2014 UDSF Conference "imagine"

Four weeks of being sick is not the best way to get ready for a conference.  Luckily I had some great help who took over more and more of my assignments during the month.  However there was some things I had to do.  Also it is often hard to even think through what help I needed when I was feeling miserable.

Ready or not--the day arrives and the event goes....I went to bed about 1 and got up at 5:30 to get down to Salt Lake in time to set up.  So appreciative to all of those who were there helping get things ready to go.  I basically floated on their coattails most of the day.

There was some excitement as the keynote speaker was confused about timing so missed the opening.  (He spoke at lunch instead.)  We had a teen/adult track (which Jena and her friend Kaitlyn were able to attend and had a awesome time) with lots of great activity.  However there was a moment of panic when the bus driver started heading to the second location instead of the lunch location and no one on the bus had the address (since the bus company was given the complete instructions).  I was answering my phone until I noticed a phone call for Jessica who was one of the volunteers.  I knew that she knew I couldn't answer the phone so I stepped out of lunch to help direct them to the right place.  All of the fun times of running a conference.  All in all it went well, people liked it and many people commented that they were surprised by many things that they learned.

No great pictures.  I only took this one which is actually a picture of a professional photo of Jena which was one on display at our conference:

Julia Crist, a senior fine arts student from BYU-I, is doing her senior project on individuals with Down syndrome.  She has a younger sister with DS.  She contacted UDSF in the summer to see if we could help her find families who would allow their children of any age with DS to be photographed for her project.  Sometime in the spring, she will hang them all in a display along with a brief bio of each person.  She spent about an hour talking with Jena and taking pictures of her all over our house and outside.  Her focus is on individuals with DS and the things they love.  I love this picture of Jena in her room with her guitar, especially as it has the quote she chose herself: "never ever give up  Dreams do come true."  Julia allowed us to display five of the prints at our conference.  It made for an impression welcome to the conference.

For our major "thank you" gifts we gave a print called "Trip to Holland".  The Cache county chapter had asked an artist in their area to paint a picture which could be auctioned at their Buddy Walk this year.  In addition, they asked if he would allow some prints which he did and signed and numbered each one. It is based on a famous essay in the disability community called "Trip to Holland" by Emily Kingsley. Trip to Holland  (click to read the essay).  I have seen this article used in a number of settings including infertility--anytime life heads different from what you planned or expected who happen. The artist was just given the article and he developed the art piece.  However, the piece of art work is amazing!

A bit hard to see but there is a mom and child walking the path to
the windmill.

Personally, I love tulips, windmills, clouds and impressionist art so of course, I love this and our presenters did as well.  I purchased one for myself (one of the benefits of leadership, I guess).

I came home with leftovers from lunch to feed my family for dinner.  And we actually got to meet Gary at Scott and Chantel's to hang out while Gary was working on their internet.  We had a great time playing with Scarlett and talking to Chantel.  By the time we got home, Jena and I were ready for bed in a flash and slept as late as we could possibly sleep.  For me I had to get up a bit earlier than normal to attend ward council as we were having a Emergency preparation activity on Nov. 14 so I had to report on it to the Ward Council.  With later church, I didn't need to be there until 9 so I got some great sleep....and a five hour nap that afternoon.

Again, I do like to be involved in things like this which I feel are useful to parents--a chance to learn new things but to also connect with other parents in a learning type of environment.  It is just nice to have it done. Whew...time for some homework!