2011 Good Dad and Husband Award...aka BYU Women's Conference

Chris wins the award this last week for letting me leave for three days and two nights so I could attend BYU Women's Conference. He took a day off of work and rearranged all his church meetings so they could happen at our house with the girls rather than at the church. He gets even more points for all the fun things he did with them while I was gone, like go to the park, out to lunch, and to the Children's Museum.

He was smart and dressed the girls in bright, matching clothes so they would be easier to keep track of at the museum.


I just have to comment here that my girls are already getting so close to being the same size, even though they are almost two years apart. I weighed them both yesterday and Jane only weighs three pounds more than Megan. Three pounds. That's not very much. No wonder I get tired so often holding Megan.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures Chris took while they were playing.


You may not have guessed, but Dad dressed to match, too!


Now, there are some things that Dad will let you do that Mom wouldn't...if she had known.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't tell Deborah. She'll probably get in trouble. Or get us in trouble. Shhh. Keep it a secret, ok?

Meanwhile, I was in Provo with my mom and sister Deborah.


During the general sessions in the Marriott Center, Mom had to wave at everyone. Just in case she ran into someone she knew later on, she could ask if they saw her waving at them.


It was really nice to be at the conference, with the Spirit so strong and so many uplifting speakers, including Virginia H. Pearce (Pres. Hinckley's daughter), Susan W. Tanner (former YW general president) and Elder David A. Bednar and his wife. I like hearing from the wives...it makes the general authorities seem more like real people.


To close, here are some of the main highlights of what was taught in the classes I attended. Hopefully they'll be enjoyable to you, too.


The theme of the conference was Alma 37:6-7, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Each class followed something related to that theme:

"Keep it small. Keep it simple. Give it time."

Prayer and temple attendance are not dramatic, sensational one-time experiences. They are life-time choices and commitments. Increased temple attendance may not change your difficult situations, but it will change you and your ability to handle challenges. Through prayer, our desires may not be answered how we expect, rather, they may be changed to better match the Lord's plan for us.

Looking back, we will find that we were always in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, if we are seeking to follow the Lord's will.

Our Heavenly Father did not send our current situations to punish us. We must do the best we can, then depend on the Lord to make up the difference.

Be realistic and find your enjoyment in sincere efforts, not in perfect results.

No one's life can be both faith-filled and stress-free.

Having children is not a lifestyle choice. It is a gospel choice.

The question of whether or not to work is the wrong question. The question is whether or not your path is aligned with what the Lord desires for you.

Prepare yourself to receive the Lord's message for you.

You develop deep and loving relationships by doing simple things together.

Let your children see you set goals, then see you succeed and celebrate or fail and begin again.

There is no magic wand to remove opposition. The Lord requires the effort and change only opposition can bring.

Studying your scriptures will give you answers to your questions as well as revelation you didn't know you needed. There will be isolated incidents of great revelation, and there will be even greater cumulative blessings from consistent and steady effort.


There are a lot more things I could share, but I should probably stop there. I have 44 pages of notes...that's a little much to blog.

In other minor highlights, we played the license plate game, as per trip tradition. I would like it known that we found 31 states, despite the fact that we only traveled to an adjacent county. I think that's pretty darn good. We also found 17 states just from looking at the name tags of conference attendees. Deborah saw one person she knew, Mom saw one person she knew three times, and I had four people recognize me--my mom's cousin, the RS president from my student stake, and two aides from the school where I taught. Good times.