Conference Weekend

Conference weekend is like a holiday to me, and a much needed one in many ways. On top of the week leading up to it being as busy as usual, I got sick which of course makes keeping up with normal busy abnormally difficult. It was inevitable I'm afraid, as I've been literally surrounded by sick people everywhere but home for weeks and admittedly haven't been getting as much sleep as I should. I took the recommended limit of Zicam in attempts to cut it off before it really hit me, but alas, I lost the battle. I will however, take this opportunity to pledge my love and loyalty to Zicam. I have been rescued from the brink of many a terrible bug by this wonderful product. If I do come down with something, taking Zicam at least cuts it in half (in time and severity) every time. Thanks to Zicam, I was at least able to work and sing (though not my loveliest). While I'm still not completely over it yet, a restful (yet rainy and cold) weekend set me on the path to recovery.

Friday morning Dr. Solzbacher (one of my bosses) left some beautiful large yellow flowers on my desk which certainly helped to cheer me up. That afternoon I got to attend a talk given by Dr. Krishna Shenoy, a visiting professor and collaborator from Stanford who is doing some amazing work using the arrays that my team builds. It was REALLY interesting and enjoyable.
Kim came up to stay with us for the weekend again which was fun. Though I just LOVED all the talks on Saturday, my very favorite part of the Saturday sessions was watching the primary choir. We were DYING laughing at! You could tell they had been very well coached to stand up straight, not fidget, keep their hands out of their pockets, smile and NOT look at the camera man wandering around. Despite their best efforts however, kids are kids and many of them succumbed to the temptations to let their eyes, hands and minds wander which made for a very entertaining show! The best scene HANDS DOWN though was the little red head boy who will forever be dubbed as the "Pocket Police" and the "Pocket Perp". If you didn't catch this before, you missed out, but never fear, Kelly will provide! (Sorry the sound is a little off. I had to get pretty creative to get these clips)


The Pocket Police catches a perp! The best part is the pathetic look on the other boy's face after he is reprimanded.


There are several parts of this clip that are amusing. First and foremost there is the little boy who just can't resist looking at the camera and even stops singing while he stares at the camera man. Then the little girl next to him steals a glance. In the next frame in the front, there is a little boy (next to the girl in the light blue dress) who gradually turns himself completely sideways. Finally, to top it all off is the deer in the head lights boy who knows he's on camera and whose eyes get as big as quarters as he tries in vain not to look at the camera.

These are just a few of the funny things we saw during this number!

Right after the afternoon session, Layne and I went to my co-worker Rebecca's barn party at their house in Draper. Unfortunately the heavy rain and cold forced the party indoors, though we couldn't stay long anyway since Layne had the Priesthood session. On Friday Layne scored a pair of tickets from his boss to the Pioneer Theater Company's production of My Fair Lady, so Kim and I got to go see that during the Priesthood session. It was REALLY good! We had a blast. Sunday's conference sessions were as good as Saturday's. Layne and I really felt uplifted by the talks. So many of them centered on the theme of "surviving difficult times". It was certainly what we needed to hear, but also made us aware that the troubled economy is causing LOTS of people to struggle, not just us (as it sometimes seems).

Sunday evening the Hastings came over for a visit and to drop my cousin and good friend Sandi off for an over night stay. It was tough going back to work after such a nice weekend, and boy has it been a busy week! We did get to enjoy the company of bosom friend Christi Billquist on Tuesday night when she stayed with us on her way home from Idaho, but other than that it was business as usual (rehearsals, stake leadership training meeting etc.). At least its Friday again, and I'm excited not to have any plans. It's actually supposed to snow in the valley all weekend so I plan on doing a lot of reading and drinking of warm beverages.