Roommate Weekend--Part 2

We really wanted to make it to Friday's opening class (9:00am) to hear Julie B. Beck speak, so that meant getting up early so all three of us would be ready in time.


We managed to do it and rewarded ourselves with diet Coke (for them) and mint brownies for breakfast.


Kristi and Michelle modeling their morning beverage of choice (they mock me so).

Early morning comedy.

Our fresh-faced self portrait before heading out for the day.


Kristi and I pulled the previous night's Cafe Rio bag out of the trash hoping to find her Women's Conference ID badge, but it wasn't there...ew.


We were so happy that we made it to campus in time to make it to the 9:00 class.


Kristi had to stand in line to get a replacement ID, so Michelle and I soaked up the lovely spring scenery. We were positively smitten with the beauty of the trees.


Sister Beck's talk was so great! I took 3 pages of notes and felt absolutely fired up and so thankful to have been there to hear her speak. I love the way she tells it like it is.


At one point during her talk, she told us to FIGHT, FIGHT against pornography, not to sit back and act like victims, because we are fighting a determined foe. It was a powerful moment.


As we were walking to our next class, we were admiring the jacket of this woman walking in front of us and ended up telling her. She started talking to us and told us she grew up in American Fork, then asked if I knew her mother (she said her name) and I exclaimed, "She's my visiting teaching supervisor, I just called her the other day!"


So we became instant friends and ended up walking and talking until it was time to part ways. I love how friendly everyone is at Women's Conference. You could go alone and still end up making friends and feeling like you were a part of something special.


We broke out our bags of trail mix (heavy on the m&ms) for some sustenance in-between classes. I don't like having to dodge the raisins, but this snack proved to be a surprisingly delightful treat to me. It's like I'm having a trail mix Renaissance of sorts.


We made it to the Smith Field House in time to get seats for a great class by Adrianne Gill and John Bytheway. Kristi had scouted out this class about digital communication and teens, but it ended up being applicable to parenthood in general. I ended up taking 4 pages of notes! I left there feeling more committed and optimistic about parenting; I'm so glad we went!

This is such a happy sight to see.

How do you like my candid-looking self-portrait? Would you have guessed I took this picture?


We were on time for Friday's 12:30 lunch gathering, but weren't really expecting to see anyone since we had run in to so many blogging friends the day before.


We called Collette to see if she wanted to join us for lunch (her office is in the Wilkinson Center) and were so glad she was free to spend an hour with us.


We were super delighted and surprised when cute Crystal came and sat down at our table! We were so excited to meet her. She lives nearby so I'm often on the lookout for her when I'm at Costco or Target, and can't believe we've never bumped into each other.


It was so great to finally meet her and experience her humor in real life. Meeting her was definitely a highlight for me!


Right after Crystal left us to go meet her friend, we had a happy reunion with Miss Blog Party 2008 herself Ryann (Remember when we met her at Women's Conference last year? ) and Patsy. I think we were rather squeal-like and loud, but it was fun catching up, it felt like a mini blog party but without any of the stress or expense.


We also got to meet blogging friend Shauna H. (from Florida). Is it any wonder we missed our 2:00 class?


Kristi demonstrated how far her skirt ripped last week. (Did you read that funny post of hers?)


We ended up shopping at the BYU Bookstore for awhile after that. I bought t-shirts for my kids, Kristi bought t-shirts for her whole family, and Michelle bought orange sticks at the candy counter.


I decided I like the regular brownies better than the mint brownies (though I tend to embrace all brownies).


Since we missed our 2:00 class, we ended up with some time to sit outside and soak in the beauty near the museum.


Of course while sitting there Kristi recognized a former sister missionary from Maryland and ended up totally making that girl's day with the kind words of advice (about adjusting back to normal life after a mission) she had for her. It was really something to see and hear, and reminded me what a strength nice words of encouragement can be for another person--I should be more generous with them.


We walked through the Walter Wicks exhibit (been there, done that) at the museum, had a bathroom break (woohoo no lines in there) and then laughed when Kristi laid down on this bench. We had done A LOT of walking and were pooped.


Kristi was recognized by another blogger when we got back to the Marriott Center. Kara and Kristi are both good friends to Mindy, but Kara was familiar with Michelle and I through our blogs as well.


At the closing session, L. Tom Perry spoke about misconceptions people around the world have about our church. It was eye opening to me to hear (there was a video clip) that many people still associate us with polygamy or think we're not Christian (what the?!).


After the last session, Amy S. came over and introduced herself to us. She knows us from our blogs and wanted to say "hi".


Our feet served us well over these two days. Mine ended up being totally black by the end of the day, and my left pinkie toe sustained an injury when the corner of a notebook we were looking at in the bookstore fell and hit it. How cruel to be hurt by something I enjoy so much.

I love this picture.

We gathered outside the Marriott Center at the end of day 2 and took some more pictures. I think this one of Michelle is great, I love it that she's got her bag from the bookstore in her hand as well.


We ended up getting to see Patsy, Megan and Ruthie again, along with Jeff's mom and her friend. There were little groups just like us all over the place because Women's Conference unites women in many ways.


At one point while we were talking, Patsy realized that Sharon is Jeff's mom and immediately gave her a hug. I'm not sure who she thought she was prior to that, but it was a funny and sweet moment.


We went to the Beehive Bazaar (a place with craft vendors) to wander and shop for awhile. I did a quick run through and then sat down in one of the comfy armchairs nearby. I ended up meeting one of the vendors and had an interesting conversation with her about creativity. Michelle and Kristi both bought some cool things, but I didn't think to take a picture of their purchases.


We were soooo ready for dinner at this point and went to Training Table for a tasty meal. As we were walking into the restaurant, the man who held the door for us said, "Elder Holland is in there." Kristi thought it was so funny that the man would say that, and that he assumed we'd know who Elder Holland is. But of course, we know who he is, and got a kick out of Kristi being a bit star struck to see him there.


We were refueled and ready for our stop at Joann's to buy fabric for the bags Kristi was going to teach us to make. I'm not super keen on sewing or fabric stores, so I didn't view our stop there as momentous, but Kristi did and we ended up taking some self-portraits outside the store. I think they're funny, so I'm very glad we did.


I selected my 3 fabrics quickly, though I was torn between getting something super predictable (red and black) or going for something fun and different. I know myself well enough to know that my choices are predictable for a reason (duh, I love those colors) so I shouldn't fight it.


There were a lot of great (and many not so great) fabric choices, and it was fun to consider the possibilities.


We finally made it home around 9:30 and immediately put on our jammies and cracked open the mint brownies.


Then we played SingStar until we were too tired to do anything but sleep. It had been a perfect day!

**Do you drink diet Coke for breakfast?
Do you enjoy Sister Beck?
Are you smitten with blossoming trees?
Do you talk to strangers?
Are you generous with words of encouragement?
Do you like fabric stores?
Do you ever try to resist the things you like?**