Week in Review

Busy busy week!  

Monday: Callbacks.  This was a fun night with a lot of amazing talent!  We were even done by 9.  Because I was gone again for FHE, I made a Costco run and got all the stuff that we needed for our 72 hour kits.  I failed on getting it done for conference weekend and my kids were bugging me wanting to eat them so I got that done so they could have an actual FHE that night.  Feels good to be freshly prepared.  

Tuesday: Visiting  Teaching.  Seriously.. and it's only the middle of the month!  I went straight from VT to pick up Katy, have lunch with her and  Whitley and then to the PAC to meet with Molly and finalize the casting of the show.  That night I had to go back again for a full production meeting to get a schedule figured out.  Long day.

Wednesday: Wednesday was windy!  I can't believe it's still been cool during the day.  Jenny and I decided to go to the park and I about froze.  I ended up putting Katy's extra jacket over my arms and snuggling in.  It was nice to sit outside and talk and let the kids play though.  That afternoon I had scouts but my good friend Alicen came and taught them some sign language so I didn't really have to do much.  After, she came over to pick up her kids and we decided she would stay and eat dinner with me.  Later, her husband joined us and we talked till almost 9.  I have great friends.

Thursday: Exercise.  I have not done enough of that lately!  Since Whitley was home that day, she took care of Katy so Jenny and I could go to Goodwill.  I've been in full swing decorating my house (finally!)  I was looking for a few things and was lucky enough to find them.  I'm almost done and it's finally starting to look like a house that is put together.  It's been a year, ya know!  That night we had our first rehearsal for the Wiz.  It was lots of fun and I think we are going to have a great cast.  

Friday: Happy Birthday Stephen!!  Mom and Chelsey came out to help me do more decorating and Whitley had the morning off, so we bought some balloons and lunch and took them to Stephen at school.  I'm pretty sure we sufficiently embarrassed him.  His birthday was pretty uneventful since he went to Cali and used all his money for that and had to work that night.  We got a lot done on my house, I'm loving it.  Took Brooklyn to get some fillings done so we can now officially get her braces on.  For date night, we had a quick dinner at Panda Express and then saw the movie The Host.  I was pleasantly surprised!  I hadn't read the book, so I didn't already have any expectations and I really liked it.  

Saturday: Oy!  Longest day ever.  Got up early to get my paperwork done, then took the kids and headed to play practice.  Was there for 4 hours.  We finished at one and Katy's dance recital was at 2.  I got home just in time to do her hair and get her back to the school.  Along with that, track kids had to be there before two to catch the bus to their 4 pm meet in phoenix.  Katy did awesome and wasn't nervous at all.  She did three different dances and was GREAT!  We left the recital, went home and packed up and headed to the meet.  Mom drove so that was nice.  Glade spent the whole day working on a rental property in town so he missed all the fun.  The meet started at 4 and lasted till... well I don't know how long, we left.  By 9:15 my kids were so tired and ready to go home. Dalin had a campout the night before so was on very little sleep and very emotional.  He really wanted to run his last race, but couldn't hardly quit crying from his race before.  He almost fell asleep on my lap.  Brooklyn had finished hers, scratched all three discus throws and won the shot put.  Katy and Bo were also very ready to go so we loaded up and went home.  Got in bed by about 10:30.  

 Rhett was ineligible this meet but had a cool experience.  The announcer was talking about the senior boy who always wins these races, the same one who always won cross country too.  But after that, he was talking about up and coming runners to be watching for and mentioned about 3 boys and one was Rhett!  I was so proud of him, other than his crappy grades cuz he didn't turn in his homework. :(  Anyway, I can't wait till he realizes how good he can be.

Sunday: Early.  We have 8 am church and after the day we had before, it was a little rough getting started.  I hadn't located anyone's church clothes and honestly just didn't want to get up.  Lucky for me, in my sleepy haze, I mentioned Sunday clothes to Rhett when he got home from the dance and he found them and put them on the ironing board for me.  We were there in plenty of time and only had slightly grouchy kids.  I was even able to get a nap later that day!  We had Sunday dinner and irrigation.  The two don't really go together causing all the kids to have to play in the house the whole time.  It was loud!  But I love my family and it's totally worth it.  I have to be honest in saying, I was very ready for my bed by the end of the night!!

It was a funfilled, crazy week, but we made it through and have another one coming up right after this.  Someday things will slow down....

General Conference in Utah

One day sitting in relief society, I had the impression that our three oldest boys needed to be the Priesthood session of General Conference.  Not just go to it like always, but BE THERE.  So after a little planning, we made it happen.  We left on a Friday evening, leaving on a plane to Provo.  Provo is about 30 miles or so from Salt Lake City.  We knew we weren't going to have a car but we had checked out their train system and knew we could get where we needed to be so off we went on our adventure.

Rhett had never flown before and was a  little nervous.  The flight was only and hour so it went well and we were there in no time.  After getting off the plane and locating the train station, we realized we were 6 miles away with no car.  Guess we should have checked better.  So we took a taxi to the train station.

Boys on the plane

Once we got to the train station, we bought tickets and checked the schedule.  It's a 72 minute ride to SLC, that's longer than the flight.  AND, it doesn't run on Sundays which is when we were planning on riding it back to Lehi.  Guess we'll have to figure that one out. So we got on and headed out.  Only problem here is that we weren't really sure where to get off when we got there in relation to where our hotel was.  I guess we'll figure it out!  Our theme for this long traveling day was "well, good thing we got no where to be!"

Chillin on the train.  

Funny faces

Glades funny face.  He did business almost the whole way.

On the train we discovered Rhett had taken these bamboo sticks from the bathroom at the airport.  I didn't realize what they were until I got them in front of me and smelled them.  I exclaimed "these are smelly sticks!"  That became a joke the rest of the trip, but I knew what I meant.  You know, the diffuser reeds soaked in smelly oil to make the room smell better.  Well, I gave him the lecture about stealing, even though they were just little sticks.  We had a fun ride by ourselves to SLC.

Once we got there, we decided the Temple  stop sounded like the best bet since our hotel was just about a mile from the Temple.  We got off there, told a worker where we wanted to go and he told us we shoulda gotten off at the SLC center stop.  We jumped back on quickly and did a little back track.  We got off there and told another person where we wanted to go and they pointed us to the little train that went through town and told us where to get off that one.

 The little train.

The conductor was very sweet and at one stop let us know that we could probably get off here instead of the other one.  After talking to him for a min, we decided it was really 6's so we decided to stay on since "we got no where to be".  Not 15 seconds after leaving that stop, the train broke down in the middle of the  next intersection.  We sat there for quite some time.  We decided maybe we could just get out since that was the stop he said we could get off at anyway.  But No, he wouldn't let us off since we were in an intersection.  Good thing we had no where to be!  After finally getting off, we hiked half a mile to our hotel.  Finally!!  As I checked in with the guy and he tried to offer me a parking pass, I told him we didn't have a car.  He asked how we got there and I gave him a brief rundown of our travels.  Then he replies "did you know we have a shuttle service from the train station?"  No. No I obviously didn't know that!  We put our bags in the room and left for our gourmet dinner of McDonald's.  The kids were elated.

The next days were awesome!  We spent Saturday morning touring around Temple square and seeing everything there was to see.  We had a quick lunch of Gyros at the very swanky mall and then went to watch  the afternoon session in the old tabernacle.  I just loved being there!  The spirit on Temple Square was so awesome.  The boys had tickets to the Priesthood session so they headed there while us girls went to the mall.  By the way, Jake and Jenny Johnson went and so did Brett and Janelle Sherwood.  We tried being all girly and shop, but mostly we just dropped.  We were so tired.  We waited for the boys to come out of priesthood and were just in awe at the number of men in suits that poured out of that building.  Truly amazing.  We took the boys out for an Italian dinner and then back to the hotel.  A lot of walking when your hotel is a mile from where you need to be. Ü

 Eating Gyros

 Once we took the train instead of walking to the hotel, but it looked like this.

 Glade and I in front of the temple 

 Rhett being a "horse" in the Church history museum

Sunday morning we trekked back to Temple Square for the last two sessions.  It was a long walk in my boots!  We watched this session from the visitor center theater.  It didn't matter where we watched it, it was so awesome to be there.  Between sessions, we tried to get a quick lunch but everything is closed there on Sunday!  Seriously, the whole mall was closed!  So we had an unfortunate incident with Carl's Jr and $13 coke and cookies.  About half way back to the temple, Stephen realized he left his brand new binder with all his notes back at Carl's Jr.  Sweet Rhett offers to RUN all the way back and get it for him.  The reason there was such an urgency is that we actually had tickets to the afternoon session and you have to be in your seats by a certain time or they give them away.  It all worked out and Rhett saved the day.

We had originally gotten tickets for the Saturday afternoon session but we gave them to Whitley's friends so they could attend so now we had Sunday afternoon.   The only problem was that 3 were on one level and 2 were on another so we didn't get to sit together.  Bummer.  Stephen and Nick took the upper level and Glade, Rhett and I took the lower ones.  Even though we mostly watched it on the big screens, it was so wonderful to be there.  I highly recommend it!!

Sunday night, we had caught the little train (which luckily didn't shut down on Sunday) to Lehi where Glade's cousin picked us up and took us back to her home where we stayed for the night.  It was really neat to get to know them a little better.  We awoke Monday to a cold, rainy day.  We had planned on seeing a lot of things in Provo, but it was hard with the weather.  We were able to see the temple, BYU, the MTC, the old tabernacle they are turning into a temple and then the Quilted Bear.  That's a craft store where I bought some super cute daisy things for my house.
By the end of the day, we had seen most things we wanted and it was time to be getting on the plane.  The flight was really rough due to the weather and I hated it, but it was good to back home!

 the old tablernacle that burned down and now they are turning in to a temple

Provo temple

Oh Yah!!  At the mall, they had a Deseret Book store.  We ventured in and guess who was there???  Michael McClean!!  He wrote The Forgotten Carols and I just love love loved that.  So I got to tell him how much I loved it and appreciated his gifts and how they have blessed my life.  I was on Cloud 9.   But then......

 Gerald Lund!!  In the same day!  He has written all the Church historical fiction books that I have read repeatedly and taught me most of what I know about church history.  I can't even tell you how great that was.  I'm pretty sure I even shed a few tears telling him how much his work has blessed my life.  I'm a goof, I know.

This is the little darling I got myself at the mall.  Seriously, sparkly daisies!!

Apparently they like to eat chocolate covered cinnamon bears here in Utah.  So I got some for my good friend Leslie, who also like to eat them. ♥

Auditions - The Wiz

Another exhausting, emotional and completely fascinating weekend of auditions.  This one was a little different for me as the actual director.  I think I may have mentioned this before, but I'm just not sure I have the stomach for this part of it.  I have really only experienced the merciful part of this process.  That means that my kids (one in particular) were given chances they (he) probably didn't deserve.  And it was life changing for him.  I want every family to have those experiences.  I guess I'm also a sucker for the underdog.  I didn't realize that until now.  I'm certainly not one to think every kid needs a trophy cuz they showed up.  No, you need to earn that.  Win something!  But in the case of the theater, there are so many talented people.  I could kind of describe it in levels.  The ones that are just naturally gifted.  I have learned that recently, not all things can just be learned.  Some things are truly God given gifts.  It puts me in awe to hear some of these little ones belt out things that should only come from adults or professionals.  Then there are the 2nd stringers.  These are the ones I feel the worst for.  They are talented kids/people who work hard and want so badly for their chance to shine.  Unfortunately there are those gifted ones who are just plain better and usually get the parts. I'm a mother to a bunch of those and I have experienced the tears and sadness that comes from never quite being good enough.  Then there are all the average people who love to do it, want to do it, but know there isn't really a "part" for them but are happy just being there.  Oh yah, one more group, the ones who think they are gifted and truly believe they will land the starring role but maybe shouldn't be on a stage at all.  Those are the real heart breakers.

So now as the one ultimately responsible for casting the show, I get to take responsibility for all the hearts broken and those that are over the moon happy.  I haven't learned to shut my heart out of the process, not sure I can ever do that.  My tendency is to give those 2nd stringers a chance!  They would do great after all.  But the right thing is probably to give it to those that are just ultimately better.  My head knows that, but my heart hasn't caught up yet.  Tomorrow is our callback day where we officially try them in different rolls and make decisions.  After that, it gets fun.  I'm sure this process gets easier, but for now it's really really hard.

More track updates

This last Friday the kids had a track meet at their school.  I was able to go for just a couple of hours before I had to be at auditions.  I got to see Brooklyn do shot put, which she took first in and had a PR, but that was it.  I had to leave right before they were getting the mile run started which Dalin and Rhett would both be running. It was really frustrating to have to leave when they were getting so close.  I had mom text me when they were done so I would at least know how they did.  Rhett got 3rd in the mile AND PR'd with a 5:49.  I was so proud of him and so bummed I missed it.  He is really figuring out how to get it done.  Unfortunately he starts every race telling himself he doesn't feel good and so it won't be a good run.  Someday maybe he will be able to conquer his mind.  Dalin also PR'd with a 6:41 mile.  That's 22 seconds better than his last race!  Again, so bummed I missed it.  I could comfort myself in knowing that my Mom was there supporting them and that Glade would be there at some point.  But then I got a text from mom saying "Dalin said: I know I have a lot of people her supporting me, but why is it I just want my Mom to be here?"  Oy.  I know it's totally sweet, but it didn't make me feel very good about not being there.  I know it's fine, just wish I could duplicate myself some days!!

Rhett also took 2nd in the 2 mile and Brooklyn took first in the discus with a PR of ten feet further than her last.  I love that she has found something to be good at.  She just glows when she's competing.  Dalin is only a 6th grader so he has lots of time to get better and he's off to such a good start.  It's so fun and rewarding to watch them become and BE.

Sparkles

I've been thinking a lot about sparkles these days.  They make me happy.  It's only been in the last few years that you can buy anything with sparkles!  And I have my fair share of sparkly things.  My favorite heels are very sparkly.  I like my purses to have some sort of bling and bracelets have to have something shiny on them.  I even like a little sparkle on my nails and sometimes a spritz on my hair.  When I'm sitting in a quiet moment, I like to move whatever I have on that sparkles, in different directions to catch the light in as many ways as possible. There are even a few places that make things sparkle just a bit more.  I like the way sparkles make me feel.  With that said, are they good?

I mean, were sparkles put on this earth to give joy and happiness.  To make me happy.  OR, were they put here to tempt and distract?  The scriptures often talk about fine twined linen and jewels and the tinkling of their feet.  Are sparkles part of that?  They certainly can distract me if my mind starts to wander at all and my eyes get a little bigger if something I see gives off a little gleam.

I don't know the answer to this and it kind of bothers me. The only real consolation I can find is that I wear sparkles for ME.  I never put on something sparkly hoping to catch someones attention or in hopes anyone will admire them. I just like them, for me!  So for now I'm going to say sparkles are one of life's beauties.  Something to be enjoyed.  And if you see me getting prideful about my sparkles, you should probably give me a heads up. Ü