I’ve been dying to tell you all about my trip to Washington to visit Regina and attend the Northwest Catholic Family Education Conference! I had SUCH a wonderful time! (Thanks again Regina for letting us stay at your home!)
I left early Thursday morning and traveled with a couple friends, Erica and Marci. We arrived at Regina’s around 4pm. We visited for awhile and then I left to meet up with some of my relatives for dinner at the Olive Garden. It was so nice to see them and have them to myself for once! 😉 (Our huge family get-togethers can be overwhelming!)
Friday morning we headed to the conference and, although we were late, I was so excited to find that I had won a door prize that morning!! Wahoo!!! There was a big table of donated items to choose from, and when I saw Meredith’s brand new book Mondays with Mary, I couldn’t believe my luck!! It was at the top of my wish list of “things to purchase” at the conference, and it is amazing! Not to mention, I now have my very own signed copy!!
It was so great to finally meet Meredith, and her talk, “Nurturing Catholic Family Life by Living the Liturgical Year,” was one of my favorites.
Speaking of the talks, I also really enjoyed the talk by Fr. Gerard Saguto, F.S.S.P. on “Salt and Talent,” and the talks given by Dr. Joan Cotter, author of Right Start Mathematics: “How Children Learn Best — Keeping Brain Research in Mind” and “Why Mathematics Is Important for Our Children’s Futures”. If your interested, all the talks are available on the website.
Anyhow, I must admit that my favorite part of the weekend was seeing some of my dear friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile, and meeting some online friends for the first time! It was so great to be able to spend time with Regina and Trina (two of my dear friends who both moved away), see Christine and Christy again (who I met at the conference last year), and meet Meredith, Suzanne, Angela, Kim, and Heather for the first time (they were all SO sweet!). I also had the opportunity to meet and visit with so many other great homeschooling moms!
After the conference ended on Friday, we went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
Have you ever eaten there?? Ohhhhhh, YUM!!!! I actually didn’t have any Cheesecake (yep… I learned my lesson on Thursday night after attempting to eat Ice Cream at Coldstone), but their Avocado Egg Rolls are THE BEST!! I am determined to try and make these again at home, maybe with this recipe…
Regina, Erica, Marci, and I went back to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner on Saturday night too, it was THAT good!
Here is a picture from Friday night:
Before the long drive home on Sunday, we attended a beautiful Latin Mass at Regina’s parish. It was heavenly!
I had a super wonderful time, though I did keep finding myself swaying back and forth and not knowing what to do with my hands, since they were completely child free for the weekend!! 😉 Nevertheless, I definitely missed my family, and it is sooo nice to be home.
TONS OF FUN. Yep… it was a great get-a-way weekend for moms!!
It was so nice to see you again! I wish we had had more time to visit. You’re in my prayers!
why am i leaning forward in this pic?? and why do you have it so that you can see it larger. fix that!!
love
r
when are we meeting in portland for a day away??
Regina ~ I don’t know why you were leaning forward?? Trying to make your hair look longer perhaps? 😉 Anyhow, it was the only picture I had of all of us on my camera, and I think you look beautiful! Oh, and I fixed it for you… Sheesh! 🙂
It was nice seeing you too Christine! I wish we had more time to visit too, you sure had a busy weekend!! I’m looking forward to seeing pictures from your sons First Communion!!
Jessica –
Thanks for sharing! I was initally most interested in "Salt & Talent" but now, I think I'm going to purchase the complete series.
Pax –
Lena
Glad you had so much fun!!
I want that book now…!
I puffy heart love those avocado egg rolls at the cheesecake factory. YUM!
I’m glad you got some girl time!
It sounds wonderful!
Oh you are SUCH a dear to post a picture of my book with a link, I’m SO glad you won the door prize, sweetie, AND boy do I look OLD in that picture, must have been all that after talk glow, or did we take it before the talk, ahem, anyhoo, it was truly MY pleasure finally meeting you dear lady and I need a trip to Oregon now so we can really hang out and chat some more!! Praying for you 😉 Love and more blessings,
Jamie, email me for a signed copy 😉 Love Meredith
I meant to check out Meredith’s book; glad you posted on it since I was so busy talking I never got around to it! Kim
P.S. Regina, Stop making me laugh already. Love the hair…Kim
Jessica,
It was so great to meet you! I am grateful that you guys included me in your dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! I thought the picture of all of us turned out great!
Hope to see you again soon!
Angela
What fun – you are so lucky. One of these years I want to make it up to the NW conference.
Looks like you had a great weekend. Yay!
Oh, and Jessica–how did you obtain permission to post pictures of Regina online? I’d like to copy the license!
Oh, you guys had WAY TOO MUCH FUN!!!