How DO I do it??

Having  a large family often poses opportunities for people to ask me "how do you do it??"  Most the time I just smile and say "day by day".  Well this week has been a duzie.  I don't know if I'm just getting old or weak or a just plain quitter.  I have never loved the last month of school, but it's getting worse every year.  I guess it's possible that it could in part be due to the fact that I have more children in school every year.  So in this ONE precise situation I truly envy parents of only children.

I came  home from a very wonderful and relaxing cruise to day after day filled with "mom I need...".  So my very first day back I spent the day trying to unpack and get 4 boys their physicals that they needed by last Saturday to go to Scout Camp.  Do you have any idea how much paperwork that is??  Or $$?  I also made a Costco trip and a trip to Walmart to pick up all the stuff on the "packing list" we didn't have.  I made it home just in time to tuck the rest of the family into bed.  If dinner was had, I know not.

Wednesday I did more laundry, had to take Whitley back and forth to work because her car was down and made yet another stop at Walmart to get the cupcakes and ice cream I was supposed to bring to the track banquet that night. Yes, Brooklyn called to let me know about that right as I pulled in the driveway the night before. Bo also called to let me know he had forgotten his lunch.  Our friend had also missed the bus so we made an extra trip to the school to get her there.   After picking up Katy from school, I decided she and I would have a little girl time and go to lunch.  While eating, she mentions something about her graduation that night.  I inform her it's tomorrow night.  She argues and says her teacher said TONIGHT.  I told her her teacher misspoke.  It's right here in my phone as Thursday.  She continued to tell me I was wrong so I sorted through the "trash" folder in my email to prove to her it was not tonight.  Welp, she was right.  Right there in the email, tonight.  Holy crap.  It's also scheduled at the exact same time as the banquet.  So we rush home to get in some rest and hopefully a shower.  Just as I'm pulling in, Whitley calls and asks me to come and get her.  I was just right there 10 min ago!!!  So in a selfish rage, I sent Nick to go pick her up.  We made it to the graduation, took a few pics and literally grabbed her after walking across the stage and b-lined it to the awards banquet. (where I had dropped my kids off 40 min early because I had no other option).  They were just getting started, whew.  Thirty minutes later we were eating ice cream and cupcakes, taking more pictures and rushing the kids to mutual.  I then made a special trip all alone to meet my dealer, Circle K.  I have had more Diet Coke in the last week than ever I can remember.  With about 45 minutes to spare before all the kids returned I decided to abandon all hope of being productive at home and crawl into my bed and read.  No such luck.  Apparently Katy was in the mood to read as well so she hopped in my bed and proceeded to read me two very entertaining Pinkalicious books.  Kids come home, chaos for 30 minutes and again the house is quiet.

Stephen and Whitley had gone to the graduation that night and were going to a party after.  I woke up about 12:40 to find them still not home.  Grr.. Now I'm wide awake and they are not answering.  About 1 am they walk in like nothing, say good night and leave me there wishing I was sleeping.  Thanks guys.

Thursday was no less exciting.  It's supposed to be our movie day, but Nick and I were the only ones home. My house is a wreck!!  I have paperwork and laundry stacked up with letters still to write for 5 of my children heading off to camp in a few days.  Going to a movie is not the smartest choice at this point, but no one ever said I was smart.  Off we went.  More Diet Coke and popcorn.  Today was Katy's last day but Whitley was on pick up duty since I so smartly went to the movies.  She texted me and told me they had come home because Whit didn't feel well.  Ok, sweet, no big hurry to go get her.  Nick and I had to make a stop at the bank and that's when I got the call from Rhett to please bring him money to buy a yearbook.  Oy, so off to the school we go.  By now it's 12:30 and Rhett is asking to please come home with us.  Since school is such a joke that last week, I agreed as long as he did a chore.  Once home, I was heading straight for my bed.  Tired.  So tired.  What do I find, Whitley and Katy sound asleep in MY bed.  So my option now is to wake them, or try to squiggle in on Glade's side where the sheets are always untucked and his pillows are smushy.  I did my best and as I did, Katy moved over right against me leaving my hanging off the side of the bed.  I'm sure this will be an awesome nap.

I did finally get up and get my paperwork done and made a delicious meal of hot dogs and tater tots.  Hey, they got fed.  Then off we headed to play practice.  As we were walking out the door, Glade called to let us know we were irrigating in 5 min.  Well, we're leaving and both Stephen and Nick are already at work.  Sorry.  Lucky for us we have a great irrigation guy who did it for us. While piling in the car we notice 5 chicken loose so we all jump out to round them up.  That's when I notice Bo has not fed them or gathered eggs like I had asked him to 43 times.  Not a good moment for me.  Play practice was crazy, disorganized and I have no idea if anything was actually accomplished.  All night Katy was saying that her tummy hurt.  On the way home she mentions that she never ate dinner.  Apparently she didn't know there were hot dogs and everyone ate her tater tots.  Great reason to go through McDonalds drive thru for a cheese burger and 8 cones.

Last day of school!!  Still I plow through the demands of the day.  Both Bo and Dalin made the talent show, which started at 8:30.  That would have been fun except Brooklyn's 8th grade graduation was at 9.  So we went and watched the talent show and right after Dalin performed,  zoomed over to the high school for Brooklyn.  I say we, meaning Me, Whitley, Stephen, Nick, Katy and my Mom.  You think I'm going to suffer alone??  After an hour of talks and clapping and pictures, the kids went home and mom and I went back to the grade school for the second round of talent show.  They both did great.  Dalin asked if he could just go home, so of course I said yes.  We took him home, then mom and I went to lunch.  Two and a half hours of just Mom time.  Much needed respite from my world.  I got my nails done, took Nick to work, picked up pizza and went home to start the bribing.  My house is in an indescribable state.  We haven't touched it in days.  DAYS.  So I set the pizza boxes on the counter and stated "not one bite will be taken until this house looks like a home again".  Amazing how fast things get done with the smell of pepperoni wafting in the air.  I might care or have some anxiety about all the things that didn't get done, but there's always next week.  And the one after that... it's summer after all. Ü

I was going to make a big post about the last weeks of school and all the riduculous things we are asked to do when everyone has checked out, but then I read this lady's blog and it could be better said.  She has nailed my life and my thoughts exactly, totally worth the read.

http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2013/05/30/worst-end-of-school-year-mom-ever

Cruise 2013 - At Last!!

After trying to get on a cruise for almost a year, we finally made it!!  It was extremely last minute, like Tuesday before we left, but after reviewing our upcoming months, it was now or never!  So we hopped on a 3 day Mexican cruise over Memorial Day weekend.  Brilliant idea if I may say so myself. Ü

We drove there on Friday, got on the boat that afternoon and stayed on till Monday morning.  I definitely could have stayed longer, but it was the perfect getaway.  The weather was beautiful and the "no responsibility" part was exactly what I needed!  The first day is usually pretty uneventful because you only really have time to get on and then it's dinner time.  Actually we got on, had some ice cream then I went down for my first nap of the cruise.  I love naps on the boat, your room is like pitch black.  So after napping and a few ice cream cones, we got dressed for dinner.  Our table mates were interesting, but nice.  About our same age, but so different.  They were newly married, no kids and very "yuppy-ish".  She ate fish and sorbet all weekend while I asked for more ice cream with my chocolate melting cake.  She may have been skinny blonde and beautiful, but I run faster.  Yep, she was talking about her half marathons and the day she ran her fastest mile.  Of course, I kept it to myself, but she is kinda slow.  Which is fine... but I'm still faster. ♥

Our (my) Trophies

Of course we are a little competitive and are "do-ers" so we were excited to come home with a little proof that we rocked that boat!  (get it, "rocked")  Anyway, the first day on the ship was actually our Ensenada day but we weren't anxious to get off the boat so we stayed and did all the activities.  First there was a trivia game show and I got picked as one of three to compete.  The questions were all clips from songs, movies, quotes, ect and I totally won.  I was even winning enough that it was going too quickly so the host put me over in the corner with my hands on the wall so the others could catch up a little.  But I still won - trophy #1.

Then there was the mini golf tournament.  I'm not so great at this game, but today I did alright.  I even beat Glade!!  However, this little stink, Payton,  tied me.  We thought we may have to arm wrestle for the trophy but they decided to give us both one.  I will share more on Payton when I talk about our new friends.

Trophy #2

Bean Bag Toss, this was one of our favorite activities.  There was a tournament for this that day as well.  This time Glade and I competed as a team and we won.  We had a little competition in this one, including Payton, who is really good.  But in the end we pulled it out and were awarded... Trophy #3

Later, Glade and Payton had to have a show down to see who was actually better.  I can't remember the exact outcome, but this happened a couple different times over the weekend and it was a really close match every time.  The last night of the cruise, Glade and I went up and played for 2 hours (till midnight).  We had to keep playing until I beat him.  Now my arm is sore.  It was either that or the shuffleboard we played.

We were also lucky enough to get picked to be on a Family Feud game which was actually boys/girls.  The guy didn't realize we were together so when we got to go up for the showdown question, instead of shaking hands like everyone else, Glade grabbed me and kissed me.  That got a fun reaction.  But in the end, the girls snatched the win at the last minute and I got the medal.  All the boys had to present the girls with the medals.

We attempted to do a few of the trivia games, but were just not quite close enough to come away with the win.  One of the games was the scores to movies.  Not songs, scores.  That was really hard.  We also did famous faces of the 80's and were really close on that one.  We tried classic rock and totally bombed.  After about 5 clips, we got up and left.  But you always meet fun people and we like to give things a try.

Ensenada

We got off the boat just long enough to go into town to get some fish tacos.  I really don't love being in town and this time was worse because it was the weekend of a big car race down there so there were tons of people.  It was really loud and most were very drunk and obnoxious.  BUT, the fish tacos were awesome!  Totally worth the trip.  We even stopped in at a 7-11 to check out their donut program.  

How Laurie Got Her Groove On

I love to dance.  Being on a cruise gives many opportunities for this.  Unfortunately, this boat had only one nightclub so it was packed every time.  Besides that it was one of the few places smoking was allowed (bleck), it was pretty raunchy as well.  That was disappointing, but it didn't stop me from finding other avenues.  First, we took a disco dance class.  That was us and 6 little children.  Ya know, whatever!  Then there was my shining moment when I got to demonstrate my "MC Hammer" moves during the game show up on the stage in front of a live audience.  Oh yes I did!  Of course I had the bee bop thing going on where ever we were and good music was playing, but we can't forget the main dining room.  The waiters always do a little 3 minute show at the end of dinner.  The second night we got to slow dance to "That's Amour e" and then the last night I threw all caution to the wind and got up and danced "Gangham Style" with our waiters.  Lastly, in a desperate attempt at one more shot to get my groove on, we went to the Michael Jackson hour and pulled out some "Beat It"  moves.

New Friends

We made a few new friends on our journey.  First, there's little Payton.  He is 10 and quite competitive.  He got to do the kid version of the same game show I did and we both got trophies.  Then we met again at the mini golf tournament and we tied.  After we beat him and his mom at the bean bag toss, he commented to his  mom "Mom!  She's up 3 to 2!"  We ended up many of the same places as this family so we got on friendly terms and did a lot of our activities together.  There were actually 4 boys: Daniel 16, Ryan 13, Kyle 12, and Payton 10.  They were really sweet boys and we enjoyed hanging out with them.  It was even better that they weren't ours so we could walk away whenever we wanted!

Then there was Kirk and Gretchen.  We first met them during the bean bag toss.  They were our final competitors.  By the way, our team name for that was "Ship Collectors".  Anyway, we met them again during one of the comedy shows and sat and talked with them for an hour or so.  They actually live in Phoenix and are in the process of adopting their first foster child.  They were really sweet.

We met many other people who were kind and curious about this crazy couple with 9 children.  "Are they ALL yours?  Or are you blended?"  "You look so in Love!"  People are funny.  Some were nice, some were interesting and many were just down right entertaining.  We even saw our dining buddies, Jeff and Tina, driving on the freeway on our way home.

Odds and Ends

We filled our days with mini golf, bean bags, shuffle board, ice cream cones, trivia games, naps, more ice cream cones and lots of people watching.  The last day on the boat was super windy and chilly.  It was nice to be cold again.  Even provided for an actual opportunity to drink hot chocolate (along with our ice cream). We ate far too much and regretted it every time, until the next meal at least.  Every couple should spend a few days just being friends and dating and enjoying each other without all the daily stress of real life.  I'm so lucky that my husband and I are such good play mates!!  

Adventures of Glade

Its hard to post about someone else's experiences, but I'll give it a try.  He's a great sport and lets me do pretty much whatever I want.  Even if it's taking a nap.  He's just as adventurous and loves to get up and do, not just watch.  He also got to compete in a little mini game show after the main one but did not come home with a trophy.  He attempted Karaoke a couple of times but can never make up his mind on what to sing and then we leave.  This time I convinced him to let me choose, so I chose "Still the One".  He did great, but was frustrated cuz reading the words is confusing with the music.  I loved it, but he left a little frustrated.  What a sport.  He ate more ice cream cones than he could count.  He talked to everyone and was adamant about keeping our competition going with Payton and his brothers.  I'm pretty sure both Payton and Daniel beat Glade in Beanbags.  One night at dinner we even ate Alligator fritters.  Go us!!  The best part, no cell phone or computers for 2 full days!!  I had him all to myself. ♥

Boldon

A lot of really exciting things happen when you turn 8!  Bo did just that in April.  We had a little mini party for him with family and friends, but not his actual birthday party.  That may have to wait till summer. :(  But he has started going to Cub Scouts and I'm lucky enough to be his Wolf leader.  I love having him with me.  He's awfully handsome in that uniform ♥

Not only does he get to go to scouts, but it's also time for BAPTISM DAY!  It kind of snuck up on us, but we were able to get it all put together quickly and it was a wonderful day.  We had play practice in the morning, but the rest of the day was all for Bo.  I think pretty much the entire family showed up along with our close friends.  It was a full room!  Bo smiled from ear to ear the entire time.  

Daddy got to baptize and confirm him, while Stephen and Uncle John got to be witnesses.  Chelsey and  Whitley both gave talks and the rest of the kids sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light".  The primary gave him an awesome towel with his name and date of his baptism embroidered on it.  Even his primary teachers were there!  We are so lucky to have so much love around us.

 The last couple of times we've taken a picture of the family, I've been slightly saddened that it's not a picture of parents and little children surrounding them.  These are big kids!  It's fun though, I love who they are becoming.

 Bo and Grandma Green

 Bo was so stinkin cute.  Seriously just grinned the whole time.  Even after his confirmation, as he stood up and hugged each of the men, he had tears running down his cheeks, but smiling big at the same time.  What a sweet little boy.  I couldn't stop hugging him.

After the baptism, we invited everyone back to our house for pizza and ice cream.  It was the perfect ending to his experience.  (Well, almost... Our puppy Lilly died that afternoon.  That's a different post.)

 Bo also got to go to his first Dbacks game this last week.  We were lucky enough to get some free tickets so he and Glade and our friends the Johnsons all went together.  He wasn't very excited to go at first, he thought it would be boring, but ended up having a great time!  He even ate his first jalapeno that night.  I guess a little peer pressure isn't always a bad thing. Ü

Why I haven't blogged

I miss blogging.  But sometimes when you sit down to empty your brain, the fingers just don't want to.  Or maybe it's the heart.  We've had a lot going on here the last month or so that isn't so pleasant.  I feel like I try to keep my blog pretty real.. the good, the bad and the ugly.  Sometimes though, the ugly is more than I like to share.  It's no secret that we have been dealing with a son with drug problems.  That's kind of old news.  The new news is that its started to affect almost everything we do.  Some days you are filled with hope and a brightness of the future, then the very next day you are slammed with the reality that what you thought was real,  wasn't.  It's been quite the roller coaster.  The constant battle has tainted many of our normally fun and exciting activities.  So when I want to sit and blog about birthdays and trips and events, it's difficult to paint them as rosy when I know there was so much drama attached.  At the same time, I don't feel it's appropriate or pleasant to just lay it all out there either.  In the end it's just been easier to not do anything.  But life is passing by and I hate that I haven't recorded so many great things.  We still battle everyday.  Good days, bad days, even strange days.  That's reality.  What's also reality is that life is great!  So with that, I'm going to give my every attempt to get caught up on all that I've missed in the last month.  No, I'm not adding any of the drama.  Yes, I'm going to paint them as rosy, cuz gosh darn it....they deserve that!

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.