Time Out!

My daughters are all busy moms, right smack in the middle of raising our 12 grandchildren. Each of them have 4 busy, amazing kids. As in most families, on occasion, the kids get a little challenged and need a some personal time out for their own good and for the good of the mom and the family. What's true for kids is true for moms, as well- sometimes in the midst of busy, challenging lives it's good for some personal time out for the good of the mom and the family. So, that's just what happened last weekend. My daughters came from Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and I came from Salt Lake to enjoy a time out experience in Seattle.

The whole idea started "cooking" back in November when I attended Time Out For Women in Salt Lake with friends. As I looked around, I saw so many moms with their daughters. Having experienced many BYU Education Weeks and BYU Women's Conferences, I had always hoped that someday I would be able to attend a Women's Conference or Education Week with my daughters, but having a baby in tow is problematic. But, at TOFW, there were lots of nursing mothers in the group. I sat there and thought, "We could do this!" I checked the locations for TOFW and found one in Seattle.Perfect! So, for Christmas, I gave my daughters an experience rather than a tangible gift. Each received an invitation to Time Out for Women as her gift. Judging from one daughter's reaction (She was visiting us at Christmas.), it was a pretty exciting gift. She had tears in her eyes as she read her invitation. We have all been excited for 4 months and it really did happen- last weekend! Of course, lots of arrangements had to be made and, it never could have happened without the help of our awesome sons-in-laws and cooperative kids. I owe a huge "THANKS!!" to husbands/dads, Lance, Brad, Tom, and husband/grandpa, David. THEY made it happen!

Emily had the great idea of going up on Thursday instead of Friday morning, so we met Julie and Amy for lunch at an Italian restaurant, before Amy got a new "do" for her birthday and, later, Emily got a new look at the Olson "salon," while I taught my daughters and granddaughters how to make organza flowers, just for fun.
Friday morning, Amy had a "gig" at Julie's daughter's first grade class doing a dramatic re-telling of "The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs." Amy was famous for her rendition in her younger years. What a fun flashback for all of us and the first graders loved the story and the popcorn we brought for the show.

We met my sister, Jennifer, for lunch at a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant in the Asian district of Seattle. The food was incredible, as well as beautiful,and it was so fun for Jennifer to visit with all my daughters at one time. What a GREAT memory!! After lunch, the girls and I went shopping at our favorite spot in Seattle- Goodwill. A trip to Goodwill to do school clothes shoppping was always a highlight of our summer trips to Seattle, so this was a trip down memory lane, plus Emily really scored this trip. We used our Marriott rewards points to stay in downtown Seattle- very convenient for the TOFW events Friday night and Saturday. After the session on Friday, we went to the hotel for a chocolate fix and surprised each other with Mothers' Day gifts.
Though the best part of the weekend was just being together, the TOFW events were great. The speakers were wonderful and the music was fun- Saturday especially, since none of us are big fans of the Friday night music guy. We all took away significant thoughts and impressions and we all were "recharged" and ready to go back home and implement things that we learned into our real lives. The theme of the conference was "Choose to Become," based on the scripture in Mark 9:23, "All things are possible to him that believeth." Each speaker took a different "take" on the theme. Michael Wilcox was one of my favorites and he spoke about learning and knowing as the key to becoming. He recently lost his wife and he shared some tender thoughts and told us that the only question that the Lord has answered about his wife's experience in the Spirit World is about what she is doing. He has gotten a definitive answer- "She is learning." She is doing more of what she was doing on the earth- learning and becoming. My other most favorite speaker was Emily Freeman, who challenged us to choose to become closer to the Lord; choose to become His. She wove Mosiah 5:12 and Isaiah 49 together, speaking of taking upon us the name of Christ and having His name written always in our hearts and never forgetting the promise that the Lord will never forget us, for we are graven upon the palms of His hands.

The whole weekend was non-stop fun and full of great experiences with my daughters. Here we are enjoying another great meal, this time at the Seattle Art Museum Cafe, during our lunch break on Saturday. Notice that Amy's Jack was having a great time, as well. He was awesome!It was great that the weekend was so close to Mother's Day, as well. It was the best gift I could have ever given them AND myself. We all agreed that it was an awesome "time out" experience and that we'd love to do it again. Yeah for TOFW!