PIDT

Last weekend I had the chance to go to a conference in Estes Park, CO called Professors of Instructional Design and Technology. It really was one of the best conferences I think I have ever been to. Mainly I liked how laid back everyone was. The schedule was a suggestion, but the topics were up to the people there. For example, someone would say, "I've been wondering about ____. I was hoping we could talk about ___." and then if there were other people interested in that topic, they would find a place to sit down together and everyone would talk about it. In the afternoons, we tried to find good hikes. Sunday we went up as far as we could go in Rocky Mountain National Park and then got out and walked around and then drove back down to the YMCA where we stayed. It was nice to build relationships with people at the conference that were professional, but also "real" relationships that are based on doing things together.

One of my favorite parts was that there were about 1/4 of the participants (10/40) that were LDS, so on Sunday morning before the conference really got started, we got together and were able to have a sacrament meeting. It was neat to be with good friends doing something so important. It made Sunday into a special day for me. It was a fast sacrament meeting, but so nice. We sang, had the sacrament, and then shared a few scriptures. And then everyone started coming for the conference, so we finished up.

BYU was in charge of hosting the conference, so we (some other graduate students and I) got to hand out keys, keep the munchies tables stocked, and keep everything running smoothly. It really was a lot of fun.

On the drive back from CO yesterday, we hit a really bad snowstorm between Laramie and Rawlins. The wind blew so strongly and the snow was coming down hard. We had to go slowly in order to make it okay. I was glad the vehicle we were in had 4wheel drive. Anyway, we made it back last night and were glad to be back!