Thanksgiving Ideas, a Photo Contest, and a Great Giveaway

Someday soon, I'll post about Halloween and about the kids' crazy-and-now-finished Cross Country and Volleyball seasons and about our fun family trip to Arches for fall break. I've got posts half-done. But as you can tell, I haven't had time to blog much lately! There are so many beautiful and not-so-beautiful little things that happen every day and that I want to capture so Instagram has been great for that. If you want more than this slowed-down blog can give, you can always check out what we're up to at Instagram - photos most every day at http://instagram.com/sarenloosli


I LOVE Thanksgiving. So I wrote a whole post about it on Power of Moms - sharing 9 fun and simple ways to focus the whole month of November on gratitude and the joy that comes with it. Here's my post: 9 Ways to Fill November with Thanksgiving

And we're doing an instagram gratitude photo contest at Power of Moms this month. All you need to do is post a photo (or one each day if you're ambitious) of something you're grateful for (your baby's cute little toes, your teenagers rare smile, your just-fixed dishwasher, beautiful fall leaves, whatever speaks to your heart . . .) and include #gratitudepowerofmoms plus @powerofmoms in your post to "submit" it. Then the week before Thanksgiving, Power of Moms will pick five winning photos from all those submitted and the posters of those five winning photos will each receive a Power of Moms program worth up to $100. 

So post photos of what you're grateful for and you'll feel extra grateful plus you'll maybe win a great prize.

Finally, here's a little guest post from my dad and mom to explain a little giveaway at the end of this post:
In our family, Thanksgiving has always been the "key" holiday.  So many of our traditions have centered on Thanksgiving, and we always felt it was the perfect lead-in to Christmas and the perfect harbinger of the holidays.  After all, what could be a better precursor to Christmas and to celebrating the birth of Christ than all kinds of gratitude and Thanks-Giving!

Early in our marriage, we decided that rather than get into the Christmas Card frenzy, we would jump the gun a bit and send out a Thanksgiving Card each year.  We have done that now for 44 years, and the cards actually tell the story of our family.  The pictures that went with the cards each year show the growing up of each child, and the poems we wrote to go with the photos trace the pattern of what had happened each year and where our gratitude was centered.

Finally, as Thanksgiving continued to mean more and more to us, we decided to write a book about gratitude, and about the connections of Thanks-Giving to Joy, to Peace, and to family security and unity.  Since much of what we wanted to say was about feelings, we felt the book needed to be as much about pictures as about poetry and prose.  Luckily, we have some great photographers in the family, and we were able to use their work to illustrate the book.




As it was finished this fall THE THANKFUL HEART has become not only a how-to book on the ways to enhance and magnify gratitude, but a kind of short hand history of the Eyre family (Eyrealm as we call it) and we could think of no better way to start "getting it out" than on our wonderful daughters' blogs.  The publisher has agreed to a little give away where you can comment on this blog and go into a drawing for free copies.  And for those who don't win a book (we've never won a drawing in our lives) it is now on sale at Amazon HERE.

The subtitle of the book is a good summary:  "How Deliberate Gratitude can Change Every Texture of Our Lives."


And the back cover quote is the essence:  "Gratitude does not lead to happiness; gratitude is happiness in its most obtainable form."


Hope you love it,  Linda and Richard Eyre

*** I get to give away a copy of this beautiful new book! Share your favorite Thanksgiving tradition or idea for expressing gratitude and I'll randomly select a commenter to receive a free book, shipped right to your door. I'll announce winners on Saturday, November 8th.

First Week of Summer Break - and Instagram Info

I'm realizing that Instagram is a great way to record our family's daily adventures this summer. I can do it right in the moment and I don't have to find a good-sized chunk of time to compose and upload pictures like I do with this blog. I'll still be posting here about once a week when I have something to record and share that goes beyond some fun pictures and thoughts. But if you'd like to keep up with the non-particularly-thought-provoking goings on of our family this summer, feel free to follow us on Instagram.

You can check out all my Instagram posts by clicking here anytime:
http://instagram.com/sarenloosli/
When you get to that page, click on any picture you want to know more about and the description will come up along with a larger photo.

Or you can follow me on Instagram - if you've got Instagram on your phone, just go into "Explore" (it's the icon that looks like a star or a compass or something like that) and click on the search icon at the top (looks like a magnifying glass) and type in "sarenloosli" then you can find me and follow me.

I've got lots of pictures there of our first action-packed week out of school. We got into our summer routines, did a major clean-out of kids' bedrooms as part of moving the twins into the same room together and the big boys into a shared room (for years, we've had Silas and Isaac in one room and Oliver and Ashton in another and everyone was ready for a change), helped out with a lot of random little and big ward needs, went on a beautiful hike, got all the kids' school projects stored in digital photos or tucked away in binders, went to a water park, researched, bought and built a beautiful new pergola plus a new outdoor table for the backyard (we love a good family project and these kids are really helpful these days!), and enjoyed a fabulous neighborhood party (plus had 1/2 the neighborhood in our backyard for a good part of almost every day - so grateful for wonderful neighbors).

Plus I had a chance to conduct a training for our Power of Moms trainers on Saturday and enjoyed a lovely few hours with some great ladies who'll be putting on some really meaningful trainings this year. And since I had to be in SLC first thing Saturday morning for that training and we were there Friday night for the water park, I stayed overnight with my mom and we had a great slumber party - talked and laughed until almost 2am. I sure love my mom.

And sure, there were some hard times and bumps as we adjusted to our new schedule and dealt with lots of unexpected stuff. Plus I'm way behind on Power of Moms work. But life is good.

Here's a glimpse of some of that from the collage Instagram made for me:

Go to http://instagram.com/sarenloosli/ to make the photos above clickable . . .

Something Super Exciting

Have you missed me?

I spent the past week in Bali with Jared, my parents, my siblings and their spouses. Plus one new baby nephew.

It was beyond wonderful.

I'll write all about it soon and post more photos than you probably really care about. But if you're anxious to take a peek at our trip right now, you can check out a bunch of photos from me and my siblings if you follow me in Instagram (I'm sarenloosli) and click on #eyrealmbaliadventure2014 in any of my posts (I'm still sort of figuring out Instagram but I think that'll work!).

But today I need to write about something super exciting that April and I have been working on for ages and that launched and grew big and wonderful yesterday, just as I got off our string of long, long long flights back from the other side of the world.

Our new book just came out.

It's a compilation of our most popular Power of Moms posts from the past couple of years - posts that have been read and enjoyed by over 2 million moms already via our website - posts that are now gathered conveniently into one lovely book full of inspiration and empowerment for moms.

And thanks to the powerful and beautiful writing of the authors of the book and the efforts of our fabulous book team of over 300 great mom volunteers who want to help champion the cause of deliberate motherhood through this book, the book reached #1 on Amazon yesterday (in the category of Motherhood). Here's a screen shot:

And it appeared as #1 in the "Movers and Shakers" category. Here's a screen shot from Amazon's best-seller's page - you can see our book on the right under "Movers and Shakers."

Pretty cool, huh?

Getting high rankings on Amazon is very exciting and is wonderful step towards getting this important inspirational book into the hands of the many, many moms who need it while helping the world see that motherhood really really matters to a whole lot of people. It's also a step towards getting this book on the NYTimes bestseller list - something that is within our reach if we can the book sales going at a steady and increasing rate. Book sales are down a bit today so we've got to get them back up there!

This is where you step in.

Do you want an amazing book on motherhood? Wouldn't a book like this make a great gift for yourself and all the moms you know? If so, NOW is the time to buy the book so you can help us get to the NYTimes Bestseller list and thereby help way more moms find this important book while helping the world sit up and pay attention to our cause of deliberate motherhood. The topics of books that rank high on best-seller lists become topics that are talked about big-time in the larger world. And isn't it time more people thought more about the power and beauty of motherhood?

You know I don't usually say much about stuff you might want to buy on this blog. I'm so NOT a sales person. But this is important. And this is timely. And I don't want you to miss out.

The book is offered at a special price right now ($12.74) PLUS we're offering a special package of great items to everyone who purchases the book by THIS SATURDAY. 

Learn more about the book and the prizes by clicking the link below and reading over the reviews I cut and pasted from Amazon. And PLEASE pass this page along to all the moms you know who might enjoy a great book and some great bonus prizes. If you can simply share the link below on Facebook or send an email to people you know or write a blog post or whatever, that'd be just wonderful.

MOTHERHOOD REALIZED INFORMATION AND PRIZES

REVIEWS OF THE BOOK (from nearly 100 reviews posted on Amazon.com):
"I have to say this book has changed me. It has changed my attitude towards my mothering, children and family. It has stuck with me in my everyday mothering things like changing diapers and doing laundry. The positive force it has brought into my days has left me feeling so grateful to have read this book! It is perfect for me I can read a lot in one sitting or bits and pieces here and there and still get inspired to do better or to be more real as a mother. Highly recommend this book no matter what stage of mothering you are in!"

"What a refreshing read for mothers! This book is full of positive, uplifting messages that energize me and fill me with hope at becoming the deliberate mother I strive to be. If you are looking for something to inspire and encourage you rather than leaving you feel guilty as a mother, this is the book for you. Would make a great gift for an expectant mother too!"

"I love that this book challenges moms to break through the stereotypes and define—for ourselves—what a "good mother" is. In this modern culture of online interaction, it's become so easy to tear each other down rather than build up, encourage and support. This book empowers the mother to become "her" best self... the type of mother she truly wants to be, rather than what society expects her to be. "

"I LOVE this book for right on my nightstand where I can refer to it in the morning, at night and those times when I lock myself in my room because my kids are driving me bonkers. It helps me have an amazing perspective, find solutions to those challenging difficulties my kids throw at me and calms me to know that other mothers have experienced the same thing I have. I wanted to just read one essay at a time so I could fully soak in the feeling and ideas expressed, but I found myself turning page after page, swimming in a sea of positive, inspiring messages about motherhood. Luckily, I can reread it slowly the next time through. Anyone who has children should read this book!"

Click HERE to read more reviews (there are about a hundred)


Thanks for caring enough to read this. And thanks for helping spread the word about this book if it feels like a good thing for you to do!

Happy New Year!

We love getting creative, beautiful, fun and informative holiday greetings in the mail from friends and family far and near. We put them up all over our kitchen and enjoy looking at the faces of the people we love for weeks.

But years ago, I gave up on trying to send out physical holiday cards. My list got too long as we kept moving and making wonderful new friends and as I developed long lists of great friends through Power of Moms. And for years, I've felt like I just don't have any discretionary time or money and that putting together a decent Christmas experience for my family took any discretionary time and money I did have.

So while I totally admire and appreciate those who send us beautiful cards in the mail and I feel a bit guilty about not reciprocating, I don't think we'll be re-joining the ranks of card-senders anytime soon. We've grown quite attached to the convenience and immediacy and price of emailed/blogged cards and I think my snail mail addresses for all the people I know and love are hopelessly out of date.

So here you go - our digital New Year's Card including a couple collages to give you a quick snapshot of our year and a list of everyone's favorite highlights. It's been quite a year! Of course there were plenty of hard things that went on, but we'll focus on the positive here as we reflect back on all that 2013 brought to our lives.

(Click on photos to enlarge/see the part that insists on being cut off when I publish this post . . .)

2013 Highlights according to each family member:

Ashton:

• Being on the school volleyball team - great coaches and team members, learning to play a new sport
• Chicago - the pizza was absolutely amazing, the Bean was so interesting and cool
• Boston - seeing my cousins' house for the first time, winning the taco-eating contest, cool to see where my parents went to school, super cool robots and stuff at the MIT museum, street performers at Quincy Market
• NYC - the Apple Store, FAO Schwartz, Dad getting in a street performance, staying with my super cute little cousin, musicians in Central Park
• Washington DC - meeting my newest cousin, finding the apartment I want to live in some day (Eli and Julie's awesome modern apartment with a view of the Capitol), the new Air and Space Museum with Eli, visiting the memorials at night
• Bear Lake - seeing all my cousins I wish I could see more, wakeboarding, jet skiing, 
• School - great friends, my photography class, going on an awesome backpacking trip to Havasupai with a school group (check out the video I made here), getting good grades
• Doctor Who - discovering the greatest TV show of all time, having a special party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show
• Ghetto Racer - transforming a shopping cart into a downhill go-cart with one of my friends (picture)

Isaac:

• Going to Washington DC TWO times this summer - once with my family and once with my aunt and cousins, loved staying with the Archibalds, meeting new cousin Zara, touring the Capital building, watching the fireworks on the 4th of July, going to Busch Gardens
• Chicago - the awesome pizza, walking around all the big buildings, the Bean, great music at the amphitheater
• Ohio - visiting the Turner family, playing soccer with them, jumping on their trampoline
• Bear Lake - going on an RV trip with my grandparents and cousins to Lagoon, getting good at wakeboarding, playing with my little cousins, running in the Eyrealm relay race
• Cross Country Team - had a lot of fun, really improved my time 
• Soccer - great coach and team
• School - excited to get my best report card ever and have some of the best teachers ever, really good friends
• Church - was ordained a Deacon, pass the sacrament each week in Church, favorite church youth activities - scout camps, shooting guns, going to Temple Square on the train.

Eliza:

• Bear Lake - getting to be with my cousins for lots of days in a row, Grammie Camp, playing on the beach
• Road Trip - going to Subway like 100 times (well, I got bored of it by the end), staying at good hotels with free breakfast and swimming pools (one with an awesome water park), reading good books in the car, seeing the church history sites, especially the Kirtland Temple and Nauvoo Temple.
• New York - seeing the really tall buildings, street musicians in Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Art, being with cousin Annina
• Boston - staying with cousin Hazel and having fun in her attic, the cool old buildings everywhere, 
• Kansas City - making a new friend named Abbie while my mom did the Retreat there, seeing Liberty Jail
• Basketball - getting first place in the "hot shot" competition, having all my friends on my team and my friend's mom as our coach, getting better at basketball (she was one fiesty player - great at defense)
• School - elected the school Historian, love being on Student Council, awesome science teacher, great friends, being the only blond-headed kid in the Spanish-for-natives class (I love Spanish!)
• Dance -  performing in three big recitals this year, having great friends I've been dancing with for 3 years, my teacher, Miss Jasmine
• Violin - Started 5 months ago, almost done with Suzuki Book 1, wonderful teacher - Miss Hailey, performed in my first recital, love playing my mom's beautiful old violin from England

Oliver:

• Being with you, mommy. (yep, it's nice to be adored and to receive tons of hugs from these twins of mine - I'll take it while I can get it!)
• Seven Peaks water park
• Nauvoo - the temple and the blacksmith shop where we got our own rings made of horseshoe nails
• Boston - the old Statehouse where they read the Declaration of Independence from that little balcony and that started our country
• Scouts -  I love EVERYTHING about Scouts.
• School - playing with my friends at Recess, math and computers, having all my best friends in my class

Silas:

• Bear Lake - swimming and having fun with cousins and staying on Grandfather's boat overnight with my group and Uncle Josh
• New York - staying with Tal and Anita and seeing the big screens in Times Square
• Chicago - feeling like I was teleporting when I was seeing myself reflected in "The Bean"
• Boston - building forts with cousin Charlie and sleeping in it in the attic of his old house, following the red line on the sidewalk to do the Freedom Trail
• School - my teacher, hula hooping at recess, math and all my friends
• Scouts - being with my friends, having awesome leaders, doing the Pinewood Derby and Raingutter Regatta (I had to sand my car and boat a LOT but it was worth it)

Saren:

• Fulfilling my long-held dream of an epic family road trip to visit interesting new places (Chicago, Kansas City, Nauvoo...) and places that helped shape me where dear family members live (Boston, NYC, Washington DC). Loved the time to really talk in the car, the chance to with our kids some places we loved and experiences we had while creating great memories. So enjoyed spending time with great moms at the 5 Power of Moms Retreats I helped conduct as part of our travels.
• Spending relaxing time at Bear Lake and in Ashton Idaho with family, soaking up the beauty, seeing cousins bond, catching up with everyone.
• Seeing Power of Moms reach tens of thousands more moms and learning new things every day through my work on the website.
• Seeing Jared do such a great job as our ward Bishop and getting involved as a family in helping and learning from many people in our community.
• Enjoying exercise and fresh air and beauty through weekly hikes.
• Going on a wonderful trip to CA with my mom and sisters and learning so much from each other while laughing ourselves to tears.
• Seeing our children really come into their own as they've pursued new interests and talents, found new friends, and actually surpassed me in height (in Ashton's case). I love being with my children and I'm blessed to call them some of my best friends. (Yes, there are times when they drive me crazy . . .)
• Learning to let go of a lot of things and finding more contentment in life, bit by bit.

Jared:

• Work (Director of Software Architecture at a company in Salt Lake that creates products for tire companies): Launching the product I've been working on for a year and seeing it move forward successfully.
• Church: Completing a year as Bishop of our ward, working with really great people, learning a ton.
• Family: Seeing the kids getting excited about sports and other pursuits and doing well in school. Skiiing with the kids and seeing them really progress.
• Travel: Great times in Boston and New York for the part of the road trip I was able to join the family for, good times with extended family at Bear Lake, in Ashton and at family weddings.

Thanks for caring about our family enough to read this blog. I so appreciate the support and kindness I experience here quite regularly.

I started blogging as an easy way to keep a family journal/scrapbook. And somehow I wound up with thousands of blog visitors every week. Many of you are dear friends and family members.
Most of you I don't know - but you're surely fabulous people who I wish I could know in person.

Thanks for being part of this little micro-community and I wish you a fabulous 2014!

Fighting Blindness and Helping Orphans - and a great dentist

Look at my neice Lucy's beautiful blue eyes!

Sadly, Lucy is gradually loosing her eyesight. She's lost most of her night vision, her glasses keep getting thicker, and she's learning braille in school so she can be ready for what might come.

There are some great doctors and researchers who are making strides in their research to help children like Lucy. But that costs money - lots of money. And children like Lucy don't have a lot of time. So my sister Shawni is working hard to raise money to support research for BBS (Bardet Bidel Syndrome - the syndrome Lucy has that causes blindness and many other heartbreaking issues like obesity and kidney failure).

You can help raise money for this vital research and help the many, many children who have this syndrome by checking out all the great fundraising offers that readers of Shawni's blog have created. Click on the link below to see what's offered (some great Christmas gift ideas!). Included is a chance to purchase the Power of Moms' Alexander's Amazing Adventures program at a great discount (and the proceeds go towards BBS).

Great Gifts/Chance to Support BBS Research for the "I Love Lucy" Project

And for those of you who live anywhere near Ogden, UT, we'd LOVE to have you join us for this year's Children for Children Concert. Our kids and their friends will be sharing some musical numbers and putting on a little Nativity play as a way to raise money to help other children. We'll be donating the funds we gather to the "I Love Lucy Project" for BBS Research to try to save Lucy's eyes (and those of so many other children with BBS) and to One Heart Bulgaria (we always support this organization that provides warm blankets and healthy food to destitute orphans in Bulgaria where I served my mission).

This year's concert (the 7th Annual!) will be held Monday, December 16th from 6:30-7:30pm at a community center near us. Let me know your email address in the comments if you'd like to have your children participate or if you'd like to just come and watch!

Here's information on some past concerts in case you're interested:
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/children-for-children-and-joy-school.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2009/12/concert-success.html 
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/almost-snowed-out-concert.html

And while I'm making announcements for Ogden-area people, here's one more. I've been through lots of dentists in the different places we've lived and have had a hard time finding one that really works for us here in Ogden. But I finally found a really great dentist here - Dr. Healy. Yeah!

A while back, I visited a dentist who freaked me out by telling me that pretty much all my fillings needed to be replaced, I needed 2 crowns, and my gums were receded to the point that I needed gum grafts. NOT good news since dental work scares me and since dental insurance won't cover much until you've had it for a full year and I'd just barely got the insurance. I visited a couple other dentists with the kids and they were OK but seemed to be always encouraging more treatment than really seemed necessary. One dentist told me that one of the kids needed a filling in a baby tooth that had a tiny tiny cavity. He said that maybe 50% of dentists would recommend that the filling be taken care of right away and 50% would just put a "watch" on it. I'm conservative when it comes to medical and dental treatments so I think I'd side with the 50% that would put a watch on the tooth. But despite the fact that he'd stated that the need for the cavity was 50/50, this dentist really pushed for the cavity to be filled. We declined and decided to look elsewhere.

Anyway, at long last, I found a dentist who is thorough but conservative and who is great with adults and kids alike. His hygienist was gentle but thorough (the last time I had a cleaning, I was in pain for days!). After being examined by Dr Healy, I was told that my gums were pretty normal for my age and that I should simply floss well and use a soft toothbrush, that my fillings were holding up fine but that they'd keep an eye on them, and that I needed one crown (he showed me the xray showing decay under a very large and very old filling and consulted with me on the options there - the crown really seemed to be the best option).

I have to admit I get pretty stressed out about dental work. Those shots in the mouth and that drilling just makes me so uncomfortable and nervous. Plus this whole crown thing seemed scary - drilling down my tooth and prepping it for the crown, figuring out what sort of crown would be best. But Dr Healy explained every little thing to me, answered all my questions thoroughly, told me exactly what to expect, and took great care of me, meticulously working very close to the root of that sad old tooth and sparing me a root canal.

I've now got a nice crown in my mouth that matches my other teeth perfectly and feels great. Such a relief!

I don't often endorse specific services, products or people on this blog, but since a good conservative dentist can be hard to find, I wanted to let local people know about Dr Healy. He's on 12th Street near Washington in Ogden and he really does a great job.

* While Dr Healy is a sponsor of my blog, the experiences and opinions stated here are entirely genuine.

Book Night Tomorrow Night and Beautiful Blog

Yep, this is last-minute. But if any of you live in or near SLC and can get away for a couple hours tomorrow night, you won't want to miss this:

Evening of Inspiration: Peace, Purpose, Order and Joy
Across from Temple Square in downtown SLC, Wednesday, September 11th from 7-9pm

In celebration of our newly released book, several of the authors (over 60 moms helped write this book!) will be presenting some powerful ideas (speakers include my amazing mom, my wonderful Power of Moms partner, and several other top Power of Moms trainers/writers - plus I'll throw a few words in there). Plus we'll break into small groups to really learn from each other and delve into how we can move slowly but surely towards being the deliberate mothers we really want to be.

Every time I go to one of these events, I'm reminded in glorious ways why I sit here at this computer day in and day out working on Power of Moms stuff. There's just nothing like being with other earnest, deliberate moms and sharing our ideas and hopes and fears and coming away comforted and empowered. And while the online stuff is wonderful and serves so many that we just can't reach through live events, everything feels so much more real and tangible and worthwhile when I get to actually see the faces of those I serve once in a while.

One of our speakers/writers, Catherine Arveseth, just wrote this beautiful blog post where she talks a bit about the book and tomorrow night's event then goes on to offer some truly wonderful insights on deliberate motherhood. She's just an amazing writer and amazing mother (and she actually replies to all the blog comments she gets - so nice! I'm determined to start being more like her that way...). Check it out:
http://www.wildnprecious.com/2013/09/a-new-deliberate-motherhood.html

Book Launch TODAY

So last year, after doing a writing contest, lots of writing of our own, and way more editing than was really good for us, April and I (well, mostly April who worked umpteen thousand hours on this) published our first Power of Moms book. It featured over 60 voices of great moms sharing their stories and ideas about deliberate mothering. We had publishers interested but decided to self-publish so we could make the book exactly what we thought it needed to be. The book did very well and spurred ever-more Learning Circles around the world (where moms get together every month to discuss one chapter of the book). For the full story about how we published this book, check out April's post here: How We Published Our Book.

Then a great publisher called Familius (they focus entirely on books that help families) came to us and asked if they could re-publish the book and help us get it to an even wider audience. It sounded like a great idea.

So today is the official launch of this freshly updated and extra beautiful book.

If you don't have a copy already, get one while the intro pricing is going on. Everyone who buys a book and send us their receipt will get our Deliberate Mothering podcast series for free (usually $20). Details are explained at this link:
http://powerofmoms.com/deliberate-motherhood/

And if you live anywhere near SLC, you won't want to miss the chance on the evening of September 11th to come hear powerful stories from some of the authors of this book (including my amazing mom, Linda Eyre, and April who'll fly in from California for this). We've worked to get some sponsors for this event so it only costs $22/person to come. Please come and please spread the word!

Evening of Inspiration: Peace, Purpose, Order and Joy - September 11, 2013 in downtown Salt Lake

Happy New Year!

We're in California having just attended our niece's fabulous wedding last night - brought in the New Year with a beautiful wedding ceremony followed by delicious dinner, dancing (the twins turned out to be super stars on the dance floor - who knew?) and then fireworks on the beach with the vast majority of the Loosli family and tons of friends. What a perfect way to bring in the new year - celebrating a new beginning while thinking about the new beginnings this year will bring us and enjoying a really great party. I'll blog more about the trip and the wedding later on but before we leave wifi for the LONG drive home, I wanted to post the 2012 collage and overview of the year that I worked on during the LONG drive here.

2012 Overview in Pictures

2012 Overview in Words

Every year, as I look back through blog posts and photos of the year and get ready to write our Christmas letter (or New Year’s letter as this one has turned out to be), I’m amazed at the number and quality of adventures we’ve had and realize why “overwhelmed” and “busy” have been the adjectives that come to mind most when assessing our lives. Moving forward, perhaps we need to replace “overwhelmed” and “busy” with “full” and “exciting” when we think about the constant swirl of activity that makes up our lives and keep reminding ourselves how much fun we’re having!

Here’s a quick overview of some high points this year (we’ll skip the low points for now…):  

• Saint George in January and February:  We tried to sell our Saint George house but it just didn’t happen. Still, we had great times hiking through our beloved red hills down there while working on the house and holding open houses. Eventually we found great new renters.

• Australia in March: As April (my Power of Moms partner) and I had the privilege of presenting 2 Power of Moms Retreats in Australia, we decided to bring our oldest children (both 12) along. What an amazing trip it turned out to be! We hung out with kangaroos, explored rain forests, enjoyed gorgeous beaches, marveled at the Sydney Opera House, got to know scores of fabulous Australian mums and even got to be on a big-deal morning talk-show.  I loved sharing it all with Ashton who took care of the technological aspects of each Retreat, did a bit of presenting with me, and helped watch a few babies of attendees.

• San Francisco spring break in April: Our kids know their birthplace well. We spent over a week exploring old favorites and finding new favorites in the Bay Area plus had great times with family members who live there. We hiked along the coast and through the Redwoods at Big Sur. We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove up and down roller coaster hills in the city. We explored Berkeley and Stanford. And I did a Power of Moms Retreat with an old college friend and a bunch of excellent moms in Palo Alto.

• Pioneer Trek in July: We had the rare opportunity to spend a few days reenacting experiences of our ancestors through a family pioneer trek with our stake. We were able to camp and trek along the original Mormon trail with dozens of other great families and had lots of fun alongside faith-building experiences. How blessed we are by the sacrifices of those pioneers! And how grateful we are for their example of faith and hard work.

• Bear Lake and the Farm in July and August: As always, we had some wonderful times at the Loosli Farm in Idaho (attending the annual bull sale, Jared and Saren running on the Loosli team in the Grand Teton Relay, going on tractor rides, laughing and talking with plentiful relatives, building an exciting new zip line) and at the Eyre compound at Bear Lake (water skiing, swimming and running, playing “Fear Factor,” logging about 100 hours of playing in the sand, laughing and talking with plentiful relatives)

Individual Updates

·         Ashton (13) had a great season in flag football, is at the top of his robotics class at school, brought his grades up dramatically and has become a very responsible student, was ordained a Deacon and coordinates the passing of the sacrament each week in church (we went on a very special snowy hike to commemorate his ordination), improved his snowboarding and guitar skills, insists on long hair, is the go-to babysitter for our neighborhood, and is working on being nicer to his parents and siblings. 

·         Isaac (11) became a serious runner (was selected to go to state on the cross country), decided he quite likes reading, was his dad’s right-hand man when it came to the big fat project of building a new fence in our backyard, is pretty amazing on skis, has a following of several little neighborhood kids who think he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, and is about as social, friendly and helpful as a kid can be.

·         Eliza (9) loves her dance class, is always working on writing a book, creating an art project, or organizing a play or performance, is the star of the family when it comes to getting her chores done and memorizing quotes and scriptures, is getting into photography, has become a great skier, and enjoys going to art galleries and other cultural events every chance she gets with her mom.

·         Oliver (7) always has his nose in a book and loves being on the computer, really wanted to be the star of his basketball team this year (but needs a few hundred more hours of practice!), rides his bike and scooter like a pro, is a great lego and K'nex builder, is very conscientious about doing his school work and gets perfect grades, and tells his thankful mom that she’s the best mom in the world about 10 times a day.

·         Silas (7) is always up for adventure (was the first to volunteer to sleep overnight in the snow fort the kids built – and followed through!), loves cooking (can make cookies all by himself), enjoyed playing on his basketball team and didn’t let their losing streak get to him, builds awesome stuff with legos and K’nex, and sings his grateful mom a special “I love you” song he made up about 10 times a day (even when the other kids tell him how annoying the song is).  

Jared and Saren (who cares how old we are) Saren’s work on Power of Moms was intense all year as she helped to organize and present TEN Power of Moms Retreats (8 in various places across the U.S. and 2 in Australia), helped launch several new programs, and was super excited when a viral post brought over a million new viewers the website. Jared started a new job – he’s now the Director of Software Architecture for a dynamic, growing company called Tire Company Solutions, and commutes each day from Ogden to Salt Lake City (luckily he can ride the train and get work done during his commute). Plus he continues to support the tech needs of Power of Moms. At church, Jared is serving as the Scout Master in our ward and loves all the camping and knot-tying involved and Saren is in the Primary Presidency and loves being in there with her kids and the other very diverse and very sweet kids involved. 

Our Christmas Card

(click on the photo to enlarge)

As pictures typically capture the good times and happy faces, it was a great exercise in gratitude to go through photos and create our traditional annual Christmas card collage. Sure, we've had plenty of hard times (involving far more hard work and stress than is probably healthy - a big resolution for 2012 is to slow things down...) but I'm struck by the beauty we've experienced, the great people and places we've enjoyed, how cute the kids are, and how many fun and wonderful adventures we've had.  All in all, the good stuff in 2011 has far outweighed the not-so-good stuff.

Here's an overview of the year (mostly represented in the photo collage above):

• HOME: We've lived here for just over a year now and this is really feeling like home. The kids finally settled on a name for our beautiful old house - Ida Mimzy.  Ida is my great grandmother's name and was one of the top names in the 1880's when this house was built. And Mimzy - the kids came up with it and I think it adds a little whimsy to the whole thing. We've done plenty of projects to get Ida whipped into shape and she sure has her quirks but we love our house and neighborhood dearly.  
• SCHOOL: We've had our scholastic challenges this year as the kids have gradually adjusted to a good school that makes them tow the line academically and encourages some stretching that is uncomfortable for some of the kids. Eliza begs for extra homework and projects, Isaac bemoans the hours he has to put into homework but faithfully plows through, Ashton has a hard time remembering that he has homework at all which presents some problems, and the twins whip through everything easily and are reading up a storm. So if you average out how everyone's doing academically, I guess we're at a nice level "fine" when it comes to school.
• SNOW: Having spent 6 years in the Bay Area and then 6 years in St George, snow is a pretty new thing for our kids. And last winter it kept snowing through April!  The kids built countless snowmen, became fearless sledders, and impressed us with how quickly they took to the ski slopes. This year we've been low on snow and we're all crossing our fingers for at least some Christmas flurries. 
• SPRING BREAK ROAD TRIP: Our spring break trip this year involved great adventures and loads of family bonding time in the car (so grateful for audio books and kids who are old enough to be pretty civilized during car trips). We went to visit my brother Jonah and family on the Olympic peninsula and had a great time exploring Seattle, hiking in the lush rain forests of the Olympia National Park, visiting a beautiful old lighthouse on the Canadian border, hanging out with the Eyres' many cool farm animals, and relaxing with some of our favorite people. Then we drove down the coast and spent a few days in our beloved San Francisco with my sister Charity and Jared's sister Kathryn and family. We went up and down the roller coaster hills of San Fran, basked in the diversity and excitement of the city (the kids were especially impressed with the street performers and naked bike riders we saw), enjoyed a wonderful Easter at the Pritchett house and loved visiting our old house and ward (congregation) in San Jose.
• HIKING AND BIKING: After enjoying 6 years of beautiful red rock biking and hiking in St George, we were sad to leave that behind when we moved here. But we've loved exploring great new hikes and bike rides in the mountains five minutes from our new home and we've been back to many of our old favorite hikes in St George this past year. The beauty, fresh air, bonding and exercise involved in hiking and biking has proven to be an important part of this family's well-being.
• ASHTON, IDAHO (a.k.a. "the farm"): We've loved living nearer to Jared's mom and brother and the farm where Jared grew up. Some highlights at the farm this year included helping out with the annual Bull Sale, feeding cows, seeing the newborn calves, snowmobiling and sledding, jumping on the trampoline, riding around on huge tractors and combines, helping with the potato harvest, riding in the 4th of July parade, and enjoying time with scores of wonderful relatives. 
• BEAR LAKE: As usual, we spent most of July at Bear Lake with most of the Eyre family. The kids enjoyed countless hours in the sun, water and sand with beloved cousins while the adults basked in great conversation, reading, games, beautiful scenery and togetherness. My sisters and I cooked and talked up a storm (we recorded a new series of Deliberate Mothering podcasts to capture some of our best conversations) and our husbands came up on weekends when they could. Isaac and Ashton became quite good water skiers and wake boarders, Eliza overcame her fears and got up on skis a couple times, and the twins drank a fair amount of the lake in their waterski attempts without exactly finding success. They were successful, however, in somehow starting an old tractor and taking their little cousin for a joy ride that miraculously did NOT result in any damage to people or property! Jared and I did our traditional 50-mile bike ride around Bear Lake for my birthday and I tried to learn to like running up and down the hilly road by the lake as I trained for the Grand Teton Relay. 
• GRAND TETON RELAY: Jared and I whipped ourselves into shape so that we could spend 36 hours running and resting and laughing and covering 185 miles of beautiful terrain with 10 other Loosli family members on our relay team. It was gorgeous and grueling and amazingly fun. I was slow but steady. Jared was fast and strong. We're doing it again next year.
• WORK: After relocating here a year ago for what seemed like a wonderful job for Jared, that job quickly went south. Jared had to jump off the sinking ship in March and he's been working full time on several exciting projects since then (which is great except that none of those projects are exactly lucrative quite yet). He's been able to combine his trucking and engineering knowledge to work on a very promising trucking-related product that will hopefully go to market in the near future. And it's been a huge blessing to have his help with The Power of Moms as we went through a total website redesign and added many new programs. He's helped make the website beautiful and functional and helped us reach our current audience of over 100,000 moms. We now have 100's of moms using our Mind Organization for Moms program and running Learning Circles in their own communities plus we held seven professional development Retreats for moms across the country during 2011. I've loved working with so many devoted, selfless, bright and wonderful women (especially my amazing partner, April) and I couldn't have done any of this without Jared's very active help and support. Jared and I are also still running our little preschool curriculum company, The Joy School Company, and enjoy working with the great ladies who run preschools using my parents' Joy School curriculum. 
• CHURCH: We love the diversity of the good people in our church congregation. Jared works with the missionaries and I'm the Bear Scout den leader. We're so grateful for the chance to gather each Sunday to think about and talk about how we can become the people we're meant to be through the example and Atonement of Jesus Christ.

We hope that 2012 will bring us all great adventures, beauty, contributions, fun, love, joy and growth (without too much pain if possible!). We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Much love,

The Loosli Family

Christmas Gifts to YOU

To enjoy the podcast series I recorded last summer with my mom and sisters as well as a great 1-hour webinar on boundaries and margins by me and April, just click on the link below. And feel free to share the link with all the moms you know. We'd love to give these programs (regularly $20) to all moms for Christmas this year.

Your Christmas Gifts

Great Friends Doing Great Things (and a giveaway)

Day Two of my Thanksgiving Gratitude Journal: I'm grateful for good women who work hard and sacrifice to lift others

I've got two dear friends who've requested my help spreading the word about wonderful events they have coming up. These requests made me so grateful for these two good friends, all that they've brought to my life and all that they are bringing to so many others through their hard work and sacrifices. And that got me thinking about how grateful I am for all the women - those I know, those I admire, those who've gone before - whose efforts and influence have made such a difference in my life.

I love this quote by Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." I love how so many great women have coupled their beliefs and commitment with action and have created ripple effects that go on and on and on, influencing the lives of so many.

My dear friend, Neylan McBaine (I blogged about the interesting way we met here) is the founder and director of an amazing website called the Mormon Women Project. If you haven't checked it out, you really should. The website celebrates the rich diversity of Mormon women through interviews and portraits. If you can possibly make it, I highly recommend that you join me for the Mormon Women Project Salon being held in downtown Salt Lake this Saturday evening, November 5th. I'm so excited to hear from the excellent speakers Neylan has lined up and I'm honored to be leading a discussion as part of the evening. Click HERE to learn the details and register.

That's Tiffany on the left and another wonderful POM
Board member and friend, Rebecca, on the right running
a booth for us at the recent "Just for Her" event in Ogden

When I first met Tiffany Sowby, I was a teenager in England. We went to church together while my family lived there for 6 months. Little did I know that we'd reconnect over 20 years later when she stumbled upon The Power of Moms and volunteered to help. Tiffany is now my right-arm woman when it comes to running Power of Moms Retreats and managing our ever-expanding training program - plus she's written many great articles on our website, runs her own Learning Circle, and has been an excellent presenter and trainer at several of our Retreats (plus, of course, she's an amazing mom on top of all that). Tiffany is hosting a "Date Night" Couples Retreat on November 11th where she'll be presenting all our great Power of Moms stuff on setting up family systems that can help you build the family you really want.  If you can possibly make it, be there on November 11th! And Tiffany has graciously offered the chance for someone to attend for free. Simply make a comment with your email address below and you'll be entered into a giveaway for a free registration for you and your husband to attend this event. I'll announce the couple that wins the free registration at the end of the day around noon on Friday, November 4th. Forward this post to friends that may also want to enter the giveaway!


And thinking about Tiffany makes me SO grateful for the 30 or so wonderful volunteer Power of Moms board members who run different parts of our website. Power of Moms would be this tiny little thing without all their work behind the scenes. It's amazing what talented, wonderful moms have jumped on board to help other moms without pay, without much recognition, with just the belief in the cause of deliberate mothering to fuel them.  Thanks wonderful ladies!

OK - I'm getting carried away - there are probably 100 great women I could list and talk about here but we'll keep it to the ones above for today.

P.S. We've still got room at our Phoenix, Arizona Retreat on November 19th. To adjust the Margaret Mead quote above slightly, "Never doubt that a relatively small group of committed moms can change the world. In fact, great moms shape the future."

The Round Table

Just as I was in the midst of moving a couple months ago, my dear friend Neylan McBaine invited me to be part of a new group she was helping to form.  Neylan runs the fabulous website, The Mormon Women Project plus she heads up the profiles of women at Mormon.org.  After helping with a symposium on Mormon Women at BYU a while back, she and some of the other women who'd been invited to be part of a panel there decided to form an ongoing discussion/podcast group to address Mormon womanhood.

The women she was inviting to participate sounded wonderful and I'm always up for a great discussion with intelligent, interesting women.  So even though I felt totally overwhelmed at the time, I just had to say yes.

With lots of emailing back and forth, we arrived at this title for our new group: The Round Table: Insight and Inquiry into Mormon Womanhood, decided to present our discussions via monthly podcasts, and came up with this purpose statement: to build unity and honor diversity as we further the vital work of strengthening and celebrating Mormon womanhood.


I love this artwork that one of our group members found to help illustrate what we're doing - celebrating the many different types of women our faith brings together.




We had our "inaugural" meeting last month and recorded several podcasts addressing the purposes of our group and some of the many facets of being a Mormon woman. It was truly a beautiful afternoon as we shared our hopes and challenges and thoughts in a spirit of faith and love.

 The podcasts and discussion are being hosted by a wonderful site called Patheos that offers objective information and thought-provoking, respectful discussion on all the major religions of the world.  Now that this first set of podcasts is up and running, I thought you might want to check it out.  Please let me know what you think!  You can post comments on our Patheos page after listening to the podcasts.

http://www.patheos.com/community/theroundtable/

This week we're getting together to talk about church culture vs. church doctrine for our second set of podcasts.  Should be really interesting!

Our 2010 Christmas Card

Here's our Christmas card for the year.  Thanks for caring enough to read this blog!  Merry Christmas.

Loosli Family Adventures - 2010

2010 brought our family plenty of adventures - large and small.  Good thing we like adventures!  Here's a summary:
New Job Adventures:
After spending the first 1/2 of the year marketing his award-winning Cool Cab project while completely rebuilding The Power of Moms website, Jared got a great opportunity to become the Chief Technology Officer for an exciting nationwide property mangement company in Odgen, Utah.  He's been able to restructure some things and get the company poised for a lot more growth.  He's really enjoying this new adventure.
Weekend Adventures: 
For the first half of the year, we filled our Saturdays with hiking and biking.  We all made it to the top of Zion's Angel's Landing, enjoyed doing the Narrows again, and the whole family had some great times mountain biking (the twins got rid of their training wheels and rapidly became pretty amazing little bikers).  Then starting in August, we spent our weekends traveling to be with each other while Jared worked in Odgen and Saren and the kids were still in St George.
Surgery Adventure:
Sadly, as Jared enjoyed one last mountain bike ride before moving, he took a bad fall and shattered his elbow.  Two weeks after having a surgeon wire bits of bone back together and staple up his arm, he somehow managed the feat of moving his family to a new home using only one arm (with lots of help from dear friends).  His arm is healing nicely and we're so grateful it wasn't worse!
House Hunting and Moving Adventures:
We spent lots of time researching options and ultimatey decided to rent our house in St George and buy a new house (well actually, quite an old house - built in 1896 but completely restored) in Odgen.  As is often the case, everything was way more complicated than anticipated but ultimately we found some great renters, negotiated a decent price on the new house, packed up our house in St George, drove through a horrendous snow storm with our moving truck, and arrived in Odgen only to find that we couldn't close on our new house in the timeframe promised.  But we fanagled a way into the house and finally got all the last details taken care of.
After a couple months of serious stress and packing and unpacking and working on tons of house-related projects, we're now quite comfortably and happily settled. We've gone from rural to urban, from new to old, from known to unknown.  We're embracing change and counting our blessings that we can be back together again as a family.
Traveling Adventures: 
This year's trips included attending the big bull sale at the Loosli farm in Ashton (the kids got to watch a baby calf get born and loved the excitement of the cattle auction), spring break in the LA area (beach trips and museums combined with synergistic business meetings), a trip to New England for Saren and Eliza (we promised all the kids a trip to our old stomping grounds when they get to be 7 or 8 so it was Eliza's turn this year), and our regular summer vacations including great times with scores of relatives at Bear Lake and at the Loosli Farm.
Business-Building Adventures:
Saren spent pretty much every non-kid-focused and non-moving-focused minute working on The Power of Moms (in tandem with her partner, April Perry and with tons of help from Jared) and was able to conduct three weekend Retreats for mothers (in St George, in Boston and in California), recruit and train a great group of moms to help run the site and help conduct trainings around the country, see the Learning Circles program take off, spearhead the writing of a compilation of essays for mothers (to be published fall 2011), help start a new column/blog for the Deseret News, and see the Power of Moms website grow to 40,000 users. She's loved connecting with and learning from other mothers and helping them learn from each other - but she's hoping that 2011 will bring lots more exciting growth for The Power of Moms without requiring so much of her time and energy!
Kids' Adventures:
The kids are all really enjoying their new school and the adventures involved in making new friends.  They had a wonderful first 1/2 of the school year at their beloved school in St George where they were blessed with great friends and excellent teachers.  We'll all miss the Spanish immersion program (especially Eliza who is the most fluent) and the music program at the kids' school in St George but we're excited that the new school offers some Spanish instruction every day and we'll seek out some good music lessons.  The kids are all great climbers, bikers and hikers and we've been so proud of the way they've jumped right into to make new friends and participate in new things at their new church and school.  Here are some individual highlights (sure, there were plenty of issues but we'll just share the good stuff here...):

• Ashton (10): Inventor, musician, resident technology expert.  Worked HARD to earn $300 to buy a Lego Mindstorm and then spent every free moment building and programming some pretty amazing robots.  Taught himself some great songs on the keyboard and won the school talent contest.  Read all the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books (and about 100 other books - got in trouble for reading too much at school and at home...).  Created an arrangement of the song "What I've Done" by Linkin Park for xylophones and played it with a friend at a school concert.
• Isaac (9): Hard-worker, friend to everyone (especially babies), always helpful.  Took first in the school science fair for his project on friction.  Finally decided that reading can be fun thanks to the beautiful book Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Won a state-wide poetry contest and had his poem featured in an anthology.  Did a great job in the school choir and orffestra plus enjoyed playing violin.
• Eliza (7): Artist, writer, teacher, lover of all things beautiful.  Produced about 1000 works of art and wrote 100's of pages of stories, essays and journal entries in both English and Spanish.  Taught the twins to read and explains things so well to them.  Adored her visit to Wellesley College and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as well as every other part of her much-anticipated Boston trip.
• Oliver (5): Dog-lover, puzzle-lover, reader, builder.  Loves to build with magnets and with K'nex.  Can do a 150-piece puzzle in just a few minutes.  Knows all about different dog breeds and insists on petting every dog we encounter.  Loves reading and being read to (like Silas).  Loves kindergarten.
• Silas (5): Panda-lover, transformer-lover, reader, artist.  Loves to play with transformers.  Plays imaginative games all day with Oliver.  Loves to learn about everything from how cars are made to the habits of panda via YouTube videos.  Gives me about 200 hugs a day.  Loves kindergarten.

If you've made it this far, thanks for caring.  We wish you all the best for the coming year!
May 2011 bring us all less stress and more joy (a Power of Moms tagline) - alongside plenty of adventures!
Love, The Looslis

New column and serious POWER for 2011

With huge help from April and our great friend Allyson, our new blog/column on The Deseret News was somehow launched in the midst of my move.  I seem to have this habit of moving stuff forward to a certain point and then getting totally overwhelmed and needing to pass them off to some degree.  But with both this Deseret News project and our book project, great people have stepped up to help in a timely manner and things go forward beautifully even when I can't help with them as much as I'd like.  I love seeing how our Power of Moms work has attracted some truly amazing women who have jumped on board at just the right times to make exciting new things happen!

Anyway, take a minute to check out the new blog here.  This month we're focusing each of our 3 posts a week on one of the "12 Powers of Motherhood" that will become the backbone of the Power of Moms website this coming year. 

Moving forward, on the Deseret News and on our website, we'll be focusing on one "power" of motherhood each month through great articles and resources.  Plus this book we're chipping away at (and that we gathered tons of great stuff for with our writing contest last week) will feature a chapter on each of these powers so it can be used as a 12-month program for becoming the mother you want to be, as part of a Learning Circle group or just on your own or however you want to use the book.

Think of the power of 1000's of moms everywhere focusing on one aspect of motherhood each month as they share their best ideas!  I know I do better when I focus on one thing at a time and I'm excited to make this coming year a year of truly growing as a mother and as a person as I focus on the universally embraced themes we've been able to develop - stuff like increasing patience, creating more balance and boundaries, enjoying the moments, embracing more fun, becoming more optimistic...  Check out all 12 monthly themes here if you want.  Get excited!

Report on an Amazing Weekend - and Special Offer

Since I'm working on simplifying and since April wrote up a fabulous re-cap of our California Retreat with lots of great photos, I'm just going to send you to her blog to get the full story on our wonderful time together:

Photos and full report on Power of Moms California Retreat

And another great attendee, Erin wrote this report on her blog (more great photos)

We've still got a few spots at our New Hampshire Retreat October 22-23.  Come!  Sure, it can be a challenge to find childcare for the time you're gone and arrange travel.  Sure, it's not super cheap.  But according to every attendee who's ever come to a Retreat (including me - even with all the work it involves on my end) - a Retreat is worth every effort and every penny.  You can't put a price tag on getting the ideas, support and recharging that you need to be the mom and person your heart yearns to be.  Why is it that we prioritize $400 for a kid to go to soccer camp or participate in meaningful extracurriculars - but we feel selfish spending $400 to send ourselves to a Retreat?  Going to a Retreat is actually a solid investment in your family.  Like the MasterCard commercials say:
- airline ticket - $200
- Retreat registration - $400
- A happier mom with a happier family - priceless

And hey, just to make things a bit easier on the financial side, I've set up a special "friends and family" discount for the Retreat.  Click HERE.

Ready for a seriously amazing weekend get-away?

In between reunions and travel and fun at Bear Lake and getting the kids back in school, I've been working with some great local organizers to finalize details on TWO great Power of Moms Retreats.

I hate "selling" stuff but you know what? These Retreats really really work and I want to be sure that as many moms as possible hear about these opportunities. You can get a lot from mom-blogs and chatting with other moms when you get a chance - but there's nothing like a weekend of facilitated learning and sharing and laughing with other moms who take the profession of motherhood seriously.

Here's one of my favorite quotes from a Retreat attendee:

"I can't say enough good things about the Retreat I just attended. I came away a seriously changed person and mom. I mean I was a pretty decent mom before - but now I feel like I've got the direction and tools I needed to really become the mom I want to be. Plus it was so gratifying to meet all these other great moms who are as deliberate about motherhood as I am. I would have paid 10x as much for what I got from this Retreat and I'm telling every mom I know that they just HAVE to go to a Retreat if they possibly can. It'll change your life."
(To read more quotes click here. To read a full report of our last Retreat by my sister Shawni - with lots of great photos - click here.)

Our two upcoming Retreats are on opposite sides of the country so most people can get to one or the other with a not-too-long flight or drive. Check out these beautiful locations and click on the links below the photos to learn all the details - and please spread the word!

How beautiful is this Resort?  It's near John Wayne Airport and right between LA and San Diego.  I'm so excited to present with my dear friend and Power of Moms partner April plus some other amazing moms including one mom of 13!  

"Get Organized" Southern California Retreat: September 17-18 (Registration closes August 27 - so hurry!)

***Just for my blog readers, I've created a special page where the 1st dozen people to sign up for the California Retreat will get $20 off their Registration.  Click HERE to register for these limited discounted spots.

This historic hotel on New Castle Island (near Portsmouth and 1 hour from the Manchester or Boston airport) will be such a fun place for a Retreat!  We'll be there at the peak of the famous New England fall foliage (picture all those trees orange and yellow and red).  I miss New England and can't wait to go back for this Retreat (plus I get to present with my wonderful sister Saydi and my great new cyber-friend Sarah Turner).

New England Retreat: October 22-23 (Registration closes September 15th).  

I sure hope that some of you can make it to one of these Retreats - I'd love to meet you! And please help spread the word to other moms who you think would be interested. I bet they'll thank you.

The Mormon Women Project

As many of you know, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon Church).  I love my church.  I love what it teaches.  I love what it inspires me to do and be.  But one thing I don't love about being a Mormon is the deceptive idea that all Mormons (especially Mormon women) embrace - or should embrace - some things that really aren't part of our church doctrine.

Our church teaches us the importance of family, but that doesn't mean we all strive for large families.  We're not all conservative - politically or otherwise. We're not all white and middle class.  We don't all sew and scrapbook and bake bread.  We don't dress the same or like the same music or enjoy the same activities. Sharing the same faith, church leaders and ideology doesn't mean we share the same hobbies or get the same answers from the Lord about what is uniquely right for us and for our families.

Anyway, I was SO excited when my dear friend, Neylan McBaine (who helped me start CareerMothers which merged into Power of Moms) recently started a wonderful website called the Mormon Women Project.  Neylan and her team of excellent interviewers have talked with scores of wonderful Mormon Women about their choices, their challenges and their faith.  Each week, a new interview is posted.

I've loved reading about the lives of valiant Mormon women who've faced a huge variety of challenges and made very different choices in their lives while sharing the same religion.  I love that the website seems to say "it's OK - no wonderful - to be different and it's so great to learn about each other and embrace our sameness and our differences."

I was interviewed by MWP a couple months back and my interview posted last week.  Check it out here if you like.  I think they did a great job with it.