Time Out For Women

Over the weekend I was able to attend Time Out For Women in St. George, Utah with some friends, Cara Clay, Darci Larson and Lolly Scott. I was so excited to go. Go get a giant spiritual up lift? I think yes. No responsibility other than myself? Yes! Yes! Laugh my head off with friends? YES! YES! And YES! We left Friday morning at 7:00 am. I went and picked everyone up and after a prayer, we hit the road. We laughed and chatted all the way there. Our first stop? Deseret Industries of course! We were all hoping to score something incredible. No luck on that however. But...... Cara had this super fabulous idea (she thought) of everyone picking out an outfit for someone else to wear. We all said no. She started looking for stuff anyway. And somehow, I said yes to her plan. But only if I got to pick out her outfit. (I think I must've secretly wanted to do something crazy like that. You know, break out of my secure comfort zone) Oh baby! The outfit she came up with was horrendous! Red, pink and tan floral capri pants (which the waist was to small so they wouldn't zip up! Isn't that a great visual!). A blue, yellow and pink floral print shirt and a yellow sweater (the sweater was actually kind of cute) and keep in mind I was wearing orange converse type shoes. I looked AWESOME!!!! Her outfit was turquoise blue polyester pants with an elastic waistband (my grandma wore those kind of pants her whole life) a bright orange Sponge Bob t-shirt that said "that makes me feel all wiggly" an old grandma cardigan sweater that had beaded turtles embroidered all over it, front and back, complete with turtle buttons! Her always lovely brown tennis shoes. And don't forget- the hugest silver and turquoise jewel earrings on the planet! She looked like she shouldve been in a special assistance home. More on this adventure later!

Our next stop was Tai Pan Trading. It is the most wonderful store. It is a home decorating store and it is HUGE! It is so fun to go there and just get ideas. I am pretty sure I want all of their gazebos in my yard! I love that store! I collect white dishes and they have so many to choose from. I could stay in that area for hours! Love it! After that we just went to different places. We even ended up at Wal-mart! (someone forgot their toothbrush!) We also went and dropped our stuff off at Darci's uncles house where we were staying. You should see the view from their house! It was pretty spectacular! They live up on the hill that overlooks both side of St. George. Their view was over the northish side of the valley.

We got to the conference about 6:00ish and found our seats. I love to people watch so it was really fun to see all of the different people. Lots of babies. Friends chatting and laughing. Cute clothes and hair styles. Very busy people, people just relaxing. But I think my favorite thing was just sitting there and feeling that spirit that was there. We were all in a huge room filled to the brim with women. Good women. Women who were all there to be uplifted. It was just a really good feeling.

The highlights of the evening were-
Presenter- Jason Wright. He is the author of the book Christmas Jars and another favorite of mine- The 17 Second Miracle. He was a very funny and energetic speaker. The point of his talk was that we need to keep our eyes WIDE open for opportunities to serve others. Not just big "billboard" moments but tiny everyday ways. His talk was fun.
Then Jenny Oaks Baker played her violin. Oh baby! That girl is seriously incredible! I think we all could have sat and listened to her the entire evening. The spirit and feeling she brought to that room was amazing. I loved listening to her.
Then Heidi Swinton spoke. She is the author of President Monsons biography. To the rescue. I loved hearing about her personal experiences with the prophet. She helped you come to know him just a little bit better and also to feel the love that he has for each of us. She talked about how he (Pres. Monson) is always serving others. And that one of the sweetest feelings we can ever experience is to be the answer to someone elses prayer. She said this- (I think she was quoting the prophet) When we share the love in our hearts, we can become the conduit of the Saviors love and the Spirit for others. I loved that. It makes me want to go out and be better. To help others more.

It was a great evening. I left there feeling uplifted and good. We ended the evening by going back to the house and making bracelets (I had taken my beads so we could make a bracelet that each time we wore it we would think of our fun weekend) We laughed and told stories til about 2 am. I LOVED IT! How often do you just get to laugh and laugh with girlfriends?

I have this phobia of sharing a bed with someone other than Lorin (Don't ask) anyway- I slept on the love seat in their family room. Now, I'm short but I"m not as short as that piece of furniture. I think I may have woken up with a permanent kink in my entire body. Although that might not be a bad thing- Maybe I will turn into a Slinky or something!

Next adventure coming soon!