The Wife Life Workshop was held on Saturday afternoon, January 20, 2018, at the Miller Conference Center in Sandy, Utah. More than 40 wives came together to be uplifted and enriched in the many hats they wear as a wife!

I wanted to give a little glimpse into what these workshops are like! Every workshop will cover different topics, and is a new experience! Here’s what took place at this one :)

The atmosphere

The goals of these workshops to create a learning environment that is supportive, safe, and understanding. As wives, we each have a differently made up marriage, but we can relate to each other, help each other, and uplift one another. I’m so happy to say that I felt this in our group of women at this workshop! There was a lot of vulnerability that I truly admired, and that was the groundwork for making friends, which I know some people left with! As a host and presenter, I hoped to create a good mix of serious learning with light-hearted discussion.

The decor was significant to the positive atmosphere we felt! This ivy found on the backdrop and centerpieces reminded us of how strong we are. Ivy is one of the strongest plants and can grow in the hardest of environments, and so we related that mindset to ourselves as wives, that we too can grow from the hardest of situations we come across in marriage!

Presentations

The first presentation was from Adrienne Biehl, a nutrition and wellness specialist who shares her expertise over at Hello Nourished Life! She helped remind us why it’s important for us to “fill our vessel” first before we can help fill our spouse’s vessel. We discussed different ways of how to do this, including some great self-care tips shared and discussed by the audience.

We then had the privilege of hearing from Emily Davis, an adjunct professor at BYU teaching Media, Family, and Human Development classes. She shared her expertise on something that heavily influences relationships, especially marriages: pornography. What seemed to be a heavy topic to discuss turned into lots of insight given by Emily as well as attendees on how misunderstood “addiction” is, and how we can better help our spouse our handle it ourselves if we have addictive behaviors or bad habits that are affecting our marriage. 

Hands-on Project

We took a more fun turn and completed a make-and-take project that was centered on the ivy meaning I mentioned above! We made gold ivy leaf necklaces to serve as a reminder of our strength as wives, women, moms, friends, siblings, daughters, etc.! These necklaces were made while we completed the “Ivy Challenge” that helped us see the strengths we bring to the world and to our marriage :)

There was lots of mingling, seeing old friends and making new friends! And then we got into my presentation about understanding the role that assumptions play in our marriages and how detrimental they can be if we are always assuming negatively. It’s interesting to see how many assumptions we make come from irrational thoughts and low self-esteem! I shared how I fell into this trap for a period of time and how harmful it was to my marriage and my family relationships. I also shared tips on how I got out of this, utilizing some specific communication techniques and mindset changes.

Swag Bags and Prizes

Awesome prizes were given away to about 10 different lucky attendees, but EVERY attendee left with this awesome date from Date Night In! How cool is that?! AND Every attendee received a personalized swag bag full of goodies from Freshly Married and these other wonderful brands: Lockbox Mysteries, LK Cooking, Valerie Phillips, Rosalyn Photography, Mckenzie Nielson Art, and Salt City Hair!

If you would like to come to the next workshop, sign up for the newsletter to be informed on when and where!

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