I remember at 18

I remember at 18 attending General Conference live for the first time. Our ward at BYU went to Salt Lake to perform baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple the Friday before April Conference and myself and two of my roommates stayed the night and went to Conference the next morning.

After leaving the temple Friday we went to the Church History Museum and explored that for a couple of hours and then we went to my “Grandma” Iris’s house (she’s not my grandma by blood or law, but she helped my parents get together, so that’s plenty important). She made us some yummy trail mix type stuff to munch on and we watched old movies before falling asleep.

Saturday morning we bundled up and went and stood in line outside the gates of Temple Square with everyone else hoping to get in. And it was a snow storm. Huge snow storm. Couldn’t see across the street because of all the snow falling and filling the air. There’s a reason they say you have to wait at least until after both Conference and Easter to expect good weather on a consistent basis.

But we got in. We were among the very last people they let into the Tabernacle for the Saturday morning session. There was a pillar right in front of us and my feet were freezing because they were wet from the snow. But it was still wonderful to actually be sitting there.

After the session the snow had stopped falling and the sun had come out and it was a beautiful day. We got a ride back to campus and watched the rest of Conference trying to get warm again in our apartment. We did a bit of baking so we’d have an excuse to turn the oven on and add its heat to the apartment.

Two years later my mom and I attended Conference at the Assembly Hall and she and I went to Conference at the Conference Center once as well. The first date Brett and I went on included two sessions of General Conference at the Conference Center too.

But the first time I attended General Conference live was when I was 18.