Man o'Man, there were a lot of Women....

At Women's Conference that is. In fact I think I heard that it was something like 15,000 of them, but the Marriott Center (which may be the 5th largest indoor arena in North America ) holds close to 23,000, and that place seemed really really full, so it may have been more than 15,000 Women. How do you count that many anyway. Hmmm, but this post isn't to speculate on how many women you can fit into the Marriott Center at BYU. Rather it is a Post about how much fun I had being part of that Gigantic Horde of Women that descended upon BYU last week.

Last year I got my first taste of Women's Conference. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer there, and when you volunteer for one of the days of the conference you get to attend the other day for free. I enjoyed myself immensely, so much so in fact that I decided to actually pay to attend this year. Last year I attended alone but by some amazing miracle I found a friend who I hadn't seen in years and who, by some greater miracle, was planning on attending the same classes I was! Wonder of Wonders. This year my Sister in Law, Tiff and her Mother, Sisters and Friends all came down and I was invited to be a part of their group. It was a completely different experience than I had last year, but just as much of an uplifting and wonderful experience.

Last year I volunteered on Thursday and left right after I was done, which was around 5 pm. This year I stayed to participate in the service activities and to see the concert that they put on later in the evening. We tied the ends of fleece blankets that were then donated to local shelters, hospitals and care centers. 600+ fleece blankets were made on Thursday night. There were lots of different service opportunities, tying quilts, putting together hygiene kits (thousands of them), and so much more that I can't even remember. Aren't we cute with our blankets.

I never imagined that the Concert would be so much fun. It was an amazing amount of fun, seriously, at least 10,000 women who just participated in a full day of uplifting classes, then hours of service (plus some dinner thrown in there somewhere) found their way back to the Marriott center.....they were not quiet.

I must say that Hillary Weeks is HILARIOUS! She was the Emcee, back by popular demand, and I understand why there was a demand that she be back. Here she is introducing the whole show, the Theme "Laundry", the monologue had something to do with feeling like you are being followed around......see the 5 feet of toilet paper attached to her shoe. I wish I could explain it better, but I laughed so hard during that concert that my abs hurt the next day.
Some other things I learned during the Concert, Michael McLean is also really funny, and apparently suffering from some weird hormonal issues that make him pretty much understand everything a menopausal woman is going through, so he fit right in there at Women's Conference (his words). Alex Boye is seriously HIGH ENERGY. I took some video of him that I will try to post at a later date. The Fab Five (from America's Got Talent) were there too, they also have way too much energy.

On Friday Morning as we were waiting for the morning session to start I looked over and this is what I saw.

It was kind of dark but can you make out the 4 sets of hands, all busy making little "Pocket Hearts" and Crocheted Slippers? Busy hands really do make for happy hearts. I decided that in the next year or so, I want to learn how to Crochet. My Grandma Turner was very willing when I was young to try to teach me how to crochet, but I never got past the "This is my very very long string" phase of the process. I want to learn now, so that in future years I can make slippers too (and so much more, for some reason I really want to make Afghans, you know, blankets?). I made some pocket hearts this year, they are little fleece hearts, we used the blanket stitch around the edges of two heart shaped pieces of fabric and then stuffed them, they were amazingly cute and apparently they get donated to Senior Care Centers and places where people might feel forgotten. The nurses or volunteers at these places can keep them in their pockets and when they feel the need, they can give them to one of the people they are helping. If I don't know how to crochet by next year I will definitely be making more pocket hearts.

I want to go back. It was an amazing experience. I missed my sweeties while I was gone from home, but I felt so good and heard so many things that I needed to hear. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of the things that touched me the most, they are not necessarily big spiritual enlightening things, but things that I know will help me through the next year and maybe they will help you too. So check back soon.