Time Out for ... Me

I had a much needed weekend to re-calibrate this week. I needed it. I don't want to bog the blog down with the reasons why. I just want to share the happy events that touched me. This weekend Katie and I headed on a road trip with Herman's sister, Laurenda, and my niece, Abigail, to Indianapolis to go to Time Out for Women and Time Out for Girls. I have been to TOFW lots of times, but this is the first time that we brought the girls to a Time Out for Girls. It was such a good experience for Katie and Abigail, and as much as I needed the events of this weekend, I think Katie needed them equally if not more.

Time Out for Women is totally a money maker for Deseret Book. I have no illusions that it is anything different. They make a gazillion dollars on these events between the admission fees and the amount of merchandise they peddle during the event. But I'm okay with that because in return I always feel uplifted and moved to better my life and be strengthened to push past the ickiness of the world. For those who do not know, it is a convention where LDS music artists and motivational/inspirational speakers come together and present to about 2000 women about topics that will uplift and inspire us. It is not a church service. It is more casual and laid back, but there are still so many wonderful opportunities to learn and be uplifted. Time Out for Girls is specifically catered to young women between the ages of 12 and 18. They see the same speakers as the adult women, but the messages are more geared to them.

I don't have lots of words to describe my experience here. I'll save those for my personal journal. But I'll just use a few pictures to share a little of the fun of this weekend. Here you go:

Katie and Abigail. Not just cousins ... also best friends. Love that!

Katie with one of the speakers, Meg Johnson. Meg was paralyzed after a
terrible fall off a mountain cliff, and has an inspirational story of
overcoming trials in our life. And she's so perky. Super, duper cute!

Meg with Abigail. This was on Friday night. Meg hadn't spoken yet, so no one
knew who she was. But Katie and Abigail had studied their program of
presenters and knew who she was, so they walked right up to her and asked
for a picture.

Mr. Popular, John Bytheway. He always has a mega line to meet him after
he speaks, but he always does an amazing job of taking time to talk
to everyone and make them feel important.

The musical group for us on Friday night was Hudson Lights. They were okay,
but not phenomenal. It was cute, though, on Friday after the event was over
almost everyone had left, but when we turned the corner we saw these
guys standing near the registration table. Katie and Abigail (or one of them)
said, "It's them!" We stopped for a picture. But the very best thing that happened ...
Katie's birthday was on Saturday. After the morning break I stopped by the info
desk and told them that they needed to say Happy Birthday to her. The lady
at the desk said she would take care of things, and Boy! did she. The
Hudson Lights guys called Katie to the stage, recognized her, and then
they sang Happy Birthday in four part harmony in front of 400 other
girls and Elaine Dalton, who would be speaking next. Super, super cool!
Katie was a bit freaked out by the exposure, but I think she'll remember that
experience for a long time!

It was a great weekend to spend time with my sweet Katie!

Laurenda and Abigail. Aren't they beautiful!

Katie had some life changing inspiration this weekend.

I loved spending time with Laurenda! She doesn't mind all my
neuroses .. too much. :)

This may have been my favorite speaker of the weekend ... Hank Smith.
His talk about finding happiness and joy no matter the circumstances
was just what I needed. This picture was actually taken on Friday night.
It was funny because he had not spoken yet, so no one really knew who he
was. No one was talking to him at all, so he would go behind the group
of people taking pictures with John Bytheway and photobomb their
pictures. It was like he was just saying, "Love me. Please?"

I love this picture!

Abigail and Katie with John Bytheway. When he mentioned that he
was fifty this weekend it completely freaked me out and was another
reminder of my own mortality and age. I always think of him as 29, for
some reason. I always think of myself as about that age too. It turns out
that  I'm losing my spring chicken-ness. 

Elaine Dalton was the former general president of the Young Women
organization. She is a wonderful speaker, and she has a gift for helping
young women remember who they are and encouraging them to reach
for their divine potential. This is Katie and Abigail waiting their turn
to say hello and get a picture with her. I wish I could inspire youth like she
does. I kept having this picture of myself as a youth leader, standing at the
front of the battle and encouraging the troops to follow me into battle, only
to turn around and see no one behind me. Ah well! It is a weakness
that I can work to overcome ... someday.

Now I'll take a moment to share some pictures Katie took of her fun time at TOFG. Enjoy!

Katie's program with lots of notes of inspiration.

Katie took A LOT of selfies. A lot. I put a few of the cute ones on here.

Callee Reed sang to us on Saturday and the girls on Friday. She was
super talented. Unfortunately half the songs she sang were not
available on the one album she has.

These are the cute bags the girls got. They are actually the bags the
adults got for the 2014 tour, but no problem ... Katie and Abigail just
purchased this year's bags so that they have variety.

And here begins the parade of selfies from these two cuties ....

Abigail with Laurel C. Christensen.

Katie with Laurel. I loved her message.Who knows what an ebenezer is?
I do now. Such a great story.

Abigail with Elaine Dalton.

Katie with Sister Dalton.

It was a great weekend ... a long weekend with our seven hour drive there and another seven hour drive back the next day. But it was just what I needed ... an uplifting time out.