Time Out For Wo*ME*n

In case you were wondering my weekend was wonderful. I felt good the entire time, with the exception of being a little tired at times. I did not puke once and nor did I feel like I was going to until about the last few minutes of the ride home. Then I walked in the door and was in the bathroom not so long after... BUT my prayer of being well enough to enjoy my weekend was all I asked for- and that's what I got.

We drove up to Spokane Thursday (Me, Jessica, Carol-Lynn, Marilee- Jess' MIL) night and after checking into our hotel walked across the street to Azteca to enjoy some chicken taquitos and guacamole, cuz that's what hits the spot at 8 at night. Then we literally walked back and went to bed. I was tired. So imagine 4 people and two double beds... it was snug!

Friday morning we got up and headed down to the workshop. All the classes were wonderful and it was amazing to be there. Kaden was totally impressed that I had lunch with Pres. Hinckley's daughter. I left out the part about the working lunch and that 500 people also shared that experience. We heard from Sheri Dew, Wendy Watson-Nelson, Virgina Hinckely-Pearce, and Wayne Boss (he teaches at UC Boulder at the Leeds Business School). I felt so smart, and drained, after leaving all those classes.

The workshop ended at 3:30 and we went to our hotel so I could catch a nap and hang out before the night's session. We ordered in dinner from Chili's and I got crazy with a soup and salad combo. Then we headed over to the Opera House about 6:00. The night started with Mercy River singing and then Chieko Okazaki spoke. She is seriously what I envision Paula A. being lik when she is 82! Right? Then Michael McClean sang/spoke and another guy (whose name I can't remember) spoke. He was really good too. I saw so many people I knew there and it was fun to wonder who you might see at the next bathroom break.

Saturday morning we got up early to head the Opera House for the last time. We heard Mercy River again Hillary Weeks, and tons of other speakers. They were all so good. The coolest part was when they recognized about 20 people for being examples of living a joyful life. They got to stand up and everyone clapped for them. Then they started reading a letter and the tears started flowing because I recognized it as the letter Jeremy and I had written not so long ago. Jeremy had wanted to nominate his mom for the recognition and so we worked hard submitting a letter just hours before the deadline. They emailed us Thursday morning to let us know they would be reading the letter, and it was so hard to keep it a secret all weekend from Carol-Lynn. She was so shocked and cried on the phone to Jeremy as we broke for lunch. It was really awesome. They even made a joke about a "man infiltrating the system" to nominate his mother. They only read 3 letters so we felt pretty awesome that they had chosen ours as one of the few. We rock! Or maybe I should say Carol-Lynn rocks since the letter was all about her! Anyway it was a cool experience to make her day and let 2,000+ other people know how amazing she really is.

We had a few other speakers in the afternoon and then it was time to head home. It seems like it was such a short weekend but so refreshing. I truly felt like my cup was full and I was ready to head back to "my life". I mean, not that it's bad, but it is nice to have a little Time Out.

I came home to happy kids, a clean house and one worn out husband. He even drove to Seattle and back with the kids by himself on Saturday morning. He said the kids loved it.... he just told them they were going to McDonalds. Oh to be little again!! Hope your weekends were just as rejuvinating and if Time Out is coming near you {hint, hint, Abq. in April} you should go!!