Time Out

Time out for Women the name says it all. It's not what you think sitting in a corner with your nose on the wall. No...this is the new and improved TIME OUT plus it's for women so it's all fluff, tears, laughter and fun, fun, fun! All of the Goulding women were invited but Laur couldn't make it 'cause she's too busy getting A's and Bug didn't make it because she was too busy having a baby (a cute baby). So our little troop consisted of me, mom, Ren, Sis, and Nic. We (me, mom, and Sis) flew to Phoenix on Thursday, stayed at Ren's and hung out with the kids (cute kids). Friday we picked Nic up at the airport and then took a little detour over to IKEA. Cool store with a million space saving ideas and items.Friday afternoon Luke came home early and we took off for the kick-off concert and speaker at TOFW. It was so good. Michael Wilcox spoke and then the men who wrote and produced the CD's Life of Joseph Smith, and the Pioneer Trek performed some of the songs from the Joseph Smith CD for us. They are very talented and it was wonderful. That night we ate a late dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I thought the choice of restaurants was interesting since we all ordered salad.

Once we got back to the hotel some people actually had the nerve to want to sleep! I won't mention names, but it was the grandma one and the pregnant one. The rest of us me, Ren, and Sis stayed up and played card games and tried taking some really artful and tasteful (licorice) pictures of the sleepy ones. But me and my loud mouth kind of ruined it because I could not stop laughing. We wanted to take a picture of mom and Nic asleep with some licorice next to them, but the idea of mom seeing herself snoring next to a piece of licorice really struck my funny bone and I let loose with a hyena type laugh. Mom and Nic woke up were not impressed with our rowdy behavior and told us to back off. Which I thought was kind of rude considering we could have made them famous with the right shot. I was getting a little sleepy and knowing that me, Ren and Sis had an unspoken bond of loyalty I fell asleep knowing that I was safe from any licorice escapades-once again I was wrong and the next morning I found myself in the middle of a controversial photo shoot that did in fact involve licorice and me sleeping soundly...very soundly like I think you can see drool coming from the corner of my mouth. Thanks Ren.

The next morning we woke up early drove to TOFW and were spiritually fed. Micheal McLean hosted the event, Jenny Jordon Frogley was the musical guest and the speakers were amazing. I'll write a little quote from each talk so you can get an idea about each presentation. Carolyn Ramsus wrote the book "Simplify" and she spoke on how to you guessed it....simplify. Not our homes, but our lives. She quoted Ardath Kapp and this pretty much sums up her talk "The adversary would keep us busy with a multitude of trivial things so we cannot focus on the things that matter." -

Camille Fronk Olson Spoke she wrote the book "Martha and Mary" she spoke on the women in the Old and New Testaments and the influence they had on the laws and men in charge at that time. There only 3 women named in the Book of Mormon, but there are over 170 named in the bible. She said women of bible: Loved the Lord, were brief and to the point in voicing their concerns, didn't care who received the credit, and stayed united in their cause.

Merilee Boyack spoke on Wifehood 101: 5 things you need to know. Here talk was one of my favorites. She had us laughing and crying at the same time. Here are the five things you need to know: Thou Shalt have no other intimate partners (physically, emotionally, or mentally) Thou Shalt not take thy Husbands name in vain (don't bad mouth your man) Thou Shalt Fan the Flame (take care of yourself, listen, have fun together) Thou Shalt not try to fix your husband (love him for what he is) Thou shalt act as if...."if you treat your husband as if he possess a certain attribute he will begin to act as if he possess it and soon he will. The last speaker was

Dean Hughes the author of a ton of books but the series I love that he wrote is the "Children of Promise" He said life is not a race to please ourselves or to impress others, Christ taught us to forget ourselves and to give things up in order to be happy. Michael McLean and Jenny Jordan Frogley sang and did their thing in between the speakers and all in all it was AWESOME!

After TOFW we ate dinner at Pei Wei one of Ren's favorite places. The food was really good as you can see in the photo below...yum, yum, (Ren you never know when a piece of licorice is going to show up so you better enjoy your noodles while you can.)When I sat in church the week following TOFW Abbie was removing my jewelry, Katie yanking on my hair, and Nathan trying to use my body as a jungle gym I thought to myself...this is why I love TOFW. It recharges your battery so you can be a human jungle gym and not get too bugged by the whole process. I loved everything about the weekend, especially spending time with my mom and little sisters they are so much fun to hang out with. I really dig them (and their licorice). And I really dig my cute husband for letting me go. Thanks babe!

Brother's Retreat @ Park City

Monday morning we sent the big kids to school, gave instructions to the babysitter, kissed the little ones, and hit the road for Park City. Joseph and I caught a ride with Jared and Heidi which was really great because Jared's truck is cleaner than ours (barely) and we are too cheap to buy gas. (Just kidden'...our car is cleaner than his.) But, seriously it was fun to ride up and be able to visit with them. Jared is a very capable driver and Heidi is a very capable conversationalist. Good job guys!

We met at the Homestead and golfed 18 holes, the guys were nice enough to let me join them. It worked out well since John and Kami couldn't come up until later in the evening. So I got to golf and they had their foursome so nobody had to ride alone and of course I taught them a few new skills along the way. Everybody was happy-need I say more?

Melody and Heidi rode along for the first nine holes and cheered for us, I was the only one who really needed any cheerleaders because the guys were able to hold their own. They are all really great golfers (not too good at keeping score, but great golfers.) I mention the score thing not for their sake but for mine. They let me take a couple mulligans without counting them. Using Andrew's words of wisdom "nobody is paying you to golf, so do what you want to." Normally I wouldn't "cheat" but Andrew is much, much, much, older and a bit wiser than I so I did what he told me. Thanks Andew. Oh, by the way I did get my first birdie and yes it was legit! Hooray!

Monday night we went out to dinner and then back to Andrew and Melodi's room to eat chocolate, and watch a movie. Nobody made it all the way through the movie, we were all a little tired from golfing and traveling. Not to mention Jared was with us, and it was past 8:00 so Heidi had to take him back to the room to make sure he rinsed his dentures properly you know how old people get about their bedtime routine.

It was probably a good thing we all got some rest because on Tuesday the guys golfed 36 holes and we spent almost the entire day shopping, visiting, and laughing. Apparently Aaron hooked up with the guys at one of the courses. That was cool-all the brothers hanging out for a bit. We thought he might get to come and eat dinner with us but alas it was not meant to be. He had to go and get promoted. (It's nice that your priorities are straight Aaron! By the way congratulations!)

As you can tell by the photos the girls thought it was a shopping retreat I forgot my camera when we were golfing, but I remembered it when we were shopping and eating. All of the shopping was not just fun we actually had an assignment. We all had to search the racks to find the ugliest clothes and try them on. Well...let me say as the assignment giver Kami and Melodi both received failing grades, they were too busy trying on cute stuff to be bothered by my petty little assignment so let it be known Heidi not only received an A but she also got extra credit. Check out her outfits-woooweee that is one hot mama! We can only hope that next year Kami and Melodi will be a little bit less selfish and join in so we can laugh at them too.

We ate dinner that night at a restaurant called Redrock which is kind of weird since Park City isn't known for red rocks but hey whatever works. The food was really great so we'll let the name thing pass this time. After dinner we kept Elison tradition and partook of a little ice cream. Yummy! Wednesday morning the guys golfed again and we shopped again...I'm getting tired just thinking of that shopping. Next year I think I'll talk the guys into letting me golf with them on the last day. I'm pretty sure I would have been less tired golfing than I was shopping. Melodi, Kami, and Heidi are like slave drivers. I was worn out. Once the guys were done we all met for lunch, said our good-byes and headed home.

Like I said it was a brother's retreat or at least that's what they thought. You know how women can get men to think just about anything they want them to with a little feminine persuasion...

Can't wait for next years shopping, uh I mean"brother's retreat"!

South Carolina

In August Joseph and I packed our bags and headed out on a grand adventure. Well, it really wasn't much of an adventure it was more like a grand tour of relaxation and leisure. Which in my opinion is even better!

We traveled to Charleston, South Carolina and then on to Kiawah Island just a 30 minute drive from downtown Charleston. The resort on Kiawah is amazing and very exclusive. Oh-by the way Beneficial Financial payed the tab, so that's why we were able to stay in such a haughty taughty place. Here's a little bit of info. about the resort. Unless you are staying or working at the resort or one of the bungalow's or are a resident (there are only 500) you are not permitted on the island. So as you can imagine the miles of beaches are quite bare. The thing I loved the most about the beaches was the water was so warm (86 degrees) and you could walk out over 100 feet and the water was just chest level. A perfect beach for kids! Too bad our kids parents (me) are too cheap to take them there.
While we were gone Abbie got a bit homesick for us and called several times a day. It was so nice to hear her voice and know that we were missed. On one of these phone calls she was pretty sad so I asked her what I could do to help her feel better. She replied "Mom just go the beach and call me so that I can hear the waves." Oh-what a sweetheart.

We had a wonderful time touring Kiawah Island and the city of Charleston, but we had even more fun touring the restaurants. We didn't have a bad meal the entire time we were gone. The food was amazing as you can see by the photos-Abbie wanted us to take a picture of all of the stores and all of the food so she could see for herself all of the fun stuff we did.

While were were there we saw alligators, a dolphin, a turtle, pelicans, and a snake. It was weird walking down the paths and looking out and seeing an alligator sunning on the golf course or laying in a marsh. Wild!

We loved visiting the South and eating their food, but I was so glad to get back to the dry deserts of Southern Utah. I thought there was a good chance that I was going to melt into the sidewalk. The humidity didn't seem to bother the people from South Carolina I guess they get used to it, just like we get used to the heat. Besides while we were there we learned that Southern women don't sweat or perspire-they "glow." Let me tell you if that's the case if I would have walked into a dark room I would have lit the place up. Holy glow!

Pirate Boy

Last week in the early morning hours I went outside to do a little weeding in the pumpkin patch. I looked up a couple of minutes later and here came my little Nathy Boy to keep me company.


He starts out with "What ya doin' mom?" I reply "Oh I'm just weeding the pumpkin patch so we can get some big pumpkins for Halloween." "That's (s)pooky" he says. We start talking about trick or treating and then I ask the question that leads me into this whole entry-"So Nathan what do you want to dress up like for Halloween?" Without missing a beat he says "I'm gonna be a ghost pirate." I make a mental note to limit his time watching Scooby Doo.


The rest of that day he keeps talking about being a pirate and wanting to be one right now! So about noon I grab my multi-purpose black eye liner and draw a "patch" on his eye, a mustache on his cute little lip and wrap a bandana around his head and in an instant he went from being a cute little boy to a darling little pirate. I thought that his new obsession with being a pirate would be over that day, but at bath time he cried because he didn't want his patch washed off. So I reapplied his patch and mustache then I snuggled up to him in bed, kissed his bandana clad head and in his drowsy little voice he said "Mama, no kiss me. I'm a pirate boy." and then he feel asleep dreaming sweet pirate dreams. Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirates life for me....