family history friday (numero seis)

I know this is not Family History related, but let me do a birthday recap before I get into my f.h. post.  Today, my sweet little Elise has a birthday.  For it, we went clamming in the freezing rain and wind.  Why, you ask, did we go clamming in the freezing rain?  Well, it all started at two this morning.  Sweet Elise came into our room and woke up Chris, saying "Dad, are you ready to go clamming?"  She had wanted clams and crabs for her birthday dinner and had it in her head that Chris would be facilitating that.  What else could we do?  SO Rachel and I rushed to get our clamming licenses, amid sweet comments like "I feel so special that we are going clamming for my birthday" and we gave it our darned best for about 40 minutes.  We left with one tiny little clam.  And then we enjoyed a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which made it all worth it.   Instead of clams and crab, Chris took her out for sushi. (although this sounds like a good deal for him, it was quite a sacrifice since she was dead set on going to a sushi track restaurant!)  Elise was such a sweet birthday girl.  She was thanking everyone all day long for everything that they did.  She kept saying that this was her best birthday ever and that was even with her lovely clamming trip AND her dream jello birthday cake turned out to be a slushy disaster.  After opening her presents, she went around giving each person a crazy sincere hug and thank you for their gift.  To top off such a sweet day, Elise asked if she could say the prayer since she is the birthday girl.  And it was the purest prayer ever.

Now, to my family history posting.  This weekend is General Conference!  This is a biannual conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is a time for our prophet and other leaders to speak to us, inspire us, teach us and guide us.  I *love* conference.  I look forward to the answers that I will receive to my prayers, the insight that I gain from the 2 days of inspired speakers and the lovely way that the spirit works to guide my life in the right direction as I listen to conference.  I owe this love, 100% percent, to my parents and I hope to pass this love on to my girls. As far back as I can remember, my parents would haul all six of us kids to the nearest church building to watch all 4 sessions of conference.  I have fond memories of our little picnics at a nearby business park, I remember Thomas S. Monson (who is now our prophet) being my favorite speaker, but most importantly, I remember General Conference always being made a priority in our home.  Thank you, mom and dad, for passing down this legacy.