Upon the roles of the church she'll be known as Ellis.

On Sunday, September 27th, Ellis' dad Phil, along with Grandpa Elison, Grandpa Ridoutt, Uncle Ron, Uncle Ammon and Uncle Robert and Branch President Smith gave her a special blessing conferred upon an infant. In it her full name, Ellis Grace Wylykanowitz, is stated so as to be placed upon the roles of the church.

This blessing is special because it is the beginning of her journey in the gospel. Though she won't be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until she accepts baptism, her name is now recorded for genealogy and posterity. Then the blessing continues and a child is given specific blessings according to how the Spirit inspires the priesthood holder administering the blessing.

The morning I dress my babies in their blessing clothes I try to take a quiet moment alone with them to think of how special their little spirits are and where they have so recently come from. I also think about how this white outfit is just one of three very important spiritual experiences they have the opportunity to partake in. Their blessing, their baptism, their marriage through the sealing ordinance of the temple.

Ellis' blessing gown is my favorite of the three. Jacob's I bought at Deseret Books in Portland, Mena's was a dress I had found in a thrift store when I was 20 and had held onto all those years in the hopes of someday having a baby girl, but Ellis' was handmade by her Aunt Emily and the "E" on the bodice came from the monogrammed handkerchief of my Grandma Elizabeth, the mother of my mother Joan in California.

This morning my little family will gather in our back room on the red couch and listen to General Conference being broadcast from Salt Lake. These semi-annual conferences are like holidays for me. They are my favorite four days of the year. It's a chance to truly feel like our home has a place in Zion.

In the Book of Mormon, Mosiah, Chapter 2, versus 5-6, it reads,

"5: And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.
6: And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;"

That's what General Conference means to me, it's an opportunity to sustain living prophets and to turn our home towards them and the words they share with us. Words that lift and inspire us to be better in all that we do and that help prepare us to be an eternal family.