Conference results

Alright...I did much better this time around!

Rachel: 43%-----13 of the 30 songs that I had guessed were sung during conference.

Nathan: 33%-----10 of the 30 songs that Nathan had guessed were sung.

I had a hunch yesterday while I was making my list that the choir would sing Lead, Kindly Light. My gut was telling me that I needed to put that song on my list and swap it out with another one (like Come, Come Ye Saints). So when President Uchtdorf announced that the choir would be singing that this afternoon I really regretted not following my gut. Oh well.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir picture courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints newsroom

General Conference

This weekend is the conclusion of the 180th General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been looking forward to this for several months now. It is such a blessing to be able to hear from living Prophets and Apostles, and I love hearing the talks and messages that are given. I also enjoy listening to the beautiful music provided by the choirs.

Speaking of music, you may recall that I like to guess which songs will be sung during conference weekend. I have so much fun doing this that Nathan caught the bug and has decided to participate. The last 2 conferences I did not do very well so we will see how well I do this time around. Below are our lists of songs.

If you would like to join in the fun, here are my rules.

*Pick 30 songs (hymns or other musical arrangements).

*If those songs are sung during any session of conference (I include Music and the Spoken Word for this) then you get to mark them off your list.

First Presidency Picture Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Newsroom.

Trip to California

In mid September Nathan and I headed out to California. We mainly went for my sisters wedding, but we decided to make the most of it while we were there.

The first item of business that we took care of when we got picked up from the airport was to eat at In-n-out. We were starving and the prego lady wanted an In-n-out Burger!

The next day was Mary and Patrick's Wedding. Here are some photos of the blessed event.

The newlyweds coming out of the "starting gates." Look at Patrick's expression...I love it!

At the wedding reception

The entire Sorenson family.

The Sorenson kids.

Mary and her niece Olivia. Olivia was awe struck with Mary the entire day.

Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson with the (newest) happy couple. My Grandpa was able to seal Patrick and Mary in the Los Angeles Temple.

Another happy couple--soon to be trio.

Another exciting event that we were able to participate in while in California was my nephew's baby blessing.

The Parker family.

While we were in California we HAD to go to an Angel's game. It's been way to long since we've seen them play.

Nathan and I also got to do some family file names at the Newport Beach Temple. Nathan's brother David was also able to come with us and he was a welcome addition to our little party. After the temple we went and ate at Cafe Rio! YUM!

We were also fortunate to visit with many family members while visiting.

Nathan got to visit with his parents (who drove down to see us), and his Great Uncle Skip. Nathan's brother lives in California so we were able to visit with his family many times.

These are my "Utah" cousins. They traveled down for Mary's wedding and it was SO GOOD to see them. I haven't been able to visit with them in a long time. Thanks Debbie, Bonnie and Amy for coming down.

And I got to visit lots with my Grandparents. I sure miss these two.

And during our "downtime" we did some playing of our own. We went bowling, shopping at the mall, caught up with friends and family, and played lots of games...particularly Nertz.

We were very sad to leave California and our families. We really did not want to go. But such is life and now we are back into the swing of things in Iowa.

Apple Orchard

Since living in Iowa these past several years Nathan and I always make an annual trip to Wilson's Apple Orchard to harvest fresh apples right off the trees.

Last year we went with my mom as she was in town visiting, but this year we invited some of our neighbor friends along. After downloading all my pictures I noticed that we didn't get a group photo. Oh well. Here are some other pictures our outing. It was a gorgeous and pleasant day!

This is what I like to do with the apples (besides eat a few):

Little Stinker

Over the past several months Nathan and I have made some purchases in anticipation for the arrival of baby girl Culmer (i.e., rocking chair, car seat, stroller, changing table, etc).

When we purchased the car seat and brought into the house I knew that it was a only a matter of time before this would happen:

The little stinker found the car seat! I was posting about our Chicago trip last night when I heard Kronk making some strange noises behind me. I turned around and saw him all nestled down in the car seat ready for a cat nap (which I would not let him do).

Chicago

For our Anniversary/Labor Day weekend we headed to Chicago. We packed up the car Friday morning and drove straight to a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Boy...that was an experience.

Wrigley Field is an older ball park which makes it very different from any other baseball field. First of all, there is no big screen in the stadium so you really have to pay attention and watch the game. Watching a Cubs game is a unique experience and I'm grateful we were able to go. The Cubs beat the NY Mets 7 to 6, and we saw 3 home runs hit in Wrigley Field (2 of which were from the NY Mets)! Yeah...Cubs fans were not happy about those.

Here is Wrigley's "Big Screen."

A shot of the game at Wrigley Field.

The happy couple! I originally was wearing a visor, but the wind was so strong that I had to take it off because it almost blew out of the park.

Did you know that if the Cubs win their baseball game that the fans will actually sing a song called "Go Cubs Go?" Yep...it's about a 3 minute song and the entire stadium was singing it. I guess they have VERY loyal fans. Click here if you're interested in hearing the song. Be careful...it's a catchy tune.

After the game we walked around Wrigley Field. We saw this sign and decided to take advantage of this photo opportunity.

After the game, we drove 2 hours from Wrigley Field to go 16.5 miles to our hotel---RIDICULOUS. That's Chicago traffic for ya though.

On Saturday, September 4th, we headed to the Chicago Illinois Temple.

I cannot believe that the Iowa City Stake used to be in this Temple district. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple is definitely closer--by a good 2 hours. I love going to Temples and seeing the different layouts and architectures. As different as the Chicago Temple is, it was just like every other Temple in the church--beautiful.

It was a fun and quick weekend get-a-way, but we are glad to be back home in our own home, with our own bed (which by the way has been calling my name for a couple hours).

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Nathan!

Thanks for marrying me and being such a wonderful friend and example. I am truly blessed to have you in my life.