Forget me not

There have been a lot of special experiences that I have had the pleasure of being a part of the past couple of weeks.

The first was women's conference on Saturday. My testimony of modern day Prophets was strengthened. President Uchtdorf's remarks concerning forget me not flowers was very personal to me. The previous speakers were wonderful, but as soon as he started speaking it was as though it was "just he and I" in a conversation. But I also knew I was not alone and that sisters from Paris to Peru needed this same message. It was a comfort to know how truly aware the Lord is of his daughters.

The second was the following Sunday we had a teacher development hour in Primary. Even though I had assigned the topics to the speakers and was familiar with the resource I'd asked them to use, I benefited a lot from what they shared. Mainly making sure that the amount of time we use each day on various activities needs to be in alignment with our own personal priorities of what matters most. A simple an obvious message but I have too often found my lists not matching up and all, in fact sometimes they feel completely backwards.

The third was being able to attend Elder Monte J. Brough's funeral on Monday. Each of his children shared such a personal and meaningful memory of their dad. His Brother Max, my former stake president, and father of a friend gave a great tribute to his brother. They had such a special relationship their whole lives. It was making me wish to have a whole house full of boys to raise and be good brothers to each other. (hopefully) And then President Monson spoke. As Melissa and I entered the back of the church we walked right past him as he was signing the guest book in the hall. We should have stopped and signed our names as well directly under the prophets but we were too awe struck and kept walking. As we entered the chapel I saw two other people who I admire a great deal, Patriarch and Sister Telford - who was the stake President in Kaysville before Max and now lives in our ward in West Point. As we sat in the chapel waiting for the meeting to begin, in came Elder Nelson, Elder Perry, Elder Christofferson, Elder Groberg and his wife were about 10 feet away from us, and many many other general authorities, right in Kaysville, in the chapel I attended as a teenager. It gave me a glimpse at what the early saints might have enjoyed attending all those meetings among all the prophets and apostles. Then I realized, we today have that same privilege, to walk and talk among with Lord's prophets and apostles. I was so grateful to have such an experience and to be upon the earth with the fullness of the gospel and the Priesthood restored. So his funeral was great, just what any person would dream that a memorial in their honor could be. Elder Brough was a mighty man.

Fourth, on Wednesday I attended Cindy Callister's funeral, who died unexpectedly while on a trip in St. George with her parents. It must be because I'm getting older but death to me now seems much different to me then when I was 13 and Grandpa died. Even though I had a testimony then it still freaked me out. Max said in Elder Brough's funeral, "We are born to live, and we die to live again." I know this is true. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by so many good people who lead great lives that I can try to pattern my own after. The hardest part of Cindy's funeral was watching Bailee and Quinsie. It made me very grateful to be an aunt, it is a special job. This was shared at Cindy's funeral, something she had in her office at Hogan and I loved it.

So far, today God,
I've done all right.
I haven't gossiped,
haven't lost my temper,
haven't been greedy,
grumpy, hasty or selfish,

or eaten any chocolate
I'm really glad about that.
But, in a few minutes, God,
I'm going to get out of bed.
And then, I'm going to need
alot of help!

The fifth was on Friday when we went to my cousin Jody's funeral who died after battling cancer. She was 39, with two young daughters and a husband. Jody has many qualities that I have always wanted to have. No matter how I was feeling, whenever I had the opportunity to be around Jody she could make me feel better in an instant. Her personality was so fun, she was always cracking jokes and being the life of all the family parties. She never talked about her problems even though she surely had them, she left people much better than she found them. That is truly something I've always longed for, but most of the time I find myself complaining and dumping my problems on people to make myself feel better, not really even thinking about what adding that load to others does to them. Backward, very backward. I'm so grateful for Jody's fun example and winks and smiles.

The sixth was general conference. My favorite weekend of the year. I loved every message. Just when you think you see things pretty clearly, the Lord can help us reach new levels of understanding. I'm so grateful that our testimonies are able to grow, line upon line, precept upon precept. And as our experience increases our testimony's gain greater perspective. Again during conference was appreciating the blessing of the priesthood. I loved Elaine Dalton's talk about father's and daughters, I could go on I loved all the talks, and the primary choir . . . . . .

The seventh was appreciating the struggle new mothers go through as they are blessed with their first baby. I have never felt so overwhelmed as I did in the hospital with Bronson and the following weeks and even months. Motherhood is such a sacrifice, but it is a great one. President Uchtdorf said our sacrifices need to be good sacrifices, giving up something good, for something of FAR GREATER WORTH. Motherhood is definitely that and a journey that I would not trade for anything.

So even though that was long, it was a very condensed version of everything that I've been feeling. I'm so grateful for each day of my life, for my Savior, the temple, my beautiful family.