MIA

Yeah, it's been awhile. . .

I replaced my blogging time with writing to my mom and dad on their mission. So, in brief, here's what's been going on the last couple of months:

1. PRIMARY: I was released from Single Adult Rep and called into Primary. Not a lot of experience here--but being over the music and sharing times have been a blast, although I'm still at a total loss to understand Scouts.


2. STAY AT HOME MOM: I played mom for a week when my brother and sister-in-law were out of town.

Favorite Part: Hanging out with the girls and the funny things they would say. Also, them bringing me breakfast in bed on my birthday.

Frustrating Part: I was going to get a lot of stuff down during my "down time"--which never appeared because absolutely nothing went the way I thought it would.


3. MOAB: I went with a group to Moab to do a half marathon and did hikes the night before and the day after. Yes, I do appear to have been suffering from a case of temporary insanity, but although exhausting, I had a really good time.


4. LEAVING THE COUNTRY: I've had a trip to Italy and Turkey planned with my friend Kelsey for about a year, but it was permanently on hold because of finances. In the last month (between babysitting and work bonuses) I was able to pay off my credit card. I wasn't about to go back into debt for a trip when I was finally out, but things fell together and between a $500 plane fare and a humanitarian foundation I've been working with paying Jared and I to write a picture book for them, I finally ran out of reasons why I couldn't go. I almost cried when I realized my passport had been expired for years without me even noticing it and I'm feel a part of me that has been lost returning.

A Baker's Dozen

I used to love telling people from outside Utah that there were 13 people in my family. Their eyes would go wide and their jaws would drop. On my mission, I would show people a picture of my family and the first question was “Are they all from one mother?” and the next was usually, “Did you have a TV?”

A few weeks ago, I had the rare opportunity of performing a family song with my 10 siblings. It was my parents speaking-in-church-before-their-mission-that-isn’t-called-a-farewell-anymore, and everyone had made a super-human effort to be there.

So, in honor of that possibly not to be repeated scenario, here is my take on the sociological effects of growing up in a big family.




1. Eating Fast: Anything good didn’t last long, so you ate it fast and as much as possible. I remember a whole drawer full of grapes being gone in under an hour.

2. No Germ Phobias: Growing up in a big family made eating off each other’s silverware, using each other’s hair brushes, drinking from each others cups no big deal. There was even a time I was okay with a communal toothbrush. (I grew out of that one. . .)

3. Singing: I was an adult before I realized why we always sang on road trips and for FHE—there was a 16 year age range and singing was one of the few things that we could all do together. Additionally, if we were singing, we weren’t fighting or asking if we were there yet. I now see it as a brillant strategy.

4. Sibling Traditions: We did what our siblings did. Mark didn’t like tomatoes, so no one younger than him did either. My oldest siblings moved out at 18 and so did the rest of us. Precedents were set for years to come.

5. Tolerance: I found it easier to relate to all kinds of different people because I lived under the same roof with someone like them. We had the computer guy, cheerleader, athlete, drama/choir kid, super-student etc.

6. Opinionated: I learned to state my opinions strongly (even more strongly than I actually felt at times). Otherwise you could have 12 people contradicting you at once. I’ve had to learn to soften this tendency in the outside world—it doesn’t go over well.

7. Independence: My parents were amazing caregivers, but it was impossible to be on top of us for every little thing, so what we excelled in, we chose to excel in.

8. Interdependence: Most of my questions and needs can usually be addressed by someone in my family—medical, computer, fashion and beauty, writing, cooking, photography, shopping tips, food storage etc. It's really great.

In spite of its challenges, being from a big family is pretty spectacular. I’m grateful to my Mom and Dad for making it possible.

Reunion Tour

Growing up I always had a facination with "theme" parties. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to share my burning desire and I was vetoed over and over again. Except for the notable exception of my 18th Birthday. My friends actually threw a spoof "theme" party: it was a bridal shower.

The theme gene must run deep in the family, because my brother/boss decided that our company's preimere event, Reunion Tour (a 2 day executive retreat with abt. 200 people)was going to have a different theme every year--Olympics 2006, Hollywood 2008, New York City 2009.

With 2 other retreats back to back in September and October, and really having no official staff to help me (people pitched in at the end and saved me, but it wasn't really their job to make it happen) this year was complete insanity. Speakers, gifts, av, video production, nametags, rotation, manual, games, sponsors, and I could just go on and on for pages. Many late nights later--and a couple where I didn't go to bed at all--it miraculously came together and was a hit ! Someone told us it was "flawless" and I basked in that compliment for days!

Sandy

I spent most of Saturday helping my sister Naoma move out of her house and into my sister Anna's house because Anna was moving into my parent's house because they are moving to Mexico City. Got it so far?

Well, I was outside Anna's house getting some boxes and one of my co-workers (who is one of my favorite people and who happens to live in this same neighborhood) drives by and stops and calls out hello.

Before I could say anything she jumps in with, "Hi, I'm Sandy. I'm the nursery leader at church and I just wanted to introduce myself."

I responded, "Hi Sandy. I'm Sarah. I work with you."

In her defense, I had my hair pulled back with no make-up on and she knew that my sisters and I look alike. In fact, Naoma and I look the most alike. But then on the other hand, she'd never seen Naoma. . .

Drumroll Please. . .

When my parents decide to do something, they don't let any grass grow under their feet. The day after they'd decided to serve another mission, it was in the newspaper that my dad was stepping down from the city council. They had their entire household goods divvied up between their children and shipped out to our houses before their papers were even in. They were ready to go!

So, when dad called me on Friday to tell me they had their call, but that they were going to wait to open it until that night so we could be there for it, I was impressed at their patience.

We all descended on the house en masse (the out-of-staters were present via cell phone) and took turns guessing where they had been called to. We had everything from Sweden to Ghana to Hong Kong--but my brother-in-law Jon actually guessed it. They will be serving in Mexico City, Mexico. They are currently assigned to the visitor's center there (which is the center of a church college and MTC) but their call is under the mission president's direction to reassign.

I'll miss them so much, but I love that they are so willing to serve the Lord. They are amazing people!

Reba, Kelly, Rachael, Kelsey and Me

Adding events to my job has been stressful, but has also has great perks. For instance, our Jazz Suite sponsors get one concert a year included in their package and as the event director I had to go! I took my niece Rachael for her birthday and when we ended up with one extra ticket, my co-worker Kelsey came along to help out.

The concert featured Reba McIntire and Kelly Clarkson. A strange combination of styles, I know, but it ended up being a very cool mix. I know Reba from my Rick's days (I had a house cleaning job with a friend who was a big country fan, so that's what we listened to)and I know Kelly's most famous hits, but there's nothing like hearing people with "real deal" voices perform live. The best part was that they didn't just take turns but both sang each other's songs.

I sat on a broken chair, messed up the seating chart and about died when Reba ended the concert with "Fancy" (that is such a terrible song) but we had a tremendously fun time!

Mistakes

"In order to do something well, we must be first willing to do it badly."

I've never seen myself as a perfectionist, but I guess in some ways I am--especially with work. This came to my attention as I recently took over our statewide events. I took it on willingly because I'd been craving a new challenge and it sounded like fun.

The first Summit went smoothly and my confidence was high. The second Summit was private labeled for the Utah Jazz to host all their sponsors. I spent many late nights and weekends unraveling all the details--thinking if I just worked hard enough, I could make it run perfectly.

It was all coming together, (well except for a near disaster a few days before when we realized I had 25 people all scheduled to golf at 3:30. Tee times? What are those?) then at 6:00 the night before the "bewitching hour" struck. I realized I'd scheduled our two speakers for the same day! I was so focused on the details, I didn't see a major error. I went to my co-worker's office and started to hyperventilate, "What do I do???"

She calmed me down and I finally got a hold of the speaker in the airport and my boss and I were able to arrange a different flight and rearrange his speaking time. Then the Jazz wanted a room to watch the game. . .Then the speaker needed to have extra av. . .Then I lost the $2,000 camera. It was just one costly problem or mistake after another.

Thankfully everyone ended up having a fantastic experience,and I learned some important lessons.

1. No matter how hard I try, I'm going to make mistakes. I need to judge the success of things by the number of good things that happened instead of the number of things that went wrong.

2. I need to be okay with depending on other people and letting them help me when I need it (my event staff, bosses, and the hotel staff saved me over and over again--they were an answer to the urgent SOS messages I kept sending to heaven.)

3. Things don't have to be perfect for me to be happy. Walking around the golf course in Park City enjoying the stunning fall colors, talking to my phenomenal co-workers, sitting in the most amazing jacuzzi ever--looking up at the stars between the clouds of rising steam--there is a lot to enjoy and be grateful for in life.