Time Out for Women: Hope

This is me and Maria Mae, my wild sister in law at the beginning of April.

Wanna know why we look so excited??????

It's because we got to escape to Memphis for a day and a half with no kids!!!!!!!!

We kept looking at each other and getting excited over things like, "we don't have to put kids to bed tonight! woohoo!!!"

It's the little things!

We went to Memphis for Time Out for Women. I have wanted to go to one of these several times but it's never worked out. So, despite Mom getting sick at the last minute, moonpie and I still headed out for some fun, inspiration, good food, shopping, and a free hotel room! Can't beat that!!

Friday night we saw a short video from Sheri Dew, who I was so bummed wasn't going to be there, but still managed to inspire and convey the spirit through a television screen! In lieu of her coming, we enjoyed a few others...

This is Jenny Oaks Baker. She is a wonderful violinist. She has this cute little voice that totally surprises you though because she is super serious when she plays. She seriously has a "violin face".
This is John Bytheway. Yes, my husband looooooves to make jokes about his name. And he himself has many as well. I had heard him speak at a youth conference as a kid but he was fun and entertaining as an adult as well.
The next morning, after a lovely queen bed with big fluffy pillows all to myself and a wonderful down duvet...did I mention we got the hotel room for free???? ...we enjoyed another wonderful day!

This is Hilary Weeks. She has a beautiful voice. I loved listening to her. But I discovered something about myself. I don't want to go out and buy CD's of easy listening /pop /inspirational music. Hymns without words or classical hymns like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Bring it on. But sweet songs about being a mom and feeling the spirit are fun for me to listen to when I'm at the conference but not what I pick out to listen to in the car.
I felt dorky taking pictures of all the speakers, so on Saturday, when they all got up on the stage at once to introduce themselves, I jumped at the photo op...only to discover two weeks later that it was blurry. Oh well.

(l to r): S. Michael Wilcox, a wonderful author

Emily Watts, an author and book editor who I looooved listening to

Mariama Kallon, a refugee from Sierra Leone who had an inspiring story and testimony

Amada Dickson, a radio announcer from Salt Lake who was hilarious. Seriously, she was Maria Mae on caffeine!

Mary Ellen Edmunds, a former church leader of our women's society, who was funny and sweet

and Hilary Weeks in front...

What a wonderful meeting this was!!

I wanted to share one of the talks that really struck a chord with me. I have been really struggling with patient parenting with my four year old. I went to this conference with a prayer that I would hear something that would help me. It came from the speaker who I didn't expect or know anything about and is now my favorite!! Read more about Emily Watts here.

She spoke about "mother hopes". First, she joked about the things we should just give up hope on right now!!
1. sleeping through the night ever again!
2. being in charge!
3. having something nice of your own that the kids won't destroy!

Then she spoke of the "mother hopes" that she hoped we would never give up on:
1. The hope that your children can progress. That one day, they will learn, grow and improve. The years fly by even if the days don't.
2. The hope that this work that we are engaged in is WORTH it! She encouraged us to have faith not just in the doctrine of motherhood but that it applies to ME!
3. The hope that someone who is smarter than you and a better parent than you is ready to help right now! Heavenly Father's help comes just in time! He knows how to parent perfectly!

Most of you know that I'm ready to pull my hair out most days as a mom. I'm searching for ways to do this job better and help my children, especially my older one, be happier (aka, tantrum less). I was so thankful that going to this meeting with the need to escape and a prayer in my heart, that I was blessed with answers and a wonderful sister in law to entertain me!!

A Treasure of Books

When I post on here about books and movies, the credit almost always goes to Barnes and Noble so I can show you their lovely covers.

Have you seen the wonderful features they just added?? This is the page for the book below. At the bottom of the page, there is an age-appropriate rating with details about what parents need to know before they read this book. We brought home a book a few months ago from the library that was about divorce. It was difficult to glaze over and try to explain THAT to a three year old! So this is wonderful to have!

I digress!

Have you seen this movie???

You need to.

It's charming and heartwarming and has good football in it to boot!

This was one of those books that we took home from the library because, of course, she looks like a princess. It is charming and I hope it is part of our permanent collection someday.
The Duchess of Whimsy is annoyed that everyone wants her to get married when she's so whimsical and free-spirited and the Earl of Norm is smitten with her. Finally one night they talk and she discovers that the Earl of Norm is not boring and normal but extraordinary.

It's a treasure and a surprise. And M didn't quite get it (the handy dandy B&N rating is for 5 and up) but I loved it!

Now here's my other recent reads. Can you tell I haven't been sewing much? :)

I can read these in a day and almost did!

This was the first one I read. I wasn't prepared to have a seven year old with stigmata. Once I learned what that even is! You all know I like my loose ends tied up so I wanted more of an explanation of WHY this all happened to them. I didn't get it. I guess that has to do with the faith part, huh!

This is the first Picoult book I have thought about not finishing. It's about child molestation and since it's a courtroom drama, it had more detail than I was comfortable with. However, this one had me gasping out loud. Holy twists and turns!!!!

This was the third one I read. I have her new book on reserve. It's popular so I may get it in, oh, six months if I'm lucky!

This one was interesting. I just do NOT buy that if you truly loved someone, you would help them commit suicide if you didn't even have a clue what was making them suicidal. Maybe I'm clueless and insensitive here, but I just don't buy it. Yes, they're teenagers with a severe lack of higher executive functioning making very adult decisions. I just didn't buy it that true love was helping them die when you don't even know WHY!

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. And off to watch Sydney White, a recommendation from my sister. I'll let you know how it goes. But I should probably warn you that I DID like She's the Man.

a haircut for my Eide girl!

cousin em introduced me to the "two-head" a while back. most people have foreheads.

some lucky people have a small forehead that is more aptly called a "two-head".

then there are those of us who have a "six-head".

these are they who NEED bangs. lulu comes by it honestly. she is all her daddy. so when her hair started getting stringy and in her eyes, I gave her bangs.

I think she looks so cute with her new do! she does too and loves getting her hair done lately, but she didn't love sitting for another picture on this day!

but I think she looks even more like her grandma and aunts than ever!

from the concerned furrowed brow
to the cute bangs and blonde hair!
my cute Eide girl fits right in!

LOST!!!

First, can I say:

1. Claire needs to find a brush and a watering hole. I know she's supposed to be selling crazy and it's working, believe me. But everyone else seems to find time for personal hygiene on the island, why can't she?

2. Sun and Jin. Last night. finally!!!!!! I told my mom it was like the Two Towers, they were NEVER going to get to Mordor and Sun and Jin were never going to happen to be on the same beach at the same time. FINALLY! And ps-thank you for not killing them as they were hugging hello by those big sonic beach guards. And pps-why aren't they married in the alternate timeline? They were married when they got on the plane!

3. Sawyer always gets the best lines. Like calling out LePetus as an extra from a Bert Reynolds movie. I was more thinking LoveBoat but that's okay.

4. Why does Glee have to be on at the same time????

5. I still love this show!!!

I wish I could stay up late enough to enjoy Jimmy Fallon and not be a zombie the next day.

I like the reviews that Mormon Mommy Wars is doing on LOST. A few can be found

here

and here

and here

Minnesota Friends!

we went to Minnesota for spring break in March!

(don't worry Grandma Jan, there's a Minnesota family post coming too!)

these are my angel travelers!

they have survived the 14 hour car ride to Minnesota and back or to Arkansas and back more times than we can count now!

give them a movie and snacks and drive through the night and they're wonderful!

while in Minnesota, we saw some of our dearest friends!

these are my pregnancy buddies! and dinner buddies!

we had dinner with these friends at least once a month in our first married ward, Minnetonka. we were all new at the same time and we were all pregnant at the same time. Camille and Laura and I always had someone to commiserate with and talk about babies with! It was wonderful! I miss these beautiful talented women so much! (and we miss the Kennedys and Tim that night too!)

these are the beautiful girls (l to r: Camille's, mine and Laura's) that were born within six months of each other!

while they really haven't grown up together, it was so neat to see them immediately have fun and dress up and dance and play together all evening!
we also saw our old friends, the gophers

W got his U of M fix and a window cling for the car so he doesn't have to be jealous of my Utah State one anymore! :)
and of course I had a lovely lunch with my old work friends. I miss these wonderful ladies soooo much and love how we can get together and immediately it's like I never left! They are such wonderful friends!!!!
lulu came along with me to this lunch and it is clear that she enjoyed being the only princess while M played with grandma-she liked the individual attention and domination over the dress up!
We also visited with old friends at church and had dinner (but no pictures) with our wonderful friends, Jansen and Christina and their kids, exposing them to the mistress of all evil, Malificent! :)

We were so blessed with friends in Minnesota and are so lucky that we have been able to visit and revisit with these friends whenever we make it up there!

gotta love 'em!

"Easter Sunday" was a rough and busy morning.

I was singing a duet with my brother in the ward church choir and so we had to be there extra early.

It didn't bode well for lulu. This is the best we got of their "easter dresses". I'll try again the next time they wear them. I loved these fabrics and had fun making the dresses. I made fabric flowers and fabric buttons to go on their waistbands. I'll try and get a close up next time.

and I promise I did M's hair as soon as we got to church...and my makeup.
first, a word about singing. I love singing.

I love, love, loved singing with my brother, Jake. He has a beautiful voice and I think there's something to be said about people singing together whose vocal folds have the same gene pool! It was so easy to blend voices with him and it was a wonderful experience. I hope to sing with him again sometime!
M enjoying bubbles outside while we were washing cars last Saturday
lulu REALLY enjoying Jake's ice cream birthday cake (so much so that it was blinding her and she had to put on her shades!) Lately the shades go everywhere. She wears them in bed, first thing in the morning in her jammies, you name it!
and yes, my children are weird! M wanted a picture of her "makeup". I'm not sure how an Elmo bandaid unibrow qualifies as makeup but I still complied.
and this is a flower pot. She thought it should be a hat. good thing she's cute!

Date Night Travelin'

Last night my hubby took me out on a real date.

He got the company tickets for free to the Arkansas Travelers (AA minor league-they feed into the Utah Buzz AAA team which feeds into LA Angels)

It was a lovely, clear evening with a wonderful breeze.

but after several innings, I was still bored. instead of talking to me, this is what W did for three hours straight...
this is how close we were...the gravel? just on the other side of the concrete barrier in front of us, it was fun to be in the front row!!
and the chili cheese nachos? worth every penny and ounce of heartburn!
could he have been any happier to be in the front row of an outdoor baseball game???

i think not!
And we finished off the evening with molten chocolate cake from Chili's. It was a lovely evening.