byu women's conference

My BYU Women's Conference experience started out a bit crazy. The weekend before the conference we went to Rocky Point. When we walked in the door from our trip, Brenna went straight to the toilet and threw up. She was home from school on Monday and back at school by Tuesday. I was keeping my fingers crossed that no one else would get sick. Tuesday afternoon Todd called me from work and said he felt terrible. He lasted as long as he could and was home by 4:00 and in bed. Oh no!! Now I was really starting to get worried. I was scheduled to leave for Utah Wednesday night to be there in time for the opening session Thursday morning. So, keeping my fingers crossed still, I packed my bags. No one else threw up and no one else was sick. So all of the arrangements had been made for all of the children and my friend Jennie took me to the airport Wednesday night. Lori took the kids until Todd could come up from work. Lori didn't know what she was in for. Todd called me while I was going through security at the airport and told me that Charlie had just thrown up while with the Stapley's. Oh my...are you kidding me! I can't just go through security and then not fly anywhere...yuck!! At least when you go through the whole security mess you have a vacation desination at the end of all of it. There was no way I could leave my little one sick. So I called another friend, Lisa, to come and pick me up from the airport. Todd felt bad that he even called me. He wanted me to go ahead and go knowing that he could handle it. I know he could have but it's a "mom thing".
The next morning we all got up and Charlie was fine. So I took the first flight out that I could at 8:30.
I arrived around lunch time and Gary picked me up and ran me over to BYU. We stopped along the way at Hogi Yogi for some lunch....yummy! It's always so fun to visit Utah/BYU and enjoy all of the good food that you miss.

My first class had a "service center" set up in the back. So I was able to help out with these little newborn hats. At first I was one of the cutting gals and then I moved up to one of the folding gals.
That night there were tons of humanitarian service projects going on in the Smith Fieldhouse. We helped out with the newborn kits and

then the school kits. I was the pencil gal...4 pencils in every bag!

(what a yucky picture of me...my excuse...I just went through airport security two times to get there)

This is my good friend Kristi from Nashville. It was so good to see her! I don't think she knows it but I totally worship her creativity, I admire her ability to make everyone feel included, I'm envious of the way she is able to be a totally fun and creative mom in any situation(Brenna still thinks she is the coolest mom on the planet!) Sometimes you have regrets in life and I think that's okay because it helps you to realize what you should have done better. One of my regrets in life is not being a better friend to Kristi when we lived 50 yards from each other.

One of the best parts of women's conference was hearing Julie Beck speak. She is so wonderful and inspiring! Here are some things that I learned from her talk:

1. If we are willing, the Lord will be able to use us for His purposes to further his work.
2. Don't complicate the gospel. It's about a simple testimony.
3. Our influence in the gospel and in the world is important. The Lord cannot do his work on the earth without both a man and a woman.
4. Moses 1:39 This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
5. This is Heavenly Father's work. Then why should our work be any different?
6. Alma 48:7 Amalikiah was lying and decieving the people and Alma was preparing the people to be faithful to the Lord. Alma had the people build walls, trenches, small forts, and places of resort to protect them from the enemy. Are our houses a place of resort to be able to go there to defend ourselves and families?
7. If we are not living the code of conduct from the Strength of Youth pamplet then Satan will be able to have influence in our homes and on our children.
8. We are responsible to strengthen and fortify the schools that our children attend. Don't leave it up to others
9. With our teenagers, are we more worried about entertaining them rather than teaching them? Are we so worried about them being happy right now that we are not looking out for their eternal happiness?

I try daily to make my home a refuge from the world for my family. I want them to feel safe here and be able to feel the spirit in our home. I know that if I allow worldly influences to slowly creep in that it will diminish that spirit.

This is my mom and my sister, Susan, that I met in Provo for the conference. It was so fun to spend time with them!
This is Gary's adorable wife, Tara. She was only able to come to the conference for a couple of classes included the session that President Monson spoke at. After my first day of being at the conference and not getting a BYU brownie, Gary and Tara scoured the campus for one to give me. They found a full tray of them but the little place had just closed and the girl wouldn't sell it to them. How cute are they? I enjoyed my BYU brownie the next day. It was worth the wait! Okay, so it's not the best picture in the world but I didn't have my nice camera and my good lens to take it any closer. This is President Monson waving to the large crowd as he was leaving the building. It was so great to hear him speak! I have a strong testimony that he is a modern day prophet and that he is the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth today.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I look like a total goof ball in this picture but I'm in the middle of joking with Sister Beck that she is a celebrity. It was fun to run into her at the airport. She was so kind and friendly as was her husband. They were heading out on a vacation with her parents to celebrate her dads 90th birthday.