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.

Patience

I remember when I was younger thinking that patience was one of the "lesser" Christ-like virtues--at least compared to things like faith or compassion or charity. Then in the MTC, I had a difficult time with my companion and found myself suddenly in desperate need of patience and realized that I had none.

This has turned into a lifelong theme. Some people have reoccurring trials with health or family or finances--but it seems that most of my trials have been ones of patience (I guess with a name like Sarah Elizabeth, it was inevitable). Trusting that God will have everything work together for my greatest happiness isn't necessarily the part I struggle with (though I do wonder what in the world He's doing sometimes), it's when I'm asked to sit back and do nothing--allowing things to unfold as they will that I feel internal fingernails scraping down a chalkboard.

Because I'm the type of person that loves action--to make a plan and go out and make it happen, being asked to "let go and wait" is a strange and exquisite torture. Recently, life experience has brought this up again, so if any of you have any counsel for me on how to patiently wait, I'd love your insights.

What Not To Wear

Although I almost never watch television these days, I do have one show I watch anytime I can— TLC’s “What Not To Wear.” I relate on a deep level to those girls who can’t seem to put together an outfit and are frustrated with a body that clothes just don’t seem to fit right.

So, last summer when my boss asked me and my co-worker Kelsey what kind of incentive we wanted to complete an enormous training project, I convinced Kelsey that what we really wanted a What Not To Wear shopping spree with my sister Anna acting as Stacy and Clinton.



This took a little longer than initially anticipated as we worked to get down to a
size we wanted to buy clothes for, but in April we were finally ready. I did some pre-shopping in Park City and came home completely depressed because none of the new styles looked good on me.



Enter Anna and her magic.

She’d been collecting coupons and analyzing my existing wardrobe for months, and called me one day saying the sales were on and she’d already had clothes on hold for me at the mall. I took an early lunch and met her there. As I tried on the stacks of clothes she had waiting for me and looked in the mirror, I gasped . I was stunning! She chose exactly the right styles and colors and put them together like a work of art. We’d go through stores and she would run her fingers through the racks of clothes and come up with the perfection. And she did the same thing for Kelsey.



This went on for several days. One of those days, Anna had to bring all 4 of her boys (5 and under) with her. My co-worker and I would take turns entertaining the boys in the dressing room or playing hide and seek in the shoe store while the other tried on and got the approval nod or disapproval shake from Anna. Another day, we brought our entire closets to her house, tried on every piece of clothing we owned, and she told us what we had to get rid of. I could tell that there were things she’d been dying to have me get rid of by the look of satisfaction on her face when they hit the discard pile.

The whole thing was like a college-level education in fashion merchandizing with classes in ensemble, the rules of shoes (my worst subject) and what you should and shouldn’t match. I was one of the most purely fun experiences of my life and I’m so grateful to have such a talented and giving sister. Everyone I told about it wished they had an Anna!