I got back today from a nice little Stake Relief Society Retreat. It was an overnight event, even though only like 20 people actually camped there (our homes were only 15 minutes away so most people just went home, then came back in the a.m.). I felt privileged to go to this event, especially because hardly anybody does this type of thing. It was up in Hobble Creek Canyon, at Jolley’s Ranch– such a beautiful area– I only wish we had had some sort of hiking/exercise time to explore the place a little during our stay! A lady in my ward brought her bike and rode around in the morning before breakfast, which was pretty smart of her. I’ll do that next year. But it was fun; lots of hanging out, fresh air, musical numbers, good food, and classes/speakers. The various classes were either spiritual, informative, or crafty, or a mixture of any of those. One of the classes I took was a CPR class that was really informative, because the ratios have been simplified to just one (30:2 ratio of compressions to ventilations, for all ages). Anyway, thank you to McMom and Pace for watching Chase so I could get away for this experience, and to Pace for “making me” spend the night (although it was not a very warm or comfortable night–it didn’t help that before bed we were discussing all the recent local bear sightings and the mauling of the poor little boy by that crazy bear). I really felt like I bonded with women from my ward and stake, and I also had a very uplifting experience. I think that every stake should do this sort of thing– I’m convinced that it makes us better women/wives/moms!
By the way, the photo shown here is not really from the retreat; I didn’t even bring my camera. Pace took this beautiful photo in Dec. 2005 in the redwoods at my parents’ property. Just wanted to give credit where credit was due!