Honoring Motherhood 2009

Honoring Motherhood

Mother’s Day Weekend 2009

May 9, 2009 * 8:30-11:00am

American Mothers is the official sponsor of Mother’s Day!

In celebration of Mother’s Day, American Mother’s of Utah Valley is hosting our 2nd annual, Honoring Motherhood Event, to pay tribute to mothers everywhere. Husbands, sons, daughters, friends, co-workers, grandchildren, etc. are invited to purchase a ticket as a Mother’s Day gift for a mother whom they would like to honor as well as a ticket for themselves and other family and friends. Their will be time to pay a short public tribute to the guests of honor as well as information on submitting a formal nomination for Mother of the Year of Young Mother of the Year.

Honored Mother Speakers will include:

Lisa Klomp-Utah American Mothers, Inc. State President

Danielle Kennington-Utah Young Mother of the Year 2009

Dixie Clifford-Utah Mother of the Year 2009

There will also be a special tribute made to his mother by McKay, the founder of the National No Cussing Club.

$12.50 per ticket A great Mother’s Day Gift of tribute and memories of time together that will mean much more and last much longer than flowers, chocolates or a sweater.

Ticket price includes a catered breakfast of

Bavarian Filled Crepes with Berry Toppings

Scrambled Eggs Bacon Strips

Orange Juice/Milk

Event will be hosted at the White Willow Reception Center at 342 North 500 West in Provo, UT. To reserve seats for you and your guests, please mail a check to:

Kristin Collins

1042 West 1410 South

Orem, UT  84058

made out to American Mothers of Utah Valley and RSVP to kristinscollins@gmail.com. No tickets will be mailed. Your names will be on the guest list at the White Willow.

Any questions, please call Karmel a801-427-9293.

Here’s the flyer with this information:

Flyer for the Honoring Mother's Breakfast

Report on AMI National Convention

I (Danielle Kennington) just got back from  Portland, OR for the National Conference of American Mothers.  I went representing Utah as the Young Mother of the Year. I had so much fun!! Every mother should have the chance to go on a forced vacation for 4 days. We stayed at a really nice hotel and ate a lot of delicious food. I gave my speech “I am my Mother’s
Garden” . It went well, I think.  I liked listening to all the other speeches. Even though we all had the same topic, it was interesting that each talk was diverse and unique. I attended some amazing workshops that helped me learn better parenting skills. I ate some more. I went to training classes on the different parts of American Mothers. It really is an amazing organization. The more I learn about it, the more I want to be involved in it. I love that it is an interfaith, Christian organization. The motto is “Strengthening the moral and spiritual values of the family”.
The National Young Mother of the Year for 2009 is Kimberly Wright, from Nevada. She will do a great job representing us on the National Board.
My favorite part was getting to know so many amazing women. I arrived there Wednesday night knowing two people there. I left on Saturday with 14 very close friends (the other Young Mothers from the other states) and many close acquaintances. Now I have friends all over the country.

I am looking forward to traveling around the State, helping mothers know that they are valued and appreciated for what they do.  I am also looking forward to serving on the State AMI Board and associating with those wonderful women.  I got to know Lisa Klompf, our new Utah AMI President. She is so enthusiastic about AMI and shares it with everyone she talks to. What a great example!

Lisa Klompf in the Rhodendrun Gardens in Portland, Oregon

Dixie Clifford, Utah Mother of the Year, sits at the table with all the other Mothers of the Year from 2009. On her left is Betty Jean McGregor, of South Carolina, the National Mother of the Year for 2009

State Young Mothers of the Year, 2009. Danielle is on the front row, 3rd from the right. Next to her, 4th from right, is Kimberly Wright of Nevada, 2009 Young Mother of the Year

Danielle poses in front of the AMI banner that was hung in the lobby of the Embassy Suties Hotel where the Convention was held

Mrs. Utah!!!!

Our very own Chapter President, Karmel Larsen, was crowned Mrs Utah on April 26!!! We are do proud of her!!! Her platform was Stand for Decency, an important part of what we support at American Mothers. She will have the great oppurtunity to share this awesome message all over the state and the country.  Congratulations, Karmel!! Check out her blog at http://brighamandkarmel.wordpress.com/

Karmel is Mrs.Utah 2009

AMI Workshop Information

I wanted to share some of the things that I learned at the National Convention. We had many great workshops that helped me think about how to be a better parent.  I will just write some highlights. If you ‘d like to learn more, I’d love to talk to you about what I learned.

1- We learned about the more prevalent, dangerous practice of cyberbullying.  It has become a right of passage for teens who now use technology to bully and pick on their peers. It has led to murders and suicides of teens.  Monitor your children’s computer use.  Teach them to report back to you if they are bullied (name calling, shunned by peers, impersonation on line) online. Go to www.isafe.org for more information on how you can help your children.

2- A great program for communities is available for those who are battling the meth addiction in their communites.  There is a documentary that has been shown on all prime-time stations in cities aroudn the country.  If you get the whole community and media invovled, it is very powerful.  Involve community’s mental health resources afterwards to answer calls from those who need health. Check out www.crystaldarkness.com for more information.

3- We learned about Peer Mediation from Phil Johnson, from the Oklahoma  State Supreme Court. He taught us about a conflict mediation program that he teaches to children in schools across the country. The 5 stages of mediation are 1- Introduction, 2- Telling the Story 3- Put yourself in the other person’s position 4- Problem Solving 5- Writing Agreement.  He calls this program “PROS”- Peaceful Resolutions for Oklahoma Students.

4- I really liked the workshop on teaching children character and values. There is a program called “Character First” that was presented to us.  I have been thinking about what I learned and trying to implement it in my home.  You catch children doing good, and praise them. Instead of praising them for what they are doing, or a general “Good job”, you praise them with a specific character quality. This teaches them important qualities that we want them to learn.  SOme of the qualities are: obedience, initiative, generosity, joyfulness, responsibiltiy, diligence, availability, thouroughness, organization, gentleness, patience.  Their website has a whole list of these.

This week, I have been working on getting my 4 year old to stop sucking her thumb.  When she isn’t sucking her thumb, I say ” Thank you for showing self-control by not sucking your thumb. That means rejecting wrong desires and doing what is right.  This will help you learn to be in control at different times in your life. I am so proud of you”.  Of course, I try to say this in a way my 4-year old can understand. This is an example.

President-Elect Kristin Collins

We are excited to welcome Kristin Collins as our President-Elect of our Utah Valley American Mothers chapter.  She will start her term as President in July.  At this time, we will also form a board for our Utah Valley chapter.  If you are interested in being on the board, contact Kristin.

Kristin and Karmel

Utah Mother of the Year visited our group

Dixie Clifford, the Utah Mother of the Year, visited our group and gave her speech that she will be presenting at the National Convention.

Dixie Clifford, Utah Mother of the Year, 2009. Photo by Scott Hancock

Dixie grew up in Paradise, Utah in a loving family where spiritual and moral values were taught. While a student at Utah State, she met and married Lincoln Clifford, her husband of 52 years. She has been blessed with four children and seven grandchildren. Born with a positive mental attitude and boundless energy, she has focused her life on homemaking and mothering with “spare” time spent in youth leadership and volunteer work in the schools, communities and churches of the six states where she has lived. A prolific writer and musician, she inspires young people to achievement and patriotism through her work in PTA, Scouting, 4-H Club work, school and church programs. She is a published author of essays, poems, newspaper feature stories and photos, with a novel, The Dictionary, slated for Christmas 2009. As a re-entry woman earning a Communications degree, she was named Student of the Year by her professors. In 1992, she was named Commissioner of the Year by the Los Angeles Area Parks & Recreation Commission for 123 cities.Click here to read a copy of her speech.

Dixie and Karmel at our chapter meeting

April Meeting on Educating our Children

April Chapter meeting group

As usual, we had a great discussion last night.  Our Glenn Latham parenting lesson was on toilet training, Chapter 18, p. 249. Consistent with all of  Dr. Latham’s approach to parenting, he says to ignore the negative behavior (going to the bathroom in the diaper or having an accident in underwear) by not talking, tickling, singing or scolding when changing diaper or underwear.  When the child is dry (diaper or underwear), praise child, give high fives, dance, sing, etc.  Ingrid suggested starting out by checking child’s diaper every 30 minutes and praising when dry, saying nothing when wet.  Everyone’s general consensus was to not force toilet training. Watch for signs of readiness of child. When child is ready, he will most often make the transition himself  or herself.

Education at home- Use every day moments to teach children.  For example, Ingrid put up an alphabet chart by the changing table when her daughter was one, and taught her the alphabet every time she changed diapers.  Danielle likes to have her daugher count apples while they put them in the bag, and make up addition and subtraction problems with every day oppurtunities.  Dixie said that when her children were young, she and her husband vowed to use correct grammar and speech around their children.  Karmel shared a scripture binder strategy that has helped improve scripture study around their home.  We all agreed fathers are important in using everyday moments to teach children.

Shauna Dunn gave a wonderful presentation on teaching children to love reading at the Thomas Jefferson Leadership Conference in March. She has graciously agreed to share her presentation with us,  “The E’s and Ease of Teaching your Child to Love Reading”

Shauna, Danielle and Ingrid