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!

More Race Pictures!

The Cursed Race

When I was offered the chance to run the Wasatch Back (a 178 mile relay race from Logan to Park City with a team of 12 people) at no cost, I thought, “What could be the downside to that?”

That was before I realized that this particular race was cursed.

The opportunity came through work, and as the captain, I originally had my co-workers signed up and ready to go. The curse began as, one by one, they dropped out for various and sundry reasons (which were mostly medical and all valid) and their replacements continued to drop out up until two days before the race.

Add to this major issues with providing volunteers, online registration breakdowns, transportation miscommunications (we almost didn’t have cars to run this race) and the whole experience was topped off by me locking myself out of my condo the night before. Ohhhh, I positively hated this race! Usually when so many things go wrong, I figure it’s just not meant to be (especially when it’s supposed to be for fun) and let it go, but to my surprise and chagrin, this experience somehow kept saving itself.

But once we got safely off the starting line, the whole thing became a fabulous adventure. We all ran 3 legs of 5-8 miles ranging from easy to extremely difficult—riding along in the car and giving water breaks and cheering each other on when it wasn’t our turn.



Our van had me, my one co-worker, my sister, and my nephew and two of his cross-country friends. Our cross-country kids were incredibly inspiring—we could barely keep up with them in the car for their water breaks (we had to throw out their water to them from the car at times) and watching them sprint up and down mammoth canyons was amazing. We had people along the route spraying us with water, throwing candy into our car, and my sister crossed one exchange point with a popsicle in her hand! :)

My nephew got really sick (heat exhaustion) and started throwing up, but was able to pull it out and finish his legs. My co-worker found out later she ran her last leg on a hairline fracture—and did it in really good time!

We ran into the night with headlamps and reflective vests and had to call out to identify each other. It was so odd being at these remote locations in the middle of the night with hundreds of other people. At 12:00 a.m. we went to one of the break areas where they’d laid down wrestling mats on a school gym floor for us to sleep on. As I walked in and saw the huddled masses beneath their blankets, I suddenly felt like a Katrina victim!

In the end, our team crossed our finish line almost 24 hours later, all in one piece and feeling very happy. And no, I’m not planning on doing it again next year!

Disney Princess

You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Done

I'm grateful, incredulous, and supremely relieved to announce that the book is done.

When Jared and I drove up to Salt Lake to pick up the boxes of books, he asked me if it felt like an anticlimax. I responded that of course it was, but I didn't care. It was done!

When my co-worker and friend said we needed to go and celebrate, I picked up a copy and said, "I don't need a party or a bonus or anything. This is enough!"

That said, it has been very fun to have family and friends call telling me they just finished reading it and to be able to talk to them about it.

I'm very grateful to all the amazing people in my life who contributed offically or unoffically to this moment (which sounds a little Academy Award-ish but I really mean it).

Did I mention that I was really happy about this?

Stranger Than Fiction

Have you ever had an experience that made you feel like you just
stepped into a movie script? I had one the other day in my parent’s
storage room.

Backstory

One of the reviewers of the play I directed surmised by my having the
same last name as my brother (the playwright) that I was single. He
put a line into the review pretty much asking for my number. Which
was funny because he didn’t even know what I looked like—he was
apparently just mesmerized by my amazing directorial abilities!
My brother didn’t know him very well and wasn’t sure he was my type
anyway, so feeling protective of me, he put him off.

Fast-forward several months.

I stopped by my parent's house to get something out of storage. My
brother (who lives in their basement) was having a big game night
with all of his theater friends. I stopped for a second to talk to
some people I knew and noticed another guy at the table was paying
particular attention to our conversation. I went into the storage room,
and started digging through my stuff when I distinctly heard this guy
(who obviously didn’t realize I was in the next room) ask the
other people if I was my brother's sister.

I froze, and listened in astonishment as he proceeded to tell them
how he begged my brother to give him my email and how he wouldn't.
Then he started planning his strategy, “If she comes back down here—
I’m going to get her number.”

Yikes! Doesn't stuff like that only happen in movies?

I had no idea what to do. It would embarrass him to walk back out
and I would be totally uncomfortable if someone I didn’t know
asked me out in front of a whole group of people. There was no other
way out of the house (although I briefly did consider the window :))
so I just worked up my courage to eventually go back out and brazen
it out. My admirer apparently choked when faced with reality and I
quickly escaped into the other room.

The funny thing is that if I’d have seen that scene in a movie, I
would’ve made fun of it as completely unrealistic!

Book Jacket Photo Shoot

Jared and I enlisted the services of our very talented younger sister Naoma to take our official "author" pictures for the dust jacket of the book. Luckily, I had my braces taken off in the nick of time--1 week before these pictures were taken. I'm not normally a fan of my own photos, so it says a lot that I really liked most of the pictures Naoma took. This blog only will let me upload a limited amount--so I chose some favorites to share.

I'm Happy I Was Born

This year my birthday got stretched out like taffy, which was perfectly fine by me. March is the perfect month to have a birthday in because it’s far enough away from any other major holiday to really get celebrated (no offense, St. Patrick).

The festivities were kicked off Birthday Eve by going to a musical with my sister Anna (who was born the day after my 5th birthday and is therefore linked inextricably to the day). On the 14th itself, I went skiing for the first time in 10 years. A friend and I had already planned on going when a client serendipitously gave her free passes to The Canyons in Park City. We had schizophrenic weather—-blue skies at the bottom of the lift, a wind storm going up and then powdery flakes coming down—then a different combination the on next run, but had a great time! That night I went to dinner with my parents. It was lovely to celebrate the anniversary of the day with those who were originally there. I’m so grateful for such a wonderful mom and dad.

I’d been getting emails with 34 things people loved about me, 34 red cherries, 34 pens, 34 Laffy Taffy’s—but when a person that had no way of knowing it was my birthday called—I knew something was up. It took me about 2 minutes to mentally trace the trail back to LauraLee. As my consummate birthday friend, I instinctively knew she’d found a way to let people know it was my birthday. Only later did I find out she’d mined the “to” addresses in emails I’d sent and sent word to my Facebook friends.

Apparently, you don’t have to be under 10 to have a “Princess Party” because LauraLee got some of my friends together and threw me one. I had a crown, princess napkins, princess food (apples for Snow White, pumpkin fluff for Cinderella etc.), and everyone had to say what princess I reminded them of. Princess presents and clips from favorite princess movies finished it off. My mom just commented in amazement, “Who has friends like that?”

On Sunday I had a delectable birthday dinner with my sister Becky and my nieces and nephews and we watched my newest 4 hour BBC obsession “North and South.” I had another delicious dinner and chat with my sister Naoma and her family, and went shopping with sister Michelle and niece Anneka and recieved many lovely presents, phone messages and texts wishing me happy.

Is it any wonder I love my birthday?

75 Degrees and Blue Skies

I'd originally planned on making the trip out to Austin to visit my brother and his family last April, then it got re-scheduled for the fall, and I finally ended up going earlier this month--which was fine with me because it provided an escape from the endless snowstorms battering the Wasatch Front into spring-like temperatures and blue skies




My brother Mark and my sister-in-law Laura are the ultimate hosts and I had an amazing time. The first morning, Laura and I went running outside (because we COULD) and I literally gasped with pleasure at the 75 degree weather and continued wallowing in it for the rest of the trip.

I like to explore when I travel--so Mark, Laura and Nate (my nephew) and I trekked all over the place. I was initiated into Texas BBQ and Texas history and the Wii (I moved up from a Wannabe to a Rising Star in Song Star but didn't do as well in the bowling!)




We also went down to San Antonio and saw the Alamo. Davy Crockett was my family's very first video and I watched it dozens of times as a kid, so I enjoyed seeing that. But the best part of San Antonio was floating down and strolling along the River Walk. I'd never even heard of the River Walk, and suddenly I was standing in Venice with picturesque street fronts on either side of a river.





My family always sang in the car on road trips, so on the way back to Austin we taught Nate "Fried Ham" and the America round. I also taught them "I've Never" which Nate liked because he'd done the least and so he usually won.

Other highlights were going to a resturant right on a lake, playing lazer tag and doing some fun shopping at amazing outlets (I got some super-on-sale boots.) Also watching Nate's b-ball game and running four miles with him on the elementary school track--at his insistence! But mostly I loved just having the chance to hang out and talk.


I was also able to meet up with my 4-year Arizona friend and roommate Karin (her husband was stationed in Texas for a few months). We went to the Innerspace Caverns and dinner and I got to catch up on the last several years with them!





Anyway--I had a ball and came back feeling re-humanized!