Conference Weekend Recap

Our weekend was eventful.

• It involved a little interaction with the magical world of Disney,
  
• yard work,
  
• the fire department extinguishing flames off of the sides of a neighbor's home,
  
• a BBQ with newly made friends,
  
• listening/watching General Conference and oh yeah....
• dumpster diving. One guess on who did that.

Don't let that innocent and incredibly attractive face fool you. He's in the business of concocting mischief. More on that later. Let's begin with Miss Eliza Grace,

The two of us indulged in a "Disney Live!" stage show. We were accompanied by her boy toy, Talon & his Mommy, Michelle. Eliza was in awe as she watched "her friends," the Little Einsteins perform on stage - along with: Darby, Tigger, Pooh Bear, Handy Manny and Mickey & company.

Such a rebel, flash photography was totally not permitted

My hunger to visit Disney World has since intensified. Eliza was beyond devastated when the show ended. She was in hysterics as I forced her flailing body out of the building and back into the car.

"I want to stay here with my friends!" She wailed. Up until she lost composure, observing her awe-filled expression was comparable to how it felt to watch her on Christmas morning.

The weather has been sublime. A good portion of our weekend was spent outside.

We replaced the pine needles in our flower beds with black mulch. "Y'all" would be so proud. I raked and collected the pine needles all by my adult self. I worked my land. I have blisters to prove it. I made way for Andrew to shovel in the mulch. Next up; finding flowers that don't need much sun exposure.

A while back I mentioned that Andrew and I had plans to go out with the couple we bought our Forrest Gumpish lawn mower from. The first "date" went well. It went so well, in fact, that they invited us over for a BBQ on Sunday. Between conference sessions, we headed over to enjoy delicious food & great company.

Melissa, and her St. Patty's Day baby Lena soak in some Vitamin D

Tamara & Melissa compete in the game that I'm having a challenging time trying to describe

We played a game that involved throwing - oh gosh - I don't know how to describe the game properly. As I participated in the game, I was reminded that I have zero athletic talent.

For my friends who aren't aware, General Conference is the opportunity given to members of our faith to hear from the leaders of our Church. This happens twice a year. Conference is divided into four general sessions and a fifth for the Priesthood members. I'll post a link to the talk that rocked me to the core (in a good way) once it's available. Any follower of Christ, whether your a member of the LDS church or not, would be uplifted and strengthened by these messages. The one I'm referring to in particular was given by Elder Holland.

During the final session of conference, we heard sirens. The sounds didn't dissipate the way you usually expect. Long story short, a hot coal made it's way out of a neighbor's BBQ grill and onto their lawn, which ignited in seconds The siding on the house soon caught. But the interior, thankfully, was untouched. As for smoke damage, I don't know how bad it was.

Henry participated in the landscaping portion of this weekends festivities. His small bum also graduated to "size three" in diapers. Congratulations young sir. Returning to Andrew and his accomplishments this weekend; not only did he do a stellar job in beautifying our yard, but he also participated in some late night dumpster diving. A home is being built on the lot next to ours. A red dumpster sits near the front of the property line.

"Climb in." It whispers to him. "I'm filled with unwanted treasure... treasure that you might use someday. Or not." 11:30 pm, Sunday night, he gives in. Using stealth, he heads out to stake his claim on some left over pieces of crown molding. He's designing a corner TV stand for our living room and makes plans to utilize them for that purpose.

...note to Olya: Mark the builder granted him permission... dumpster scraps are unfortunately up for grabs!

Our friend Gabe was out at that exact time power walking the neighborhood loop. He noticed Andrew's legs in the air and quickly acted on his impulse to scare him horribly. Wanting to be a participant in the game, Andrew led Gabe to our back door, giving him permission to scare his victim of a wife (that would be me) who, at the time, was engrossed in a romance novel.

"Do you have any sugar" the deep voice demanded. Instantly, I knew that the voice and the shape lurking in my dark kitchen didn't belong to my spouse. I sunk into the couch, horrified beyond measure. Sure, it took approximately two seconds to realize who it was... but those two seconds... man I was completely caught off guard. I may, or may not, have wet myself a little. Gabe's going down!

(from left to right: Andrew, James, Gabe & Shanon)

Ideas on how I can return the favor are welcome!