Women's Conference day 2

Day 2 of Women's Conference started bright and early. Kristi and I woke up at 6:00 and 6:30, respectively, which was a good thing, because Kristi had to go to Salt Lake for her brother's graduation and Jill and I wanted to get there in time for Sister Beck's talk.

Jill dropped me off and went to park so that at least one of us would be on time. Fortunately, there were enough musical numbers that she still got there just in time! Some of my highlights:

-- If we don't do our part, no one else can do it for us. We are accountable for it. How will we account for what we did with the privileges we were given?

-- Influencing is ever so much more long-lasting than managing.

-- We are up against a deceitful, determined enemy. If he can lead away the influencers down the wrong path, he can take so many more with them.

-- Where you are weakest, put forth your most effort.

-- Someday we will meet our ancestors who will want to know what we did with the opportunities they provided for us.

-- You can do all the busy work, or you can be part of something bigger, something that will never be taken from you.

Spring is finally here!! Like Jill said, it was such a beautiful day -- the kind of day that makes you feel happy to be alive. Exactly.

Jill called Collette to see if she was free for lunch, since she works on campus. She's a busy girl, but she cleared her schedule for us. I had never seen her office before, so it was fun to see her in her element. We went to La Dolce Vita to eat (yum!), and since she has faculty/staff parking privileges, it was no sweat to leave campus and come back. I've never gone to lunch with Collette before, what a treat! Just one of the many things that contributed to my feeling free free free all weekend.

After lunch, we went to a class called Women of God.

-- God has an exalted plan for every one of us. We may settle for less, but he will not, because he sees the glorious beings we can become.

-- "Believe in your capacity to do good and great and worthwhile things." (President Hinckley)

-- We should continually check on the condition of our heart and its openness.

-- Who has tutored you along the path to righteous womanhood? Who might you provide similar tutelage for?

-- When we leave fear and discouragement behind, we can lift and comfort others.

-- We need to worry less about what others think of us and more about what the Lord thinks of us.

-- How would our lives change if we filled each day with:
faithfulness
humility
devotion
gratitude
willingness?

Our next class was:
Raising Daughters of our Heavenly Father

-- When you save a girl, you save generations.

-- There is a loss of refinement in our world.

-- Are our examples worthy of emulation? We are an open book to our children. They gain their attitudes and beliefs from us.

-- It doesn't matter who we aren't when we know who we are.

-- Satan wants us to see ourselves through the world's mirrors -- distorted, minimized, inferior.

-- If we aren't interested in and involved with our children, someone else will be.

-- I have a Heavenly Father.
He knows me.
He loves me.
He knows what is best for me.
If I follow his plan, I will be happy.

If our children really understand this, they will make good choices and find happiness.

-- Be yourself. Be your best self.

Then we went through the Cougareat to get Kristi a box of mint brownies, and then back to the Marriott Center to hear from President Monson. It's always so cool to witness a prophet entering a room, the way the crowd becomes completely silent, everyone stands, and then bursts spontaneously into "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet". There is a tangible feeling of being a part of something sacred. My highlights:

-- Find joy in the journey now. There is no tomorrow to remember if we don't do something today.

-- Each day of our lives should be a special occasion. Don't wait to celebrate.

-- Try to keep your list of regrets as short as possible! Never let a problem to be solved get in the way of a person to be loved.

-- Occasionally, we might wonder why our Heavenly Father would allow us to experience particular trials. Our mortal life was never meant to be easy or consistently pleasant. He knows we experience growth and character refinement when we face sorrow, heartbreak, and difficult decisions.

-- As with gemstones, we become more beautiful when we overcome life's abrasive experiences. No pain that we experience is wasted. Our hearts are purified, our souls expanded.

Kristi was able to join us for the last part of President Monson's talk. Unfortunately, Jill had a terrible headache that was progressing toward migraine status, so we parted ways and she went home to take a Relpax and rest.

How did I forget how horrendous the traffic is after these events? It took us at least 1/2 hour to exit the parking lot.

We stopped off at Jamba Juice. Kristi says there are no smoothie places near her in D.C. (well, Maryland, really). I don't know that can be, but we had to fulfill another of the items on her Utah wishlist. We got slices of bread at Great Harvest to enjoy with our smoothies (check!). After this pit stop, we thought the traffic would have abated, but nope, it still took us about 1/2 hour to go up the hill to the mall!

Kristi wanted to check out Archiver's, and it did not disappoint. It was fun to go there with her and see her enthusiasm for everything.

To no one's surprise, Kristi made a new friend while in line to pay for her purchases -- she showed her what she was buying, how cool it was, and basically talked the other woman into buying one as well. She should get a commission!

Kristi with her Archiver's purchases. It was definitely a happy place for her.

We stopped off for Cafe Rio to bring dinner home to Jill. Crazy blurry self-portrait we took in front of the craziness that is Cafe Rio. Kristi was able to see why it is so great to call in your order ahead of time and walk past the huge line right up to the cash register! Kristi had heard so much about Cafe Rio, and had huge expectations, but still managed to be happily surprised by how good it was -- how often does that happen??

Jill was awake and feeling much better (although somewhat hung over), and after dinner she suggested playing Sing Star. Kristi shocked us by saying that that was way out of her comfort zone. Seriously? And then literally 10 seconds later, she was up dancing and singing her heart out. Yeah, we really pushed her boundaries on that one.

Not long after, Tasha came over to hang out with us. (So great that she was staying in American Fork!) I would say it took about 15 minutes for Kristi to completely conk out:

She was exhausted. But it was so funny to know that mere minutes before she was spazzing out!

Tasha suggested that we wrap door prizes for the blog party:

the huge box of door prizes we took to the party (and this was before many other brought more!)

Tasha hanging out with Jill in her room of happiness. She seemed totally at ease, which is how people normally feel at Jill's house -- it's a gift.

We went to bed at 2:30. (I say we because I thought Jill and I went to bed at the same time. I found out later that she couldn't sleep and was up until 5:00! Good grief.)