That's it. . .you are SO in timeout!!

A few weeks ago I had a much needed girls weekend. Seven of us smooshed into Suzanne's suburban and headed to KC. We went to TOFW. "Time out for women" silly. It's put together by Deseret Book and brings speakers to all parts of the country. In all honesty, I really didn't care where we were going or for what I was just happy to get away. We drove down on Friday afternoon, with plenty of Dove truffle eggs and cadbury eggs and Girl scout cookies, and Natasha even brought some goldfish (in case we missed our kids)!! I haven't laughed that much and that long for a while and it was fantastic! Here is our hotel. It was the Hotel Phillips and was nice. Even more so since Elizabeth got us a sweet deal on Priceline ($60 bucks a night--so it worked out to be like $23 per person!)Here is Karen accepting her award of sorts in the front lobby.

We did feel like the bathroom sinks looked a bit like a urinal? A marble, nice one, but still. . .don'tcha think? It was a little awkward putting your lips down by that thing to rinse out your mouth. Anywho. .

We decided to bypass the Friday night festivites and go eat and shop at the Plaza! We headed to PF Changs to get our beeper then walked the Plaza for a bit of shopping. Colleen started it. . .and it only got worse.

Mine really is the best isn't it?

MMM. WOW. We can put down some food!!

Phantom of the lettuce anyone?

It really didn't take long for us to finish it off. So we headed out for some more shopping and of course a trip to the Cheesecake Factory or Cold Stone. We finished that off at the hotel, where we laughed so hard it was a sweet ab workout.

Saturday morning we were up way to early for a girls weekendElizabeth's first (and probably last McGriddle)

and headed to the program. Colleen tried to show off (actually Karen bet her $10. . .but she still hasn't paid up. . .Karen??), by running up the down escalator. She did great until that very last step. . . and even broke her shoe (but not her pride).OUCH! This one is for Lucky Red Hen! Don't ask me why the Sherriff's cycle was in the convention center. . . it just was. . .with no one guarding it.

Ok, time to get serious.

When I walked in I realized how much I needed it. The spirit was very palpable. The host of the day was Hilary Weeks. She sang and chatted and was quite funny. One of the speakers was Stephen Robinson (author of "Believing Christ")--he spoke of grace and was very candid about struggles he has endured over the last few years. He spoke about how many members of the church work as if there is a checklist in returning to Heavenly Father. No list, however long, will get us there, and we need to quit trying to do it by ourselves. In fact there are only things that we do in order to strengthen our relationship with our Savior, who comes to "get us", and take us home.

Sherri Dew was a surprise speaker. . .she is from that area and flew in. I have no doubt that she will write a book about what she spoke to us about. She had an incident with her car where she ran over something and could not get the car to move forward. It wasn't until she backed up that she could get a clear view and move it (it was part of a street light). She related it to how many times in life we get stuck and keep trying to push forward. What we really need to do it back up from the world and get a clearer picture. Maybe you just need to try again or maybe you need a different path.

Another speaker was Sharon Larsen. She spoke of what we do when our dreams are broken. She has a "wayward" son. I hate that word but I can't think of how else to describe it so I guess that'll have to work. My favorite part of her talk is when she finally figured out that there are two types of people in the world.
1. YOU
2. the rest of the world
And guess what? The rest of the world doesn't get to decide how you react to life. We need to pay attention to who we are listening to. In talking about her son she also said that if you are feeling the shame/guilt/whatever of a child that is making bad decisions, you have to realize that their choices do NOT define YOU. They are just that-- THEIR OWN choices. They make their choices and we make our choice about how we feel and react.

The speakers were great and uplifting but this was perhaps the most uplifting part of the trip. . .

And now for my favorite speaker. . .

The first speaker of the morning was none other than Jane Clayson. She was great. She spoke of how she chose to leave TV (as a host of CBS the early show) to be a mother. She teared up a lot as she mentioned colleauges that thought she was throwing her life and career away. She was so solid in her decision and I think mostly was sad because they were unable to see how important her real JOB was. She told a story of running into a co-worker at an airport as she traveled with her 2 stepkids and her own young toddler and baby. She was as she said a little disheveled in her "mommy clothes", with no hairstylist or make up artist to aid her. He said to her "Jane? Is that you? Well. . .what are you up to these days? JUST a mom?" She said right then with more conviction than ever said, "No. I am a mother." And he got the point.

She talked about the shoes that we have to wear in life. Career shoes, Mommy shoes, wife shoes, service shoes, depressed shoes, sick shoes, hurting shoes, and sometimes you have to wear shoes that you don't like, but you're stuck in them. Enjoy the shoes that you're in, in whatever season of life you're in.



I think more than any other of the speakers, her talk hit home the most. I have found that I am struggling in my decision to be working as much as I do. I find some days that it sounds pretty good to say that I'm a faculty member at UNMC, and some days I like to go to work more than stay home (even though home is where I WANT to be--I think maybe I like to go to work because it's easier??). I've also struggled in a decision whether or not to have another baby. I think now I've found some clear answers and some miracles have fallen right in my lap to tell me, and give me what I need.