Saturday and Sunday Recap!

Yesterday was a fun day. It began around 7:30 when I woke up and took a shower, then went with Valerie, Mike Bean, and Andy to Eastern Market to get their “famous” blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Unfortunately, after visiting the HUGE Food Market in Philadelphia, I was not too impressed, either with the food or the place itself (outdoors, there were a number of stalls with oriental—y’know, EASTERNish—merchandise for sale). I mean, sure, the pancakes were good, but $6 for 3 regular blueberry pancakes with a spoonful of butter and regular maple syrup on them? C’mon. The pancake place—named the “Lunch Market,” I believe—was the only busy place at the market, and we had to sit outside on a table—or rather, the frame of a table. I was the only one who didn’t grab a tray to eat my meal on, but I was lucky that the plate was a little too big to fall through the cracks. We also didn’t get any complimentary cups or water, and, against my better judgment, I didn’t bring my water bottle, so... yeah. Andy and Valerie ordered bacon (3 pieces each for a full serving—whoopee!) and shared it with Mike and me. It was windy outside and I had syrup on my hair afterwards from the wind blowing my hair into my mouth while I was trying to take a bite. And I WOULD have had my hair in a ponytail but I had just taken a shower, and it’s a little difficult to put up my wet hair. I’m not really complaining, since the pancakes were at least satisfying and it was a perfectly nice sunny day and I really do like wind...but at the time I was feeling thirsty, sticky, and a little stingy.

After our breakfast, we walked to the Mall to see the parade. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the Mall, where it looked like groups from the parade were standing around, and then found a nice shady place by the curb to stand or sit and watch. We stayed there for a little over an hour, taking pictures, videos, cheering, and eventually shivering as the wind got more boisterous. My hair was a lost cause by the time we left—it took me about 20 min. to brush and comb the tangles out!
The British are coming! Actually, they told us they were American soldiers... but the accents were a little fishy.

Some random old guy in a car led the parade. I mean, whoa! Wow! Yikes! Hey----it's ALEX TREBEK!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He didn't shake hands with any of us, but he waved and smiled and leaned in for lots of pictures.

Some clowns and a fire truck. Is this a parade or a circus?

One of the Maryland Rough Riders! They didn't do much rough riding, but the prancing was still pretty fancy. And I much prefer watching horses to cars in a parade, anyway.

I think this float was Miss America and two finalists, although I was not sure at the time which is which.

After seeing the parade, we walked to the Smithsonian Metro stop, stopping at Valerie’s workplace on the way just for fun. She works below the Ripley Center building, next to but not exactly in the Smithsonian Castle. I took a picture of her standing in front of her locked office – I think she thought I was kind of a dork for taking a picture of her in the dark room in front of her dark office, but oh well. I had one picture left on that camera and I was NOT gonna go home without taking one.

We got home just in time to see the start of the first session of General Conference. It was set up in the Barlow Center Great Room, but unfortunately, it was dubbed in Spanish. Yikes! Drew tried to translate for us at first, but then we heard that the basement TV was playing it in English, and most of us took off to watch it there. I got a nice comfy couch chair up in front :)

For those who don’t know, General Conference is a twice yearly meeting held for the leaders (including the Prophet—or President—and all twelve of the Church’s apostles) to address members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world. The conferences are held in Salt Lake City, Utah in the Conference Center, and broadcast to churches and buildings throughout the world. There are five sessions over the weekend, four for the general church and one for the men and boys who hold the priesthood. Check out http://www.mormon.org/ or http://www.lds.org/ if you want to know more!

I loove Conference. When I was little, the experience of going to church together, playing at the playground, spending all day together, and eating special food probably had a lot to do with it. I listened to the talks and took notes, but also drew a lot of pictures and enjoyed doodling and playing games during the “boring” parts. But now I just love listening and basking in the Spirit that attends every session. The music is beautiful and the talks are just so....TRUE! Every time it gets better and better. I can’t imagine spending a more productive afternoon than listening to the wonderful, inspired words of men and women called by God to lead His church.

This Saturday, the talks were absolutely fantastic. Each one felt applicable to me in some way, and some of them (Elder Robert D. Hales and Elder M. Russell Ballard, in particular) seemed to have been written just for me. I definitely have a greater resolve to live the gospel and serve the Lord after listening to the testimonies born by these wonderful prophets of God. The music and every other aspect of conference was equally inspiring. I had forgotten that there would be a new apostle this year, due to the death of Joseph B. Wirthlin, but was excited to learn that it was Neil L. Andersen—he spoke once at a stake conference in Utah that I attended, and he seems like a very wise and humble man.

It’s Sunday now, and I finished listening to the 5th and final session of conference. It’s always a little sad...but the talks were fantastic, and I have a lot to think about and get to work on now! My favorite talks from the last two sessions were also the first speakers—President Uchtdorf and Elder Oaks. A coincidence? A miracle? I have to add, though, that Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk was one of the most emotional and powerful addresses I’ve ever heard. It was absolutely beautiful, and I absolutely cried like a little girl. Please, PLEASE read it or better, listen to his recording if you missed the session somehow.

In between the Sunday sessions, we celebrated March and April birthdays with cake, lasagna, salad, and rolls provided by the Blanchards. It’s not the traditional Conference fare we have at home, but, well, it was still pretty yummy! It was interesting to see how Conference was done at the Barlow Center—most people wore Sunday clothes, but some didn’t, and some (aka me) did both. I wore Sunday clothes for the 4th session, when I was in the Great Room with everyone else, but after dealing with the problems of people whispering and laughing and making jokes around me, I decided to watch the 5th session on the TV downstairs. I did NOT regret the decision—I was the only one downstairs, with a couch all to myself and absolute silence for the talks! It was HEAVEN! And I changed into more casual clothes, too.

In fact, I would have watched the 4th session of conference downstairs, too, except that when I went down, one of the guys was there watching a movie.

After conference today, some of us went on a walk to the harbor by Georgetown. It was a nice sunny, windyish day, and the waterfront was bustling with activity. In fact, it was so crowded I thought there must be an event going on (there’s a lot of events taking place with the Cherry Blossom Festival), but nope, it was just people out enjoying the view, drinking, eating, walking their dogs (soooo many dogs!), and boating. It reminded me a bit of the oceanside houses in North Carolina, but with the types of crowds at the Florida beach, and all around a river that looked kind of like Boone Lake in Tennessee... very cool!

That’s all I have for tonight – have a great week everyone, and keep commenting! I love to read ‘em!

P.s. Forgot to mention that for “Girl’s Night Out,” we all ate chocolate downstairs and watched “27 Dresses.” Blech. I much preferred my weekly viewings of “Lawrence of Arabia” and “3:10 to Yuma.”

P.p.s. Enjoy my short little video of the Scottish band at the Cherry Blossom Festival!