Not real until it's real....

You know how things aren't really real until you actually have it in your hands????

That's how I felt about General Conference this spring. I had decide about a week before General Conference in October that I wanted to go. At this late point, the Stake President said he had 2 tickets left for one session only. Well we needed 4 tickets. He said, you could always go and stand in line....I have seen that line....no I couldn't do that! That line starts at the Conference Center and extends all the way across Temple Square and starts to curve at the mall down the sidewalk....

No....I could not do that line. But my instistance on actually having tickets for Conference, meant I got on the list for tickets for Spring Conference early.

So I got tickets for Saturday and Sunday this Spring. So excited....but it didn't feel real until I had the actual tickets in my hand. Even an email from the Stake Executive Secretary saying he had the tickets for me wasn't real. Only now that I have the tickets in my hand, does it finally seem real.

Now I am really excited!

The last General Conference I went to was in October 2007. It was the last General Conference President Hinckley would ever preside over. I knew it would be his last. I told my husband if we don't go to Conference, I will never see him in person. I was right, he died before the next General Conference in Spring, at the age of 98.

I was working in Boston at the time. I flew in on the red-eye to Salt Lake. My husband and the boys drove down from our house in Montana. They picked me up at 3am from the airport. We stayed in American Fork at Carl's parent's house. By 8am we were back in Salt Lake looking for parking. We had tickets for all four of us and 4 additional tickets. We asked for 4 and we got 8. It was the last tickets our Stake President had and gave them all to us. He just asked that we made sure they got used. Apparently your Stake gets tickets based on how many are used in the past. If your Stake doesn't use the tickets then they go to other Stakes that do use them.

It was so awesome. I had only been a member of the church for a year. I had started going to church in July of 2006. Baptised in October of 2006. So one year later, October of 2007, I was at Conference seeing my President. Your first President has to be your favorite, right? He was my favorite! (Then I read Thomas S. Monson's biography and of coarse that changed my mind. Now they are both my favorite). But Gordon B. Hinckley will always be my first President. He will always be my boys' first president too!

He left such a legacy behind him, that all future generations will know how great he was! However, greatness isn't what he wanted to be remembered for. He only wanted all the glory to go to the Lord. His life of service was all in the service to the Lord. These wonderful men that the Lord calls, do not just wake up one day and become President. They spend a lifetime dedicating their lives to the Lord.

Here is some memories from my last Conference experience.

Yes, I said I took the red-eye out of Boston, with 3 hour time difference all not on my side! I was a zombie!

Clayton checking things out!

Michael checking things out too!

Me and Michael, he was 9....

Here was the group we took along. Heber, Beverly, David, Michael, Clayton, Carl and Cameron, David's step son. Cameron had just gotten home from serving a Mission in Spanish Speaking Oakland.

Heber and Beverly. This was the first time they had ever been to Conference in their entire life! People who actually live in Utah, do not get tickets like people who don't live in Utah. Ironic huh? The people who live there don't really get to go unless they endure the hard, long line. For my in-laws at their age, lines aren't in their agenda.

Carl and David and Michael peeking out!

Me and the boys in the Conference Center

Michael he was so excited he must have had to pee!!! haha....

no really....he was cold!

Clayton! He was 8. He thought this Conference thing was way cool!

Ever wonder why during that first session of Conference people were laughing. Apparently it was not shown on television. But if you were in the Conference Center you would have seen what we saw.

This was President Hinckley "knighting" Elder Eyring. Elder Eyring was called to the First Presidency after the death of President Faust. It was so cute. The whole Conference Center burst out in laughter. So now you know what the laughter was all about, in case you ever wondered...

President Hinckley

In loving Memory