The second day of the retreat, we split up into separate groups.  My aunties all went to the salon in limos, and mom and I stayed behind to take some classes.  The first class we took was on Balanced Health and it was taught by Dr. Stan Gardner.

He fed us all GREAT information that I have tucked away in my beautiful notebook. My only regret was that we didn’t get enough TIME with the doc! I could have easily sat at his feet for three hours. One great tip he gave us that I’ll pass onto you is this: have a glass of water with added fiber (think Metamucil) at least 15 minutes before eating, and it will help keep you from over eating.
Simple!
Here’s a short exercise he passed on that is HIGHLY effective.

While doing this, it’s important to remember not to squeeze the finger… just hold it. There is an emotion tied to each of our five fingers.
The thumb is connected with worry.
The pointer finger is connected with fear.
The flip-off finger is connected with anger (go figure!).
The ring finger is connected with grief.
The pinky finger is connected with pretense (or the feelings that go along with pretending to be something you are not).

After his amazing (and much too short) lesson, we were sent to lunch. Imagine eating lunch after a session like that! My mind was all a’blur with thoughts like…
Is there enough vegetables?
Am I overeating?
Too many toxins?
And on and on…

Luckily, the food came from a place that doesn’t use any sugar, and all of their food is made out of the healthiest stuff they can get. So we ate worry free -and we didn’t even have to hold our thumbs.

After lunch, we met back in the upstairs room of the dinosaur museum and listen to Darin Knowles speak on motivation.

Darin helped to give us the tools we need to take ALL of the information we picked up during the three days (and there was A LOT) and put it to good use when we got home. He was passionate about what he was talking about, and it was easy to listen to him. It’s really easy to listen to anyone who is passionate about what they’re doing. At the end of his stellar lesson, he explained to us how hard it is for men to express themselves fully to women because they don’t feel the full range of emotions like women do. He said he once heard a song that he felt described his feelings best, and he asked us all to close our eyes, imagine that everyone we loved (kids, spouse, siblings, parents…) was standing in a circle around us and singing this song. It seems REALLY cliche to have a group of women absolutely WEEPING over a Celine Dion song, but you know what? It really spoke to us and got us the message that we needed.

After a short break during which we used up all of the toilet paper in the bathrooms (drying our tears, okay?) we all came back to the big room and were taught a lesson in poise by a woman named Shauna Ockey. I wanted her dress.

She’s from Canada, and I just have to say: every one of the great people who taught us came and taught for FREE. AND they paid their own air fare. Amazing.
Every speaker linked their topics back to the gospel and kept Christ at the center of their teachings which was awesome.
Shauna gave us the 5 signs of a well kept woman. Here they are:
#1) Hair
*clean
*well kept

#2) Face
*clean
*Teeth brushed

#3) Fingernails
*All the same length
*dirt cleaned out

#4) Clothing
*In good repair
*Clean

#5) Well Groomed

She also taught us the proper way to stand and told us that we needed to practice, so I did. I practiced all day that day and the next and the next and I’m STILL practicing! At first, it made my back ache like crazy, but now it’s getting used to it and thank goodness! My posture isn’t the greatest, and it feels good to know I’m training it back into it’s proper place.
After teaching us about poise, she gave us an etiquette lesson. The next night, as we sat eating dinner, there were a slideshow of picture being projected onto the wall behind me. I was starving, but I wanted to see the slideshow… SO I stuck a fork in my chicken, turned around in my seat and then just took bites out of my chicken as I watched. After a few minutes, I turned around to return my chicken to my plate to find that SHAUNA was sitting directly across the table from me.
GAH!
I don’t think she noticed on account of the slideshow. Here’s hopin!
She quoted President Hinckley in the end:
“Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth.”

That night, we had an inspiring evening devotional. Barbara Barrington Jones talked a little bit about balance. She told us to draw a triangle on the page we were taking notes on. At the top of the triangle, we wrote the word “brain” on one bottom corner we wrote the word “physical body” on the other bottom corner we wrote the word “spiritual health.” She told us EACH of those three needed constant nurturing, but the KEY to success was not only nurturing all of those three but…
(she then had us draw a circle inside of our triangle and write the word “service” in it)
SERVING!

The best part about the evening (aside from getting the secrets of success, I mean) was getting to see my aunts after they’d spent most of the day at the salon.

See how pretty?  (her not me.  I hadn’t gotten my salon day, yet.  In fact, I’d spent the better part of the day bawling over Celine Dion songs.)

That night after Barbara’s devotional, we were able to listen to a concert given by Jessie Funk:

She is so purdy…

Mom answered one of her trivia questions right (how many liters are in a gallon?) and won a CD:

After her concert was over, I bull-rushed her and asked her if I could snap a picture of her hair.

Cutest style ever! I didn’t want to forget it because I’m going to try it out just as soon as I get my hands on a cute headband.

The next day, mom and I went to the salon. More on that later.
Remember how I told you we were going to play with water balloons for our FHE? Well, we did.

The boys were ALL about it. I had fun, too. Not as much fun as the boys… what is it about throwing something and making it break that just thrills a boy?
Lacy thought the whole idea was stinking.

Throwing balloons chuck full of water at PEOPLE so they’ll get WET?! It’s attack! Cruelty!

Being the boy he is, my husband threw a water balloon at a bird perched on a fence.
And instead of watching it fly off, like he thought would happen, he watched it fall.
PLOP.
And it never flew away.
So he got his gloves on and went looking for it:

He spotted it hopping around on the ground with a broken wing, and he tried to catch it. It hopped under some branches, so my husband tried to flush it out with a stick:

Almost an hour went by, and we still couldn’t find the bird. So he got TWO sticks:

FINALLY, we got the bird:

My husband wouldn’t give up. Behind all that “hey-let’s-throw-a-water-balloon-at-a-bird-har-har” facade, there’s really a nice man who cares enough to catch and care for the bird he broke.

At least until he goes to work. Now it’s ME who has to fish it out from under the stove.
Help!

I lost the water balloon fight.
And to tie this post up in a nice bow, here’s a cute picture: