BYU-Idaho Education Week!!

On July 26-28, I attended the BYU-I  Education Week!! It was so uplifting and inspiring and such a great weekend! It was definitely just what I needed!

The only down-side was that I had to leave Kinzie home. It was the first time I had been away from her overnight and the longest period of time we had been apart.

But we survived!

And the squeal of delight she did when I came through the door Saturday afternoon melted my heart--oh how I missed my Baby Princess!

A HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Richard who made it possible for me to go! He had school that week, so my friend from our ward watched Kinzie on Thursday (thanks Jen!) and my cousin (thanks Audrie) was going to watch her on Friday, but it just so happened that they canceled his class on Friday, so Richard was able to just stay home with her Friday and Saturday, as well as put her to bed every night and get up with her during the night and early in the mornings (apparently she didn't sleep too well while I was gone)! He's such a great Daddy!!

This is the group of ladies I went with!
(From L-R): Tina, Karla, Jenna (my sis-n-law), me, my mom, and Wendy!
It's funny what a small world it is--Karla is a friend and my boss from New York Burrito, and she told us she was bringing  2 friends, who I didn't know. But once we got up there, we got to talking and realized that I know Tina's daughter (she lives in Arbon and has a girl Kinzie's age) and I know Wendy's son-n-law (he went to my high school).  And by the time we left, it seemed as if we'd all known each other forever! What a fun group!

The theme this year was "Lord, I would follow thee"!

My name tag!

I absolutely love the grounds on campus....sooo beautiful:)

All of us ladies stayed in a 3 bedroom/1 bathroom/living room dorm. This was mine and Jenna's room. Not sure how students can stand living there...I got claustrophobic. And there's no AC so it was SO hot in there! Made me grateful for the housing I lived in as a student and for what I have now:)

My flip-flop broke:(  Luckily I had packed an extra pair. But as you can see, they were pretty old and worn out. 

This was our last morning there. It was so great to spend a weekend with these ladies and to be spiritually edified and uplifted! 

My favorite presenter was a musical group of 3 ladies called Heartbound! If you don't have one of their cd's, you must go buy one NOW! They are that Amazing! Each lady would give a short talk, and in between their talks they would sing, and some of their songs had a slideshow to go along with it---it was impossible to attend their classes and not cry. They have a very strong spirit about them, and most of their songs that they write and sing are based off of experiences they've had. For example, after one of the ladies' mom had passed away, she wrote a song entitled "you're always there" and it's about how her mom was always there for her and always will be. They are such a great group of ladies!!

Another speaker I really enjoyed was Matthew Fackrell. He's a doctor so you wouldn't think speaking/teaching would be his forte, but I guess he's a man of many talents cuz he was absolutely amazing! I have to speak in a couple weeks and I'm actually taking most of my talk from one of his classes and the principles he taught. 

One of my favorite classes was entitled "Teaching Terrible Two's". Seeing how Kinzie has already hit this stage, I hoped to get some good insights and helpful information. The presenter was Seth King, and he has 5 kids, so he's had lots of experience with the terrible two's, and I learned SO MUCH from him. So many things that he mentioned or taught made me think like "wow, that totally makes sense now. or Why didn't I think of that."

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend and hopefully I came home a better woman, mom, wife, and Latter Day Saint!