Last week I took a trip to Salt Lake City. It was a much needed retreat. I met up with James on Thursday afternoon and we headed to BYU to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. It was amazing! We also made a pit stop at Slab Pizza and enjoyed some really awesome Thai chicken and potato and rosemary pizza. Yum!
The next morning Andrea and Kelly flew in and met me in downtown Salt Lake. We walked around Temple Square, visited the Church History Museum, and stopped in at Deseret Book.
After lunch we headed to Park City for a Power of Moms retreat at Richard and Linda Eyre’s home. The Eyre’s have written many books on parenting. It was exciting to think of meeting them and hearing them speak in person – not to mention hanging out in their home. The retreat was actually planned and put on by a couple of their daughters, Saren and Charity, and a friend of my sister’s, April Perry. I had high hopes that I would come away from this retreat with some much needed help in my role as a mother. I was not disappointed! It was one of the “most well worth it” ways that I have spent my time in awhile.
On Friday afternoon April Perry taught us about an organizational system that she has developed based on a book by David Allen titled, “Getting Things Done.” April has, with permission, adapted David Allen’s organizational system to motherhood. Now this was one of the most enlightening parts of the whole retreat, and boy did I need it. Lately I feel like I constantly have at least five people coming at me with papers needing to be signed, appointments needing to be made, big life decisions needing to be decided, and deadlines needing to be kept. These things are important to my kids (they have to do with things like getting into college, scholarships, skin rashes, prom plans, try-outs for plays and sports, church achievements, school achievements, science fair projects, etc…) and I constantly find myself saying, “I’ll get to that, but you’ll have to get in line. I’m way too busy right now to even think.” The basic premise of April Perry’s presentation was to dump everything from our minds and organize it in a way that made so much sense I could hardly wait to get home and try it out. I’ve been working on it all week, and it is life changing!
Saturday was mostly spent listening to the Eyre family inspire us with practical parenting tips, ideas, and helps. Richard and Linda Eyre were both charming and completely in tune with what matters most. Each of their daughters presented or helped in some way. I loved watching this family interact with each other. I loved to see how they supported each other, respected each other, and were honest about what worked for them and what didn’t – it wasn’t all the same. Several other mothers shared ideas and led discussion groups as well. It was encouraging, uplifting, inspiring, and down right helpful. I learned a ton, laughed, cried, and promised myself I would be more deliberate and present in my role as a mother. Sometimes all we need in order to make positive changes in our life is help – help from someone who knows more than us. I’ve been going along doing the best I could, but now I can do better because I’ve learned how,and I am so excited about that.
