Autumnal Equinox

I have been working on writing a post about how much I love the Fall for a few days now. Always kind of working at it and trying to find the best way to express how much I love the glorious season.

I was going to mention the awesome clothes. Sweaters and scarves are definitely my favorite. I was going to talk about how there is a general sense in the air that things are changing and magic is happening. I was going to bring up how beautiful the trees look and how the mountains are like a personal gift to me every day as I'm walking to class.

I was going to go in great detail about the fact that Fall always kicks off the holiday season for me, and makes me all nostalgic for the days when I was a little girl jumping in leaves and getting ready for Christmas. I even have the desire to listen to mostly oldies because it just seems to fit better.

I was going to talk about all of the wonders of this autumnal season...

But then it snowed today.

So I guess that boat's floated.

Happy Winter, everyone.

Airplanes

How can you not love these men?

Can we just talk about General Conference for a second? I'm not really listening to your answer, because we're gonna talk about this anyway. For those readers that aren't of my faith, General Conference is when the prophet and other leaders of the Church speak to the whole LDS Church. It's pretty great. I fell in love with General Conference this year. Don't get me wrong, I have always been a huge fan, but this year was definitely one of those years that I kind of wanted to get up and cheer after the talks, you know, if that wasn't completely inappropriate and stuff. Almost every talk gave me some inspiration that I had been needing in my life. Isn't it funny how the speakers can be talking to 13 million people and still you can think, "Man, they must have written this talk for me."

My favorite favorite was President Uchtdorf. Without getting too whiny, my life has been incredibly frazzle dazzled lately. It felt like everything was hitting me at once, and I didn't know how to handle any of it. I settled into my chair at conference, with thoughts in me head about how I didn't really have time for any of this, there was far too much going on. Then President Uchtdorf starts talking about trees. And I was thinking, "Trees? That's cool and everything, but what does it have to do with flying an airplane?" Ok, I didn't think that, but he is a funny man. This did get me listening though, and I realized that to get through the tur-bə-lence in my life, I need to slow down and take a breath. Focus on the basics of the gospel, and worship the Lord in the most simple way. It reminded me of becoming as a child. A child's testimony is not complicated, it is simple and pure. Full of trust and absolute faith. I loved this talk.

The rest of conference had me thinking along those same lines. Think Fourth Article of Faith. I loved that my notes were littered with words like "faith" and "agency" and "Holy Ghost" and "love." These words aren't hard to understand. They aren't even hard to put into practice. There were many occasions where I whipped out my pen when I thought I would receive some grand new shortcut into Heaven. Oh! He's going to talk about the things we need to do to gain salvation! Better be prepared. ...Read your scriptures, go to Church, love one another. Well duh. I was a little disbelieving at times. That can't be all. Yes it can, Erica. Just look at the snake already, you'll be fine.

So pretty much, I love the gospel. I love the Church. I love the prophets. The Lord doesn't deal in secret formulas for salvation.

Also, Boyd K. Packer. I love that man. His talk was incredible. I wish it wasn't being skewed so badly by the world.

If you are interested in listening to conference, you can find it here. Also, if any of you want to tell me about your favorite talk or inspiration you received, I would love to hear.