Easter and General Conference Weekend

Easter fell on the Sunday of General Conference this year.

The Saturday of Conference, April 4, was Vitamin C Day so our Conference Nachos had green bell peppers and salsa and we drank juice with Vitamin C.

A sister from our ward stopped by between sessions and gave us some rice crispy treats as an Easter treat.

That Sunday, April 5, was Caramel Day so some family members had hot cocoa with caramel syrup in it.

There was plenty about Easter during General Conference. Wonderful talks.

I don't know how many times during Conference this time that a speaker would mention a piece of music in their talk (hymn or children's song) or read lyrics and immediately someone in our home would start humming it. Sometimes it was even me. I love that.

We love to emphasize the Savior on Easter Sunday then it's okay to have a little Easter Bunny fun the next day. We usually do an Easter egg hunt for FHE.

For our lesson, Jr. Jr. led us in one more scripture and thought for Holy Week. For our treat and activity, the kids hunted Easter eggs and we ate candy.

Earlier in the day, the boys cleaned and vacuumed the living room without being asked. Thank you, boys. By the time the Easter Bunny came, there were things all over. Eh, more places for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs. We didn't even bother to pick up a blanket that was on the floor. Eggs were just hidden there. Ha Ha. Nobody complained.

Since Monday, April 6, was Carbonara Day, that's what we had for dinner that night before the egg hunt.

Restoration Scavenger Hunt

This year is the 200th anniversary of when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in what is known as the First Vision. It started the Restoration of Jesus Christ's church on the Earth again- that same church He established when He was alive and before He died and was resurrected. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is commemorating this bicentennial all year. There are many resources to learn about Joseph Smith's experiences on churchofjesuschrist.org and our April General Conference focused on the First Vision and the Restoration.
In preparation for this, our ward encouraged us to do something fun. Anyone who wanted to was invited to put something on their house (in windows or wherever) or in their yard that represented the Restoration. We let the ward leaders know what we were going to contribute. They put the list together with a map of the ward boundaries then emailed that out to everyone. We were then encouraged to go on a walk between sessions of General Conference to find what people had put up (the map told us what to find at each home that participated), maintaining appropriate social distance of course.

It was a nice activity and good to go for a walk as a family. What was weird was when normally it is considered rude to cross the street when you see someone coming along the same sidewalk as you, currently it is considered safe. So there were greetings from opposite sidewalks and we got some nice sunshine as a family. It was also great to see what others put up from pictures in windows to missionary ties in trees.

Our family contributed two missionary balloon sculptures. By the end of Conference Weekend, they were a little worn out. Poor missionaries.

We also celebrated the holidays for April 4- Walk Around Things Day, Love Our Children Day, and Vitamin C Day. That last one was celebrated as we had our traditional General Conference nachos. Mmmmm, bell peppers.
General Conference was wonderful. I was even able to take some notes.

Again, things are different right now. All the music at Conference was taken from previous recordings- no live choir. The First Presidency and speakers were not in the Conference Center but in an auditorium with a small amount of people. There is so much for us to look back on when this is all over. My children will be able to tell others, "I remember when..." just like I tell them, "I remember when I had to get dressed up and go to the church building to watch General Conference. I couldn't just watch it in my living room until I was a teenager."
We all did get dressed up for the Sunday morning session, where there was a solemn assembly and our prophet, President Nelson, presented a new proclamation to the world about Joseph Smith's First Vision. The proclamation can be read on churchofjesuschrist.org and there is also a video of President Nelson reading it from the Sacred Grove, where the First Vision took place. This is another thing our children will be able to say. "I remember when President Nelson presented the Bicentennial Proclamation on the First Vision."