Women's Conference

Ok...ok...thanks for all of the praise and kind words, but let's remember back to that time when I selfishly left my family for 2 days to enjoy some ME time. Oh, and let's remember Mr. Mom--ha ha--Father's Day is after Mother's Day so I can really get him back. (and I may have to find a password that he doesn't know too!--so there!) :)

Finally I'm posting about Women's Conference!! I have had SO much fun looking back through my notes! It was such a wondeful conference as usual!

This is only my 3rd time going. The past two times I have gone with my sister-in-law and I can't wait to go with her again! We always get a hotel, sing in the choir, go to the concert and make a whole weekend out of it and it is a blast! She knows who a lot of the best speakers are and so she really helps to map out the whole day. It is awesome! I'm very sad that we don't have any pictures from those 2 conferences...in fact, I don't think the two of us have EVER taken a picture together. Maybe when one of us isn't pregnant we should get going on that!

This year I went with my really good friend Heather and once again had such a blast! Heather was my visiting teaching companion when we first moved here, and the one who called me at the last minute to go to the Jon Schmidt concert. We became great friends right away and since she has left our neighborhood I usually only get to see her once a month at bookclub. I have really really missed our visits and so I especially enjoyed this time with her and some of her friends!

In the past I have ventured out onto "that" campus down in Provo :) to the many classes, but this year we just camped out in the Marriott Center on the soft chairs in front. It was so perfect! We almost left for one class, but decided we wanted to stay so that we could be up close for when Elder L. Tom Perry spoke. It was a good thing we stayed because that class we would've missed ended up being one of my very favorites!

Of course during the classes they have humanitarian aid projects for all of us to work on and I also brought Kierra's I Am a Child of God cross-stitch that I should probably finish before our baby boy comes (by the way--have you seen how close that crawling baby at the top of my blog is to the end of the page? YIKES!) So here we are pretending to work so hard on our projects. We really did work hard and I have now learned how to make those cute flower hair clips that people make and sell for so much money. I've decided that's going to be a great skill to have with 4 girls!

Heather and I LOVE the concerts! And yes, like the host said, at times we felt like "little Mia Maids" all over again! Of course we wish there had been more of Hilary Weeks, but we still had a great time!

So, I don't know how to write about all of the great thoughts and messages that were shared at this conference. The picture below is actually Heather's and I LOVE it!! This was when Sister Rogers talked about "Going Forth in the Strength of the Lord". She talked about how at one time we DID rejoice in choosing this mortal experience. She talked about the song "Now Let Us Rejoice" and how William W. Phelps didn't write that song during the best of times. All of the women stood and sang that song together singing the last word, "One" a couple of extra times at the end and it was incredible!

Here are just some more random quotes I wrote down:

Regular attendance reveals regular revelation. (Sister Hillam talking about temples)

We can't allow ourselves to become distracted, distraught and discouraged. (Sister Dalton)

You can't strengthen your prayers unless you are praying. (Sister Dalton)

I want to do right by the Lord....But undaunted still SHE trusted in HER Heavenly Father's care. (Sister Olsen)

In the end it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. (Mother Teresa)

Your future is as bright as your faith. (Pres. Monson)

The family is about us and we. The world is about me and I. (Sister Beck)

FIGHT!! (Sister Beck got very emotional when she said this. She said we can't sit and act like a victim. We need to fight and defend our homes and our families.)

The Samuelson's gave incredible talks about parenting and looking for examples of parenting in the Book of Mormon. They said to someday read through the Book of Mormon looking for those examples. I need to go buy a $2 copy and just mark it and make notes in it. What better parenting manual can anyone have?!

The Hammonds were the ones that gave the talk that we almost missed. Sister Hammond spoke about serving with our hands. (she pretty much wrote my talk for tomorrow night's visiting teaching conference!) She was so cute! She told us to love our children. She told us to take their faces in our hands and kiss them. She said, take your husband's face in your hands--give him a kiss--each kiss burns 12 calories! Later after her husband beautifully sang Love One Another she paused before speaking and said, "I want to burn some calories" and took his face in her hands and kissed him. They were the cutest couple! Their talks reminded me that we just need to love everyone. When we are feeling caught up in the logistics and the how to of a calling, of family, of home and of life; when we are so worried about offending because we are doing too much or too little because we don't know if we should do too much or too little, we just need to LOVE. Love everyone! Brother Hammond said that "if we are willing to do ANYTHING the Lord asks of us we will be able to love and to find true enduring happiness." Wow they were good!!

The conference ended with Elder L. Tom Perry's talk. He showed a fun video that looked much like a Jay Leno Jaywalking video. They went around to people across the country respectfully asking what they knew about the LDS church. It was amazing to see that people really don't know who we are. He said, "We have a responsibility to share the true image of the church to the world." I really wish I could find that video!

One last thought. In just those talks that I heard I think I wrote down 3 or 4 times the reference made to the phrase "leading away many women" in Alma 30:18. We as women need to trust in the Lord and trust in ourselves that we can really do this!

Wow! I have written way too much! I learned so much though and felt the most wonderful spirit there! Thanks to Heather and her friends, my new friends, for a very special 2 days!