I'm just so very far behind here...it's overwhelming when I go back and look at all the pictures I have of whats gone on this summer.  I'll just try to catch up when I can but go forward with life too...it seems like time is going by so fast...I can't believe it's the middle of September all ready.
I had a good day yesterday.  We had a regional conference that we were to attend down at the conference center.  We decided to go down early and go to the "Music and the Spoken Word" program.  I have mentioned in the past that I'd like to go to it sometime, but we never could because our church is always at 9.  I hadn't really thought of it recently, but out of the blue, Kelley says "why don't we go to see the music and spoken word before conference"  seriously...he did.  HA! I love him so much!
So we left home about 8:30 in order to be in our seats by 9.  Stacey had asked me earlier if she could come to conference with us because Rick was on call, so it was fun to have her there with us too.
The Tabernacle was about full when we got there...I guess it was the first time they had done the program in the tabernacle after being over at the conference center all summer, so it was kind of a big deal.  They had Mark Eubank talking to everyone before the program started, telling us about the history of the Mormon Tabernacle choir and about the building we were in.  It was pretty interesting.
Then they announced how it would work when they did the broadcast live and how we were not supposed to clap or make any noise.  It was hard not to bust into applause after some of these numbers....they were pretty awesome!  Then for one of the numbers, Alex Boyer was the soloist.  He really got into it and was dancing all over the place.  It might have been a first for this show!
As soon as it was over, we hurried over to the conference center...it was after ten but people were still filing in.  They said there were 116 stakes  involved in this conference...so it was full!  It was a really good conference...Russell M. Neilson, Whitney Clayton,Wixom lady (general primary president) and then Boyd K. Packer.  President Packer's talk was recorded from another talk her had given. They assured us that he is fine and we would hear from him at general conference in a few weeks. He was not looking so good at last conference though.  They were all really good talks though.
I also got to go sing with this new choir that Leah Tarrant is directing again.  ( I actually hated leaving for a practice this time because Candice had just come over a little while before and I wanted to spend some time with her)  I love  singing with this choir though.  It's for a relief society music festival that is happening in October.  I got to sing in the same program several years ago and really enjoyed it so I was excited when I went up to the high school to play the piano for Abbi to try out for the school musical, Leah came up to me after and asked if I would like to sing with this choir. I said I sure would!  I mentioned it to Colleen and she said she would like to too.  It's just so fun to sing with this group.  I don't know how to describe Leah...she is quite an amazing lady...she keeps everyone laughing the whole time, but then helps us all feel the spirit there too.  We move along at a intense speed...never one dull moment, but then she takes the time to talk about the music so we can understand and feel what these amazing composers were trying to get across.  It's a pretty wonderful experience and we all leave renewed and uplifted.