time out for women....

so by the name it sounds pretty cheesy, but i have to say it was prob one of the best things i could of done. a girl in my ward invited me a couple weeks ago and i thought why not, but of course as it got closer i was regretting it and wishing i could think of some way to get out of it, but i went and it was REALLY great. it's basically like an efy for women and not a week long, just all day long. it was all day sat, but it went pretty fast. the host was michael mclean and he was very charming and interesting to listen to. i swear i've been a little down and out since we've moved and it was a good way to build me back up to what i know i should be. i won't give all the details, but one speaker in particular i really enjoyed. her name is merrilee boyack and she was very funny, spiritual, and just a great speaker. she talked about marriage and family and balancing a relationship w/ your husband, but not only focusing on the kids because your marriage is first and foremost. she asked a bunch of questions and was like, how many of you have gone on an overnight w/o kids in a year? or how many of you have gone out w/o kids 3 times in the past mo? and she said not to use no money as an excuse, trade w/ your friends or fam. another thing she said was to fan the flame! which you could take any way, but one thing for me is to try to take better care of myself and to put makeup n stuff on. i've been in a bad habit of only doing that on like sat and sun, so since i've gone i've worn makeup everyday and i've tried to not be so scroungy! and i must say i feel a lot better about myself. another thing she said to do is fun things you did when you dated or before you had kids. so we need to start taking a dance class together or something! i'm mainly doing this post to remind myself, so hopefully it doesn't sound preachy and when you hear something good you gotta share right? oh she has also written a couple of books which i've ordered called "parenting breakthru" and "strangling your husband is not an option". anyway, it was really great and i don't think there was a dry eye in the house of 2500 women! it was funny how emotional we all were (michael mclean's songs were seriously touching), but everyone can use a good cry every so often. i made some new friends too, so yeahhhh for time out for women! also, thanks to chris and mindy for watching the kids for us that night, so we could go out to dinner!