BYU holds a
Womens Conference annually. I haven't been able to go the last two years but did this year and it was wonderful. I flew up with Annette and April (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law) and met my mom and surrogate mother Kathy who had arrived earlier and picked up her daughter, Jesica. I really appreciate belonging to a sisterhood. Perhaps because I don't have earthly sisters I appreciate sisterhood so much. Knowing that we are
all sisters is a truly beautiful thing and knowledge for which I am grateful; spending two days with 30,000 sisters is something I would highly recommend!
I went with some specific questions in mind and found so many of the talks absolutely inspiring. I went to a session about busyness and found the idea of prioritizing based on what is essential, what is necessary and what is nice, particularly helpful. I tend to spend time and energy on things that are nice and sometimes neglect the more important things. There were themes that were repeated (maybe because that was what I needed to hear). One of them was that we all have our own path to walk and we need to find out what that is. We all have different talents and that's okay. Not judging was brought up frequently as well. The basics for spirituality of personal study and prayer daily was repeated time and again. I felt assured and loved and boy did we have fun as well!
On Thursday night there was a wonderful concert with
Hilary Weeks as the hostess. It was about the Relief Society organization and we were all moved to tears more than once. After the concert my mom and I waited to meet my cousin and say hello while the others left back to our room. By the time we left, the crowd died down and we got to meet
Alex Boye who had performed earlier. He sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as well as professionally and was quite kind and down to earth. We said goodbye and started back when it started to rain
hard. I said to my mom that we should use our bags to cover our heads. She put a teeny shopping bag over her hair as it started to hail. We were laughing so hard as it poured on us. One of the phrases we saw more than once at the conference was "dancing in the rain" so we seized the moment and did just that (smile). We were laughing so hard despite the fact that we were freezing. We got back to our dorm and told everyone and we all started laughing at my mom who was most concerned about her hair and how she would now have to redo it in the morning. April, who was in the bathroom, got out of the shower and told us she had wondered if hyenas had some how gotten in the dorm.
We stayed up too late and woke up too early because the beds were highly uncomfortable and, I am sorry to report, ate too much. Truly, three buffets in the
Cannon Center in 36 hours is too much. We could tell why the "freshman-fifteen" is so easy to put on. Since Daniel and I met at BYU, I enjoy being on campus and reminiscing about young love.
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| The view above the Provo temple--at the horizon you can see Utah lake--it was stunning and a perfect place to catch my breath from my early morning run. I decided that we need to retire right there. Someone reminded me about Utah winters and I decided we need a summer home behind the Provo Temple and a winter home in Central California:) |
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| The tulips were beautiful! When Danny and I were dating he had tulips delivered to the psych department where I worked on the 10th floor of the SWKT. So many fun memories on campus! |
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| Making happy face pillow kits for children at Primary Children's hospital . It reminded me of all the wonderful things that were done for Will and made us all happy to serve. |
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| Me and my momma |
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| April, Annette, Kathy and Jesica |
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| Pretty ladies |
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| Our whole group of roomies:) |
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| A funny outtake |
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| Baby ducks! I was starting to miss the kids:) |
On Saturday morning, Annette and I awoke early to hike up to the Y on the side of mountain. I did it once as a freshman but hadn't since then. We had to be checked out by 9 am so we went fast but stopped on the switchbacks to enjoy the view. I love the peace and stillness atop any mountain.
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| Annette at the top of the Y |
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| Enjoying the clean air! |
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| I lucked out in the mother-in-law department--she likes to get up early and exercise! |
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| The view from the top of the Y |
Annette and April headed to northern Utah to visit family and my mom and I spent the morning with Kathy, Jesica some of their family. We had lunch at the top of the Joseph Smith building. We shopped a bit and went to the Quilted Bear, a craft store like no other. I was so tired I ended up on a bench asleep at one point.
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| I sure love this lady! |
I flew home that night and took this photo the day after. I had so much fun and felt so ready to be a better wife and mother than when I left.
I am so grateful to have a husband who willingly sent me to Utah and played Mr. Mom while I was gone! I left him a "honey wish list" (he said a "wish list" is kinder than a "do list"). He got it all done and more! He's amazing!! Here are some photos he sent me while I was gone:
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| William happy with his train and train shirt one of his fans bought him (thanks, Tammy:)) |
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| Claire with a project I bought at the dollar store and which she completed with her daddy. |
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| Finished product |
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| Danny cut the boys hair |
