day 1 of Women's Conference

Our Women's Conference weekend started for me late Wednesday night.

Marc had to work late, so by the time he came home and I was packed and ready, I didn't get to Jill's house until 11:30. All was quiet and dark, so I assumed that everyone was sleeping.

I saw this message in the typewriter and smiled, then I sat on the couch to finish the last 20 pages of my book. A little later, Jill came walking out to the family room, only to be scared to see me there! We went to bed and talked for about an hour. (Kristi really was asleep.)

We got up at 6:30 so we could get to campus in time for Sister Beck's talk. We were all having so much fun talking that it took longer than usual to get ready.

I don't usually drink diet Coke for breakfast, but I do sometimes at Jill's house. Having her house to ourselves is just ideal – it's better than a hotel because it has all the comforts of home – I am grateful to her family for relocating just so we can have the ultimate experience.

I wanted to wear my flower flip flops, but was chagrined by the state of my toes. Kristi and Jill suggested I just put on a coat of polish lickety-split, so I did. (Not my usual method.)

I felt like I was taking one for the team every single time we took a self-portrait. This is one of the least bad ones. (Of me. Jill and Kristi look cute in just about every picture.)

The cars had snow on them as we were leaving. We had some crazy weather for the whole weekend.

On the way, Jill and Kristi realized that they didn't have a notebook. We debated about turning around, because not being able to take notes is a serious handicap for us, but ultimately we just stopped at the grocery store. (Jill had to transcribe her notes into her regular Sunday notebook later.)

We usually park down by the stadium and trek up the hill to the Marriott Center, but Kristi zipped up the left lane, confident that she would be able to find something closer. I was dubious, to say the least, but she had the last laugh, because she was able to park right across the street!

She said it was the best $10 she ever spent. It was pretty awesome, because we were right there, we made it in plenty of time, and as soon as we got to the sidewalk, we met this wonderful girl:

She came right over and exclaimed and hugged Kristi. Jill turned to me and said, "Already?!" We're pretty used to this with Kristi by now, but to our surprise, she knew both of us as well. She reads all of our blogs, but we were not familiar with her, and meeting her was a pure delight. Bree, you totally made our day and our weekend! (If you don't know Bree, you really should read about her and her darling son here.)

We went to Sister Beck's class, which was one of the best I have ever heard (see my Sunday post). It was so touching, so motivating. I felt like her words were going deep into my heart.

In some ways, it seemed a shame to hear her first, as everything afterward ran the risk of being disappointing, but it really was the perfect way to start things off because we were fired up and filled with the Spirit.

On our way to the Hinckley alumni building, we ran into Ciria, who we met at Women's Conference last year. I am always surprised when we run into people on campus, where are throngs of so many thousands of women!

We were turned away from the class we originally wanted to attend, as it was full, so we opted for the Smith Fieldhouse. It seats 3000, so we knew there would be room, and with a venue so big, we figured the class would be something with a big draw.

We were mistaken. It was our first experience with a not so good class. Oh well, at least we could commiserate with Kelly about it later.

To make things worse, we had to hike up all these stairs after the class! Kristi played the theme to Rocky on her iphone, but it only made us feel more pathetic because those stairs kicked our butts. I want to be in better shape next year!

We decided to get lunch and take it back to the Marriott Center for Sister Dalton's talk. I had thought it would just be a reprise from a previous year's class, but of course it was very good, so no regrets there.

After her class, we were somewhat weary (a combination of waking early and being emotional, it takes a lot out of you!) and decided to skip out and see a movie.

First we hit Jamba Juice, since it was on Kristi's wishlist, and then we took our smoothies to the theater. We saw Date Night, which wasn't as funny as I had imagined (or maybe it was just that I don't love that slapstick kind of humor), but Jill and Kristi laughed heartily. I fell asleep for a little while, but I am prone to doing that when overly tired, so it's not really a reflection on the movie.

We went to this cute interiors store that Kristi had read about – so funny that she knew about it and neither Jill nor I had been there. We also went to the Distribution Center and Deseret Book.

As I said, we were having strange weather. This was the view facing East.

And I took this about one second later, facing South. Weird.

We ran into Walmart to look into buying stadium seats to make sitting on the bleachers more bearable. Ultimately, we didn't buy them because their design made them bulky and awkward to carry.

We got Café Rio takeout and returned to Jill's house for dinner. It never disappoints.

We watched Prime, which I found thoroughly enjoyable, while eating the superb caramel popcorn that Jill's mom had made for us (so sweet!). Then Kristi went to bed and Jill and I watched Survivor. It was pretty much a perfect day.