Tuesday Traditions 17

I am thinking that I probably already wrote about this tradition last year, but that's ok.  It's been a whole year.  :)

Last weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the year.

Time Out For Women

Every year, I get to spend some time with some of the favorite women in my life and we go to this conference to be inspired and uplifted.  There may or may not be a lot of laughing and silliness involved as well.  Although we weren't too crazy this year.  Maybe that's because there was no hotel room involved.

This year, we went to the event in St. George, Utah.

Our whole group of ladies

As always, it was a fabulous weekend.
 I love spending time with my mom and sisters.  We were missing Sharise and Danette for sure.  Hopefully one of these years we will all be able to coordinate schedules and have the $$ to all meet in one place and enjoy TOFW together.

My cute (pregnant, if you can believe it because she is tiny) sis-in-law, Chantelle...my mommy...my sis, Brittany, and me

This year was extra awesome as well because my best friend from high school was able to come with us as well.  I love spending time with Melissa.  We aren't able to get together as often as we would like, but we take every chance that we can get.

We've come a long way, baby.
Hey Melissa...remember this?

This picture is so completely awesome on so many levels.  Nothing says best friends like getting your picture taken together in matching outfits.
  I love this lady so much.  She has stuck with me through thick and thin.  One of my favorite moments with her that I will remember forever is seeing her at my end-of-chemo party.  We don't live close to each other any more, but she drove 4 hours just to attend my party and then turned around and drove 4 hours home.  I had no idea she was coming to that.  Seeing her as I walked in my kitchen was one of the best surprises of my life.

I always come away from TOFW with a renewed spirit and conviction to be a little better than I was before.  A better person, wife, mommy, friend...you name it.

Here are some of the things that stuck out to me....

Virginia H. Pearce
*We can choose to show up for the Savior.  Come prepared to learn and love.

John Bytheway
*Suffering in this life is mandatory.  That's how we learn and grow.  The misery that comes along with it is optional.

Chris Williams
*As we let our problems go and yoke ourselves to the Savior, He takes us with Him to serve and lift others.

Emily Watts
*"Fair" is not the same as perfectly equal.  If everything was perfectly balanced, you wouldn't be progressing or moving forward.
*Remember that your children have spirits, and our spirit can speak to their spirits.

John Hilton III
*Tap into the vision of what God already has in store for you.
*The mundane can be miraculous.

Merrilee Boyack
*We are all "Warrior Women" fighting for God's army.
*I will defend the family and protect children.

Emily Freeman
*The Lord can work miracles in the moments we are required to stretch.

(You can click on each person's name to learn more about them.)

Another TOFW down...hopefully many more to go.  I have been able to "fill my cup" for another year.
TOFW is close to my heart for so many reasons, but I will always feel so blessed to have been featured on their blog.  Remember this?
Enjoy your Tuesday! :)

My Favorite Weekend of the Year

I can't believe it's already been about a year since I wrote this post.

I love, love, love my Time Out for Women (TOFW) weekends.  I look forward to them every year because I always come away inspired.  This year was no exception.

The theme for this year was "Seek the Good"

That could really be the theme for the last year and a half of my life.

I have really tried to seek the good as I have faced this life-changing battle of cancer.

Some days the good was very hard to find, but most days it was right in front of me.

I had the pleasure of attending with 2 wonderful women that I love so much... my mother-in-law and sis-in-law.  We were just 3 among thousands of women who were there to feel connected, to be lifted up and to share in the sweet spirit that is always there.

Some things I discovered or rediscovered...

From Virginia H. Pierce- "The temple can give us strength to forgive and be forgiven."

From the magnificent Sheri Dew- She spoke to us about what it means to be a Latter-Day Daughter of God. 

"We know who's church we belong to and we know what it means.  Jesus Christ is at the head of our church and He is the greatest champion of women.  We know that women are vital to the church.  We know that women are eligible for the Lord's highest blessing."  

(This, of course, is just a small sample of the great thoughts that she shared with us.  I simply have just one word... A-MA-ZING.)

From Chris Williams-  Incredible example of forgiveness. "What burden can you lay at the Lord's feet today and allow Him to help you Let It Go?"

From the awesome Brad Wilcox- "Our Savior's goal is not just to get us to heaven, but to make us heavenly... God loves us just the way we are, but He also loves us enough to not leave us this way."

And last, but certainly not least, John Bytheway- "Regardless of your original intention, you will become what you are surrounding yourself with so surround yourself with greatness."

Now, I would love to say that I came home from this beautiful, inspiring conference to a house cleaned from top to bottom and the children playing so nicely together and doing some wholesome activity...you know the things that always seem so wonderful in your mind.

It was close to that...

Okay, so it wasn't.  But that's ok.  Fortunately everything on the list that I had left got done. ;)

I guess I forgot to leave my pair of "Mommy Glasses".  You know what those are, right?

Those are the magical glasses that can look around and see things that need to be taken care of  like

a sink full of dirty dishes

a counter full of clutter

breakfast still on the table (or maybe that was lunch)

clothes and shoes in the middle of the living room floor

(I spared you a picture of the basement...but to be fair that was a disaster BEFORE I left.)

Yep...they definitely need the "Mommy Glasses".

Now, to be fair to my sweet and amazing husband and kiddos, here is a list of the things that were accomplished...

lawn edged and neatly trimmed

bathrooms (mostly) cleaned

kids fed (I think) 

no one bleeding or having an injury of any kind

chicken coop cleaned

floors (mostly) vacuumed

Mark conducted a baptism this afternoon

Cello, piano, and flute practiced

Good jobs guys!  I will take it and we will leave the dishes for tomorrow because I...am...tired. :)

A Great Day

Have you ever gotten up in the morning and knew that your day was just going to be great?
I have had a few of those days in my lifetime, and today, is one of those days.

*First of all it's Valentine's Day. A great day to share our expressions of love to one another. I have had such an outpouring of love in my life lately, and I am lucky enough to be able to share my story with so many more people as of today.



I have talked about Time Out for Women and how much I love the event. I always come away with a "recharged spiritual battery" and a commitment to be a better person. This year was no exception and I wanted to let the wonderful people in charge of the event know how inspired I was when I left. So I left a comment on their website. About a month ago, I received an email from them asking me if I would be willing to write an essay to be featured on their blog.
Are you kidding?
Yes! Absolutely!
So as of today- Valentine's Day- the "Day of Love"- I am a published author (well kind of). I can't think of a better day for me to share my story of such great love than today.
Click here to read the essay.
I am so excited about this. :)

*Another reason today is going to be great is that I will have the opportunity tonight to speak and sing at a meeting for some of the fabulous Young Women in our church. My sister-in-law asked me if I would speak at their New Beginnings meeting. It is a meeting that introduces the Young Women program to girls who are turning 12 this year.
Some of you may be wondering, "Why is she so excited to speak in public?"
I don't know. Call me crazy, but I actually don't mind speaking in public. Especially when I get to sing as well as speak. My only fear is being boring. I guess I could just reveal my fuzzy head if it looks like people are falling asleep. ;)

Here's to a great day! I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Thank you for showering me with so much love so I could have something to write an essay about. ;)

Time Out For Women

I love it when it is a Time Out for Women weekend.
This was my 3rd year going and once again, I came away feeling rejuvenated and refreshed- ready to conquer the world again.
The speakers are always wonderful and amazing.
This year we had the opportunity to listen to
 
Hilary Weeks
Brad Wilcox
Sheri Dew
Stephanie Nielson
Emily Watts
Michael Wilcox
Wendy Ulrich
Laurel Christensen

Just a little bit about the above pictures (from left to right)
1. Me and my sister, Brittany
2. Me and Hilary Weeks :)- songwriter extraordinaire. When I grow up I want to be like her.
3. Our TOFW group- Jenny (friend), my mom, Brittany (sister), my mom-in-law, me, Chantelle (sis-in-law), and Laurel (friend)
4. Mom and Chantelle

As I mentioned before, I always come away from this weekend feeling refreshed. Here are a few things that stuck out in my mind...

Brad Wilcox- "This life is about becoming better. The motivation comes when we look at the goal and not at the path. God is not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the enabling power to get us through the tunnel."

Stephanie Nielsen- "I chose to recover. I chose to remember that I am a daughter of God. I chose to become me and that's good enough."

Emily Watts- The Habits of Happiness
1- Develop a thick skin- we can't control how other people judge us, but we can control how we react.
2- Expect hard things of yourself and your children. That's how we grow.
3- Give your children the stability of a few, well-chosen traditions.
4- Learn to think of yourself as a person. Make sure you take care of yourself.
5- Catch your children doing something right and praise them for it.

Michael Wilcox- "The secret to becoming is learning."
Wendy Ulrich- "Savor every day delights."
I love being a woman. I love being a daughter of God- a Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. I love having opportunities to learn and grow and become more like my Savior. I love being a wife and mother. These are the things I treasure most in this world and I am so grateful to have been blessed with more time on this earth to enjoy these things and to work on becoming better.