Sunstone Days 5 and 6

So on the 5th day it was Sunday. I had stayed through Sunday in case anything cool happened on that post Suntone day. It turns out that usually there is a brunch that Doe had planned on going to and I had planned on going with her. But the brunch was moved to lunch because the group of Sunstoners decided to go to the sermon at Community of Chrsit church which I would have gone to but I had no idea where it was and really no easy way to get there. Doe had to leave after breakfast so the kids and I hung out in the room until check out time at noon.

I would have liked to go to the lunch but I had no idea how to get there on the bus system. So instead I checked our bags with the bell hop and took the bus up a few blocks to Temple Square. Our train didn't leave until 11:30 PM so I had A LOT of time to kill.

My favorite chapel

We began by taking a tour around the square with two of the sisters. Their historical points which were less than completely true bugged me and after I corrected them a few times I could see I was getting on their nerves so we left the tour about half way through.

The announcement in the visitors center said that they were about to show the movie The Restoration in theater number 5 so I took the kids there. It was a well done and moving film. I really enjoyed it and the end made me cry my eyes out. Nykki complained it was a boring movie because it wasn't a cartoon and Ronan slept through most of it.

Nykki's favorite part of the Book of Mormon

After the movie we walked around the visitors center which was so cool, clean and inviting. I was so thankful to have such a comfortable place to go with the kids. After lunch across the street I decided to see if the museum was open. I thought it might not be since so few things were open, it being Sunday.

At the museum

Not only was it open but they had a hands on kids section! I was so impressed. We played for hours with dress up clothes, blocks, baby dolls, coloring etc. The kids had a blast! I was so thankful for this family friendly space. After being at Sunstone for 3 days which isn't family unfriendly but certianly isn't family friendly either I was happy to sit back and let the kids explore, play, shout and laugh with no need to hush them up or tell them to put something down.

Ronan plays baby dolls



The hands on exhibt, called I Am A Child of God, actually had a giant wall pentacle puzzel made to look like the Nauvoo temple windows! I had to get some pictures of that!



The only down side I could see was that in the "Nusery" part of the play area they showed a sad woman being guided into a hospital by a smiling husband as she patted her very pregnant belly. On the other side of that image the play area was set up to look like a hospital nursery, bottles included.



Let's puase for a few Brigham Young Quotes:

“Would you want Doctors? Yes, to set bones. We should want a good surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb. But do you want doctors? For not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the tradition of the people lead them to think so; and here is a growing evil in our midst."

"It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her. I will tell you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor, and see if you can keep it."

I was appaulled at this hospital birthing scene! I wanted to complain but there was no one to complain too. I saw a mom hanging out with her three young girls and I kept being prompted by the Spirit to speak to her. When I finally did I found her to be a splendid woman who had her last daughter at a birthing center and was hoping for a homebirth the next time around! It felt better to be able to tell her how I felt about the wall painting and even though I don't think she had thought about the way birth was being presented there she certainly thought twice about it after talking to me LOL She was truly a kindred spirit.



We stayed until the museum closed and then watched another movie, called Legacy, at the visitors center. Both the kids slept through that one. By that time it was after 7 PM. We went to Denny's for dinner and I got a huge to-go order to take on the train. We walked back to the Red Lion and got our bags and had them call us a cab to take us to Amtrak. Once I arrived at Amtrak my blessful holiday was RUINED.

To save my fingers the strain of constant retyping, I will sum up my experience for you by sharing with you the letter I wrote to Consumer Affaris regarding Amtrak.

"I took Amtrak for the first time, alone, with my two small children, ages 19 months and 5 years old. I purchased roundtrip tickets online to travel from Sacramento to Salt Lake City and back again. When I arrived at the Sac station to pick up my tickets they printed me two tickets, one for me and one for my 5 year old, to go from Sac to SLC. I asked about my return tickets and was told I would be issued the return tickets at the SLC station.

Nearly a week later when I arrived at 10 PM to prepare for my 11:30 PM train from SLC to Sac I was told that the computer showed my tickets had already been printed in SAC. I explained there had been a mistake, that I was not issued the return tickets. The Amtrak employee, Don, was VERY rude to me. He said he could not print me another ticket. When I asked to speak with someone else, a manager or someone higher-up, he refused.

He rolled his eyes a lot at me and walked away when I begged for help. He told me that all he could do was sell me another two tickets. I explained that I didn't have the money and it was too late for me to find a way to get the money. I explained that I had no friends or family in SLC, I had been there for a symposium, and I asked if Amtrak was going to kick a mother with two small children onto the streets for a mistake THEY had made. I was told by Don and later told by an Amtrak employee over the phone, "Yes."

Don told me he would not print me a "fake" ticket and implied the whole time that I was trying to scam Amtrak! I have never been treated so rudely in my life!! I ended up having to call my husband and desperately find a way to buy two additional tickets so I could get home! Every course of action I have tried to take has gotten me nowhere. When I arrived in CA I waited in the Sac station for over an hour, pouring sweat (no a/c there) waiting for them to "look" for my tickets. They told me, of course, that they couldn't find them.


My children and I have been nothing short of traumatized by this experience. I cannot even look at an Amtrak employee without having a posttraumatic stress reaction. I cannot even begin to explain how frightening it is to be in a strange city, late at night, in a filthy train station, with two small children, and to be told that Amtrak doesn't care that they sold me a ticket they didn't give me - I was going to either come up with another $100 or be spending the night on the streets! Both my children, and especially my 5 year old, were very traumatized by this event. They were scared they wouldn't be able to get home and my son has nightmares about the event."

After some investigation at home i have found that if you lose your Amtrak ticket you cannot get another one. If you are mugged, if they don't actually print them - it doens't matter. They do not give replacement tickets. It ridiculous because they could give replacement tickets. The tickets have your name on them and you have to show your ID to use them. I could not have sold my tickets to someone else, no one else could have used them.

Here's a copy of the letter I am presonally sending to Don at the SLC Amtrak station.



Don
Amtrak Station
320 S. Rio Grande St
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Don,

You recently dealt with my two children and I on the evening of August the 10th 2008. I arrived around 10 PM to prepare for my 11:30 PM train ride from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. I had pre-purchased my round trip tickets online. As I told you that evening when I arrived at the SAC station they had issued me only two tickets, one for me and one for my 5 year old, to ride from SAC to SLC. I was told that my return tickets would be printed at the SLC station. I came prepared with my reservation number and my identification.

You informed me that the computer showed that the tickets had already been printed. When I desperately expressed that they had in fact not been printed and that we needed to find a way to remedy this situation you were extremely rude. You rolled your eyes at me, you spoke down to me, and you walked away on numerous attempts I made to get more information on my options.

At one point you told me you would not issue me a “fake” ticket. I never asked you for a fake ticket, I simply asked for the ticket I had paid for which Amtrak had never issued me. When I explained that I didn’t think there was a way I could buy another ticket since it was late, no banks were open and my husband and I generally do not keep much money on our debit card to avoid the possibility of theft, I asked you if Amtrak was willing to put a mother and her two small children on the streets for a mistake they made. Your answer was in the affirmative.

Sir, your actions were totally uncalled for. I am assuming that due to your reaction to me that you “summed me up” and judged me before you even spoke with me. Yes, I have blue hair, and I am young. I probably appeared very worn out after having spent 9 hours touring Temple Square with two small children. You’re judgments about me however were wrong.

As I stated I was in town on business. I am a writer and scholar with a Master’s degree in Women’s Spirituality and I was a speaker at the Sunstone Symposium. You can look it up online if you like. While in Salt Lake I was heralded and applauded by numerous members of the community who enjoyed my many sessions and I was even offered a faculty position at the Utah Collage of Midwives by their director.

I tell you this not to feed my ego but because your inaccurate judgment of me and your extremely rude and abusive behavior toward my children and I was completely uncalled for and I hope you never treat another customer in such a manner, no matter what they look like.

I want to address in this letter that you told me there was “nothing you could do” several times and it turns out that this was a bold faced lie. After researching this issue, as well as making a complaint about Amtrak and specifically about you, to Consumer Affairs, I have found that there were many steps you could have taken.

Generally, RESERVED tickets have a bit more protection, as the holders name is on it. This was the case with my tickets. Proper refunding would involve looking at the ID of the presenter; Amtrak can then block a reserved ticket from being refunded once Amtrak has been notified. For example, Amtrak can put the ticket number on a "hot list" of lost and stolen tickets, in order to try to confiscate the ticket later if someone other than myself tried to present it for usage or for a refund. A replacement ticket could then have been issued.

You could have called the SAC station and asked them to check their drawer to see if my tickets were there since the computer told you they had been printed in SAC and I was telling you that I had never received them. If they were found the situation could have been explained to the conductor and the tickets presented for processing in SAC.

My children and I have been nothing short of traumatized by this experience. I cannot even look at an Amtrak employee without having a posttraumatic stress reaction. I cannot even begin to explain how frightening it is to be in a strange city, late at night, in a filthy train station, with two small children, and to be told that Amtrak doesn't care that they sold me a ticket they didn't give me - I was going to either come up with another $100 or be spending the night on the streets! Both my children, and especially my 5 year old, were very traumatized by this event. They were scared that they wouldn't be able to get home and my son has nightmares about the event.

Please be advised I am pursuing all of my legal options against Amtrak, in general, and you, specifically. Since you are a resident of Salt Lake City I can assume there is a fifty percent chance that you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a member of this Church, a California convert who was excited to be visiting Zion. I expected my fellow brothers and sisters to treat me in a manner befitting the legendary Zion as well as the Church. I must say that your behavior has specifically caused me much pain and heartache physically, emotionally and spiritually and I will leave you with the following quotes. I pray you take them to heart.

“One sees a blatant disregard for the precious souls of mankind.” Thomas S. Monson

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Jesus Christ


Reservation #: 0507AC

Re-purchased ticket #DOF1

CC: Amtrak, Office of Customer Relations, Washington Union Station, 60 Massachusettes Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002.


If any of my readers live in Salt Lake City, I'll give you a free copy of my thesis to whomever goes and punches Don in the face LOL Just Kidding. But seriously if anyone passes by the Amtrak station and wants to give him a peice of their mind on my behalf, I fully encourage that. :) That guy was a JERK.

The nice thing is that I LIKE taking the train. There is nothing so peaceful as rolling along the Seirra Nevadas, looking out the window, contemplating the nature of life as you roll slowly passed. Getting to peak into the backyards of small town America, laundry flapping in the breeze, children riding bikes and playing ball. It's classic.

So we got home safe and sound and out an extra $100 (ugh!)and unfortunetly I'm battling a bout of mild depression over the whole Amtrak event. But onward and upward! The trip as a whole was a tremendous success and I look forward to receiving emails from friends and contacts I made at Suntone!

aylayoga at gmail dot com

Sunstone Days 3 and 4

Breakfast at Denny's

So I woke up early on that Friday morning. I felt well rested from having spent the night in the hotel room instead of a train as I had the previous night. My presentation was not until 2:15 that day so I contemplated what to do with my morning. I really needed to get to Whole Foods, our food budget was getting sucked up fast and Nykki was complaining about a sore throat but the bus trip there would be long and I wasn't prepared to rush down there and then rush back for my presentation.

So we attended the Are We Gods in Embroy session in which D. Michael Quinn was the repsondant. At lunch time they were showing clips from the Daily Show and Colbert Report regarding Mormonism so the kids and I went to Denny's and got some nachos to-go and took them back to the session room and watched the clips. They were so funny as always - gotta love Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert! I was actually surprised to find so many people laughing because they pulled no punches, including poking light fun at the current and past prophets, which usually doesn't go over well, even in liberal Mormon crowds yet everyone seemd to understand it was a joke and no one seemed especially upset about it.

After that it was time for my presentation; Heavenly Mother, A Look at Magick, the Divine Feminine and Homebirth in the Mormon Community of North America. Ronan was really tired so I thought he would sleep through it but no such luck. As soon as I got up to talk he began babbeling and then it quickly turned into screaming. I tired nursing him but it didn't work, he was mad. That's when my wonderful Sunstone angel Sara stepped in. She's my respondants sister (my responant had gotten sick and was unable to make it). Sara wrapped the kids in her loving arms and in no time at all Ronan was sleeping peacefully as I continued.

Scholar moms unite!!

I loved giving my talk! I couldn't believe how dry my mouth got, it felt like I needed to take a drink every few seconds. I tried to be as engaging as possible and made a few jokes but I had no idea if I was even being understood. I started to feel like maybe I wasn't making any sense at all. During the question period however I felt a lot better. I was able to speak to the people there (and by the way I have no idea how many people were there because the number fluctuated a lot but I would average it around 30?) I recieved many postive comments and excellent questions that I felt comfortable answering.

At the end I sat at a the table and many people came up and told me how much they liked my talk. One mom and daughter team had come to Sunstone just for my talk. I met some wonderful people and I hope to stay in contact with them all :) One man who had worked at a hosptal for years told me that women should have natural births in the hospital because "things can go wrong so fast." I was polite but firmly dissagreed with him. I was unable to convince him that hospitals are usually what cause the things that go wrong in te first place.

Ronan listens to a session while standing on his head

After I left the session I took the kids to the hotel gift shop and bought them a bear puzzel. I returned and tried to catch most of Elizabeth Quick's Emma Smith as Shaman presentation the respondant being Margret Tuscano! The kids were a bit too restless and I didn't make the whole thing, we returned before it was over to watch cartoons and nap.

That night was the What Women Want session followed by the feminist dinner. I barely made the end of the session because the kids had been sleeping. On my way out of the session I ran into John from Mind on Fire. I didn't realize he would be there! What a cutie he is and such a nice guy!

I managed to make it through the feminist dinner with too cranky hungry kids. Nykki ordered Mac and Cheese with a side of fruit and wimpered the whole time about his late arriving fruit. It was wonderful just to be in the same room as so many brilliant minds even if my conversation skills where heavily dampened by fussy children.

Soon it was back to the hotel where Nykki fell in love with the movie The Fugitive (go figure) and we all eventuall went to sleep.

The next morning we had to check out of the Sheraton and check into the Red Lion down the street because our reservations at the very full Sheraton only extended as far as Friday night. I packed us up and went to my last session which was on Mormonism and Spirtualism.

It was a fun laid back session and I felt completely at ease the whole time. I share some of my practices of fairy card reading, dream interpretations and shared my expereince joining the church from a witchy prespective. Two women presented on their experinces of being professional mediums and another woman presented a scholarly presepective followed by the lovely Doe who gave us some insight into her great research on New Age Mormonism.

The kids and I had had a big breakfast at Denny's so come time for lunch we bought popcorn and browsed the bookstore. I found two great books by Ogden Kraut. 95 Thesis lays out how the scriptures and the founders of the church practiced their faith and what they said God wanted from the Saints and then compares that with today - surprise, there's a big difference! That book is coming with me to EVERY GP class from now on. Even if I bite my lip and don't share it's citations it wil help keep me sane. It's wonderful and you will all hear much from it on this blog in the furture. I also bought Jesus Was Married by Ogden Kraut and a copy of the awesome Mormon Worker newspaper.

It was the last day of Sunstone and I was bummed I must admit. I felt so at ease there, like so many people understood me, I didn't want it to end. Doe and I had dinner that night at Olive Garden. Which takes me into a rant.

Downtown Salt Lake City has become Disneyland! Everything is corporate and synergized. It's a strip mall! PF Chang's, Wallgreens, IMax, etc. I looked and looked and could not find what appeared to be any local owned businesses. I know some must exist but not knowing my way around I was left looking up an down the streets lost in a maze of bulidings like the Chase Bank, so large they dwarfed the Temple. It's clear to see what people in Salt Lake are worshipping now. The Temple, instead of being a grand monument to the Saints trek across the country to establish Zion has become a quaint, fairytale like, Disney castle at the heart of big business. The whole thing made me sick.

Stayed tuned for days 5 and 6 coming up tomorrow where I will trill you with the tale of our 9 hour Temple Square visit and our Amtrak horror story!

Suntone Day 1 and 2

I was up at 4:30 AM. I cooked up some scrambled eggs and the kids woke up soon thereafter. We were all excited, it had been hard to sleep that night.

At 6:30 I left for the 2 hour drive to the Amtrak station. I checked my tires, grabbed our prepacked suitcases and put the kids in the car. The drive to Sacrmento was lovely. The weather was cool, the sun was rising and I felt refreshed.

The Sacramento train station was adorable. It had a grand sweeping ceiling, blond wooden benches and brick walls. I kept running the Ani Defranco line "Waiting on the tall blond wooden benches, in a train station, alone with grace."

Sac train station

Then, in walked six Old Order Amish people!! Oh my freakin' gosh! I couldn't believe it! I sat as close to them as I dare. I really wanted to take a picture of the kids where the Amish would just happen to be in the background *wink* but I couldn't bring myself to violate them like that no matter how much I wanted to remember how they looked - forever.

They were young, early 20's, three men and three women. Their suitcase were more modern than ours. They were wearing the same brand of shoes Nykki was and the man had the same style shirt Nykki was wearing. I chuckled at this thought - I'm more Amish then I suppose and they are more modern than I in some respects.

Once on the train the Amish were on our train! Whoo Hoo! It only took me 10 hours to get up the nerve to talk to them LOL When I did they played Uno with Nykki and I learned that two of them were teachers, and one of the women's father was reading the same book I was, "Fast Food Nation"

Making friends on the train

The train ride was lovely except for the food.I was not prepared for how expensive or how gross the food would be. I use the term "food" very lightly here. 17 hours of only microwave pizza, prepacked cinnomon rolls, and potato chips started to make the gas station look like a gourmet resturant and I lllooonnngggeeeddd for real food.

Our train pulled into the station an hour early. After dissembarking and gathering our luggage we caught a cab to the hotel. I did want to wake up my roomate at 4 AM so I thought I would hang out in the lobby for a few hours but the Sheraton was nice enough to give us a room to crash in for a few hours. The kids and I took a nap.

At about 7:30 I called Doe, my roomate and found she was at the Sunstone Board of Directors meeting. We gathered our things and met her at our room soon thereafter. It was so nice to finally get to meet the lovely Doe face to face! Although I felt like I had already know her forever!

My first presentation was at 11:15 so fairly soon after getting settled in our room (allowing Nykki to watch a few cartoons) and catching some breakfast at Denny's I went down to the symposium. I checked in, received my badge, drooled over the book shop they had set up and proceeded to the room which was holding my first panel on the FLDS.

I had no idea how to behave so I went up to a man already sitting at the table introduced myself and asked if I could sit next to him. He gladly obliged and I found out that his name was Joe Walsh. He has been called as an expert witness on the FLDS case in Texas because he has a PhD in Mormon Studies from a university in Wales.

I couldn't believe I was there just hanging out at the same table as Maxine Hanks! She's quoted ALL OVER my theis! She was moderating this panel. I was called on to speak first. Wow! I was sweating bullets, I had butterflies in my stomach. I gulped, took and drink of water and walked to the microphone.

Ronan was strapped to my back in the Ergo carrier. Nykki was happily coloring his Curious George coloring book on the first row of seats. I took a deep breath and delivered my talk. It went a little something like this:

"Throughout history the world over, imperialists have known how to break a culture – you take away their children. During the burning times in Europe my own great grandparents, seven times back, were thrown in jail, accused of witchcraft, along with their neighbors. Their children, eight total, ranging in age from 17 to 4 years old, either starved to death, were shipped as indentured servants to the United States or, as in the case of my great aunts, were shipped to England to become maids.

In the United States Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and given to white schools for re-education into Western culture. Children of the Saami, the indigenous people of Northern Europe and Russia, were taken by the imperialist Europeans moving into the area and re-educated away from their tribal, pagan, culture in the 1900s.

It’s a pattern acted out across the globe by conquering armies and brutal leaders – take the children, break the family and then rebuild them in the image of the power at hand. Conformity through the cruelest torture – turning your own children against you.

As a woman, as a mother and as a feminist I am outraged both at the US government for perpetrating this crime against these women and children and by the lack of response from the liberal, feminist and motherhood communities of the US and the world.

This raid of the Texas FLDS community is nothing short of an imperialist assault on an ethnic and cultural minority. An ethnic and cultural minority was defined by High Commissioner van der Stoel in his keynote address at the opening of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Minorities Seminar in Warsaw in 1994. He stated, ”First of all, a minority is a group with linguistic, ethnic or cultural characteristics, which distinguish it from the majority. Secondly, a minority is a group which usually not only seeks to maintain its identity but also tries to give stronger expression to that identity (www.osce.org)."

We need to start seeing these men, women and children with their conservative clothing, their long braided hair, their practice of simple living, and yes, even their practice of plural marriage, as elements of their unique and valid culture and certainly not automatic evidence of child abuse either present or potential.

If we let this invasion and rape of the FLDS community continue who will be next? Will they perhaps remove the children of polyamorus, transgender or homosexual families? Will they routinely be taking children from any teen mothers in our country from now on? Will CPS be investigating Irish Catholic families with eight children simply because they have a lot of children? What about the Amish with their style of dress, no electricity, young marriages and large families? Will families controlling their children’s education either through home school or private school find themselves targeted next?

As a united community of moms, dads, liberals, conservatives, feminists, home schoolers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. we must stand up and say no to what happened in Texas. We must put our feet down and say that suspected or potential abuse is no reason to strip the civil liberties of a group of people and exercise cookie cutter politics on them in mass. We must reign in the rouge agency of child protective services across this country and stop the abuse that CPS is visiting upon countless families who live alternative lifestyles. We should all care, and once we realize we do, we need to all act."




I took my seat. Ronan nursed to sleep and Nykki was a quiet angel as I listened to the other panelists give their talks. One of the presentations was given by a woman who had actually visited the YFZ compound and showed us slides of their lifestyle.

It was amzing to see the self sufficiency. These people had brought to life in the desert a true United Order of Zion. They grew all their own food on raised bed gardens. They had built a temple, communal houses, schools, a fire department and even a sewage system. They furnished their homes with all hand crafted furniture, toys, clothes, etc. I was amazed. It was almost enough to have me packing my things for Texas. It was better than any hippie communal living project I had ever seen. Truly amazing.

After it was over I was in shock as Margaret Tuscano herself came up to me and thanked me for my preentation and told me how much she enjoyed it. I nearly pissed myself! She is hands down the female half of my favorite scholar team of all time THE Tuscanos! Maxine Hanks approuched me and said she wanted to talk to me and get to know me better. A few minutes later I bumped into D. Micheal Quinn (literally) in the hallway. I was walking on air. It was like some all star line-up of greatness. I couldn't believe I was there among it all!

After a nice lunch and a rest back in the room for the kids, I went back and was able to catch a few presentations. We ate dinner, we mingled and I met lots of lovely people who read my blog *waves* The first day there was also the day I got to meet Bored in Vernal in the flesh! What a sweet and beautiful woman she is! I was so thrilled!

Nykki passed out during a session

Back to the room for cartoons nad then I attempted to go to the evening presentaion which was documentary on African Americans and the Church. I thought the kids would be tired and they usually behave so well in movie theaters I thought it would work out fine. Well, it didn't work so well. Ronan was too well rested and he kept walking out the back door to the room and then would run down the hallway. He did all this while barely making a sound so I wasn't too worried about it. At one point when I was hanging out in the doorway watching the film and keeping an eye on Ronan an old, skinny, pointy eye-browed woman came up to me and said to me that having children at an evening session was inappropriate.

I said, "Children are part of our society." as she started walking away.

"Children belong with a baby sitter!" She yelled at me over her hunched, scrawny shoulder.

"Children belong with their mother, I am their mother!" I was so livid!

"They belong with a baby sitter!" She yelled once more as she rounded the corner. I quickly gathered the kids and rushed off to chase her down. This argument was not over. But when I got around the corner she was gone and I had no idea which way she had went.

About 10 minutes after that Ronan started squealing and Nykki couldn't sit still. I wanted them to behave so much to prove that b**ch wrong but they were just too much so we went back to the room.

It was lucky we did however because we got to meet the halrious Becky - or the Beckster a everyone calls her - when she came up to visit Doe in our room. I adored the Beckster right away -it's hard not to! And I was thankful that the kids had been loud and I had to go back to the room.

Stay tuned for day 3 and 4 coming tomorrow!

I'm Back...Barely

Ok, so my the first 90% of my trip was fabulous, one of the best times of my life! The last 10% was beyond miserable. Details coming as soon as I rest and recover and get up the strength to type them.

Hello *waves* to all my Sunstone friends!! I love you!

Last Post (I think) Before Sunstone!

So here's a quote to get me in the mood

“You are literally spirit daughters of Deity, ‘offspring of exalted parents’ with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. You received your first lessons in the world of spirits from your heavenly parents."

- Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president


So, I'm rushing around today, nervous, check list in hand checking, cheacking and re-checking. A trip, one talk, two panels and...oh yeah...my kids. Yikes!

Wish me luck! I'll be trying to update while at Sunstone from my phone using mobile blogger but in case that doesn't work check back in on Tuesday the 12th of August - that should be the first time I can update the blog and you'll get to hear all about my trip (and see pics)!

Hugs to my readers!