interested in marriage in her younger years was quite grateful to her father for this, but as the time of his death drew near, the weight and burden that would come with ruling alone started to press upon the not so young, but very beautiful princesses mind.  She came to the conclusion on her own that it was time she seek for her prince, and  continue on the family line so that some evil step cousin didn't get to rule and terrorize her beloved people upon her own death.  
  The Princess decided that she did want, however, to choose a great and noble prince, equal in talent and intellect to herself, adventurous, brave, respectful and of course attractive.  
   Sorry, slight interruption here, but no one really wants to marry a toad. Just remember there is a butt for every seat, as my dad says, and therefore some one to find every type attractive in some way, so I am not saying every man needs to be Taylor Lautner in the looks department, don't get me wrong. The princess just wanted someone she didn't find repulsive, and that she actually wanted to kiss.
  At any rate, it was time, and she knew what she was looking for. She had the king send out a proclamation to kingdoms far and wide, inviting princes and noble men to come to meet the princess and see if they were a compatible match. There were some peasant impostors dressed as princes, but by their very manner the princess weeded them out. 
  Four Princes came, the first from an Island kingdom in the midst of the sea. The princess found him very tan and muscular and attractive. He was an absolute hottie, but  she soon found that he treated her with respect only when the other knights and members of the kings court were around. She soon sent him packing back to the Island he came from. 
  The second prince arrived dressed in shining armor. He was everything the princess ever thought she could possibly want. Gorgeous, financially set, his own kingdom was in order, and  he loved adventures and made her laugh. He also appeared to love her. She had so much fun, she thought this was for sure the one, but duty called the prince back to his kingdom, and once there, he soon forgot about the princess and went on in single life with no further desire to seek marriage.
 The third prince came also from a far distant kingdom,  He wrote many letters to the princess, and sent many gifts and servants to the princess as he came on his way. With his letters and gifts he began to win her heart. On paper he seemed perfect, and so fun, she thought surely she would love his personality as much in person. But alas , When the prince arrived the princess found him to be quite dull, and unimaginative, and sadly, unattractive. Which, she thought was quite a shame as she had so set her hopes upon this one.
  Just as the third prince had arrived so had another prince from a very near and neighboring country. She had known him some what during her life, and thought he was indeed handsome, though not quite as much as the second one. His kingdom had great potential but was currently suffering an economic set back. He had great talent, and skills, he loved learning, and adventure, and dancing. 
  The princess was swept off her feet. To be kind she sent the third prince away. The fourth prince soon had won her absolute affection and adoration. One night, he snuck into her room in the middle of the night and kissed her gently on the lips. She was under his spell. 
  In that instance, the prince stole her heart, quite literally through his spell which was in his song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j82FBbgpUy4&noredirect=1 Her heart now belonged to him. She was in a sort of dream like waking slumber from that moment on, and was only truly alive when the prince was by her side.
 A sudden problem in his country, called the prince away quite unexpectedly, but he promised he would return soon, as he also adored the princess, but he did not return her heart at this moment. Without him everything she did seemed very unimportant indeed. She wrote him daily letters, and he wrote daily replies.  

 His letters contained enough magic to bring the princess to vivid life again for a day at a time. Worried about his daughter, the king found an enchanter who provided her with a soothing song and dance that also made her more lively when the letter wore off, though never quite as good as the prince himself could do. She would often listen, and make up a dance routine in her head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtVh8kVZ_XM. 
Upon hearing this the prince swore he would return and dance at the ball with her to the song she so loved as soon as he could take leave of his kingdom. 

  Before he could reach the princess, he was overtaken and captured by her evil cousin. Not knowing that he was captured, and fearing he had abandoned and forgotten her as the second prince had done, the princess wrote one short last message to her prince "Dear Prince Charming, You have stolen my heart, then left me on the shelf. My kingdom in now in great peril. Why do you not return? What gives? Have you also forgotten me, my love?" 
 The princess of course did not hear back from her prince, but despite his captivity he tried to send rays of sunshine to keep the princess somewhat lively until he could hopefully return to her. She would feel this occasionally, and begin to hope, and then it would wear off and she would feel quite sad and alone. The princess soon wondered if she had been cursed by the enchanter, and was destined to always loose the princes she thought she loved, and always receive the adoration of those she didn't.
 Upon her fathers death she found a way to continue on her reign, and make the kingdom run, but she wondered if she had been forgotten and left on the shelf, like a dented can of baked beans, covered in dust, spending till her expiration date waiting for her prince to come. 
                                         Not the end, but that is where we will leave off for now. 


How many of you girls have ever felt like that princess?

Change, Fear, Faith, and Greatness

So, I haven't written for such a very very long time that I have changed almost completely. I mean, not in the basics of my personality etc, but some how i have become more and better. I am working on my Axel in skating, much advanced from about 9 months ago. I am now in the Relief Society Presidency in my ward, and I have gained some new very dear friends in that time. Its because of these changes and so many more that I had to have a thinking moment this morning. In the past two months I have grown so much spiritually and God has kept raising the bar on me. A lot of these changes came about because of good friends. and in the past few weeks a lot of changes have also happened with those friends, a test really that showed the friendship was a true friendship, and stronger than ever, because now i see less of that friend, but yet I think we are closer. also there was a man i met a few weeks back, who changed my view on things again. he made me think today too!! he is also amazing, but also very far away right now. two wonderful weeks, then he was back home to New York. I miss his awesomeness very much. I don't know what will happen in the future, but I would bet we will be good friends from here on out. some people are like that, you can come to know and trust them very quickly, most are not. so that leads me to today's thought, the most important part of this. i will write it exactly as I did this morning: We are more afraid of how great we can be than that we are nothing; more afraid to be truly loved, than rejected; More afraid of true friends, than of fake ones; More afraid of what we can do and handle, than what we can't. We don't want to see what we can do and be, have and love because it comes at a higher greater cost. True friends, true love, true greatness comes as a great and wonderful gift, but at the cost of greater responsibility, sacrifice, faith, trust, and duty. To love someone enough to be willing to die for them, is also to love them enough to be willing to live for them, which may actually be more difficult. To truly care means to know you will feel and share as much pain as you do joy that isn't your own or about you. To know you are great and capable is to know you have no excuse for not doing all you can and should, and to be left with out an excuse is scary. To know you are great and loved, and to love, is to know that you MUST give your ALL, no matter the cost, or stand as if naked before God and face the consequence of not doing what you could, when He gave you everything you needed to accomplish all he asked of you.