Our fun weekend!!!

So, we've been looking forward to Conference weekend for a couple of months now. I was picturing spring weather, walking downtown, hand in hand, all romantic and fun, gooey, gooey, blah, blah, blah.... It all started to go down hill when I was diagnosed on Wednesday with bronchitis. YIPPEE!!! Thursday night, we were getting ready to go, I couldn't talk, coughing my head off and no energy to find anywhere. Then, Randy started to get hot, not in a sexy kind of way, in a fever kind of way. We both got blessings (thanks Bishop and Kurt) and Mexico drugs from my mom for Randy and went to sleep, praying that we would be ok in the morning. When we woke, Randy was 100% better and I was better ENOUGH. We dropped the kids off at Randy's parent's house (thanks mom and dad, Cory and Jamie) and off we went. The weather was PERFECT for Spring Conference.... SNOW!!!

Here is what I-15 looked like on our way up. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Look at my poor little car.... she doesn't like snow. Poor girl.

Well, the weather started to soften up a little, just as we got to Lehi to visit the MAN store... Cabela's!!!! I was prepared for the smell of testosterone when I walked in, so it didn't make me sick.Randy knew we would hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing this weekend, he just didn't know it would be a Cabela's. He was SURE he was hearing angels singing!!!
Then we got to go to the GIRL store... IKEA!!! I didn't know I would have to spend the night to see everything. I loved being there!!!! It was a lot funner than looking through a catalogue!!!
We finally got to the hotel, we stayed at the Raddison Downtown, from our window, we could see the conference center and Temple Square. That was pretty cool. We got a bite to eat at a pizza place called Rocky Mountain Pizza, it was yummy. Then we were off to Randy's mission reunion.
Randy went to Scotland on his mission which is WAY cool because BOTH sides of his family are of Scottish lineage. It was really cool for him to go there on his mission and he has never been to a reunion, so we had NO idea what to expect. The church was set up like Stake Conference, and ended up having only standing room by the end. We got to hear a pipe and drum band. As soon as they started to play, everyone stood up out of respect and I was overtaken by the emotion of the pride the Scottish people have. It was SOOO AMAZING!!!!
There were speakers, 2 stake presidents currently serving in Scotland were there, one spoke and I'm sure he said GREAT things, I just don't know what he said. Are they really speaking English? We got to sing traditional Scottish songs about trousers and the River Clyde (WOOWOO), and other stuff that I had no clue. Then we broke into groups of mission presidents. There were 6 guys there from Randy's mission that served under his president. President Swanney wasn't there, he lives in London now, but it was exciting for Randy to hear the letter that he sent. It was really fun for Randy to get to reconnect with men that he served with. They have such a love for the people and heritage in Scotland.
Then the next day was CONFERENCE TIME!!!! It was also snow and freeze-my-butt-off time!!! We walked to the Conference Center and met up with Anna and Nephi there. It was so cool to be around a bunch of people that know the same things I know, believe the same things I do and it just felt like HOME. We were in our seats, chatting when I looked down and saw Pres. Monson walk in the room, everyone went silent and emotion overtook me again. You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone (including me) has such respect for him. I felt like a little kid, I wanted to jump up and down with excitement that I was actually seeing our Prophet in person!!! It was cool. The other thing I will never forget was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I can't put into words how amazing they sound in person. The dynamics, all of it was just wonderful!!! It was great to hear words of encouragement from our leaders. A time I will never forget!!!
Everyone asked about the protesters, there were maybe 6 or so. We are encouraged by our leaders to not engage with them, the spirit of contention is not a good thing to have, so if I made eye contact, I would just smile at them (not antagonistically, just smile). My favorite one was we were at the corner, waiting to cross, standing about 4 feet from a protester and he asked if I was going to have that "same smile on my face when I go straight to HELL?" (he was yelling). I thought it was funny, but I was a good girl and didn't laugh. But I did whisper to Randy that I WAS planning on wearing my smile to Hell!!! Be happy where you are, I guess!!!

Here's Anna and Nephi with his new umbrella!!!! HEHEHE!!!
When Conference was over for the morning, we went back to our room and got ready to go to lunch. We went to Olive Garden, where Randy got undercooked chicken!!! That's right, he got SICK!!! But before we were hotel-room-bound, we got to walk around downtown and check everything out. But the funnest thing we got to do downtown was go to a store called the Edinburgh Castle!!! It's a cool Scottish store. It has all the works, kilts, tartan, candies, and other fun traditional Scottish stuff!!! Randy LOVES going in there. He got some candy for him and our friend, Paul. He needs to get a belt for his kilt (yes, I do know what he wears under his kilt), so he doesn't have to wear his jacket, but we're going to keep searching, they were VERY expensive in there.
After our visit to downtown, we camped out in our room where Randy slept a lot because he was feeling icky, which was fine because I was still struggling to breath, we're a bunch of winners, huh? Our room was great. There was a down comforter on our bed (just like on our bed) so it felt a lot like home. I was tired enough, I slept JUST FINE!!! Then Sunday morning, it was time to go. We were missing the kids like crazy!!!!

Here's our cute bell boy.
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it!!!
And here we have the BEAUTIFUL weather to go home. It was gorgeous on Sunday!!!
We had such a blast. I am SOOO happy we went to his reunion and sad that we haven't gone earlier. We think that we should go again and take Kurt and Kristie, Clint and Michelle!!! Wanna go, guys? Kurt, Clint and Randy all went to the same mission. It would be really fun to go all together sometime!!! There are so many memories that were made this weekend, it wasn't how I expected it to be, but exactly how it was supposed to be!!! I think everyone should go to Conference at least once, just to feel what it's like!!! Anyhow, that was OUR fun trip!!! One we will never forget!!!