The last weekend of every April, BYU hosts Women's Conference, two days of speakers, classes, service projects, and sharing stations. I went once, in 1998 when I was pregnant with Lauren, and haven't made it back since. Over the last few years I would hear of friends making the trip to Utah for Women's Conference and think, how did I miss it again?! So I got myself on the email distribution list and determined that this year I was going whether anyone else was or not. When I got the email about registration around the first of the year, I emailed my friend Christy, whom I knew had gone a couple years ago, and she was on board to go. She talked to Elizabeth H. about it, Elizabeth H. talked to Corinne, and we all booked our plane tickets. Then we heard that Emily, Suzi, and Rebecca were going too. And so were Melissa and Stacey, because Melissa's sister was the opening speaker on Thursday morning. At the airport we ran into Kathryn, who was meeting her mom at Conference just for the first day. It was a fabulous girl getaway.
Above, Rebecca, Kathryn and me. Below, Suzi, Christy, Elizabeth H., and Emily. We were all on the same flight to SLC.
During the first class session on Thursday, I went into one of the service rooms where I could cut and tie fleece scarves while I watched a live televised broadcast of a speaker on another part of the campus.
Christy, Elizabeth H. and I skipped the 12:30 class on Thursday to enjoy lunch at Slab Pizza. They have an ingenious concept for ordering pizza- every customer orders a slab of pizza, a quarter of a large pizza. As soon as 4 slabs are ordered, they make and bake the pizza, then deliver the quarters. So we ordered three different flavors, carmelized onion with goat cheee, Thai with peanut sauce, and BBQ chicken. They triple cut each slab, so we each got to try them all. They were all amazing!
You can't visit BYU without getting ice cream at the BYU Creamery! The caramel cashew was divine!
This next story has to be one of the highlights of my trip. It's kink of a long, confusing story, but I'm going to share it anyway. My dear friend Lisa, formerly of Boston, now of Highland, UT, picked me up on Friday evening after the conference was over so I could spend the weekend with her. Elizabeth H. and her family were heading to a Thai restaurant in Orem, and Lisa and I decided we would give it a try (Elizabeth's sister served her mission in Thailand and goes to this place almost weekly, so you know it's authentic). We walked into the restaurant and Lisa immediately recognized a girl she'd danced with on the BYU International Folk Dance Team years ago. Then we walked over to say hi to Elizabeth H. and her parents who were just finishing up. Lisa's parents and Elizabeth's parents both served as mission presidents in Nigeria at the same time, so Lisa had met them before. Then as we were just getting served our dinner, this guy came and sat at our table, and with arms on the table said, "How you doing, girls?" I just looked at him, thinking, "Does he work here and wants to know how our food is?" Seeing the bewildered look on my face, he asked, "Don't you recognize me?" at which point Lisa said, "It's Zach Aanderud!" What?!?! Let me give you some background to make this declaration more meaningful. In 1984, my family and the Aanderud family moved into the same neighborhood in Portland. We were in the same ward, along with Lisa. Ben was two years older than me, Zach was a year younger than me. They became like brothers to me. Ben drove me to seminary and school, I in turn drove Zach to seminary and school. Their home was like a second home. Our families vacationed together. I love this family! I exchange Christmas cards with Ben and am FB friends with their sister, but I can't remember the last time I saw Zach. Probably before he left on his mission which would have been in 1991 maybe? So it's been about 20 years. He's married, has 4 kids, and he and his wife are both professors at BYU. It was such a treat to see him! I certainly hope this is what Heaven will be like, bumping into all the people you have known and loved over the years.
Then, on Saturday, Lisa and I went to Salt Lake to check out the new City Creek Mall adjacent to Temple Square. While standing in Loft I heard someone say my name. I turned and looked into the face of this young woman and she said, "It's your cousin, Becky!" Of course it was my cousin Becky! But it's been three years since I last saw her, and seeing her out of context (she lives in Portland, not SLC), threw me. Becky was in town visiting her twin sisters, Stephanie and Valerie, so she went and dragged them out of H&M and we took a picture together. Another fun surprise!
Temple Square was just beautiful with all the tulips in bloom.
Saturday night, Lisa introduced me to Downton Abbey, the PBS series I'd heard so much about. We watched the first 6 episodes of Season 1 before I boarded my plane for home on Sunday evening. It was a very rejuvenating and refreshing long weekend. Even three weeks later I am still feeling renewed. I think this is going to become an annual tradition. I can hardly wait for next April!
