Calling a Time Out...

Sometimes moms just need to call a "time out!" And that's just what I did last month when Deseret Book was hosting a Time Out for Women event in Riverside. I gathered my favorite ladies with me, booked a hotel, and made a girl weekend of it. I was so excited, and I wasn't disappointed.

It is a favorite tradition that my mom, sisters, and sister-in-law, go to whatever TOFW is feasible. This time we brought some friends along. There were 8 of us in all (plus a few cutie babies that didn't give us any trouble at all!): My mom, my sister Lisa, my sis-in-law Elizabeth with sweet baby Zoe, Shea with sweet baby Isaac, Shari, Tara, and a new friend Julie. She in in the PD ward and just called me out of the blue when she heard we had a extra ticket. But she was darling, and fit right in with the gang. It is so fun to find a new friend!

The Friday evening session was wonderful! This year's theme is "Sweet Assurance," something we all need, I think. We heard from Ardath Kapp who spoke about the gift of personal revelation and how important it is that we keep the lines of communication open. She invited us to think of what course correction we might need to make to improve that line of communication, and gave some suggestions. Her first idea was simply to ask - ask the Lord to help you feel the Holy Spirit and recognize it. Easy enough.

Then Micheal McLean entertained us with some of his songs. They were really wonderful, and I loved how he told us the story behind many of his songs and how they came to him. The stories make the songs all the more meaningful. What a wonderful evening it was.

Shari treated us all to a big tray of nachos. Yumm. Not exactly your typical girl food, but I'm not complaining (there were also multiple stores of chocolate being passed among us.)

After the evening session, since nachos weren't enough to sustain us, we decided to live it up at the Old Spaghetti Factory - a regular girls' night out on the town. I had my favorite pasta with mizithra and brown butter. More yumm! And the company was better than the food.

What a fun time we all had together. I love being with all the ladies. (Somebody kept getting a hold of my camera, becasue I am actaully in some of these pictures.)

On Saturday morning Mary Ellen Edmunds was the start off speaker. She is SO funny. I always get a kick out of her. She talked about how the Lord provided us each with a "life assurance policy" and the "life assurance handbook" is the scriptures.

Following her, Jill Manning spoke on a much heavier subject as she gave us eye-opening information about the dangers of p ornography, and how we as women can fight it in our own homes and in the community. It was really good stuff that she shared with us. There is some great tools and information she left at www.deseretbook.com/jill. I was so impressed and empowered by what she said that I bought her book.

The musical performer and host for the day was Kenneth Cope. His song Gethsemane brought tears to my eyes. He was really wonderful!

Finally we heard from Emily Freeman who spoke on the topic of abundance. Using the parable of the loaves and the fishes to share some principles to help us live more abundantly: 1. Make the most with what you have to offer, 2. give all, 3. learn to be content. Abundance was the theme of Christ's life, and his example is what we must follow to find abundance.

During our lunch break we wandered through a farmer's market that was going on just outside the historic Mission Inn. We sampled, then had to buy the Italian plums, and berries, and dried apples (see, it wasn't all nachos!).

Lunch was at the most fantastic sandwich place, Simple Simon's. The place was packed, but we were wise enough to call in our order early. Very yummy!

And of course we took the "time out" on our Time Out trip to stop and smell the flowers.

And what girl weekend would be complete without stopping at a few of the fun little downtown shops? I wish we had more time to do some serious shopping, but a little bit is better than nothing.

What a wonderful weekend with family and friends, but entirely too short for me (It wasn't really a weekend, hardly 24 hours). Still, I was happy to take what time out I could get. I love all these gals.

Next year TOFW is in Phoenix. Who's gonna needs a Time Out?