Time Out

Time out for Women the name says it all. It's not what you think sitting in a corner with your nose on the wall. No...this is the new and improved TIME OUT plus it's for women so it's all fluff, tears, laughter and fun, fun, fun! All of the Goulding women were invited but Laur couldn't make it 'cause she's too busy getting A's and Bug didn't make it because she was too busy having a baby (a cute baby). So our little troop consisted of me, mom, Ren, Sis, and Nic. We (me, mom, and Sis) flew to Phoenix on Thursday, stayed at Ren's and hung out with the kids (cute kids). Friday we picked Nic up at the airport and then took a little detour over to IKEA. Cool store with a million space saving ideas and items.Friday afternoon Luke came home early and we took off for the kick-off concert and speaker at TOFW. It was so good. Michael Wilcox spoke and then the men who wrote and produced the CD's Life of Joseph Smith, and the Pioneer Trek performed some of the songs from the Joseph Smith CD for us. They are very talented and it was wonderful. That night we ate a late dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I thought the choice of restaurants was interesting since we all ordered salad.

Once we got back to the hotel some people actually had the nerve to want to sleep! I won't mention names, but it was the grandma one and the pregnant one. The rest of us me, Ren, and Sis stayed up and played card games and tried taking some really artful and tasteful (licorice) pictures of the sleepy ones. But me and my loud mouth kind of ruined it because I could not stop laughing. We wanted to take a picture of mom and Nic asleep with some licorice next to them, but the idea of mom seeing herself snoring next to a piece of licorice really struck my funny bone and I let loose with a hyena type laugh. Mom and Nic woke up were not impressed with our rowdy behavior and told us to back off. Which I thought was kind of rude considering we could have made them famous with the right shot. I was getting a little sleepy and knowing that me, Ren and Sis had an unspoken bond of loyalty I fell asleep knowing that I was safe from any licorice escapades-once again I was wrong and the next morning I found myself in the middle of a controversial photo shoot that did in fact involve licorice and me sleeping soundly...very soundly like I think you can see drool coming from the corner of my mouth. Thanks Ren.

The next morning we woke up early drove to TOFW and were spiritually fed. Micheal McLean hosted the event, Jenny Jordon Frogley was the musical guest and the speakers were amazing. I'll write a little quote from each talk so you can get an idea about each presentation. Carolyn Ramsus wrote the book "Simplify" and she spoke on how to you guessed it....simplify. Not our homes, but our lives. She quoted Ardath Kapp and this pretty much sums up her talk "The adversary would keep us busy with a multitude of trivial things so we cannot focus on the things that matter." -

Camille Fronk Olson Spoke she wrote the book "Martha and Mary" she spoke on the women in the Old and New Testaments and the influence they had on the laws and men in charge at that time. There only 3 women named in the Book of Mormon, but there are over 170 named in the bible. She said women of bible: Loved the Lord, were brief and to the point in voicing their concerns, didn't care who received the credit, and stayed united in their cause.

Merilee Boyack spoke on Wifehood 101: 5 things you need to know. Here talk was one of my favorites. She had us laughing and crying at the same time. Here are the five things you need to know: Thou Shalt have no other intimate partners (physically, emotionally, or mentally) Thou Shalt not take thy Husbands name in vain (don't bad mouth your man) Thou Shalt Fan the Flame (take care of yourself, listen, have fun together) Thou Shalt not try to fix your husband (love him for what he is) Thou shalt act as if...."if you treat your husband as if he possess a certain attribute he will begin to act as if he possess it and soon he will. The last speaker was

Dean Hughes the author of a ton of books but the series I love that he wrote is the "Children of Promise" He said life is not a race to please ourselves or to impress others, Christ taught us to forget ourselves and to give things up in order to be happy. Michael McLean and Jenny Jordan Frogley sang and did their thing in between the speakers and all in all it was AWESOME!

After TOFW we ate dinner at Pei Wei one of Ren's favorite places. The food was really good as you can see in the photo below...yum, yum, (Ren you never know when a piece of licorice is going to show up so you better enjoy your noodles while you can.)When I sat in church the week following TOFW Abbie was removing my jewelry, Katie yanking on my hair, and Nathan trying to use my body as a jungle gym I thought to myself...this is why I love TOFW. It recharges your battery so you can be a human jungle gym and not get too bugged by the whole process. I loved everything about the weekend, especially spending time with my mom and little sisters they are so much fun to hang out with. I really dig them (and their licorice). And I really dig my cute husband for letting me go. Thanks babe!