Time Out For Women

Can I just say that I LOVE TOFW. I have never been before and now that I have gone I want to start going every year. The theme was Infinite Hope ~ We Hope All Things..." Article of Faith 13. It was AMAZING. I went with some of my very dear friends. Jill, Tiffany, Tiana, Leslie and Jayne. They are great and I loved being in their company for the weekend. I am blessed to live around these wonderful women.

For those of you who don't know about TOFW it is put on by Deseret Book. Women who are members of the church and non members meet together friday night and saturday morning/afternoon and are enlightened by speakers and musical numbers. It is wonderful. This is a picture of us with Sherri Dew. She is the CEO of Deseret Book and is such an amazing women.

This is Dallyn Bayles. (Below) He played Hyrum in the Joseph Smith Movie at Temple Square. He has also been traveling playing the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. His voice is amazing. He sang Friday night. I was so moved by this man. He talked about how the last year has been hard on his extended family. He talked about how he had lost a cousin who was 19 and a cousin who was a mom of 2 children. He said he sang at his 19 year old cousins funeral. Well being such a small world, his 19 year old cousin is named Chad. You see Chad and my sister Natalie were best friends. They met each other at Primary Children's Hospital during treatments. They became fast friends. My mom and Natalie went to visit Chad a lot in the last few months of his life. If you met Chad's mom and know my mom you might laugh because they could be sisters. (They joke about it, but they are so similar it is scary. :)) Natalie was able to meet Dallyn at Chad's funeral. When I talked to Dallyn he told me he remembered Natalie. He told me she was such a sweet girl, an angel. I was very blessed to have been able to listen to this man bear testimony through his music. I shed many tears. He sang a song "He's My Son" but I couldn't think about anything but my mom and Natalie. As a mother is pleading to Heavenly Father on behave of her child. Anyway he is a very neat man and I was privilaged to meet him.

I adore Hillary Weeks. Her music is wonderful and listening to her sing on Saturday was great. She has such a cute personality.

This lady (below) is named Mariama Kallon. She is from Sierra Leone in Africa. Her country was at war. She witnessed her parents being murdered along with serveral of her siblings. She fled to safety and came across a family that were LDS. They introduced her to the church. She came to Salt Lake City in 1999 to serve a mission and has been her ever since. She was sweet. She has seen a lot in her life. Her testimony is so strong.

This next picture is of Virginia Hinckley Pearce. She is the daughter of President Hinckley. She spoke to us on Friday night.

There were several other speakers that we didn't get pictures with. It was a great weekend and the spirit was strong. I am grateful to Tally that he kept both the boys so I could have a Time Out. Women need that once in a while. It was so worth it. I love the gospel. I am blessed to have such wonderful people surround me.

Halloween ~ Better late than never

I know that Halloween was almost a month ago, but here are the pictures. Colsten had a halloween party at preschool. It was fun. They played games and had a parade to show off their costumes.

Then my mom had a little halloween party at her house the morning of halloween. The kids decorated what we call in my family Roll Out Cookies aka Sugar Cookies. They were delish.

Then we took the boys trick or treating... Braylon was just along for the ride. He didn't go trick or treating. Colsten was a Monkey and Braylon was a Banana.

Madsen Cycles

Hey check out these cool bikes. I got the link from one of my friends so I thought I would post it. The link is on the right side of the screen. :)

Preschool

A lady in my ward owns a preschool close to our area. I was talking to her to get some info about enrolling little C next year when he turns 3. She said that we could start him now if we wanted. She told me there are several kids that are 2 1/2 that go to the preschool. So Tally and I took him in and tried it out to see if he liked it. He is enjoying it. It is 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. I think it will be good for him. His class is all boys which is great. He is surrounded by all girls (cousins and neighbors) and although he is 100% boy he will always go for the color pink very first. So maybe being in an all boy class he can see what it is like to be with boys and not bossy, motherly little girls. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He makes me laugh every day. I love this boy.

I was talking to my sister Kristen the other day and we talked a little about how losing a sister has been hard. It is starting to get a little harder every day. I guess the reality is sinking in more and more that she is really gone. That saying it gets harder before it gets easier is oh so true. The tears come easily these days. Sometimes more often than I would like. I try to hide so that my sweet boys don't have to see me cry so much, but Colsten is usually there to wipe my tears as they fall or to run and get me a tissue and he just sits by me as a cry. I couldn't do this without my sweet family, hubby, boys, parents, and siblings. I am so blessed for my family. This is what helps me get through my days.

Sweet Natty

My sweet sister passed away yesterday morning August 14, 2010 about 2:00 am. It is a bitter-sweet feeling. I miss her so much and feel like my heart is broken, and yet I feel so much joy knowing she is whole again. I know that she is free. I am so blessed for the knowledge I have of the gospel and that I will see her again someday. I am truly blessed to have her for a sister. I love you Natty, with all of my heart.

Newspaper article and video

There is an article in the standard examiner on Natalie. Click here to read it. There is also an awesome video that they did on her. Click here to watch it.

We are so excited for the concert this friday. I hope everyone can come out and support both Brooke and Natalie. It is going to be great. :)