She's not my sister wife...

I love LDS conference. And our years in Utah made me love it more. There's just a feeling in the air. In the fall, it's crisp and cool. Spring, you never know what you're going to get, blossoms? Snow? But it's not just the weather.

People come from all over. Families spend time together, mission friends flock into town, restaurants are always booked. I love to see what the Mo-Tab ladies are wearing this year (and usually giggle) See if I recognize anyone in the crowd scenes. Look for our favorite music teacher from the kids old school, who sings in the choir. (yeah, Mr. Petersen!) ANDDDD did you see Elder Archuleta this year? Super cute! (say in your best Utah accent, if you please)

There are always great local sales. Stores are slammed with people buying modest dresses, food storage, mission items, etc. On Saturday evening carloads of young men and their dads are seen all over town with their white shirts and ties on. And by 8:15 every ice cream shop in town is slammed with men and boys in suits and ties.

There's just an excitement in the air. Hearing a living Prophet is pretty exciting, I'd say. I look forward to it every six months.

Living in the Middle East presents issues with conference time. The biggest being that it's on at night. We always try to watch the 10 a.m. session, seeing it here at 7 p.m. This session, as Ruby was yawning on the couch in her jammies, she said "They don't even look tired. Oh wait. It's the morning there, isn't it?"

I mentioned how this year I made conference packs, which said on the front "Do not open until viewing conference." My kids were giddy all day long, looking forward to opening their surprise packet.

But I had another idea: If we can't be in Utah, let's bring Utah here! So we had a Utah Dinner.

We invited our good friends and fellow LDS church members over for the dinner. What would you serve at a Utah Dinner? Here's what we had:

Hot Dogs (a standard at any Utah house with more than two kids)

Funeral Potatoes (need I say more...delish!)

Jell-o salad

and for desert....Root beer Floats. (didn't every youth function of my life serve these?)

We used our best Utah accents to boot. Adding our "t" in the word sal(t)sa, and saying "fur fun" when needed. *NOTE* I get to joke about this because of two things: I've lived both in and out of Utah for long periods of time, so I know both sides. Second, I've learned to love Utah and all it has to offer.*END NOTE*

Anyway. It was a very fun evening. The dad of the other family had to work that night, so I joked that we really were doing it Utah Style - Angel could be my sister-wife. Hahaha.

Good times.

OH YEAH - I just noticed that Peter is wearing his Salt Lake Real jersey as well...XANGO, baby. Better add an MLM in there to make it really correct. (hehe)