Time Out for Women - Logan

This is one of my favorite things to go to. Such a great and much needed uplift. So, because of my foot, Mom actually came down and picked me up. I had driven with my foot, but not the tour hours to go home. It was nice to be chauffeured around for a little bit. This year it's the Infinite Hope Tour.

The musical piece Friday night was by Dallin Vail Bayles. All I can say is absolutely incredible and amazing. We had been told he was sick and the next day he was basically hacking up a lung back stage - but we had no clue when he came on stage. It was our own little miracle. His voice was our own little miracle. I am a firm believer that nothing can touch your heart and speak to your soul as much as good music, and this just further confirmed it for me. I was in tears, almost to the point of sobbing. If you need an uplift, go buy either of his CDs. That's all I can say.

Sheri L. Dew was our speaker for the evening. What an amazing woman, which I already knew. Some great points from her talk included: We need to have remember God knows: who we are, where we are, what our mission is, and what we need to fulfill that mission; A faithful, covenant making man has his life much more mapped out than a woman, lives are much more ambiguous for women and Heavenly Father knew we could handle it; Think about who you are allowing to influence you and realize it can be very tough; Focus on the finish line; Remember we are the team in the last lap; Part of our mission on earth is to have a righteous influence; Real influence is felt one on one; You cannot measure and cannot limit the influence of a righteous woman; To Keep us from Fulfilling Our Mission: 1. confuse who we are. 2. keep us from understanding the Atonement. 3. Keep us from receiving revelation; The Lord DOES THE EXACT OPPOSITE: 1. Reminds us that we are the noble and great ones. 2. Made it possible for us to be healed, strengthened, and continue to move forward. 3. Feeling the presence of the Spirit is different than hearing the voice of the Spirit, it's saying you want it and being willing to follow through with it.

Saturday morning we got to start again - very incredible once more.

Hilary Weeks was our musical artist for the day. She mixes humorous and spiritual. I love her. She shares the stories behind her songs, which always brings out a little more of the message, at least to me.

First speaker of the day was DeAnne Flynn. She started by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: "You are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well." Something everyone can stand to hear. Talk highlights: Where there's hope there's Christ; Where there's Christ, there's hope; Who five you hope when you have none; There is nothing wrong with giving someone hope; Obedience is non-transferable; Having a perfect pattern does not always produce perfect results; Every scripture story is a pattern for us to follow; Are you daily connecting: Infinite hope is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ: we set the pace, we set the pattern; we must determine to choose positive patterns that give us hope; You can recognize them by their light.

Then we got to hear from Brad Wilcox, speaking about grace and referring to the scripture in 2 Nephi 25:23. This scripture really should be encouraging to us. So, highlights: Maybe grace isn't only after; It's apart from, in spite of, and regardless; You might not be able to give your all all of the time; We have to step back and remember any offering is acceptable, even when we know we can do better; Be a little more gentle with yourself sometimes; Nothing doesn't mean worthless; Nothing means powerless; Moses said men were nothing after he was validated by the Lord; We aren't human DO-ings, we are human BE-ings; We must not overlook the way the Atonement changes us; The real miracle of the Atonement is that it will allow us to feel at home; After all "WE" can do - you with Jesus; He paid justice and he paid it in full; We need to determine how long we will stay there and He can require growth; The Atonement is not us trying to make the best of the Atonement, it's the Atonement trying to make the best of us; We make it to heaven, holding hands.

Wendy Ulrich definitely stood up and got our attention by telling us what NOT to do in order to be happy. She referenced a study that stated happiness is 50% born with, 10% circumstances, and 40% is under your control. So, to be happier: 1. Stop worrying about your weaknesses. (You get more happiness working from your strengths. Find the ways you are gifted - they matter to the Lord and they should matter to us. Look at www.authentichappiness.com). 2. Don't try to get motivated to exercise. (Motivation FOLLOWS action. Start by getting yourself going and you'll find the motivation. Break down to small steps to make it easier.) 3. Stop trying to find friends. (Instead develop the skills of friendship. Make and respond to bids (smile, gesture).) 4. Don't try to be happy! (Try to feel grateful. Look at www.heartmath.com - write down three good things that happened and why they happened.) 5. Celebrate failure. (If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. Look for what you have learned from it. Be willing to do things badly while we learn to do it better.) 6. Don't practice resisting temptation. (Instead practice distraction. Get away from it!) 7. Don't endure to the end. (Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured. Savor the moments and enjoy them right now. Savor delight. Everything will turn out alright in the end. If it isn't alright, it isn't the end.)

Kris Belcher is still as amazing as ever. This is the third opportunity I have had to hear here from her. Her highlights: What do you do when life doesn't match up to what you are expecting; The purpose of prayer is to have my will to come into line with His will, not to convince Him that our way is right; Even when you can't see the light, you can see the Light; L = love, infinite and eternal, rejoice that Heavenly Father knows you can grow more; I = intelligent; G = grace - we think Heavenly Father wouldn't give us anything we couldn't handle, but, of course, He would because that's why we need Him; H = healing and hope - Christ can heal you, even when there's no cure; T = truth - you can trust Him and just because you go through one tough thing doesn't mean you are through; It's okay to laugh even when things are hard and it's okay to actually look for joy; When there is no cure, He will heal us and it's all worth it to be back with Him.

Wonderful, amazing, and highly recommended if you ever get the chance, GO!

When we got home, we discovered Dad had volunteered us to watch Ryder for Brian and Hollie, not a huge surprise to me, so they could take Briley to the Aggie game. Since Mom and I were home, Dad decided this was a great time to go to the storage unit to get things for their neighbor to use after her knee surgery. He's a sixteen month old - this should not be a big deal. There is no doubt that I absolutely adore this little guy, but with the fractured foot and Mom working on her lesson for the next day and he doesn't sit still. I know that he doesn't mean to be mean, but I was having issues with him. The first thing that happened was that Mom and Dad have a little toy radio which all of the grandkids have loved at one point in time or another. Ryder is no different, but in his efforts to dance and have fun, he dropped the radio on my foot. (I can't cry; I can't cry.) So Mom took charge to feed him. After dinner, she informed Dad he was in charge. When Dad laughed that I couldn't handle him, she told him what had happened and that she was going to be unavailable to help out. Dad stayed with me for a bit before going back to his computer for a little bit. During this time, Ryder was being his usual sweet and adorable self. He'd even want to climb up in my lap and cuddle for a little bit. Why he had to use the injured foot to pull himself up, I don't know. But that wasn't too bad. However, when he changed the channel and got totally freaked out by the static on the TV and ran over my foot while trying to get to me while I was going up to change the channel back, I picked him up and informed him we were going to cuddle and he was going to be rocked and he wasn't getting a choice in the matter. Like I said, normally, no big deal. But with any kind of injury, there is always something extra to watch out for.

Really, how could you not love this face? And how could you possibly stay upset with him?

Getting a drink from Grandma's bottle. Everything tastes better when Grandma is involved.

Playing with whatever ball he can find. Doesn't care what it's supposed to be used for as long as it's a ball, he's happy.

It was a great weekend and I would do the whole thing over in a heartbeat, even maneuvering with some success and some failure around Ryder.