This Weekend

Grandma Arnold gave me and Mom tickets to Time Out for Women this weekend and it was amazing!  On Friday night Mom and I went to an evening session where we sat together and listened to the same speakers.  Laurel Christensen gave a talk on waiting.  She has written several books for Youth and is really awesome.  She talked about getting through the waiting when you are waiting for something in your life to happen.  The examples she used were like waiting to get married or get pregnant or something, but it could relate to anything.  She said there are four Waiting Principles.  The first is to feel your feet.  She said that once she decided to be a runner one day and she got some advice from a more experienced runner who said to feel your feet.  When you walk or run just focus on each step.  Feel each step.  Feel your feet.  So when you're waiting for something you need to just stay in the present.  Focus on one day at a time.  It reminded me of something Pres. Monson said at the YW broadcast last month.  He said, "A yard is hard, but and inch is a cinch."  The next principle is to trust God's math.  He is bound by law to to reward us if we do what He says.  So as long as we follow the commandments we will get what we need.  The next one is to live as if.  She talked about the story of Nephi and when he and his brothers were getting the brass plates.  Lehi and Sariah thought they were dead and Sariah was angry with Lehi.  And Lehi said that "he had obtained a land of promise." He was promised a land of promise and he knew he was going to get it.  He was not worried.  He acted as if the promise had already been fulfilled.  The last on is God waits, too.  He might just be waiting for us to be ready.  That was a really cool talk.

I can't talk about all of the talks in the detail or I'll be typing all day, but I'll name some pointers.  Brad Wilcox also talked that night.  He talked about all of the different names of Jesus and what they mean.  It was really cool to hear about it and talk about it in that detail.  One thing that he said that was really cool was when he was talking about improving.  He said he has a friend who thinks he doesn't need to change because God loves him just the way he is.  And Brad Wilcox said that he has two adorable little granddaughters and that he loves them just the way they are.  But that doesn't mean he doesn't want them to learn to walk. Or read or talk.  We've all heard about how He loves us the way we are, but we're always told to improve and that was just a really good example to show what it means.

The next day Mom and I went to separate rooms and listened to different people.  I went to Time Out for Girls and it was so awesome.  It was really catered to Youth.  There were several songs where we were encouraged to stand up and clap and during one of them girls even got up on stage and danced.  I was not one of those girls, but I did stand up and clap.  But anyway, we listened to Laurel Christensen and Brad Wilcox again.  And a woman named Carmen Rasmusen Herbert who was on American Idol 10 years ago.  But she was  just Carmen Rasmusen then and she got to the last 6.  She sang and talked.  She had a beautiful voice.  She has some songs on itunes that I'm going to check out.  She was on American Idol and after that she was totally out there.  She was walking red carpets and going on tours.  Then she got married and had kids and everything stopped.  Now she has two little boys.  It was cool to hear about  motherhood from someone who had lived both lives.  Out there and just as a mom and she said being a mom is so worth it.  I also heard from Sandra Turley, who was on Broadway and also has an album on itunes.  She sang most of the songs on it and I definitely want to buy it.  She also has a gorgeous voice.  Another singer I heard from was Hilary Weeks.  She talked about our thoughts.  Once she did an experiment where she had one of those clicker things that keeps track of the number of times you click and she kept track of all of her negative thoughts.  She had read in a book that we think an average of 300 negative thoughts a day and she wanted to see if it was true for her.  She did it for a week and at the end of the week she felt really depressed.  Just really depressed.  So, she decided to switch it around and keep track of her positive thoughts.  She found herself thinking positive thoughts just so she could click and one day she got over 1000 positive thoughts.  She had some clickers for sale and Mom and I each got one.  An author we heard from gave a cool talk.  His name is John Hilton III.  Can't forget 'the third'.  I bought one of his books.  It's on scripture study and so far it's amazing.  He's very entertaining and has some really good points.  At the end of each chapter he has two assignments to help you learn the topic of that chapter better.  So far it's not actual reading assignments, but different ways to study.  Like praying before and after and stuff like that.  It's called Please Pass the Scriptures From Reading to Feasting.  I would totally recommend it.

I'm pretty sure that's all of the people.  Overall it was just such an amazing experience.  So amazing that I somehow got myself up to talk about it in testimony meeting yesterday.  I actually did.  Even as I was walking up to the pulpit I was telling myself, "No, you're not going to do it.  You're not going to do it."  And when I sat back down I could not remember what I said.  But it really was amazing.  I felt the spirit all day.  It was so inspiring.  If I could go through that everyday I would be the most righteous person on earth.  Thank you so much, Grandma!

Well, yesterday was a million people's birthday.  Mom's, my step brother Nathan, one of the four YM in our ward named Toby (he turned exactly the same age as Nathan), a few people in Diane's family, a boy named Dwight who was our neighbor in Ammon (Anna remembered that) and someone else that I don't remember.  But I only texted Nathan and celebrated Mom's.  Anna and I made breakfast and dinner and bought her a silhouette of us from Disneyland.  She asked for it and knew we got it for her.  But even if we all knew that she knew we still pretended it was a secret.  I made a delicious (if I do say so myself) healthy, sugar free cake.  It was two layers of brownies in cake pans with chocolate mousse in the middle and ganache on top.  It was rich.  I honestly almost felt like I was eating the chocolate cheesecake.  And there was no sugar or white flour at all.  Amy, you should totally try it.  We can give you the recipe if you want.

I think that's it.  I'm reading a Little House book right now with Laura's journal entries and stuff.  I'm almost done.  When I'm done I'm going to read a book I bought at Disneyland called Fairest of All.  It's about the queen in Snow White.  Oh, I don't have time now, but I need to do a post about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn sometime.  Gotta go! :)