Weekend Influence

I almost broke this marathon post into two different ones but I didn't want to risk not finishing. There's your warning.

This past weekend we went over to Seattle for a wedding reception for Milo's cousin, Collin and his new wife Stacey. We made a weekend of it and stayed with Kyle and Heidi a couple nights. It ended up being a really busy weekend for them but they willingly took us in and I'm so glad!

{Funny side note about the photo. I had to empty out a bag to use that has been storing my 'vintage' Cabbage Patch Dolls and Reed attatched himself to one of the baby boys. It was so cute, he cuddled him all the way over to Seattle. He can't stand the baby now so it was cute while it lasted.}

On the way over we were stuck in some major construction traffic and it was killer. It took us over an hour extra to get there and can I just say, what in the world did parents do before DVD players? It was heaven for Reed once we popped in Finding Nemo. I don't know exactly when Dane fell asleep but he tolerated the drive over quite well sleeping in the back seat, ha. Two days of school in a row really wore him out. We pulled a late nighter and I highlighted Heidi's hair as we sent Dane back to bed 25 times (that's probably a low number!). I think we finished by midnight, maybe later. It took Dane until 1am to fall asleep, I was definitely afraid for Saturday.

Saturday morning it was pouring rain. At times it was a torrential downpour. This is one of those times I'm not exaggerating about the weather, I promise. I tried taking pictures of the river running down the street but they just don't do it justice. We had planned on a pumpkin patch but that was scratched due to all the wet weather. We talked the men into taking the 4 oldest kids to the children's museum with free tickets and Heidi and I took Reed and Preston shopping. The men got the better end of the deal for sure, 2 yr old boys don't like shopping. Especially mine! Heidi found me in the store listening for Reed's screaming/crying.

We went back to their house, ate lunch and got ready for the wedding reception. It was at the Space Needle and the kids were so excited to go inside for the first time. Reed was a beast shopping and Heidi offered to let him take a nap at their house. I'm so glad we didn't end up taking him, he would not have had fun. Being told no 100 times would have done him in for sure.

I can't believe I didn't take one photo of Collin and Stacey. They looked so happy and were positively giddy about 'their day'. Their reception was held in a room about 100 feet up and it had such a gorgeous view of ground. We were there early so the kids ran around to all the windows, checking out each view. We watched a few of those barges come and go and after an hour or so fog rolled in making this side look almost spooky. The fall colors were so pretty, I love the bright red and yellow leaves.

It was such a cloudy, rainy day until we rode to the top and amazingly, the clouds broke with the sun peeking out a time or two. Kyle was joking before we left that we'd get to see 10 feet at the top with all the fog and rain. I'm so glad he was wrong, we had gorgeous views. It was windy and at times felt like it was swaying (scary, especially for Marion) but it was so fun to see the kids loving it up there.

Don't you love all these red trees amongst the concrete? Simply gorgeous.


We posed for a partial family photo at the top. Thanks Lou.

We left the reception and drove in another downpour of rain (again through rivers and lakes standing on the freeway, it was so scary) and Milo dropped me off at a church to meet Heidi so we could listen to Sheri Dew speak at a fireside. I'm so glad Heidi was able to find me a ticket, it was a great meeting.

She spoke on influence. The influences around us, those we influence and how we can be such a positive force for good. Both alone and as a whole of women in the church. She estimated that 500 women were at the meeting and each one of us had influence at the very least, on 100 people. Probably more. Once you start counting family, immediate and extended, friends, neighbors, ward members, coworkers, etc, I'm sure the number would be well over that. Then she said that with those numbers, those of us at the meeting had influence on roughly 50,000+ people. That's a lot of people from one chapel full of women. I feel so recharged when I attend meetings like this one and feel a little let down I forget what was said and more importantly the feeling I had so soon after it's over. I take such scattered notes but I still want to post them so I can work at remembering what was said. Heidi, correct me if I'm wrong.

:: Who is influencing you? Are you the influencer or the influencee? Is it for good or evil?

:: As sisters we need to be a force that pushes back against evil. (I feel like it's going to take us literally pushing back the evil around us.)

:: Satan is distorting womanhood, motherhood and marriage all around us using disruptive behaviors. He wants us 1- confused about who we are, 2-to have no idea what the Savior did and will do for us and to deny us the power of the Atonement, 3- to never learn what personal revelation is.

:: To push back against his evil, we need to counteract with 1-Knowing who we are, 2-gaining a personal witness of the power of the Atonement, 3- knowing how to recieve personal revelation.

:: She quoted Jeffery R. Holland (a favorite speaker) with something he said at a funeral, 'Sometimes we act like we are going to stay here and we can't, we aren't and we wont.' I love this quote!

:: Ask the Lord to teach you through the Spirit. Be teachable.

:: Our influence is greater than we think or know it is.