The Plan of Salvation and Mummy with Bandages

Welp, it's been a couple of weeks, but LIFE. Life happened and so I allowed myself to let go of blogging for a few weekends.

The first weekend in October was General Conference. We watched it all as a family and I'm pretty sure we learned something, but I don't have my notes in front of me, so I don't remember what I learned! Well, I do recall that the Sacrament--pondering it and taking it--was mentioned in the majority of the talks, which led me to start thinking about the Sacrament more, and my attitude when taking it. After all, it does represent the Atonement, the single greatest act in all of creation, and perhaps it should get more of my attention than it does.

So.

I am so grateful that they put the conference talks online ASAP for those of us with loud children and short attention spans. I always enjoy making conference talks part of my scripture study for the next six months.

Also, we had cinnamon rolls on Sunday and that was AWESOME. Mat and I have decided they'll be a General Conference treat from now on. YAY for new recipes!

The kids have been up to their usual antics--The Hurricane Princess took it into her head to be a table troll at lunch for a few days, which involved crawling under the table and knocking on it from the underside; The Boy likes to hide in the middle of the twisty slide at the park and drive The HP nuts trying to find him--but for the most part, the week before last was quiet and uneventful.

At the end of last week, though, we received the call that Mat's brother, who has been dealing with a brain tumor, had a scan that showed the tumor had spread not only to other parts of his brain, but to his spinal cord as well. So we scrambled and got ourselves together and drove up to Kentucky to see him for what probably will be the last time. Road trips tend to be a bear, but we were so blessed this time around. We got caught in traffic a couple of times, but the van held together, the kids stayed absorbed in their activities, and we were able to focus on Mat's brother while we were there. I am so glad for the plan of salvation so that we can understand that our families are forever, no matter when death separates us, and that we have a hopeful way of teaching the kids about what happens to our bodies and our spirits after this life.

Of course, all of this doesn't help when the kids, who were sleeping in the basement of the house we were staying in, decided to tell scary stories after lights out and convinced The Hurricane Princess that there was a "mummy with bandages" out to get her. ARGH. Despite my interrupted sleep, though, the trip was as good as it could be and we got home in one piece. After taking an extended weekend to recover from our quick trip, we are READY to face Monday.

At least, I *think* we are....

(the table troll, for your viewing pleasure)