Ahhh Conference Weekend!

I ABSOLUTELY love Conference!! We are so blessed to have a living prophet and to hear from the leaders of the Church. I just want to say....I TOTALLY KNOW THE NEW APOSTLE!!! Neil L. Andersen is my brother's best friend's uncle! I know that sounds really roundabout...but we really know each other! When I was on seminary counsel in high school, we took a trip down to Utah and we got to see Elder Andersen's office and visit with him. We also ran into President Faust when we were down there...it was amazing!

When Elder Wirthlin passed away, Nelson and I made a bet on who the next apostle would be. I said it would be Neil L. Andersen and Nelson said anyone else. I WON!!! :) I was super excited when they announced his name this morning! I kept shouting remarks, "I know him!" "He knows me!" "He was at my graduation!" I bet the neighbors thought something crazy must be going on!

I want to share a proud wife moment...man I just love love love my husband!! He went to play basketball at 8:30 this morning and came home at 9:45. He said that they wanted to play one more game, but he said he wanted to go home so he didn't miss Conference. The other guys said, "Oh your such a goody good. Your wife has you trained." Another guy said, "It doesn't matter if you miss the first hour of Conference, all they do is sing anyway." Nelson said, "Hey, I don't want to miss any of Conference." And with that he walked right out!! I am sooo proud of him!! I bet those guys were mad at him because when he left they didn't have enough players, but I'm so glad he set such a wonderful example. Isn't my husband the best??

I've loved all the talks so far! One of my favorite quotes is from Elder Hales, "The four most caring words are: 'We can't afford it!'" Isn't that cute? My favorite talk so far was given by Elder Scott. I felt an amazing spirit during his talk!! His words rang so true to me. I love it when he said, "What could bring more joy to a couple than participating in the temple together?" His faith is SO strong, wow I just admire him so much! He said that his wife passed away 14 years ago and he has never complained. He said that we should never complain if we are living worthily. Come what may, we have no need to worry. I'm the WORST at complaining and whining...I would go as far to say I'm actually pretty talented at whining. Compared to losing your eternal companion, I definitely don't have anything to complain about. I'm going to strive to be as optimistic as possible and learn from each trial in my life.

I'll be 19 weeks along tomorrow! We're almost halfway done!! I'm getting bigger and bigger! Baby Arave is about 10 inches and is going to keep growing, growing, growing! Our baby's brain is forming pockets this week to specialize in smell, taste, hearing, vision, and even touch. His or her arms and legs are finally in the right proportions to each toher and the rest of the body now. Our baby is now dreaming and getting REM sleep. Here's my belly progress throughout the 18th week: