Edumecated

It turns out it becomes very difficult to blog, when you are off having fun, and learning to become a better wife/mother/person at education week. For the past 3 days we have spent 12 hours a day at the BYU campus. The campus is just beautiful! There are pretty flowers, and all these new, amazing buildings. Even the old buildings that are left standing, have had a makeover. The trick to attending classes for 12 hours without falling asleep? Go to bed as soon as you get home.

I have learned so many new things, that I can't even remember any of them. Just kidding. I have taken pages and pages of notes, and will have to read over those notes to fully reap the benefits of all the knowledge. Education week offers classes on so many subjects, too many to even think about. We have mainly focused on parenting, marriage, and self-improvement. We have been armed with techniques to teach our children to become independent, responsible adults. I enjoyed 2 hours of wonderful music by Michael Ballam. Some teachers have tried to explain how to influence the people around me, especially my husband (wink wink). While other teachers flat out taught me that I can NEVER change anyone else. (they have to WANT to change themselves)

Last night was really fun. After classes, we met up with my good friend Jill Simmons. We chatted and chatted, talked about her fun upcoming adventure to Germany, and before we knew it, it was 10pm. I love how I can go 2 years without seeing a friend, and it seems like we just saw each other last week. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of us, ... so I guess I'll have to try and remember what we all looked like that night.

When we leave a place of residence, it's amazing how fast we forget the details. Details like street names, locations of businesses, and on campus, the names of buildings. It's even more amazing how quickly it all comes back, when you submerse yourself back into that environment. You remember little details, like the back way out of a building, or a better located bathroom on the next floor etc.

A social experiment should be conducted, in regards to human behavior. When 700 people try to leave a room, and things get congested, how many people will just stand there? How many will stand there, and wait for 15 minutes until they can finally get out? And which people will look behind them, and realize that if they just walk to the front of the room, and around, they can get out of the building immediately? Same with bathrooms. How many people just stand in line, with 20 people in front of them, while they could just go up a flight of stairs, and have no wait whatsoever? I've learned something new about myself this week: I am one of those people, who looks for alternatives. I don't want to be part of THAT croud.


I don't know how many people attend education week.... It's got to be at least 15,000. That's a lot of people on one campus. Especially when 3,000 of those people want to attend the same lecture, while only 500 can fit in the lecture room. Some speakers, such as John Bytheway, are very popular. He has also been lecturing in a fairly small auditorium (500 cap). What does this mean? It means that people start lining up, for over an hour before the lecture even begins. (this picture was taken a full 45 minutes before the class started, and you can't really see, but the line was all the way around the building!) Also, when the hosting staff isn't doing their jobs well, things can get ugly between all those ladies in line. The first day, the hosters were snaking the line back and forth inside. The line went back and forth about 20 times, and this is before the previous class even gets out. As soon as the round of classes got out, things got really crazy! Thousands of ladies (and a few men) come in the building, think they see the end of the line, but then are quickly corrected by the other thousands of women who have been standing in the snake-line for the past hour. No... this is not the end of the line... that's about 10 rows over!

We have just one more day of classes left, and then it's on to applying all these wonderful lessons in my life.

I will never get angry at my kids again.
My time will be organized, and effectively used.
I will give consequences to my kids.
I will influence others around me.
I will understand the gospel better.
I will keep the Sabbath day holy
I will be a better listener.
I will communicate better

I will... oh never mind.... I hope to be able to accomplish all these things, but I really can't say for sure that I'll actually be successful! All I can do is try the best I can, and periodically review the lessons I am learning. And of course,.... come back next year, to learn even more!

Joe and I met right here, in the Outdoor Unlimited at the bike shop. I almost walked back there, until I realized that if I did that, they would probably call security and kick me out!